The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the oldest in the post-Soviet space, is looming There is a new escalation in the war in the South Caucasus after Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terror operation” today in response to alleged provocations by the Armenian armed forces.
These are some of the keys to Territorial dispute that arose between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the end of the USSR and has continued for more than three decades since then.
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CONFLICT
In 1988, during the “perestroika” process, the then predominantly Armenian-populated Azerbaijani autonomy announced its desire to secede from Azerbaijan and join neighboring Armenia.
Later, in 1988, the Parliament of the Socialist Republic of Armenia approved the incorporation of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a move that never took place as the central government of the USSR blocked this decision.
The beginning of large-scale clashes
Nationalist tendencies continued to grow in Azerbaijan and Armenia, and in 1992 a bloody war broke out between the two emerging republics for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The The armed conflict lasted three years and claimed around 25,000 lives. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, which were occupied by the Armenian side, considering them “security strips”.
During the war, a referendum was held in Karabakh in December 1991, in which 99.89% of the population voted to proclaim the separatist region an independent republic.
However, the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has not yet been recognized by any member of the international community, including Armenia.
The signing of the armistice
1994 between the three conflicting parties -Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh- a ceasefire was signedin a ceremony held in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek under the auspices of Russia.
At the same time, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was founded the Minsk Group for the Solution in Karabakh, co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States.
Despite all the efforts of the mediators The opposing parties failed to reach a compromise.
According to Armenia, one of the reasons is that Nagorno-Karabakh was excluded from the negotiation process shortly after the ceasefire was signed.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan insisted that resolving the conflict necessarily included the liberation of the occupied territories, a demand supported by several UN Security Council resolutions.
THE “FOUR-DAY WAR” OF 2016
After several years of relative calm along the line of separation of powers, new clashes erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016, reviving fears of a full-scale conflict and dubbed the “Four-Day War.”
This escalation left at least three hundred people dead on both sides and several hundred injured.
Clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Between 2016 and 2020, there were clashes between the two countries not only in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, but also on the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
During these confrontations, the They caused more than 20 deaths on both sides of the conflictThe parties used not only light weapons, but also heavy artillery and aviation.
THE WAR OF 2020
The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War began on September 27, 2020, with Azerbaijani bombing raids along the entire front and on Stepanakert (according to Azerbaijan, Yankendi), the enclave’s capital.
Azerbaijani forces managed to recapture hundreds of towns in the Armenian-controlled regions and captured the city of Shusha near Stepanakert.
The war in which More than 2,800 Azerbaijani soldiers and 2,900 Armenian soldiers diedwas extended until November 10th and then ended thanks to the Mediation efforts by Russia that brought Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to the table.
As part of the agreement, Russia set up a peace contingent to ensure compliance by both parties.
THREE YEARS OF TENSIONS
Although the tripartite agreement ended hostilities, tensions remained between both parties and negotiations for a peace agreement were unsuccessful.
The Russian peacekeeping contingent has repeatedly denounced ceasefire violations in the area under its control.
In addition, there were border attacks that both sides blamed on each other and in which more than two hundred soldiers from both sides died.
The greatest source of tension, however, was the blockade imposed by Azerbaijan in December 2022 on the Lachin Corridor, which connects the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave with Armenia, on the grounds that Yerevan was using it to illegally extract Azerbaijani mineral resources and to supply arms to the self-government. proclaimed republic.
Armenia accused Azerbaijan of genocide and attempting to starve the people of Karabakh or force them to leave their homeland.