Explainer: What is happening between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh?
Source:Reuters Date:20Sep2023
A cease-fire was declared in Nagorno-Karabagh between Armenian and Azeri authorities’. I doubt it will last. Baku is determined to take back the entire NK region. The fate of the Lachin Corridor is prominently featured in every article about the source of frictions. This primer explains the roots of the conflict:
Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh by Armenians, is a mountainous region at the southern end of the Karabakh mountain range, within Azerbaijan. It is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians. They have their own government which is close to Armenia but not officially recognised by Armenia or any other country.
Armenians, who are Christian, claim a long presence in the area, dating back to several centuries before Christ. Azerbaijan, whose inhabitants are mostly Turkic Muslims, also claims deep historical ties to the region, which over the centuries has come under the sway of Persians, Turks and Russians. Bloody conflict between the two peoples goes back more than a century.
But, it fails to mention the importance of Zangezur Corridor, which connects Azerbaijan to the autonomous Turkish republic of Nakhichevan, which has a border to Turkey. I think Baku will not stop attacking Armenian targets, until Zangezur is turned over to its control
This article explains the importance of the Zangezur Corridor
The Zangezur Corridor stands out as a strategic gateway in the South Caucasus. It is a transportation and trade route that connects Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with its motherland and includes Armenia in regional economic integration. The importance of the Zangezur Corridor should be evaluated together with the political, economic and security dynamics in the region. This is because Zangezur was a region with a predominantly Muslim Turkic population until the Soviet Union. When it was annexed to Armenia by the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the demographic structure of the region began to change.[1]