The Separation Of Azerbaijan: Understanding The Divide

Azerbaijan is split into two distinct parts, with Georgia in between. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan, bordered by Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. The region has a long history, dating back to around 1500 BC, and has been contested by various empires and ethnic groups, including Persians, Armenians, Mongols, and Turks. The dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan's internationally recognised borders but is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Armenians, has resulted in decades of tension and conflict, with Russia often acting as a peacekeeping force in the region.

Ethnic and territorial conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023. The conflict escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, resulting in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Historical Context

During the Soviet period, Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast faced heavy discrimination from Soviet Azerbaijani authorities, who suppressed Armenian culture and identity, pressured Armenians to leave, and encouraged Azerbaijanis to settle in the region. Despite this, Armenians remained the majority population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 1988, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, aiming to transfer the region to Soviet Armenia, citing self-determination laws in the Soviet constitution. This triggered a series of pogroms against Armenians across Azerbaijan, followed by violence against both Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994)

The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the Soviet Union's dissolution neared, tensions escalated into violent clashes between ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis, with both sides committing ethnic cleansing and pogroms.

In 1991, as Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union, the Armenian majority in Nagorno-Karabakh voted to secede, resulting in the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. Full-scale fighting erupted in the late winter of 1992, with Armenia gaining control of Nagorno-Karabakh and occupying 20% of Azerbaijan's geographic area.

The war resulted in roughly 30,000 casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees. A Russian-brokered ceasefire, known as the Bishkek Protocol, was signed in 1994, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh de facto independent but heavily reliant on Armenia.

Border Clashes and Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (2008-2020)

Despite the ceasefire, intermittent clashes continued along the border, with the most intense fighting occurring in April 2016, leading to hundreds of casualties.

In late September 2020, heavy fighting broke out again along the Azerbaijan-Nagorno-Karabakh border, resulting in thousands of casualties. Despite initial resistance, both sides eventually agreed to a ceasefire mediated by Russia, France, and the United States. The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War ended with a Russian-brokered deal on November 9, 2020, with Azerbaijan reclaiming most of the territory it had lost, including one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh itself.

Recent Developments (2022-2024)

In December 2022, Azerbaijan imposed a blockade on the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, causing severe shortages in the region. This was followed by a military offensive in September 2023, leading to a new ceasefire agreement and the official dissolution of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh on January 1, 2024.

Azerbaijan aims to "reintegrate" the region and its remaining population, promising economic development and equal citizenship. However, the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh has largely fled, fearing persecution, and Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing.

Soviet Azerbaijani suppression of Armenian culture and identity

The Soviet Azerbaijani suppression of Armenian culture and identity in Nagorno-Karabakh was widespread and far-reaching. Armenians in the region faced economic marginalization and cultural discrimination, which led to a significant exodus. Here are some examples of how the Soviet Azerbaijani authorities worked to suppress Armenian culture and identity:

• Teaching Armenian history in Nagorno-Karabakh was banned.
• Restrictions were imposed to limit cultural exchanges and communication between Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and Armenia, with significant neglect in transportation and communication infrastructure.
• The Azerbaijani government's decree in 1957 established Azerbaijani as the main language and altered educational content to favor Azerbaijani history over Armenian.
• The 1981 "law of the NKAR" denied additional rights to Armenians, restricted cultural connections between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and removed provisions that listed Armenian as a working language to be used by local authorities.
• Many Armenian churches, cemeteries, and schools were closed or destroyed, and clerics were arrested.
• Armenian educational institutions that remained open were administered by the Azeri Ministry of Education, which enforced prohibitions against teaching Armenian history and using Armenian materials. This led to a curriculum that significantly differed from that of Armenia itself.
• Armenians were persecuted for choosing to attend college in Armenia instead of Azerbaijan or for supporting Armenian football clubs.
• Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were pressured to leave the region, and Azerbaijanis were encouraged to settle within it.

Pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan

However, the conflict has a long history. In 1918, the region of Nakhchivan came under Ottoman occupation, and after the First World War, the British placed it under Armenian administration. This led to an Azerbaijani revolt, preventing Armenia from establishing full control. In 1920, Bolshevik Russia and Azerbaijan promised that Nakhchivan was an "integral part" of Armenia, but in 1921, it became the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.

In 1988, pogroms in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait resulted in the deaths of dozens of Armenians and the exodus of the large Armenian community. In 1990, hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in Baku, Azerbaijan, faced a large-scale series of pogroms, resulting in hundreds of deaths and the displacement of around 250,000 Armenians who fled the country. These events, known as the Baku Pogroms, are seen by Armenians as manifestations of anti-Armenian hatred in Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijan describes them as a conspiracy to quash local nationalist aspirations.

The timing and motives of the Baku Pogroms are influenced by the context of the developing Karabakh conflict and the growing crisis in the Soviet Union. The violence in 1988 was followed by a relatively peaceful year in 1989, with fewer conflict-related deaths reported. However, in 1990-1991, supported by Soviet internal troops, Azerbaijani security forces conducted operations to expel Armenians from the vicinity and inside the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, leading to further deaths and displacement.

The First Nagorno-Karabakh War

The conflict has its roots in events following World War I. In November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power amid the dissolution of the Russian Empire, and the three main ethnic groups of the South Caucasus—Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Georgians—struggled to agree on the nature of political government in the region. An attempt at shared political authority in the form of the Transcaucasian Federation in the spring of 1918 failed due to an invasion by the Ottoman Empire. In May 1918, separate Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian national republics declared their formal independence from Russia.

Fighting soon broke out between the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, particularly in the regions of Nakhchivan, Zangezur, and Karabakh itself. The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh sought to unite the region with the Armenian republic. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, forces led by Armenian general Andranik Ozanian entered Karabakh and made for the regional capital of Shusha in December 1918, but they were stopped by newly arrived British troops. The British commander suggested that Ozanian desist from marching on to Shusha and allow Armenia's and Azerbaijan's territorial disputes to be left to the diplomats meeting at the forthcoming Paris Peace Conference. The British decided to appoint Khosrov bey Sultanov, an Azerbaijani statesman, as provisional governor, but insisted that all sides await the decision made at the peace conference.

Intermittent fighting broke out shortly after and accelerated following the British pull-out in early 1919. The violence culminated in Shusha's partial destruction by Azerbaijani forces in April 1920. In April 1920, the Soviet Eleventh Army invaded the Caucasus, and within two years, the Caucasian republics were formed into the Transcaucasian SFSR of the Soviet Union. The Soviets created a seven-member committee, the Caucasus Bureau (Kavburo), to resolve a myriad of national-related issues in the Caucasus. On July 4, 1921, the committee voted 4-3 in favor of assigning Nagorno-Karabakh to the newly created Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia, but a day later, the Kavburo reversed its decision and voted to leave the region within the Azerbaijan SSR.

The creation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) in 1923 left the region with a 94% Armenian population. The region's capital was moved from Shusha to Khankendi, which was subsequently renamed Stepanakert. Over the following decades of Soviet rule, the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians retained a strong desire to reunite with Armenia. A number of Armenian Communist Party officials attempted to persuade Moscow to reconsider the question, to little avail.

In February 1988, Armenians began protesting and staging workers' strikes in Yerevan, demanding unification with the enclave. On February 20, 1988, the leaders of the regional Soviet of Karabakh voted in favor of unifying the autonomous region with Armenia in a resolution. The demand to unify with Armenia began in a relatively peaceful manner in 1988, but in the following months, as the Soviet Union disintegrated, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, resulting in ethnic cleansing and pogroms directed against both sides.

Full-scale fighting erupted in early 1992. Turkey sent mercenaries to fight for Azerbaijan and assisted in blockading trade to Armenia, including humanitarian aid. International mediation by several groups, including the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In early 1993, Armenian forces captured seven Azerbaijani-majority districts outside the enclave itself, threatening the involvement of other countries in the region. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of the enclave, in addition to surrounding Azerbaijani territories, most notably the Lachin corridor—a mountain pass that links Nagorno-Karabakh with mainland Armenia. A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994.

Border clashes and ongoing border tensions

The border clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan have a long history, with violent incidents occurring since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. The First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994) resulted in the occupation of regions around Soviet-era Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenian forces and the expulsion of ethnic Azerbaijanis. A ceasefire agreement in 1994 brought a period of relative stability, but tensions escalated again in the 2010s. Border clashes during this period resulted in casualties on both sides, and the situation remained volatile, with frequent violations of the ceasefire agreement.

In 2020, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out, leading to thousands of casualties and a significant Azerbaijani victory. Azerbaijan regained control of the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and a third of the region itself. Despite a tripartite ceasefire agreement, ceasefire violations continued, and Azerbaijan imposed a blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh in December 2022.

The ongoing border tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have persisted since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Azerbaijan has been accused of making incursions into Armenian territory and violating the ceasefire agreement. In May 2021, Azerbaijani soldiers crossed into Armenian territory in the provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik, occupying an area between 50 and 215 square kilometres. This triggered a border crisis that escalated further with clashes along the Armenia-Nakhchivan border in July 2021 and in the Gegharkunik-Kalbajar area in November 2021. Azerbaijan's actions have disrupted the livelihoods of residents in border communities, leading to displacement and restricted access to essential resources.

The border tensions have also impacted the movement of people and goods. In August 2021, Azerbaijani forces blockaded southern Armenia by closing a major north-south highway, interrupting international transit with Iran. Additionally, the blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia, has had severe humanitarian consequences for the region's population, blocking food, fuel, and medicine supplies.

The border crisis has drawn international attention, with calls for Azerbaijan to withdraw its troops from Armenian territory by the European Parliament, the United States, and France. The European Union has sent a civilian monitoring mission to Armenia to contribute to border stability and deter further offensives by Azerbaijan. However, Russia, a key player in the region, has declined to intervene, and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has also failed to provide assistance.

The border tensions and clashes have had a significant impact on the lives of people in the region, causing casualties, displacement, and economic hardships. The ongoing conflict has also led to the disruption of transportation and trade routes, further exacerbating the tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Frequently asked questions