In a series of interethnic conflicts that engulfed the Soviet Union in last years of its existence, Nagorno-Karabakh became the first. Perestroika policy launched Mikhail Gorbachev, was tested for strength by the events in Karabakh. The audit showed the complete failure of the new Soviet leadership.

A region with a complex history

Nagorno-Karabakh, a small piece of land in Transcaucasia, has an ancient and difficult fate, where the life paths of its neighbors - Armenians and Azerbaijanis - are intertwined.

The geographical region of Karabakh is divided into flat and mountainous parts. The Azerbaijani population historically predominated in Plain Karabakh, and the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Wars, peace, wars again - and so the peoples lived side by side, now at war, now at peace. After the breakup Russian Empire Karabakh became the scene of the fierce Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920. The confrontation, in which nationalists played the main role on both sides, came to naught only after the establishment of Soviet power in Transcaucasia.

In the summer of 1921, after a heated discussion, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) decided to leave Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Azerbaijan SSR and grant it broad regional autonomy.

The Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which became the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region in 1937, preferred to consider itself part of Soviet Union, and not part of the Azerbaijan SSR.

“Unfreezing” mutual grievances

For many years, Moscow did not pay attention to these subtleties. Attempts in the 1960s to raise the topic of transferring Nagorno-Karabakh to the Armenian SSR were harshly suppressed - then the central leadership considered that such nationalist inclinations should be nipped in the bud.

But the Armenian population of NKAO still had cause for concern. If in 1923 Armenians made up over 90 percent of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, then by the mid-1980s this percentage had dropped to 76. This was not an accident - the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR consciously relied on changing the ethnic component of the region.

While the overall situation in the country remained stable, everything was calm in Nagorno-Karabakh. No one took minor clashes on ethnic grounds seriously.

Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika, among other things, “unfrozen” the discussion of previously taboo topics. For the nationalists, whose existence until now was only possible in the deep underground, this was a real gift of fate.

It happened in Chardakhlu

Big things always start small. In the Shamkhor region of Azerbaijan there was an Armenian village of Chardakhly. During the Great Patriotic War 1,250 people from the village went to the front. Of these, half were awarded orders and medals, two became marshals, twelve became generals, seven became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

In 1987 Secretary of the District Party Committee Asadov decided to replace director of the local state farm Yegiyan to an Azerbaijani leader.

The villagers were outraged not even by the removal of Yegiyan, accused of abuse, but by the way it was done. Assadov acted rudely, impudently, offering former director"to leave for Yerevan." In addition, the new director, according to locals, was a “kebab maker with primary education.”

The residents of Chardakhlu were not afraid of the Nazis, nor were they afraid of the head of the district committee. They simply refused to recognize the new appointee, and Assadov began to threaten the villagers.

From a letter from residents of Chardakhly to the Prosecutor General of the USSR: “Every visit of Asadov to the village is accompanied by a detachment of police and a fire truck. There was no exception on the first of December. Arriving with a police detachment late in the evening, he forcibly gathered the communists to hold the party meeting he needed. When he failed, they began to beat people, arrested and transported 15 people on a pre-arranged bus. Among those beaten and arrested were participants and disabled people of the Great Patriotic War ( Vartanyan V., Martirosyan X.,Gabrielyan A. etc.), milkmaids, advanced team members ( Minasyan G.) and even former deputy of the Supreme Council of Az. SSR of many convocations Movsesyan M.

Not calmed by his crime, the misanthropic Assadov again organized another pogrom in his homeland on December 2 with an even larger detachment of police. Marshal Bagramyan on his 90th birthday. This time 30 people were beaten and arrested. Any racist from colonial countries could envy such sadism and lawlessness.”

“We want to go to Armenia!”

An article about the events in Chardakhly was published in the newspaper “Rural Life”. If in the center they did not attach much importance to what was happening, then in Nagorno-Karabakh a wave of indignation arose among the Armenian population. How so? Why does an unruly functionary remain unpunished? What will happen next?

“The same thing will happen to us if we don’t join Armenia,” who said it first and when is not so important. The main thing is that already at the beginning of 1988, the official printed organ of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and the Council people's deputies NKAO "Soviet Karabakh" began to publish materials that supported this idea.

Delegations of the Armenian intelligentsia went to Moscow one after another. Meeting with representatives of the CPSU Central Committee, they assured that in the 1920s Nagorno-Karabakh was assigned to Azerbaijan by mistake, and now is the time to correct it. In Moscow, in the light of the policy of perestroika, delegates were received with promises to study the issue. In Nagorno-Karabakh, this was perceived as the center’s readiness to support the transfer of the region to the Azerbaijan SSR.

The situation began to heat up. Slogans, especially from the mouths of young people, sounded more and more radical. People far from politics began to fear for their safety. Neighbors of other nationalities began to be viewed with suspicion.

The leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR held a meeting of party and economic activists in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, at which they branded “separatists” and “nationalists.” The stigma was, in general, correct, but, on the other hand, it did not provide answers to the question of how to live further. Among the Nagorno-Karabakh party activists, the majority supported calls for the transfer of the region to Armenia.

Politburo for everything good

The situation began to get out of control of the authorities. From mid-February 1988 to central square A rally took place in Stepanakert almost non-stop, the participants of which demanded the transfer of NKAO to Armenia. Protests in support of this demand began in Yerevan.

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of people's deputies of the NKAO addressed the Supreme Soviets of the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of transferring the NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia: “To meet the wishes of the workers of the NKAO, ask the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR and The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR must show a sense of deep understanding of the aspirations of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and resolve the issue of transferring NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR, while simultaneously petitioning the Supreme Council of the USSR for a positive solution to the issue of transferring NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR." ,

Every action gives rise to a reaction. Mass actions began to take place in Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan demanding to stop attacks by Armenian extremists and preserve Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the republic.

On February 21, the situation was considered at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Both sides of the conflict were closely watching what Moscow would decide.

“Consistently guided by the Leninist principles of national policy, the Central Committee of the CPSU appealed to the patriotic and internationalist feelings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani population with an appeal not to succumb to the provocations of nationalist elements, to strengthen in every possible way the great heritage of socialism - the fraternal friendship of the Soviet peoples,” said the text published following the discussion .

This was probably the essence of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy - general, correct phrases about everything good and against everything bad. But exhortations no longer helped. While the creative intelligentsia spoke at rallies and in the press, radicals increasingly controlled the process on the ground.

A rally in the center of Yerevan in February 1988. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ruben Mangasaryan

First blood and pogrom in Sumgayit

The Shusha region of Nagorno-Karabakh was the only one in which the Azerbaijani population predominated. The situation here was fueled by rumors that “Azerbaijani women and children were being brutally murdered” in Yerevan and Stepanakert. There was no real basis for these rumors, but they were enough for an armed crowd of Azerbaijanis to begin a “march on Stepanakert” on February 22 to “establish order.”

Near the village of Askeran, the distraught avengers were met by police cordons. It was not possible to reason with the crowd; shots were fired. Two people died, and, ironically, one of the first victims of the conflict was an Azerbaijani, killed by an Azerbaijani policeman.

The real explosion occurred where they were not expecting it - in Sumgait, a satellite city of the Azerbaijani capital Baku. At this time, people began to appear there, calling themselves “refugees from Karabakh” and talking about the horrors committed by the Armenians. In fact, there was not a word of truth in the stories of the “refugees,” but they heated up the situation.

Sumgayit, founded in 1949, was a multinational city - Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians lived and worked here side by side for decades... No one was prepared for what happened in the last days of February 1988.

It is believed that the last straw was the TV report about the clash near Askeran, where two Azerbaijanis were killed. A rally in support of preserving Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in Sumgait turned into an action at which the slogans “Death to the Armenians!” began to be heard.

Local authorities and law enforcement agencies were unable to stop what was happening. Pogroms began in the city and lasted for two days.

According to official data, 26 Armenians were killed in Sumgait and hundreds were injured. It was possible to stop the madness only after the deployment of troops. But here, too, everything turned out to be not so simple - at first the military was given an order to exclude the use of weapons. Only after the number of wounded soldiers and officers exceeded a hundred did patience run out. Six Azerbaijanis were added to the dead Armenians, after which the riots stopped.

Exodus

The blood of Sumgait has made ending the conflict in Karabakh extremely difficult. For Armenians, this pogrom was a reminder of the massacres in the Ottoman Empire that occurred in the early 20th century. In Stepanakert they repeated: “Look what they are doing? Can we really stay in Azerbaijan after this?”

Despite the fact that Moscow began to use tough measures, there was no logic in them. It happened that two members of the Politburo, coming to Yerevan and Baku, made mutually exclusive promises. The authority of the central government fell catastrophically.

After Sumgayit, the exodus of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Armenians from Azerbaijan began. Frightened people, abandoning everything they had acquired, fled from their neighbors, who overnight became enemies.

It would be dishonest to talk only about scum. Not everyone was ossified - during the pogroms in Sumgait, Azerbaijanis, often risking their own lives, hid Armenians among themselves. In Stepanakert, where the “avengers” began to hunt the Azerbaijanis, they were saved by the Armenians.

But these worthy people could not stop the growing conflict. Here and there new clashes broke out, which did not have time to stop the internal troops brought into the region.

The general crisis that began in the USSR increasingly diverted the attention of politicians from the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. Neither side was ready to make concessions. By the beginning of 1990, illegal armed groups on both sides deployed fighting, the number of killed and wounded was already in the tens and hundreds.

Military personnel of the USSR Ministry of Defense on the streets of the city of Fizuli. Introduction of a state of emergency on the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug and its bordering regions of the Azerbaijan SSR. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Mikhalev

Education by hate

Immediately after the August 1991 coup, when the central government practically ceased to exist, not only Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic declared independence. Since September 1991, what is happening in the region has become a war in the full sense of the word. And when at the end of the year the internal troops of the now defunct USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs were withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh, no one could stop the massacre.

The Karabakh war, which lasted until May 1994, ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement. The total losses of the parties killed by independent experts are estimated at 25-30 thousand people.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has existed as an unrecognized state for more than a quarter of a century. The Azerbaijani authorities continue to declare their intention to regain control over the lost territories. Fighting of varying intensity on the contact line breaks out regularly.

On both sides, people are blinded by hatred. Even a neutral comment about a neighboring country is considered a national betrayal. From an early age, children are instilled with the idea of ​​who is the main enemy who must be destroyed.

“Where and for what, neighbor,
Have so many troubles befallen us?

Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan in 1909 he wrote the poem “A Drop of Honey.” In Soviet times, it was well known to schoolchildren in the translation by Samuil Marshak. Tumanyan, who died in 1923, could not have known what would happen in Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of the 20th century. But this one a wise man, who knew history well, in one poem showed how sometimes monstrous fratricidal conflicts arise from mere trifles. Don’t be lazy to find and read it in full, and we will only give its ending:

...And the fire of war blazed,
And two countries are ruined,
And there is no one to mow the field,
And there is no one to carry the dead.
And only death, ringing with its scythe,
Walking through a deserted strip...
Bowing at the gravestones,
Living to living says:
- Where and for what, neighbor,
So many troubles have befallen us?
This is where the story ends.
And if any of you
Ask the narrator a question
Who is guilty here - the cat or the dog,
And is there really so much evil?
A stray fly brought -
The people will answer you for us:
If there are flies, there would be honey!..

P.S. The Armenian village of Chardakhlu, the birthplace of the heroes, ceased to exist at the end of 1988. More than 300 families that inhabited it moved to Armenia, where they settled in the village of Zorakan. Previously, this village was Azerbaijani, but with the outbreak of the conflict its inhabitants became refugees, just like the inhabitants of Chardakhlu.

Historical data

Artsakh (Karabakh) is an integral part of historical Armenia. During the Urartu era (9th-6th centuries BC) Artsakh was known under the name Urtekhe-Urtekhini. Artsakh, as a part of Armenia, is mentioned in the works of Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Claudius Ptolemy, Plutarch, Dio Cassius and other ancient authors. A clear evidence of this is also the preserved rich cultural and historical heritage.

After the division of the kingdom of Greater Armenia (387), Artsakh became part of the Eastern Armenian kingdom, which soon fell under the rule of Persia. At this time, Artsakh was part of the Armenian province, then, during the period of Arab rule, part of the governorship of Armenia. Artsakh was an integral part of the Armenian Kingdom of the Bagratids (9-11th centuries), and then the Armenian Kingdom of the Zakharids (12-13th centuries).

In subsequent centuries, Artsakh fell under the rule of various conquerors, remaining Armenian and having a semi-independent status. From the mid-18th century, the penetration of Turkic nomadic tribes into the north of Artsakh began, which led to clashes with local Armenians. During this period, five Armenian melikdoms (Khamsa melikdoms), which reached the peak of prosperity and power at the end of the 18th century, achieved a certain degree of self-government. At the end of the Russian-Persian war of 1804-1813, in 1813. According to the Gulistan Peace Treaty, Artsakh-Karabakh came under Russian domination.

Before Soviet period

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict arose in 1917. as a result of the collapse of the Russian Empire, during the formation of the three national republics of Transcaucasia - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The population of Nagorno-Karabakh, 95 percent of which were Armenians, convened its first congress, which declared Nagorno-Karabakh an independent administrative and political unit and elected a National Council and government. In 1918-1920 Nagorno-Karabakh had all the attributes of statehood, including an army and legitimate authorities.

In response to the peaceful initiatives of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic began military action. Since May 1918 to April 1920 Azerbaijan and the military units of its supporting Turkey committed acts of violence and massacres against the Armenian population (in March 1920, about 40 thousand Armenians were killed and deported in Shushi alone). But even in this way they failed to force the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to accept the power of Azerbaijan.
In August 1919 In order to prevent a military conflict, Karabakh and Azerbaijan entered into a preliminary agreement, according to which they agreed to discuss the problem of the status of the region at the Paris Peace Conference.

The reaction of the international community is significant. The League of Nations rejected Azerbaijan's request for membership in the organization, citing, among other reasons, the fact that it is difficult to determine clear boundaries and territories under the sovereignty of this state. Among other controversial issues was the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. After the Sovietization of the region, the problem fell off the agenda of international organizations.

Nagorno-Karabakh in Soviet years (1920-1990)

The establishment of Soviet power in Transcaucasia was accompanied by the creation of a new political order. Soviet Russia also recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a disputed territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to the agreement concluded in August 1920. agreement between Soviet Russia and the Armenian Republic, Russian troops temporarily settled in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Immediately after the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia, on November 30, 1920, the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan (the Revolutionary Committee - at that time the main body of Bolshevik power) in its statement recognized the territories that Azerbaijan had previously claimed - Nagorno-Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhijevan, an integral part of Armenia.

National Council of the Azerbaijan SSR, on the basis of an agreement between the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan and the governments of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR, declaration of June 12, 1921. proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh an integral part of the Armenian SSR.

Based on the statement of Soviet Azerbaijan about the renunciation of claims to Nagorno-Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhijevan and the agreement between the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan of June 1921. Armenia also declared Nagorno-Karabakh its integral part.

Text of the decree, adopted by the government Armenia, was published both in the press of Armenia and Azerbaijan ("Baku Worker", organ of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, dated June 22, 1921). Thus, the legal consolidation of the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was completed. In the context of international law, this was the last legal act regarding Nagorno-Karabakh during the communist regime.

Ignoring reality, July 4, 1921 The Caucasus Bureau of the Communist Party of Russia convened a plenary meeting in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, during which it again confirmed the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to the Armenian SSR. However, under the dictation of Moscow and with the direct intervention of Stalin, on the night of July 5th, the decision taken the previous day was revised, and a forced decision was made to include Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan and form an autonomous region on this territory, in violation of even the existing procedure decision making. This was unprecedented legal act in the history of international law, when a party body of a third country (RCP(b)) without any legal basis or authority determines the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani and Armenian SSR in December 1922. were included in the processes of formation of the USSR, and only in one part of the territory of Karabakh on July 7, 1923, by the decision of the Central Executive Revolutionary Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was formed as part of the Azerbaijan SSR, which, in essence, was the Karabakh conflict not resolved, but temporarily frozen. Moreover, everything was done to ensure that the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region did not have a common border with Armenia.

But throughout the entire Soviet period, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh never came to terms with this decision and for decades constantly fought for reunification with their homeland.

During the entire stay of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region as part of the Azerbaijan SSR, the leadership of this republic regularly and consistently violated the rights and interests of the Armenian population. Azerbaijan's discriminatory policy towards Nagorno-Karabakh was expressed in attempts to artificially suspend the socio-economic development of the region, transform it into a raw material appendage, actively interfere in the demographic process, destroy and develop Armenian monuments and cultural values.

Azerbaijan's discrimination against Nagorno-Karabakh also had an impact on the population of Karabakh, becoming the main reason for their emigration. As a result, the ethnic ratio of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh changed. If in 1923 Armenians made up 94.4 percent, then according to 1989 data the percentage of Armenians dropped to 76.9. The policy of squeezing out Armenians was a great success in another Armenian region - Nakhijevan.
The people of NKAO and the authorities of the Armenian SSR repeatedly appealed to the central authorities of the USSR with a request to reconsider the decision to transfer Karabakh to Azerbaijan, but these appeals were either ignored or refused, becoming the reason for the persecution of the authors of the appeals. Among them are the Appeal of the Government of the Armenian SSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia to the Government of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1945, letters addressed to the authorities of the USSR with 2.5 thousand signatures of the population of NKAO in 1963 and with more than 45 thousand in 1965, proposals collective farms of the NKAO within the framework of national discussions of the new Constitution of the USSR in 1977.

Active stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The modern stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem began in 1988, when, in response to the demand of the population of Karabakh for self-determination, the Azerbaijani authorities organized massacres and ethnic cleansing against Armenians throughout Azerbaijan, in particular in Sumgait, Baku and Kirovabad.

On December 10, 1991, the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in a referendum confirmed the declaration of an independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was fully consistent with both the norms of international law and the letter and spirit of the laws of the USSR in force at that time. Thus, on the territory of the former Azerbaijan SSR, two equal rights were formed public education- Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan Republic.

The ethnic cleansing of the Azerbaijani authorities on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and in adjacent Armenian-populated areas resulted in open aggression and full-scale war on the part of Azerbaijan, which led to tens of thousands of casualties and serious material losses.
Azerbaijan has never heeded the calls of the international community, in particular those enshrined in the UN Security Council resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh: to cease hostilities and move on to peace negotiations.
As a result of the war, Azerbaijan completely occupied the Shahumyan region of NK and the eastern parts of the Martuni and Martakert regions. Adjacent areas came under the control of the NK self-defense forces, which in terms of ensuring security played the role of a buffer, blocking the possibility of further bombing settlements NK from Azerbaijan.

In May 1994, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia entered into a ceasefire agreement, which, despite violations, is still in effect.

Negotiations to resolve the conflict are being held through the mediation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, USA, France).

https://www.site/2016-04-03/konflikt_v_nagornom_karabahe_chto_proishodit_kto_na_kogo_napal_i_pri_chem_tut_turciya

A new war is at hand for Russia

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh: what is happening, who attacked whom, what does Turkey and Russia have to do with it

In Nagorno-Karabakh there is a serious escalation of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which could escalate into a full-fledged war. the site has collected the most important things that are known about what is happening at the moment.

What's happened?

On the morning of April 2, it became known about a sharp escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia mutually accused each other of shelling and offensive actions. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense stated that Armenia violated the ceasefire 127 times, including the use of mortars and heavy machine guns by the military. The Armenian authorities reported that, on the contrary, it was Azerbaijan that violated the truce and was conducting military operations using tanks, artillery and aircraft.

The press service of the Defense Army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic announced that it shot down a Mi-24/35 helicopter of the Azerbaijani armed forces, but Baku denied this information. Armenia said Azerbaijan also lost a tank and a drone.

Later, Armenia reported 18 military personnel killed, and Azerbaijan - 12. Nagorno-Karabakh also reported civilian casualties, including children killed as a result of shelling.

What is the current situation?

Clashes continue. Azerbaijan stated that on the night of April 2-3, border villages came under fire, although no one was killed. Baku claims that during the “response actions” several settlements and strategic heights in Nagorno-Karabakh were captured, but Yerevan denies this information, and it is not yet clear who to believe. Both sides talk about heavy losses of their opponents. In Azerbaijan, for example, they are confident that they have already destroyed six enemy tanks, 15 artillery mounts and fortifications, and the enemy’s losses in killed and wounded amounted to 100 people. In Yerevan this is called “disinformation.”

In turn, the Karabakh news agency Artsakhpress reported that “in total, during the fighting on the night of April 1-2 and throughout the day, the Azerbaijani army lost more than 200 military personnel. In the direction of Talish alone, at least 30 soldiers of the Azerbaijani special forces unit were destroyed, in the direction of Martakert - 2 tanks, 2 drones, and in the northern direction - 1 helicopter.” The Armenian Ministry of Defense published a video of the downed Azerbaijani helicopter and photographs of the bodies of the crew.

As usual, both sides call each other “occupiers” and “terrorists”, the most contradictory information is published, it is better to treat even photographs and videos with skepticism. Modern warfare is an information war.

How world powers reacted

The escalation of the conflict worried all world powers, including Russia and the United States. At the official level, everyone is calling for a speedy settlement, a truce, a ceasefire, and so on.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the first to express regret that the situation in the conflict zone had again descended into armed confrontation. According to presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the head of state is calling for an immediate ceasefire in the region. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with colleagues from Armenia and Azerbaijan, also calling on them to end the conflict.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and French President Franusa Hollande spoke in favor of a speedy settlement.

The Americans spoke in the same tone. “The United States strongly condemns the widespread violation of the truce along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, which has reportedly resulted in casualties, including among civilians,” said US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Following this, all participants in the so-called OSCE Minsk Group, which deals with the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, also called for stabilization of the situation. “We strongly condemn the use of force and deplore the senseless loss of life, including civilians,” the representatives of Russia, France and the United States said in a joint statement. The Minsk Group will meet in Vienna on April 5 to discuss the emerging situation in detail.

Late Saturday evening, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also commented on the conflict. He also called for the truce to be respected.

What do Russia, Türkiye and the West have to do with it?

At the same time, the Turkish authorities expressed support for only one side of the conflict - Azerbaijan. Turkey and Azerbaijan have close partnerships; they are politically and ethnically close countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed condolences to Ilham Aliyev over the death of Azerbaijani soldiers. Telephone conversations between Aliyev and Erdogan were covered in the media of the two countries. It was emphasized that Aliyev considers what happened to be a “provocation along the line of contact between troops” and calls the actions of the Azerbaijani military an “adequate response.”

Since relations between Turkey and Russia now leave much to be desired, some observers regard the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh as an attempt by Turkey (and, presumably, Western countries) to prevent the strengthening of Russia in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Black Sea region. For example, the Free Press website suggested that “the US and Britain have done everything they can to pit Russia and Turkey against each other. From this point of view, Karabakh intensifies the confrontation between Moscow and Ankara.”

NKR Ministry of Defense

“Azerbaijan has recently demonstrated that it remains a loyal ally of Turkey, and is now trying to receive dividends from this. Baku hopes to unfreeze the Karabakh conflict and resolve the Karabakh problem in its favor under the political cover of Ankara,” Deputy Director of the Tauride Information and Analytical Center RISI Sergei Ermakov told this site.

At the same time, Leonid Gusev, a researcher at the analytical center of the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO, said in an interview with the Reedus agency that Azerbaijan and Armenia are unlikely to start a full-fledged war, and Turkey does not need another major conflict at all. “I don't think this can happen. Turkey today has big problems in addition to Azerbaijan and Karabakh. It is now much more important for her to somehow smooth out the conflict with Russia than to enter into some kind of war with her, even if it is in absentia. Moreover, in my opinion, there are some minimal positive changes in relations between Turkey and Russia,” he believes.

What is happening in Karabakh itself?

They are preparing for war there. According to the Sputnik Armenia agency, the administration of the republic is forming lists of reservists and organizing a collection of volunteers. Hundreds of people, according to authorities, are heading to the areas of clashes. According to the agency, the capital of the NKR, Stepanekert, is still calm and even night cafes are open.

What is the conflict about?

Since 1988, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been unable to agree on the ownership of Nagorno-Karabakh, a vast area on the border of the two countries. During Soviet times, it was an autonomous region of the Azerbaijan SSR, but its main population is ethnic Armenians. In 1988, the region announced its withdrawal from the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, Azerbaijan completely lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh during a military conflict, and the area declared independence, calling itself the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

Since then, the world community has not been able to talk about the fate of the NKR. Russia, the USA and France are participating in the negotiations within the OSCE. Armenia advocates the independence of the NKR, and Azerbaijan seeks to return the territory to its state. Although NKR is not formally recognized as a state, the Armenian community around the world does a lot to lobby for Armenia’s interests in the conflict. For example, a number of American states adopted resolutions recognizing the independence of the NKR.

It is perhaps impossible to say that some countries are definitely “for Armenia”, while others are “for Azerbaijan” (with the possible exception of Turkey). Russia has friendly relations with both countries.

TBILISI, April 3 - Sputnik. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region declared its secession from the Azerbaijan SSR. Negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict have been ongoing since 1992 within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a historical region in Transcaucasia. The population (as of January 1, 2013) is 146.6 thousand people, the vast majority are Armenians. The administrative center is the city of Stepanakert.

Background

Armenian and Azerbaijani sources have various points perspective on the history of the region. According to Armenian sources, Nagorno-Karabakh (the ancient Armenian name is Artsakh) at the beginning of the first millennium BC. was part of the political and cultural sphere of Assyria and Urartu. It was first mentioned in the cuneiform writing of Sardur II, king of Urartu (763-734 BC). In the early Middle Ages, Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Armenia, according to Armenian sources. After most of this country was captured by Turkey and Persia in the Middle Ages, the Armenian principalities (melikdoms) of Nagorno-Karabakh maintained a semi-independent status. In the 17th-18th centuries, the Artsakh princes (meliks) led the liberation struggle of the Armenians against the Shah's Persia and the Sultan's Turkey.

According to Azerbaijani sources, Karabakh is one of the most ancient historical regions of Azerbaijan. By official version, the appearance of the term “Karabakh” dates back to the 7th century and is interpreted as a combination of the Azerbaijani words “gara” (black) and “bagh” (garden). Among other provinces, Karabakh (Ganja in Azerbaijani terminology) was part of the Safavid state in the 16th century, and later became the independent Karabakh Khanate.

In 1813, according to the Gulistan Peace Treaty, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Russia.

At the beginning of May 1920, Soviet power was established in Karabakh. On July 7, 1923, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (AO) was formed from the mountainous part of Karabakh (part of the former Elizavetpol province) as part of the Azerbaijan SSR with an administrative center in the village of Khankendy (now Stepanakert).

How the war started

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the regional Council of Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug adopted a decision “On a petition to the Supreme Councils of the AzSSR and the Armenian SSR for the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug from the AzSSR to the Armenian SSR.”

The refusal of the Union and Azerbaijani authorities caused protest demonstrations by Armenians not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also in Yerevan.

On September 2, 1991, a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional and Shahumyan district councils was held in Stepanakert, which adopted a Declaration on the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, the Shahumyan region and part of the Khanlar region of the former Azerbaijan SSR.

On December 10, 1991, a few days before the official collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, in which the overwhelming majority of the population - 99.89% - voted for complete independence from Azerbaijan.

Official Baku recognized this act as illegal and abolished the autonomy of Karabakh that existed during the Soviet years. Following this, an armed conflict began, during which Azerbaijan tried to hold Karabakh, and Armenian troops defended the independence of the region with the support of Yerevan and the Armenian diaspora from other countries.

Victims and losses

The losses of both sides during the Karabakh conflict amounted, according to various sources, to 25 thousand people killed, more than 25 thousand were wounded, hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their places of residence, more than four thousand people were listed as missing.

As a result of the conflict, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and, in whole or in part, seven adjacent regions.

Negotiation

On May 5, 1994, through the mediation of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh signed a protocol calling for a ceasefire on the night of May 8-9. This document went down in the history of the Karabakh conflict settlement as the Bishkek Protocol.

The negotiation process to resolve the conflict began in 1991. Since 1992, negotiations have been ongoing on a peaceful resolution of the conflict within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France. The group also includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Turkey.

Since 1999, regular bilateral and trilateral meetings between the leaders of the two countries have been held. The last meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, within the framework of the negotiation process to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem took place on December 19, 2015 in Bern (Switzerland).

Despite the confidentiality surrounding the negotiation process, it is known that their basis is the so-called updated Madrid principles, transmitted by the OSCE Minsk Group to the parties to the conflict on January 15, 2010. The basic principles for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, called the Madrid Principles, were presented in November 2007 in the capital of Spain.

Azerbaijan insists on maintaining its territorial integrity, Armenia defends the interests of the unrecognized republic, since the NKR is not a party to the negotiations.

“If anyone could doubt this before Sumgait, then after this tragedy no one has any moral opportunity left to insist on maintaining the territorial affiliation of NKAO to Azerbaijan”:
— Academician Andrei Sakharov

Kindling. In the late 80s, during perestroika, the Azerbaijani authorities began to oppress the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region with greater intensity and on a new scale. autonomous region. A sharp anti-Armenian policy was pursued. The Armenian language was banned in schools, and Azerbaijani was made compulsory. In Armenian villages, gas, electricity, and water were cut, buildings and roads were not repaired, and nothing new was built. While right next to the Armenian cities, new cities were built with all communications and conditions and were instantly populated by Azerbaijanis.

Following the official appeal of Karabakh to the Soviet authorities for secession from the Azerbaijan SSR, mass demonstrations and strikes followed. In Armenia, in Karabakh and in all Armenian communities of the world, rallies and political actions began demanding the annexation of the historically Armenian and Armenian-populated land to Armenia. The first rallies took place in the capital of Karabakh, Stepanakert, where the people personally fought for their rights. The number of protesters in Yerevan reached a million - 1/3 of the country's population.

Sumgayit massacre and first blood.
In the city of Sumgait, located near Baku, in response to peaceful rallies of Armenians, the Azerbaijani authorities organized a massacre. Several dozen people died, the number of victims reached several hundred. As a result, the 18 thousand Armenian population was forced to leave the city. Following Sumgayit, Armenians began to flee Baku and other settlements in the country.

The massacre of Armenians was carried out not by soldiers, but by the Azerbaijani population. The Azerbaijani authorities reported false rumors that they had begun to oppress and drive away Azerbaijanis in Armenia, instilled hatred of the Armenians and incited them to take drastic, uncontrollable actions. Impressed by the vile propaganda, the Azerbaijanis began to aggressively attack Armenians, including women, children and the elderly. Soviet soldiers watched with folded hands as citizens were burned and brutally killed in the streets. Armed with clubs and knives, zombified crowds burst into courtyards and used a megaphone to pronounce addresses that the city administration had given them in advance. The robbers unerringly entered the houses of the Armenians and destroyed everything they could manage.

The Armenians' telephones were turned off. Anyone who managed to get through to the police received a clear answer: “don’t leave the house” (it’s clear why they answered that way). When Gorbachev asked why the military did not intervene to eliminate the unrest, the General Secretary responded with the famous phrase: “We were only 3 hours late”... Only a few people were arrested for the massacre.

War at the level of stones and knives. After Sumgait, the Azerbaijanis continued to commit atrocities wherever they could. Thus, they tried to stop the Armenian movement for freedom, but there was reverse effect. Critical actions and danger further united and organized the Armenian people. There is a well-known case when, not far from Stepanakert, Azerbaijanis killed and cut open the belly of a pregnant woman and pulled out the child. A war with stones and knives began throughout Karabakh.

Official actions. October 30, 1991, Azerbaijan proclaims an independent republic, renounces inheritance from the Azerbaijan SSR and declares itself the heir to the independent republic of 1918, of which Karabakh was not a part. On September 2, 1991, in full agreement with the Constitution of the USSR, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug adopted a declaration on the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In the same year, the UN, without checking documents, without any grounds, recognized the independent Azerbaijan Republic within the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR. Thus, the UN gives Azerbaijan a free hand to start a war to capture Karabakh.

War. Before the outbreak of hostilities, using the still existing control over the territory, Azerbaijan separates Karabakh from Armenia and the region falls into an enclave. The Azerbaijani regular army, inherited from the Soviet Union, invades the territory of Karabakh, where there were practically no military forces, and tries to regain control over the region. Hoping for a quick solution to the issue by capturing an “unarmed” and surrounded area, Azerbaijan unexpectedly faces worthy resistance.

Hastily organized Armenian detachments, armed with Makarov pistols and hunting rifles, begin defensive battles. Afterwards, the armed army enters the battle, a central command is organized, and large detachments are assembled. A clear indicator of the balance of forces is that Karabakh entered the war with 8 tanks, while the Azerbaijanis had several hundred. A tank repair plant was formed in Stepanakert, where tanks taken from the enemy were repaired.

The decisive event was the liberation of the city of Shushi, on the morning of May 9, 1992: an operation under the secret name “Wedding in the Mountains” was organized by Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, a hero with the nickname “Commando”. After this, a corridor was opened to Armenia, from which military equipment and troops arrived without delay.