What you need to know about Nagorno-Karabakh Region row

Hyderabad: Protests against possible concessions by Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh which is disputed with neighboring Azerbaijan have increased in recent weeks. In September 2020, clashes broke out that rapidly escalated to become the deadliest since the 1990s between the two neighbouring countries. Read here more about the conflict over disputed region…. Opposition parties in Armenia have […]

Hyderabad: Protests against possible concessions by Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh which is disputed with neighboring Azerbaijan have increased in recent weeks. In September 2020, clashes broke out that rapidly escalated to become the deadliest since the 1990s between the two neighbouring countries. Read here more about the conflict over disputed region….

Opposition parties in Armenia have accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of plans to give away all of Karabakh to Azerbaijan after he told lawmakers last month that the “international community calls on Armenia to scale down demands on Karabakh.” Earlier this month, thousands of opposition supporters protested in the Armenian capital Yerevan to warn the government against concessions to arch-foe Azerbaijan over the long-disputed region.

Peace talks

Armenia and Azerbaijan have announced that they had set up a border commission, a potential step towards ending a dispute over the ethnic Armenian enclave of the disputed region that has festered for 30 years. The leaders of both countries had agreed in Brussels on May 22 to work on a peace plan.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Region

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous and heavily forested region that under international law is recognised as part of Azerbaijan. However, ethnic Armenians who constitute the vast majority of the population there reject Azeri rule (the legal system of Azerbaijan).

After Azerbaijan’s troops were pushed out of the region following a war in the 1990s, these ethnic Armenians have been in administrative control of Nagorno-Karabakh, with support from Armenia.

The energy-rich Azerbaijan has built numerous gas and oil pipelines across the Caucasus or the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea to Turkey and Europe. Some of these pipelines pass close to the conflict zone. In an open war between the two countries, the pipelines could be targeted, which would impact energy.

Background of the Conflict

The conflict can be traced back to the pre-Soviet era when the region was at the meeting point of the Ottoman, Russian and Persian empires. Once Azerbaijan and Armenia became Soviet Republics in 1921, Russia (erstwhile the Soviet Union) gave Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan but offered autonomy to the contested region.

In the 1980s, when the Soviet power was receding, separatist currents picked up in Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1988, the national assembly voted to dissolve the region’s autonomous status and join Armenia. However, Azerbaijan suppressed such calls, which led to a military conflict.

Flashpoint of conflict

The self-declaration of independence by Nagorno-Karabakh in September 1991 under the backdrop of an imminent collapse of the USSR resulted in a war between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh — supported by Armenia.

Ceasefire

This clash lasted till a ceasefire agreement was reached in 1994, mediated largely by Russia. Since then, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France has engaged Azerbaijan and Armenia extensively to resolve the conflict. By that time, Armenia had taken control of Nagorno-Karabakh and handed it to Armenian rebels.

India’s stand

With Armenia, India has a friendship and cooperation treaty (signed in 1995), which, incidentally, would prohibit India from providing military or any other assistance to Azerbaijan.

In the case of Azerbaijan, ONGC/OVL has made investments in an oilfield project in Azerbaijan and GAIL is exploring the possibilities of cooperation in LNG.

Armenia extends its support to India on the Kashmir issue whereas Azerbaijan promotes Pakistan’s narrative on this issue. India does not have a publicly articulated policy for the South Caucasus.