Nagorno-Karabakh: Generation-Old Conflict Revived

Map of Nagorno-Karabakh region.

On April 1, fighting re-erupted in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave of Azerbaijan. The conflict between the Armenian separatist majority in the region, backed by the Armenian Republic, and the Azerbaijani government has been raging intermittently since 1988.

According to the BBC, accounts of the death toll vary wildly. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claims to have killed up to 170 Armenian troops. The Armenians, however, claim to have only lost 20 volunteers. News sources are unable to independently verify either account.

The government Azeri forces, the majority ethnic group in Azerbaijan, were able to break through the Armenian lines in an attempt to capture the high ground within Nagorno-Karabakh.

Despite this important strategic victory, the Azerbaijani government in Baku called a ceasefire to “unilaterally cease hostilities” on April 3. However, this did little to stop the fighting, which continued into the next day, allowing the conflict to develop into the worst outbreak of fighting since an inconclusive truce in 1994. The separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh refuse to lay down their arms until the land that they lost over the weekend is returned to them.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a spokesman for the government of the breakaway republic accused Turkey of meddling on the side of the Azeris.

“Azerbaijan couldn’t take that kind of initiative on its own,” he said.

Turkey’s President Erdogan has made no effort to hide his consistent support for Azerbaijan’s right to govern over Nagorno-Karabakh, saying, “Surely, Karabakh will one day return to its rightful owner and be Azerbaijan’s.”

According to Al Jazeera, both the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia issued separate ultimatums on April 4 in response to continued fighting. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan vowed to officially recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh if the fighting escalates. He acknowledged the imminent threat of “large scale war.”

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry promised to prepare to attack the capital of the region, Stepanakert, if Armenian forces continued to shell civilian targets surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

Meanwhile in Moscow, a spokesman for the Kremlin said that Russian leadership is “seriously worried” about the instability in the region. Russia was the mediator that brokered the treaty that ended the violent Nagorno-Karabakh war in 1994.