SYNOPSIS
Armenia and Azerbaijan have serious international conflict going on due to various reasons. Also, some experts are of the opinion that the conflict might change into a full blown war.
ABOUT THE COUNTRIES
Armenia and Azerbaijan are small countries. Armenia consists of 300 million population, 95% of the people here practise Christianity and it is a secular country. Whereas Azerbaijan consists of 9 million population, 99% of the people are muslims and it is also a secular country.
CONFLICT
Earlier both countries used to be part of the Soviet Union/USSR before the 1990s. But when the Soviet Union split, both countries got independence. Nagorno Karabakh is the disputed region between these countries. The fight between the countries is regarding Nagorno Karabakh. Both countries claim Nagorno Karabakh is their region and it belongs to them. Also, some small areas of Nagorno Karabakh are under the control of Azerbaijan. But the majority of the area is under the control of Armenia.
The area of Nagorno Karabakh is a heavily forested mountainous area which is not easy to access and a 2015 census stated that the population in the region is around 1.5 lakh.
Since 1920 this region was very disputed when it was under the Soviet Union, it was directly controlled by the centre. Back then the central government was in Moscow, and Moscow the region directly. When in the 1990s the Soviet Union started to crumble they decided that Nagorno Karabakh will be recognised as a part of Azerbaijan. But the Americans wanted to be a part of Armenia. Due to these reasons , in 1988, the Nagorno Karabakh legislature voted to join Armenia. But Azerbaijani government , Soviet government and Moscow strongly opposed it. The Armenian separatists seized the territory and brought it under their direct control after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Due to these reasons since 1991, the Armenian controlled part of this region is ruled by Armenian separatists, who are backed by the Armenian government. Even under international law, Nagorno Karabakh is recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
Ever since then , this region has remained in constant conflict. Every few years Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over it. Also, ceasefire violations have been happening and thousands of people have been killed. Prior, in 2016 there was a conflict between these countries.
Attempts were made over the years to reach a solution also a Minsk group was formed which was headed by France, USA and Russia where they attempted to reach a peaceful solution. May 1994, Russia mediated a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan which gave Armenia full control of Nagorno Karabakh.
CONFLICT 2020
This dispute is regarding this region and fighting is taking place along the LOC. Both countries said that they didn’t start the fight. Russia has close ties with both Armenia and Azerbaijan as Russia has a military base in Armenia and Azerbaijan is one of the most significant buyers of Russian weaponry. Historically, whenever a fight broke out amongst two countries , Russia has always brokered peace , but until now Russia didn’t take any step to stop the fight. Erdogan is the key player in the conflict and stated that Armenia is wrong and Azerbaijan is right.Due to Russia, the war was stopped and the war continued till 43 days . Azerbaijan won the war and the drone was the game changer as earlier Armenia was in a lead. But the war didn’t end here; it still continued . In the year 2022, every month there were bombarts.
On 11 January 2022, one Azerbaijani soldier and three Armenian soldiers were killed in a shootout in the Verin Shorza.
On 8 March, The energy supply was disrupted ,Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Artsakh authorities have cite the Azerbaijan government of intentionally creating additional humanitarian problems for the population of Artsakh.On 24 March, according to the government of Artsakh, Azerbaijani soldiers crossed the Line of Contact and took control of the village of Farrukh .Russian peacekeepers were reported to be arranging with Azerbaijan.On 30 March 2022, Artsakh authorities stated that Azerbaijani forces were still occupying the diplomatically important Karaglukh heights.
In August ,clashes broke out again, the Artsakh Defence Army reported that Azerbaijan attempted to breach the line of contact in northern Nagorno-Karabakh, harming one soldier. The Azerbaijan Defence Ministry opposed these claims, and the Russian Defence Ministry reported On 26 August, the Azerbaijani armed forces took the commanding position of the Lachin Corridor area including Lachin and the villages of Zabukh and Sus as part of the 2020 cease-fire agreement.
On 14 September 2022, the Armenian Ministry of Defence stated that Azerbaijan used ordnance , mortar, attack drones and small arms in attacks along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence reported that units of the Azerbaijani Army had come under Armenian fire in Kalbajar and Lachin districts.On 15 September 2022,Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan announced that a ceasefire agreement had been reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But, The Azerbaijani side didn’t make any agreement.
On 6 October 2022, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Parhinyan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met at the European Political Community summit in Prague in an attempt to settle the long running Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the recent Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis. It was stated that the two parties position according to the emergence of a European Union led mission, which would be located on the Armenian side of their shared border for a period of two months, starting in October 2022.
In this regard, the complicated relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in West Asia have made their long-standing border stress the second most worrying discussions of 2023.
The involved relations between Armenia and Azerbaijanmade their long-standing border stress concerning the issue . In the year 2022, which is exactly two years after the 2020 conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region the paper notes, mentioning the territories also known as the ‘Republic of Artsakh’, recognised as part of Azerbaijan occupied by an Armenian majority.
According to the news agency, the report also asserts that a new war would be shorter, not promising that it will be unfavourable in which more than 7,000 soldiers from both sides lost their lives. The international conflict between Ukraine invading Russia – and its diminished combine – and Western countries has also overturned into the Armenian-Azeri conflict in terms of interests and influence.
The Azerbaijan army is larger than Armenia’s army, and equipped by Turkey.But, the Armenian side seems to be slowly losing its military potential due to disturbance in weapons provided from Moscow.
In addition,Azerbaijan holds on it has not forced an obstacle on Nagorno-Karabakh. But on the deck, the circumstances appear progressively terrible for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh who are helpless with limited food and other crucial , with having no contact with their family who were in Armenia when the crisis began.
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