Origins of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

The roots of the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh lay deep in history. The South Caucasus countries essentially Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia were included in the newly established Soviet Union after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. In 1920, intervention from Bolshevik Moscow was increasing. The Soviets developed an ethnic-territorial policy, giving different ethnic regions various degrees of autonomy. Nagorno-Karabakh also needed to be given a formal place. Communities in Nagorno-Karabakh had conflicting opinions about the status of the region. While Karabakh Armenians wanted the territory to become a part of Armenia, Azerbaijanis were completely against the idea and saw Nagorno-Karabakh as an inherent part of Azerbaijan.

It seems important to note that, the majority of the conflicts in the Caucasus are cases of ethnic-based autonomous regions of the Soviet-era revolting against their respective central governments during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The confusing history and complexity of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are implied even in the region's name. Karabakh is an amalgamation of Turkish and Persian, meaning "black garden". The contemporary ending "-bakh" stems from the russification of the word ba. The word "Nagorno" simply means "mountainous" in Russian. Thus, in the name of the region, three different languages can be found. Nagorno-Karabakh used to be an Autonomous Oblast within the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. After a bloody war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the early 1990s, it became a self-proclaimed independent republic that has not been recognized by any UN member state. Armenia largely facilitated its existence.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict gained momentum in the run-up to independence from the Soviet Union. Full-scale war erupted, in which Nagorno-Karabakh forces, with support from Armenia, gained control over most of the autonomous region, totaling 20 percent of Azerbaijan's geographic area. During the brutal fighting, both Azerbaijanis and Armenians had to flee from each other's territories. Over half a million Azerbaijanis have since been living as Internally Displaced Persons in Azerbaijan. Twenty percent of the territory of Azerbaijan was occupied, and ethnic cleansing and serious human rights violations have been implemented in the region by Armenian forces. In 1991, a referendum was organized with only Karabakh Armenians participating in the elections. The result was predetermined, with 99.8% of the vote favoring the illegal secession of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan endorsed by the Soviet Armenian parliament. These factors have had a decisive impact on the development of the conflict.

References:

Sebastian Muth, "War, language removal and self-identification in the linguistic landscapes of Nagorno-Karabakh", Nationalities Papers 42(1) (2014): 63-87.

Elena Pokalova, "Conflict Resolution in Frozen Conflicts: Timing in Nagorno-Karabakh", Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 17(1) (2015): 68-85.

Thomas De Waal, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War (2nd ed, New York: New York University Press, 2013).