Post-Conflict Azerbaijan and Development for Peace

2021

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been living in a state of war for 30 years owing to unresolved territorial problems. The first large-scale hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan since the ceasefire signed in 1994 were observed in April 2016 and called the “four-day war.” Later, on July 12, 2020, the Armed Forces of Armenia, with the help of artillery and large-caliber weapons, attacked the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border in the direction of the village of Agdam, Tovuz region. A counter-offensive operation was carried out by Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces in response to the provocations of the Armenian side on September 27, 2020. The 44-day counter-offensive operation by the Azerbaijani Army ended on November 10 with Azerbaijan’s victory. The Second Karabakh War simultaneously caused great military, demographic and economic damage to Armenia, which will take decades to recover.

Due to its unprecedented scale, some commentators have termed the escalation of violence in early April along the Line of Contact in Nagorno-Karabakh the April War of 2016. In fact, the recent fighting saw an unprecedented involvement of heavy military technology – including tanks, armored vehicles, aviation, and drones – alongside hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of military personnel in multiple locations simultaneously. Having cost the lives of up to a hundred people on both sides of the frontline, the April War has challenged some common wisdoms that have held since the 1990s.

Artvin Çoruh University International Journal of Social Sciences, 2024

Both modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan were part of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to 1991. During that time, Nagorno-Karabakh, which had a multiethnic population mostly consisting of ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijani Turks, was officially controlled by Azerbaijan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia became independent states. Since then, the struggle between Azerbaijan and Armenia has remained on the status of Karabakh. In the first Karabakh War, Armenia gained the upper hand with the help of Russia over unprepared and isolated Azerbaijan. While Karabakh is legally considered part of Azerbaijan, this region was controlled mainly by Armenian-backed separatist governments. Over the past several decades, Azerbaijan has prepared itself well to regain lost territory by developing its economy, training military personnel, acquiring cutting-edge equipment, and building diplomatic assets. In the recent Karabakh War, Azerbaijan gained geopolitical advantages, outperformed its rival Armenia in almost every arena, and successfully liberated most of its lost territory. The Azerbaijani government has been working on rebuilding and reconstructing liberated territories under the new local administration of Karabakh.

Azerbaijan-Armenia on the Third Stage of Post-Conflict Reconciliation, 2021

Diplomatic arm-wrestling continues between the sides after 44 days of war, which resulted in the decisive victory of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus. After Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev`s statement that "we are ready to talk about the terms of the final peace agreement," the parties, having mostly completed the first two stages, are discussing the terms of the third stage of post-conflict reconciliation. But in the postwar period, on the one hand, mutual nervous clashes continue on the border of Azerbaijan-Armenia; on the other hand, diplomatic negotiations are carried on between the parties. First stage: Ending the Armenian occupation The November 10 declaration, which ended the 44-day war, is in fact not just a ceasefire declaration but an important document regarding the solution of the problem. Through this document, the liberation of more than 300 settlements by the Azerbaijani army was accepted by Armenia and, according to the second and sixth articles of the declaration, the decision was also made to withdraw from the remaining three regions (Agdam, Kalbajar, Lachin) occupied by Armenia. According to the fourth article, it was also decided to withdraw Armenian armed units from the regions that are under the control of Russian peacekeepers. The fifth article of the tripartite declaration established a monitoring center, operated jointly by Turkey and Russia, to observe the fulfillment of the ceasefire in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. In accordance with the eighth article, the parties exchanged the bodies of soldiers and returned captives. Azerbaijan returned the bodies of more than 1600 Armenian soldiers and repatriated 70 captives. In accordance with the sixth article, the Lachin corridor will be handed over to Azerbaijan and a new corridor will be constructed within the next three years. According to the seventh article of the declaration, it was decided that the return of IDPs should be carried out under UN supervision. According to President Ilham Aliyev, this issue will be resolved in time. One of the most important problems in terms of completing the first stage is that Armenia refuses to provide mine maps; and, although during Sergey Lavrov's last visit to Azerbaijan there was speculation that Armenia would present these maps, this issue has not yet been resolved. Another issue remaining from the first phase is the evaluation of the status of Armenian soldiers who entered the territory of Azerbaijan after the November 10 declaration and were flagged as terrorists, in accordance with international law, as they had violated the November 10 declaration and entered Azerbaijani territory, killing soldiers and civilians. The Armenian side claims that these soldiers are prisoners of war and that they should be returned as per the November 10 declaration.

Journal of Malay Islamic Studies, 2021

Every conflict and war has a prehistory , such as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of them. In the current scenario, the Nagorno-Karabakh has become the centre of international politics. The article focuses on the conflicts of Nagorno Karabakh, about its actual geo-location, integrity, and sovereignty. Also, in this study, we have tried to highlight the political agenda of the world's top leading countries like Russia and France was backed by Armenia. At the same time Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Israel supported Azerbaijan. On 10 th November 2020, after six weeks of fierce fighting, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to end the military operation over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, the ceasefire brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan has described the decision to agree on a ceasefire as 'painful' for him and their citizens, while Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has claimed victory. Perhaps, the objective of the full involvement of Turkey in this fight was to give a signal of emerging as a leading country in the Muslim World. The ceasefire was organized by Russia between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which keeps Turkey and western countries out of the final peace talk, which seems like Russia wants to show remains a dominant power and its impact in the South Caucasus.

"Baku Dialogues" by ADA University, 2021

Gulshan Pashayeva is a Board Member of the Baku-based Center of Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center) whose areas of expertise include conflict resolution and security studies, gender, and language policy issues. Spotlight on Normalization Armenian-Azerbaijani Relations in the Wake of the Second Karabakh War Gulshan Pashayeva M ore than half a year has passed since the end of the Second Karabakh War and the signing of the Moscow-brokered trilateral statement by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, and the President of the Russian Federation on a complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. These developments have ended the almost 30-year-long illegal Armenian occupation, restoring Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. They have also contributed to the ultimate implementation of numerous decisions and resolutions adopted by various international organizations, including four resolutions of the UN Security Council (822, 853, 874, and 884)

SİVİLİZASİYA, 2022

The conflicts between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which started with the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia in 1988, repeatedly emerged until 2020, and the ceasefires were established after the conflicts were short-lived. To solve this territorial problem between the two countries, the Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the USA, and France, was established, but mostly Russia carried out mediation activities. With the Second Nagorno Karabakh War, which lasted for 44 days, Azerbaijan returned most of the lands occupied by Armenia in the past. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Azerbaijan, which took its place in the international arena as a newly independent republic, has been governed by four presidents, including the current president Ilham Aliyev. The attitude of these presidents towards Russia has shaped the two countries' relations positively or negatively. The occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent acquisition of occupied lands were also affected by this. In this article, Azerbaijan's struggle in the region, from the 1st Nagorno- Karabakh War to the 2nd Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the formation and results of relations with Russia on this axis will be examined.

Consequences of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, 2021

Baku Dialogues 4 (3), 2021