Azerbaijan Armenia Conflict

Armenian tanks being destroyed by Azerbaijani Forces: Azerbaijan claims

Rashid Hussain

Since the creation of Armenia and Azerbaijan as sovereign states on the map of the world, they have been scuffling with each other on a piece of land called Nagorno-Karabakh. This area has remained the bone of contention for decades. The United Nations Organization recognized it as a part of Azerbaijan but owing to the majority of ethnic Armenians in the region, Armenia took control of the region, the war had broken out between both countries, resultantly a de facto independent state with an Armenian ethnic majority established based on the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic governed by the Republic of Artsakh (formerly named the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic).

Watch the video about Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict

Recent skirmishes between these two states are continued since December 27, 2002. Soon after the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on 25 December 1991 when it was dissolved into 15 post-Soviet states, the region of Nagorno-Karabakh became disputed. Since then, many a time Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought multiple limited and large-scale wars to gain control over the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Despite UN recognition that the region belongs to Azerbaijan, both countries never came to terms. In 1992, at Minsk city of Belarus, an organization Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe “CSCE” was formulated to settle the issue but sooner it was renamed as Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe “OSCE”. France, Russia, and the United States of America were made co-chairmen of ‘The Minsk Group’, the Group’s permanent members are Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and Turkey have never been satisfied with the performance of the Minsk Group towards a peaceful settlement of the issue.

To watch videos, Subscribe to our Youtube channel Social Factory TV

These both states are situated in the region of Eurasia; Azerbaijan is located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bordered by the Caspian Sea to the east, the Russian Federation to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declared its independence in 1918 and became the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state and in 1920, the country was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, its population as per the estimate of 2019 is 10.1 million people, there is 97% Muslim population in the country, but the constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare Islam as the official religion.

The Republic of Armenia is a landlocked country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. It is surrounded by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.

 

According to Wikipedia, The Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under ‘Tigranes the Great’ in the 1st century BC and became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion in the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was divided between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires in the early 5th century. Under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Falling owing to the wars against the Byzantines, the kingdom fell in 1045 and Armenia was soon after invaded by the Seljuk Turks. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was situated on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries.

The modern Republic of Armenia proclaimed its independence in 1991 at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It is a Christianity-majority country making up about 98% of the total population; its total population was estimated in 2000 by about 3 million people.

 

As per the constitution of Armenia, "The exclusive mission of the Armenian Church is a national church in the spiritual life, development of the national culture, and preservation of the national identity of the people of Armenia." The law imposes certain restrictions on the religious freedom of religious groups other than the Armenian Church. The Law on Freedom of Conscience establishes the separation of church and state but it gives the Armenian Church official status as the national church.

The bone of contention between these two countries the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is spread over 4400 square kilometres. The population of this area is less than 0.2 million people, the majority of the residents are the ethnic Armenians; in the 1990s, most of the Muslim population either left the area due to ethnic and sectarian issues or they were expelled by Armenian government-backed Authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh de facto state.

The area of Nagorno-Karabakh is mostly covered by thick forests and mountains. It is one of the most difficult terrains for any long battle, that is why the Armenian troops could not resist the furious attack of Azerbaijani forces on September 27, 2020, and they were forced to vacant some of the occupied areas. Since the recent clash, Azerbaijani military forces have inflicted heavy losses on Armenian troops, Azerbaijan claims to have liberated multiple villages from the occupant forces and seized their modern tanks, vehicles, weapons, and other things when Armenians retreated leaving everything behind.

There are reports that hundreds of military personnel (mostly Armenians) have lost their lives and thousands have been wounded, Armenian unprovoked shelling of civilian population has caused dozens of life losses and damage to different civilian and military buildings. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has made it clear to the world that his army would not fire on the civilian population of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in retaliation, he said this in a tweet.

Azerbaijani President has said the world is changing, and the conflict has entered the active and decisive phase, the concerned countries must play their constructive role for peaceful settlement of the issue following the UN recognition that Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan. But he said it once again that the ceasefire would only be exercised when the framework and schedule of Armenian forces’ complete withdrawal are given.