Context

Recently, in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan conducted a military operation that resulted in casualties.

Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

• A landlocked mountainous region in the Caucasus (the transcontinental area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), Nagorno-Karabakh is referred to as Artsakh by Armenians.
• Although it is widely acknowledged that it is a part of Azerbaijan, most of its residents are of Armenian ancestry.
• Despite having close ties to Armenia's government, they have their own administration, which neither Armenia nor any other nation has formally recognised.
• The battle started in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union broke up and the area proclaimed its independence from Azerbaijan.
• When the first conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region broke out, Nagorno-Karabakh and several of the neighbouring areas were still under Armenian control.
• Both sides often broke the cease-fire, and attempts to negotiate a peaceful resolution were unsuccessful.
• 2020 saw the start of the Second Karabakh War, which Azerbaijan decisively won, retaking seven neighbouring districts and roughly one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh.
• Following the Second Karabakh War in 2020, Russia mediated a peace agreement that authorised the stationing of up to 1,960 Russian forces in the area.

 

 

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