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| Flag of the Nogorno-Karabakh Republic |
Right now Armenia and Azerbaijan are engaged in a war over the disputed Nogorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. The problem basically started back in 1922 when Joseph Stalin made the mountainous region a part of Azerbaijan. This came on the heels of a genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and represented yet another setback to the Armenian people.
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| Nogorno-Karabakh Defense Force T-72B |
Tensions began increasing dramatically toward the end of the USSR. A series of skirmishes eventually turned into all-out war as the USSR collapsed between the people of Armenia and the people of Azerbaijan. The people of Nogorno-Karabakh are ethnically Armenian and have always wished to remain part of Armenia, so when the war was halted in 1994 with a Russian-brokered ceasefire they declared autonomy as the Nogorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and have protection from Armenia. Armenian troops also occupy territories of Azerbaijan surrounding the NKR as a “buffer zone” on the western side of the territory.
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| Nogorno-Karabakh in dark-brown, with Armenian-occupied “Buffer zone” lands in light brown |
Anyway, every few months one side or the other will lob a mortar or snipe a soldier and that’s sorta how things have been going for years. However, recent years have seen an increase in Azeri weapons spending and rhetoric coming out of Baku laced with more and more threats. To give balance, similar threats have come out of Yerevan, but with Armenia’s weapons spending resting around $440 million a year and Azerbaijan’s at about $3.7 billion, it’s easy to see who the aggressor might be. In early April both sides engaged in about a week of fierce combat, which died down after dozens of deaths and much international attention, particularly from US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
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| Azeri helicopter shot down by NKR forces on the opening night of March 31st/April 1st, 2016 |
As it stands, anywhere between 50-200 soldiers have been killed and an unknown number of civilians. The last war claimed between 30-50,000 lives, with allegations on both sides of ethnic cleansing. There has been relative calm in recent weeks, but there is nothing holding that in place save for the existing tattered ceasefire and hostilities could restart at any time.
(Disclaimer: As an Armenian much of this story has been told based on what I’ve heard from the Armenian perspective and as such may not be completely unbiased. Please recognize this and understand that while I strive for balance, I cannot guarantee it, especially with the scarcity of good Azeri sources.)
