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One of the most beautiful places that I have visited is called Nagorno-Karbach. The mountains are dark green, almost blue.
Getting there is not something you do anyway. The enclave belongs de jure Azerbaijan, but controlled de facto from Armenia since the 1992 war. We applied for and received a special permit in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, then drove through a narrow and well-guarded corridor that runs through Azerbaijani territory.
The villages clung to the slopes of the mountains or were conveniently hidden in small valleys. The ancient Armenian cemeteries and churches, as well as the Azeri mosque in the city of Shusha, bore witness to the long presence of both the Armenian and the Azeri people.
The mosque was empty and abandoned. Azerbaijani residents of the city had fled during the 1992 civil war.
– No, they can’t go back.
The local artist we met, who was painting in his garden in Stepanakert, was completely uncompromising.
– It is not questioned that they can return. We will never trust them again.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh it is not a product of the 1990s, but it has a much longer history. Armenians regard the area as the cradle of their culture. It is a fact that present-day Armenia geographically covers only a fraction of the actual area of residence of Armenians. Historically, the majority of Armenians have lived in Turkish Anatolia. During the Armenian genocide of the Young Turks in 1915-1917, the ancient Armenian culture of the area was practically erased. This was also happening in Shusha, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh until the Soviet era and it remains its cultural center. In 1920, almost its entire Armenian population was massacred by Azerbaijani soldiers.
During the 1988-1994 civil war, Azerbaijanis were expelled from Shusha. Now the city is completely Armenian, and the generation that has now grown up there has never experienced the historic state of normality with a mixed population.
Both the Armenian and Azerbaijani populations have historical roots in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sedan Azerbaijan lost the civil war in the 1990s, the Azerbaijani government has constantly said that the area must be returned. For Baku, it is a matter of prestige to regain Nagorno-Karabakh. For Yerevan, it is a matter of luck not to give an inch.
At the same time, the international community has for years ignored the conflict and, in practice, has transferred responsibility for mediation to Russia.
Externally, Russia likes to call itself a mediator, in practice it is allied with Armenia, which also has a Russian military base. At the same time, Moscow has always had good relations with Baku and, to the chagrin of the Armenians, it even sold weapons to Azerbaijan. Reconstruction of Azerbaijan has been going on for a long time, financed from the country’s oil revenues.
Turkey, which supports Azerbaijan in the conflict, is now demanding that Armenia withdraw its troops from the area and return them to Azerbaijan. Russia’s president-elect Dmitry Peskov says Russia’s main concern is ending hostilities, not knowing who is to blame.
According to Thomas de Waal, a researcher at the Carnegie think tank and one of the world’s leading experts on the Caucasus, Armenia is keen to see the status quo continue, while Azerbaijan wants to see change as soon as possible. Baku is no stranger to the use of military force. In the past, direct attacks have been avoided, especially since Armenia can request Russia’s support. But the fact that Turkey is now willing to support Azerbaijan more openly than before, according to de Waal, who testified in an interview in Ahval News, has led to increased self-confidence in Azerbaijan.
Russia is not interested in a war in the region, but as Yerevan’s ally, in practice, it cannot act as a mediator. At the same time, the lack of interest from the international community allows the conflict to continue.
Read more:
Hundreds injured in Nagorno-Karabakh
Anna-Lena Laurén: The risk of a full-scale war in Nagorno-Karabakh is constantly increasing
