Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenia and Azerbaijan Explained

By Gurpreet Multani

Armenia and Azerbaijan have had a long-standing struggle over a mountainous territory called Nagorno-Karabakh for over thirty years. This territory is recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but it is governed by Armenians. Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have had conflicts for centuries. A lot of the blame for this conflict rests on Joseph Stalin. During the reign of the USSR, Stalin placed Armenian occupied Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. But when the USSR collapsed, this region desired independence and with the help of Armenia they succeeded in driving out the Azerbaijan army.

Thousands of people were killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh war that started in the late 80s and ended in the early 90s. They had come to a ceasefire, but the tensions have lasted to this day about who really controls that land. Recently, Azerbaijan leader Serzh Sargsyan raised hopes of peace negotiations but Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was not interested in these negotiations. An election in Nagorno-Karabakh was viewed as a provocation in Azerbaijan which led to conflicts and a series of clashes that killed many people. Countries around Armenia and Azerbaijan are trying to mediate and put an end to this long conflict between their neighboring countries. It is still very early to tell where this fighting will go and who will get involved. All we can hope for is that larger countries such as Turkey and Iran can help mediate the conflict without getting caught up in the crossfire.