‘I want the world to ban these weapons’ : Treating the white phosphorous victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh war

Liz Cookman in Yerevan reports from a specialist burns unit, as Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of using white phosphorous

Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in October  (AFP/Getty)

With eyes wide from trauma, almost every part of Arman Salmanyan’s body is covered in bandages and after two months of treatment he is not getting any better – this, the doctors say, is the effect of incendiary weapon white phosphorus.  

At just 19 years old, he is one of a number of soldiers allegedly burnt with the substance during six weeks of brutal conflict in the mountainous breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which left over 5,000 Armenians and Azerbaijanis dead and many more injured.

Now bed-ridden at the National Burns Centre in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Salmanyan has had surgery three times to graft skin from his legs onto his hands, but there is still no progress.