The First Post-Soviet War - Nagorno-Karabakh

Those who grew up and grew up in the 1980s, in their youth, it was hard to imagine that soon the expressions "Azerbaijani tanks are advancing on Armenian positions" or "Armenian aviation dealt a bomb attack on positions of the Azerbaijani army" will come into use and Will not be perceived as excerpts from a bad anecdote.

Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the declaration of national sovereignties, armed conflicts began to arise in the former Soviet republics. Wherever the world reigned for a long time, even if it was thin, supported by force, a real war began. Nagorno-Karabakh has become one of the first regions where enmity has reached its peak.

Internal territorial disputes became possible when, after the coming to power of the Bolsheviks , the former territory of the Russian Empire was divided not according to administrative, but on the basis of nationality. The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, with its predominantly Armenian population, became part of Soviet Azerbaijan in 1923. The history of Nagorno-Karabakh originates in articles by Lenin and Stalin on national politics.

The conflict that arose during the armed confrontation between the Ottoman Empire and the Christian population became the beginning of inter-ethnic enmity and was recognized in many countries as genocide. The low culture of Soviet leaders and government officials for decades has not contributed to the harmony, but rather deepened the contradictions, therefore, as soon as the central authority weakened, the war began. Nagorno-Karabakh began to rally in the midst of Gorbachev's perestroika, in 1987. The main requirement was the annexation of the rebellious region to the Armenian SSR.

In the same period, ethnic cleansing begins, conducted so far relatively bloodlessly. Azerbaijanis are created by the conditions under which they "voluntarily" leave their homes and "repatriate".

When a country's economy is going through bad days, nationalism and mutual intolerance are fertile ground. Demonstrations, rallies and protests begin. The Armenian SSR, which is still part of the USSR, announces the annexation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous District by decision of its Supreme Council on June 17, 1988. When such an "Anschluss" is produced by independent states, a war usually begins. Nagorno-Karabakh is the subject of territorial disputes between the two union republics, which in itself looks absurd, for the time being. But in a huge country blood is already pouring ...

Then there was massacre in Sumgait, events in Baku, during which mass pogroms began. The collapse of the Soviet Union caused a parade of sovereignties, the conflicting sides became independent and hostile countries, each of which accused the neighbor of aggressive aspirations.

In 1992, war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Nagorno Karabakh until 1993 became a theater of active hostilities, as a result of which Baku lost control over the fifth part of the territory allocated to it on the map of the USSR. The price of this result is more than a million refugees, tens of thousands of killed and wounded. The bloody battle ended with the signing in May 1994 of the Bishkek agreement.

For Azerbaijan, the sovereignty of the NKAO is a matter of the territorial integrity of the state. For Armenia, this conflict is also principled, the country defends its fellow citizens living in seven districts of the region. Neither side wants to give in and give up Nagorno- Karabakh. The war is not over. There is a truce.