Nagorno-Karabakh. The turbulent history of the separatist enclave and the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan

30 years ago sandwiched between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the enclave declared independence, although it was never recognized by the international community. Now, after three decades of constant war and pressure from foreign powers, the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ceases to exist. Its president, Samwel Shahramanian, signed a decree under which all structures of this quasi-state will be dissolved from January 1, 2024.

His fall happened suddenly.

The decision to disband the structures of Nagorno-Karabakh, which declared independence in 1991, follows the armed offensive carried out last week by Azerbaijan. It forced the separatists to lay down their weapons and sign a humiliating truce.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ceased to exist overnight. It disappeared so quickly that the Armenian population living there had barely a moment to pack before leaving their homes and joining the wave of refugees fleeing the enclave for fear of ethnic cleansing by a triumphant Azerbaijan, writes the New York Times. Refugees are heading towards Armenia along winding mountain roads controlled by the Azerbaijani military.

According to data announced by Yerevan on Thursday morning, more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s 120,000 people now live in Armenia. Among the tens of thousands of refugees is Sergei Danilian, a former Karabakh soldier. On Saturday, the man set out for Armenia after local authorities informed about the approaching “Turks”, as the locals call Azerbaijanis. – They will murder children and cut off their heads – they were warned. Danilian told the New York Times that he had fled his village three times because of the fighting. – Always only war, war – 30 years of war – he lamented.

His brother Vova said life under the Azerbaijani blockade had been unbearable for months. – There was famine. There were no cigarettes, no bread, nothing, he reported.

As the New York daily writes, “until last week, the tiny, self-proclaimed republic of fewer than 150,000 inhabitants was a permanent feature of the political and diplomatic landscape of the former Soviet Union.”

The New York Times reminds that Russia – traditionally an ally and protector of Armenia – sent peacekeeping forces to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, promising to ensure that the only road connecting the enclave with Armenia remains open.

“However, Moscow, preoccupied with the war in Ukraine and eager to strengthen economic and political relations with Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey, did not intervene this year when Azerbaijan closed the route, cutting off supplies of food, fuel and medicine,” notes the NYT.

When the Azerbaijani government announced the launch of an “anti-terrorist operation” in Nagorno-Karabakh last week, the Kremlin ordered Russian forces stationed in the region not to intervene.

Today, social media is flooded with reports of mass murders and rapes of Armenians fleeing Karabakh, which are allegedly committed by the Azerbaijani military. The New York Times notes that this information is not verified. However, they raise fears of a repeat of 1915, when the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against the Armenians.

Although the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh has always been marked by instability and conflict, few people predicted its immediate collapse. Washington also watched Azerbaijan’s unexpected triumph with astonishment.

– We are all in shock. Everyone understands that this is the end – the complete annihilation of Nagorno-Karabakh – said Benjamin Poghosyan, former head of the research unit of the Armenian Department of Defense, in an interview with the New York Times. “The only thing that really matters now is getting people out of there safely,” he added.

Nagorno-Karabakh, which declared independence in 1991, from the beginning of its existence has been “synonymous with a diplomatic failure – a never-ending problem,” writes “NYT”, comparing its situation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the dispute over Cyprus North. “However, almost in the blink of an eye, the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was ‘solved’ by military force, leaving terrified Armenians at the mercy of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, a leader who has been stoking hatred against Armenians for years,” we read.

The daily reminds that in 2012, Aliyev pardoned, promoted and then hailed a hero an Azerbaijani military man who was sentenced to Hungary to life imprisonment for the murder of an Armenian soldier with whom he participated in NATO training. After serving six years of his sentence in Hungary, the murderer was sent back to his homeland. The Azerbaijani authorities promised to keep him in prison, but he was greeted with flowers at the airport and released.

“Anyone who thinks Armenians can live under this regime is a fantasist,” Eric Hacopian, host of a program on CivilNet, a popular Armenian Internet television channel, told the New York Times.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has disappeared from maps, but it still has many supporters. Since last week, thousands of protesters have gathered in the central square of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, every evening. They are hurling insults at Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for not sending his soldiers to Karabakh and thus leaving their ethnic brothers to their fate. – Long live Arcach – the crowd chants. Arcakh is the Armenian name of the separatist enclave.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a dispute for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-inhabited separatist region that is de jure part of Azerbaijan. The conflict between Muslim Azerbaijan and Christian Armenia over the disputed enclave began during Soviet times, but escalated into a full-scale war after both countries gained independence. According to some estimates cited by the New York Times, ethnic cleansing on both sides of the conflict over the years has forced more than a million people to flee their homes.

The bloodiest clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over Nagorno-Karabakh took place at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. The area effectively became an Armenian-ruled and Armenian-backed quasi-state. In 2020, there was another episode of the conflict on a larger scale – then the militarily stronger Azerbaijan regained control over a significant part of the disputed territory.

At the end of May, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan announced that they had agreed to recognize the territorial integrity of both states. The condition for recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory was to ensure the safety of the Armenian population there. However, in July, tensions escalated when Baku, under various pretexts, closed traffic in the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. The blockade has led to a serious humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

On September 19, Azerbaijan conducted a victorious 24-hour offensive, announcing that its goal was to restore constitutional order and expel Armenia’s armed forces from Azerbaijani territory. Baku said it would provide the people of Nagorno-Karabakh with all rights under the constitution, including protection due to ethnic minorities. However, the exodus of the Armenian population to Armenia began in the enclave through the Lachin corridor, which was unblocked by Baku after many months.