At @EurasiaNet we have been covering this conflict for long before this week. If you are trying to study up on the conflict, here are some of our pieces from the last few years that may offer useful background. A thread:
A dispatch from Kelbajar, one of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, formerly entirely populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis, that have been gradually settled by ethnic Armenians. This has been one of the key sticking points between the two sides. eurasianet.org/for-armenians-…
A report on the Azerbaijanis displaced from the areas now under control by Armenian forces. A generation after the war, parents are trying to make sure their children maintain the same devotion to that land that they do: eurasianet.org/azerbaijanis-d…
A dispatch from Talish, an Armenian village right on the front line (which Azerbaijanis claim to have captured yesterday): eurasianet.org/karabakh-villa…. It was destroyed in 2016, and its former residents were wary of cooperating with efforts to rebuild it and for them to move back.
For more background, @LaurenceBroers wrote the essential book for understanding the foundations of the conflict. You should read it, but you could start with my review here: eurasianet.org/book-review-ar…
Last year, there was a brief moment of optimism that serious peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan might be possible, as the two sides issued a promise to “prepare the populations for peace”: eurasianet.org/armenia-and-az…
There did briefly appear to be some fruit from the attempts to “prepare the populations for peace,” with a small retreat from both sides on the contentious wars over the historical narratives of the conflict: eurasianet.org/on-emotional-a…
A few months later, though, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Karabakh and announced that “Karabakh is Armenia – period!” To Azerbaijanis, that was the last nail in the coffin of the peace process. eurasianet.org/pashinyan-call…
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s government has been increasingly casting doubt on Armenians’ own historical claim to the current territory of Armenia, by claiming that the area is “really” historically Turkic: eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-pre…
Even as relations deteriorated, there was a notable first last year: journalists from Armenia and Karabakh visited Azerbaijan, and vice versa. It could have gone worse: eurasianet.org/armenian-azerb…
Improbably, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan held a public debate on their conflict earlier this year in Munich. It couldn’t have gone much worse: eurasianet.org/armenian-azerb…
Still, ceasefire violations had been markedly down until recently. Part of the reason appeared to be the coronavirus: eurasianet.org/coronavirus-qu…
The two sides still managed to find more history to dispute: this time, who collaborated more with fascists during World War II. eurasianet.org/armenia-azerba…
Relatively heavy fighting broke out in July, the worst since 2016. eurasianet.org/fighting-betwe… And the respective stories that the two sides’ media told about the conflict were remarkably similar – just with the roles reversed: eurasianet.org/armenia-azerba…
Following the July fighting, there was an unprecedented level of interethnic conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis around the world, from Moscow to Los Angeles: eurasianet.org/fighting-betwe…
The events since the July fighting seemed to lead inexorably toward the outbreak of fighting that we are witnessing now: eurasianet.org/new-armenia-az… /end
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Karabakh announces move of parliament eurasianet.org/karabakh-annou… The move to the city Azerbaijanis consider their historical capital has been seen as a provocation in Baku.
So this post became more controversial than expected and it may need a little more explanation. The controversy was about one paragraph describing, very briefly, a bit of Shusha’s history, which I think was misinterpreted by many people on both sides.
This was not meant to be an authoritative assessment of each side’s historical claim to the city, but an explanation of why Azerbaijanis in particular feel attached to it and why they see the move as a big f--- you. Because that is what this particular story is about.
I'm intrigued by Aliyev's new teleconferencing setup. What is the point of this huge screen being set up so far away? Is this electronic social distancing?
Putin also doesn't use the simple webcam-and-laptop-screen setup that the rest of us plebes do, but this seems to be more ergonomically logical.
Curiously, I haven't been able to find any photos of Pashinyan videoconferencing, and if they exist they definitely are not published as often as I see those from Aliyev and Putin. (And he is a man who loves photos of himself being published.)
Azerbaijanis in lockdown send love letters to their president eurasianet.org/azerbaijanis-i… The trend is evocative of Azerbaijan’s Soviet past, when young pioneers wrote precocious letters to the editor about the nation’s astute leaders. @TamadaTales breaks it down.
Azerbaijani press keeps cranking this stuff out. "Citizens' letters: we are proud that we have such a president as you, who cares about the people and puts its health above everything else."
Oh boy. A new twitter account launches supposedly about the "Armenian Community of Azerbaijan." The first post is of a church which does in fact still stand in Baku. The second is of this wedding scene that appears to have taken place in the 70s or 80s...
In fact, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have been ethnically cleansed to the point where there is effectively no one of the other ethnicity remaining, except for some elderly widows.
Azerbaijan frequently talks about the 30,000 Armenians who supposedly live and thrive in Azerbaijan as evidence of their tolerance. But these Armenians are never seen. (Armenia, for its part, never even bothers to claim that any Azerbaijanis remain there.)
Comrades, I'm interested in your thoughts on the Caucasus entries in Eurovision. My personal favorite this year is the Azerbaijani one. Unlike most from the last few years, it's at least identifiable as Azerbaijan (if only the landscape in the video).
A bit odd to self-orientalize with the Egyptian theme, but it's catchy. Reminds me a bit of the great Turkish ones from the 80s and 90s.
The Georgian one is terrible, but I'm intrigued by the lyrics in the context of European integration: "You want me to be Italian, French, Spanish, German, I guess you don't want me."