The causes of the conflict in the upland. Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Causes - Disaster History

Nagorno-Karabakh is the region in Transcaucasia, legally being the territory of Azerbaijan. At the time of the collapse of the USSR, a military clash arose here, since the vast majority of the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh have Armenian roots. The essence of the conflict is that Azerbaijan makes quite reasonable demands on this territory, but the region’s inhabitants are more inclined towards Armenia. On May 12, 1994, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh ratified the protocol establishing a ceasefire, resulting in an unconditional ceasefire in the conflict zone.

History tour

Armenian historical sources claim that Artsakh (the ancient Armenian name) was first mentioned in the VIII century BC. If you believe these sources, then Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Armenia in the early Middle Ages. As a result of the conquest wars of Turkey and Iran in this era, a significant part of Armenia came under the control of these countries. The Armenian principalities, or melikoms, at that time located on the territory of modern Karabakh, retained semi-independent status.

Azerbaijan takes its own point of view on this issue. According to local researchers, Karabakh is one of the most ancient historical regions of their country. The word “Karabakh” in Azerbaijani is translated as follows: “Gara” means black, and “bug” means garden. Already in the XVI century, together with other provinces, Karabakh was part of the Safavid state, and afterwards became an independent khanate.

Nagorno-Karabakh during the time of the Russian Empire

In 1805, the Karabakh khanate was subordinated to the Russian Empire, and in 1813, under the Gulistan peace treaty, Nagorno-Karabakh also became part of Russia. Then, under the Turkmenchay agreement, as well as the agreement concluded in the city of Edirne, the Armenians were relocated from Turkey and Iran and placed in the territories of Northern Azerbaijan, including Karabakh. Thus, the population of these lands is mainly of Armenian origin.

As part of the USSR

In 1918, the newly created Azerbaijan Democratic Republic gained control of Karabakh. Almost at the same time, the Republic of Armenia puts forward claims on this area, but the ADR does not recognize these claims. In 1921, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh with the rights of broad autonomy was included in the Azerbaijan SSR. Two years later, Karabakh receives the status of an autonomous region (NKAO).

In 1988, the Council of Deputies of the NKAR petitioned the authorities of the Azerbaijan SSR and the ArmSSR of the republics and proposed transferring the disputed territory to Armenia. This request was not granted, as a result of which a wave of protest swept through the cities of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. Solidarity demonstrations were also held in Yerevan.

Declaration of independence

In the early autumn of 1991, when the Soviet Union was already beginning to fall apart, a declaration was adopted in the NKAR proclaiming the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Moreover, besides the NKAR, a part of the territories of the former Azerbaijan SSR was included in its structure. According to the results of the referendum held on December 10 of the same year in Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 99% of the region’s population voted for complete independence from Azerbaijan.

It is quite obvious that the referendum was not recognized by the Azerbaijani authorities, and the act of proclamation was designated as illegal. Moreover, Baku decided to abolish the autonomy of Karabakh, which he possessed in Soviet times. However, the destructive process has already been launched.

Karabakh conflict

For the independence of the self-proclaimed republic, Armenian troops stood up, which Azerbaijan tried to resist. Nagorno-Karabakh received support from official Yerevan, as well as from the national diaspora in other countries, so the militia managed to defend the region. However, the Azerbaijani authorities still managed to establish control over several regions that were initially proclaimed part of the NKR.

Each of the warring parties gives its statistics of losses in the Karabakh conflict. Comparing these data, we can conclude that in the three years of clarification of relations 15-25 thousand people died. There were at least 25 thousand wounded, more than 100 thousand civilians were forced to leave their homes.

Peace settlement

The negotiations, during which the parties tried to resolve the conflict peacefully, began almost immediately after the independent NKR was proclaimed. For example, on September 23, 1991, a meeting was held, which was attended by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, as well as Russia and Kazakhstan. In the spring of 1992, the OSCE established a group to resolve the Karabakh conflict.

Despite all the attempts of the international community to stop the bloodshed, ceasefire was possible only in the spring of 1994. On May 5, the Bishkek Protocol was signed in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, after which the participants ceased fire a week later.

The parties to the conflict failed to agree on the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan demands respect for its sovereignty and insists on maintaining territorial integrity. The interests of the self-proclaimed republic are protected by Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh stands for the peaceful resolution of controversial issues, while the authorities of the republic emphasize that the NKR is able to stand up for its independence.

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The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. reference

(updated: 11:02 05/05/2009)

Fifteen years ago (1994), Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia signed the Bishkek Protocol on ceasefire on May 12, 1994 in the zone of the Karabakh conflict.

Fifteen years ago (1994), Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia signed the Bishkek Protocol on ceasefire on May 12, 1994 in the zone of the Karabakh conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in the Caucasus, de jure part of Azerbaijan. The population is 138 thousand people, the vast majority are Armenians. The capital is the city of Stepanakert. The population is about 50 thousand people.

According to Armenian open sources, Nagorno-Karabakh (the ancient Armenian name is Artsakh) was first mentioned in the inscription 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 Iran in the Middle Ages, the Armenian principalities (meliks) of Nagorno-Karabakh retained a semi-independent status.

According to Azerbaijani sources, Karabakh is one of the oldest historical regions of Azerbaijan. According to the official version, the term “Karabakh” appears in the 7th century and is interpreted as a combination of the Azerbaijani words “gara” (black) and “bug” (garden). Among other provinces of Karabakh (Ganja in Azerbaijani terminology) in the XVI century. was part of the Safavid state, later became an independent Karabakh khanate.

According to the Kurekchay Treaty of 1805, the Karabakh Khanate, as a Muslim-Azerbaijani land, was subordinated to Russia. IN 1813   under the Gulistan Peace Treaty, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Russia. In the first third of the XIX century, according to the Turkmenchay treaty and the Edirne treaty, the artificial placement of Armenians resettled from Iran and Turkey began in Northern Azerbaijan, including Karabakh.

On May 28, 1918, the independent state of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) was created in Northern Azerbaijan, which retained its political power over Karabakh. At the same time, the declared Armenian (Ararat) Republic put forward its claims in Karabakh that were not recognized by the ADR government. In January 1919, the ADR government created the Karabakh province, which included Shusha, Javanshir, Jebrail and Zangezur districts.

IN july 1921   By the decision of the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.), Nagorno-Karabakh was included in the Azerbaijan SSR as a broad autonomy. In 1923, on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was formed as part of Azerbaijan.

February 20, 1988   The extraordinary session of the regional Council of Deputies of the NKAR adopted the decision "On a petition to the Supreme Councils of the Azerbaijan SSR and ArmSSR on the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Republic from the AzSSR to the ArmSSR" The refusal of the allied and Azerbaijani authorities provoked demonstrations of protest by Armenians not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also in Yerevan.

On September 2, 1991, a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh Oblast and Shaumyan District Councils was held in Stepanakert. At the session, a Declaration on the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, Shaumyan region and part of the Khanlar region of the former Azerbaijan SSR was adopted.

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 in favor of complete independence from Azerbaijan.

During the conflict, regular Armenian units completely or partially captured seven regions, which Azerbaijan considered to be its own. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

At the same time, the Armenian side believes that part of Karabakh remains in the control of Azerbaijan - the villages of the Mardakert and Martuni regions, the entire Shaumyan district and Getashen subarea, as well as Nakhichevan.

In the description of the conflict, the parties give their figures on losses that differ from the data of the opposite side. According to consolidated data, the losses of both sides during the Karabakh conflict amounted to 15 to 25 thousand people killed, more than 25 thousand wounded, hundreds of thousands of civilians left their homes.

May 5, 1994   with the mediation of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia signed a protocol that went down in the history of the Karabakh conflict settlement as Bishkek, on the basis of which an agreement was reached on May 12.

On May 12 of the same year, a meeting was held between the Minister of Defense of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan (now President of Armenia), the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Mammadraffi Mammadov and the Commander of the NKR Defense Army Samvel Babayan, at which the parties confirmed their commitment to a ceasefire.

The negotiation process to resolve the conflict began in 1991. September 23, 1991in Zheleznovodsk a meeting of the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia took place. In March 1992, the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was established to resolve the Karabakh conflict, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France. In mid-September 1993, the first meeting of the representatives of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh took place in Moscow. Around the same time, a closed meeting was held in Moscow between the President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and the then Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, Robert Kocharian. Since 1999, regular meetings of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been held.

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

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Karabakh conflict

The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh located in the Armenian Highlands has an area of \u200b\u200b4.5 thousand square meters. kilometers.

The Karabakh conflict, which has become the cause of hatred and mutual hostility between once friendly nations, has its roots in the twenties of the last century. It was at this time that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, called today - Artsakh, turned into an apple of discord between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Even before the October Revolution, these two republics involved in the Karabakh conflict, together with neighboring Georgia, took part in territorial disputes. And in the spring of 1920, the current Azerbaijanis, whom the Russians called the "Caucasian Tatars", with the support of Turkish interventionists, massacred the Armenians, who at that time made up 94% of the total population of Artsakh. The main blow fell on the administrative center - the city of Shushi, where more than 25 thousand people were slaughtered. The Armenian part of the city was wiped off the face of the earth.

But the Azerbaijanis lost: by killing the Armenians, destroying Shushi, they, although they became masters in the region, got a completely destroyed farm, which had to be restored for more than a dozen years.

The Bolsheviks, not wanting to break out full-scale hostilities, recognize Artsakh as one of the parts of Armenia along with two regions - Zangezur and Nakhichevan.

However, Joseph Stalin, who in those years held the post of people's commissar for national affairs, under pressure from Baku and the then leader of the Turks - Ataturk, forcibly changes the status of the republic and transfers it to Azerbaijan.

This decision causes a storm of indignation and indignation among the Armenian population. In fact, it was it that provoked the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Almost a hundred years have passed since then. In subsequent years, Artsakh, being part of Azerbaijan, secretly continued to fight for its independence. Letters were sent to Moscow stating attempts by official Baku to erase all Armenians from this mountain republic, however, there was only one answer to all these complaints and requests for reunification with Armenia: "socialist internationalism."

The Karabakh conflict, the reasons for which lie in violation of the people's right to self-determination, arose against the backdrop of a very alarming situation. An open policy of eviction began in relation to the Armenians in 1988. The situation was heating up.

Meanwhile, official Baku developed its plan, according to which the Karabakh conflict was to be "resolved": in the city of Sumgayit, all the living Armenians were slaughtered in one night.

At the same time, multi-million rallies began in Yerevan, the main requirement of which was to consider the possibility of Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan, the answer to which was the rally in Kirovabad.

It was at this time that the first refugees appeared in the USSR, who left their homes in panic.

Thousands of people, mostly old people, came to Armenia, where camps were created for them throughout the territory.

The Karabakh conflict gradually grew into a real war. Volunteer detachments were created in Armenia, regular troops were sent from Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Famine began in the republic.

In 1992, the Armenians captured Lachin - the corridor between Armenia and Artsakh, putting an end to the blockade of the republic. At the same time, significant territories were captured in Azerbaijan itself.

The unrecognized republic of Artsakh after the collapse of the USSR held a referendum at which it was decided to declare its independence.

In 1994, a tripartite agreement on the cessation of hostilities was signed with the participation of Russia in Bishkek.

The Karabakh conflict to this day is one of the most tragic pages of reality. That is why both Russia and the entire world community are trying to resolve it peacefully.

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Disaster story. How did the conflict begin in Nagorno-Karabakh | History | Society

In the series of ethnic conflicts that swept the Soviet Union in the last years of its existence, Nagorno-Karabakh was the first. Adjustment policy launched Mikhail Gorbachev, was tested for strength by 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 plain and upland parts. The Azerbaijani population historically dominated in Plain Karabakh, and the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Wars, peace, wars again - that is how the peoples lived side by side, now at odds, now at peace. After the collapse of the Russian Empire, Karabakh became the scene of a fierce Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920. The confrontation, in which the 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 heated discussion, the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) Decided to leave Nagorno-Karabakh within the Azerbaijan SSR with the granting of broad regional autonomy to it.

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

Defrosting mutual insults

Over the years, Moscow has not paid attention to these subtleties. Attempts in the 1960s to raise the theme of the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Armenian SSR were harshly suppressed - then the central leadership considered that such nationalistic incentives should be stopped in the bud.

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

As long as the situation in the country as a whole remained stable, everything was calm in Nagorno-Karabakh too. Small skirmishes on national soil were not taken seriously by anyone.

The restructuring of Mikhail Gorbachev, among other things, “thawed” the discussion of previously forbidden topics. For nationalists, whose existence until now was only possible in a remote underground, this has become a real gift of fate.

It was in Chardakhlu

Big always starts with small. In the Shamkhor region of Azerbaijan there was an Armenian village of Chardakhly. During the Great Patriotic War, 1250 people left the village for the front. Of these, half were awarded orders and medals, two became marshals, twelve - generals, seven - Heroes of the Soviet Union.

In 1987 party committee secretary Asadov   decided to replace   Director of the local state farm Yegiyan   on the Azerbaijani leader.

The villagers were not even indignant at the removal of Yegiyan, who was accused of abuse, but about how it was done. Asadov acted rudely, impudently, offering the former director to "leave for Yerevan." In addition, the new director, according to locals, was "a barbecue with elementary education."

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 Asadov began to threaten the villagers.

From a letter from the residents of Chardakhly to the Prosecutor General of the USSR: “Each visit of Asadov to the village is accompanied by a detachment of police and a fire engine. There was no exception and the first of December. Arriving with the police detachment late in the evening, he forcibly gathered the Communists to hold the party meeting he needed. When he didn’t succeed, they began to beat the people, arrested and took 15 people on a pre-fitted bus. Among the beaten and arrested were participants and invalids of the Great Patriotic War ( Vartanyan V., Martirosyan X.,   Gabrielyan A.   etc.), milkmaids, advanced link ( Minasyan G.) and even former deputy of the Supreme Council SSR of many convocations Movsesyan M.

Not calmed down by his atrocities, the hated Asadov, on December 2, again with another large detachment of police organized another pogrom in his homeland marshal Baghramyan   on the day of his 90th birthday. This time, 30 people were beaten and arrested. Any racist from colonial countries can envy such sadism and lawlessness. ”

“We want to go to Armenia!”

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

“It will be the same with us if we do not join Armenia,” - who and when said this first, is not so important. The main thing is that already at the beginning of 1988, the official press organ of the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and the Council of People’s Deputies of the NKAO "Soviet Karabakh" began to print materials that supported this idea.

One after another, delegations of the Armenian intelligentsia traveled to Moscow. 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 fix it. In Moscow, in the light of the policy of perestroika, delegates were received, promising to study the issue. In Nagorno-Karabakh, this was perceived as the center’s readiness to support the transfer of the region of the Azerbaijan SSR.

The situation began to heat up. Slogans, especially from young people, sounded more radical. People far from politics began to fear for their safety. They began to look at the neighbors of another nationality with suspicion.

The leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR held a meeting of party and economic activists in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, stigmatizing "separatists" and "nationalists." The brand was, in general, correct, but, on the other hand, did not give answers to the question of how to live on. Among the partaktivnoy Nagorno-Karabakh, the majority supported calls for the transfer of the region to Armenia.

Politburo for all the good

The situation began to get out of control of the authorities. Since mid-February 1988, a rally was held almost non-stop on the central square of Stepanakert, the participants of which demanded the transfer of the NKAR to Armenia. Actions in support of this demand also began in Yerevan.

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the People’s Deputies of the NKAR appealed to the Supreme Councils of the Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of transferring the NKAR from Azerbaijan to Armenia: “Meeting the wishes of the NKAR workers, ask the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR and The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR to show a deep understanding of the aspirations of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and to resolve the issue of transferring the NKAR from the composition of the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR, one temporarily to apply to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of a positive decision, the transfer of Nagorny Karabakh from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR "

Every action gives rise to opposition. In Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan, mass rallies began to take place demanding to stop the attacks of Armenian extremists and keep Nagorno-Karabakh within the republic.

On February 21, the situation was considered at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. What Moscow decides was closely monitored by both sides of the conflict.

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

Probably, this was the essence of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy - general correct phrases about all good and against all bad. But the exhortations no longer helped. While the creative intelligentsia spoke at rallies and in print, on the ground more and more often the process was controlled by radicals.

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

The first blood and pogrom in Sumgait

The Shusha region of Nagorno-Karabakh was the only one in which the Azerbaijani population dominated. The situation here was fueled by rumors that in Yerevan and Stepanakert "they brutally kill Azerbaijani women and children." There was no real ground for these rumors, but they were enough to ensure that on February 22 an armed crowd of Azerbaijanis began a “campaign against Stepanakert” to “restore order”.

At Askeran settlement, distraught avengers were met by police cordons. It was not possible to enlighten 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 did not wait - in Sumgait, a satellite city of the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. At this time, people began to appear there, calling themselves “refugees from Karabakh” and telling about the horrors committed by the Armenians. In the stories of the "refugees" there was actually not a word of truth, but they heated the atmosphere.

Sumgayit, founded in 1949, was a multinational city - for decades Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians lived and worked here for decades ... Nobody was ready for what happened in the last days of February 1988.

It is believed that the last straw was the message on TV about the skirmish near Askeran, where two Azerbaijanis were killed. The rally in support of the preservation of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in Sumgait turned into an action in which the slogans “Death to the Armenians!” Began to sound.

Local authorities, law enforcement agencies could not stop what was happening. Pogroms began in the city, which lasted two days.

According to official figures, 26 Armenians died in Sumgait, hundreds were injured. They managed to stop the madness only after the introduction of troops. But here, everything turned out to be not so simple - at first the military was ordered to exclude the use of weapons. Only after the account of wounded soldiers and officers exceeded a hundred, patience snapped. Six Azerbaijanis were added to the dead Armenians, after which the riots ceased.

Exodus

The blood of Sumgait made ending the conflict in Karabakh an extremely difficult task. For Armenians, this pogrom was a reminder of the massacre in the Ottoman Empire that took place at the beginning of the 20th century. In Stepanakert they repeated: “See what they are doing? Can we stay in Azerbaijan after that? ”

Despite the fact that Moscow began to use tough measures, the logic in them was not visible. 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 Sumgait, the exodus of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Armenians from Azerbaijan began. Frightened people, abandoning everything they had acquired, fled from their neighbors, who suddenly became enemies.

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

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

The general crisis that began in the USSR distracted the attention of politicians from the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. None of the parties was ready to make concessions. By the beginning of 1990, illegal armed groups on both sides launched military operations, tens and hundreds of people were already killed and wounded.

Soldiers of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR on the streets of the city of Fizuli. The introduction of a state of emergency on the territory of the NKAR, the border regions of the Azerbaijan SSR. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Mikhalev

Hate education

Immediately after the August putsch of 1991, when the central government virtually ceased to exist, independence was declared not only by Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. 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 units of the internal troops of the already defunct Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR were withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh, no one could stop the massacre anymore.

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

For over a quarter of a century, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has existed as an unrecognized state. Azerbaijani authorities continue to declare their intention to regain control of the lost territories. Fighting of various intensities on the contact line flashes regularly.

On both sides people hate their eyes. Even a neutral commentary on a neighboring country is seen as a national betrayal. Children from an early age are inspired by the idea of \u200b\u200bwho is the main enemy who should be destroyed.

“Where and for what, neighbor,
So many troubles fell on us? ”

Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyanin 1909 he wrote the poem "A Drop of Honey." In Soviet times, it was well known to students in the translation of Samuel Marshak. Tumanyan, who died in 1923, could not know what would happen in Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of the 20th century. But this wise man, who knew the story well, in one poem showed how sometimes monstrous fratricidal conflicts arise from mere trifles. Do not be too lazy to find and read it completely, but we will give only its end:

... And the fire of war burned,
And two countries are ravaged
And there’s nobody to mow the field,
And no one to wear the dead.
And only death, ringing a scythe,
Wanders desert strip ...
Leaning at the gravestones
Living Alive says:
- Where and for what, neighbor,
So many troubles fell on us?
Here the story ends.
And if any of you
Ask the storyteller a question,
Who is more guilty here - a cat or a dog,
And is there really so much evil
Crazy fly brought, -
The people will answer for us:
There will be flies - there would be honey! ..

P.S.   The Armenian village of Chardakhlu, the birthplace of heroes, ceased to exist in late 1988. More than 300 families living in it moved to Armenia, where they settled in the village of Zorakan. Previously, this village was Azerbaijani, but with the onset of the conflict, its inhabitants became refugees, as did the inhabitants of Chardakhlu.

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The Karabakh conflict in a nutshell: the essence of the war and news from the front

On April 2, 2016, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia announced that the armed forces of Azerbaijan went on the offensive in the entire contact area with the defense army of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani side reported that hostilities began in response to shelling of its territory.

The press service of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) said that Azerbaijani troops went on the offensive in many sectors of the front, using large-caliber artillery, tanks and helicopters. Within a few days, Azerbaijani officials announced the occupation of several strategically important heights and settlements. In several sections of the front, the attacks were repelled by the NKR armed forces.

After several days of fierce fighting along the entire front line, military representatives of both sides met to discuss a ceasefire. It was reached on April 5, although, after this date, the ceasefire was repeatedly violated by both sides. However, in general, the situation at the front began to calm down. The Azerbaijani armed forces began to strengthen the positions recaptured from the enemy.

The Karabakh conflict is one of the oldest in the former USSR, Nagorno-Karabakh has become a hot spot even before the collapse of the country and has been in a state of frozen for more than twenty years. Why did he break out with renewed vigor today, what are the forces of the warring parties and what should be expected in the near future? Can this conflict develop into a full-scale war?

To understand what is happening in this region today, you should take a short excursion into history. This is the only way to understand the essence of this war.

Nagorno-Karabakh: background to the conflict

The Karabakh conflict has very long historical and ethnocultural roots; the situation in this region has become much more acute in the last years of the existence of the Soviet regime.

In ancient times, Karabakh was part of the Armenian kingdom, after its collapse, these lands became part of the Persian Empire. In 1813, Nagorno-Karabakh was annexed to Russia.

Bloody interethnic conflicts took place here more than once, the most serious of which occurred during the weakening of the metropolis: in 1905 and 1917. After the revolution in Transcaucasia, three states appeared: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, which included Karabakh. However, this fact absolutely did not suit the Armenians, who at that time made up the majority of the population: the first war began in Karabakh. The Armenians won a tactical victory, but suffered a strategic defeat: the Bolsheviks included Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

In the Soviet period, peace was maintained in the region, the issue of transferring Karabakh to Armenia was periodically raised, but did not find support from the country's leadership. Any manifestations of dissatisfaction were severely suppressed. In 1987, the first clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began in Nagorno-Karabakh, which led to human casualties. Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO) are asking to join them in Armenia.

In 1991, the creation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) was proclaimed and a large-scale war with Azerbaijan began. The fighting took place until 1994, at the front, the parties used aircraft, armored vehicles, heavy artillery. On May 12, 1994, a ceasefire agreement entered into force, and the Karabakh conflict goes into a frozen phase.

The result of the war was the actual gaining of independence by the NKR, as well as the occupation of several regions of Azerbaijan adjacent to the border with Armenia. In fact, in this war Azerbaijan suffered a crushing defeat, did not achieve its goals and lost part of its ancestral territories. Such a situation absolutely did not suit Baku, which for many years built its domestic policy on the desire for revenge and the return of lost lands.

The alignment of forces at the moment

In the last war, Armenia and NKR won, Azerbaijan lost territory and was forced to admit defeat. For many years, the Karabakh conflict was in a frozen state, which was accompanied by periodic skirmishes on the front line.

However, during this period, the economic situation of the warring countries changed dramatically, today Azerbaijan has a much more serious military potential. Over the years of high oil prices, Baku has managed to modernize the army and equip it with the latest weapons. Russia has always been the main supplier of weapons to Azerbaijan (this caused serious irritation in Yerevan), and modern weapons were also purchased in Turkey, Israel, Ukraine and even South Africa. The resources of Armenia did not allow it to qualitatively strengthen the army with new weapons. In Armenia, and even in Russia, many thought that this time the conflict would end in the same way as in 1994 - that is, the flight and defeat of the enemy.

If in 2003 Azerbaijan spent $ 135 million on the armed forces, then in 2018 the costs should exceed $ 1.7 billion. The peak of Baku’s military spending fell in 2013, when $ 3.7 billion was allocated for military needs. For comparison: the entire state budget of Armenia in 2018 amounted to $ 2.6 billion.

Today, the total strength of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces is 67 thousand people (57 thousand people are ground forces), another 300 thousand are in reserve. It should be noted that in recent years the army of Azerbaijan has been reformed according to the Western model, moving to NATO standards.

The ground forces of Azerbaijan are assembled in five corps, which include 23 brigades. Today, the Azerbaijani army has more than 400 tanks (T-55, T-72 and T-90), and from 2010 to 2014 Russia delivered 100 of the latest T-90s. The number of armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles is 961 units. Most of them are products of the Soviet military-industrial complex (BMP-1, BMP-2, BTR-69, BTR-70 and MT-LB), but there are also the latest Russian and foreign vehicles (BMP-3, BTR-80A, armored cars produced Turkey, Israel and South Africa). Part of the Azerbaijani T-72 modernized by the Israelis.

Azerbaijan possesses almost 700 artillery pieces, among which there are both towed and self-propelled artillery, this also includes rocket artillery. Most of them were obtained during the division of Soviet military property, but there are newer models: 18 self-propelled guns "Msta-S", 18 self-propelled guns 2S31 "Vienna", 18 MLRS "Smerch" and 18 TOS-1A "Solntsepek". Separately, it should be noted the Israeli Lynx MLRS (caliber 300, 166 and 122 mm), which in their characteristics surpass (primarily in accuracy) their Russian counterparts. In addition, Israel delivered the Azerbaijani Armed Forces 155 mm self-propelled guns SOLTAM Atmos. Most of the towed artillery is represented by Soviet D-30 howitzers.

Antitank artillery is mainly represented by the Soviet MT-12 Rapira anti-tank missile system, and also are armed with Soviet-made ATGMs (Malyutka, Konkurs, Fagot, Metis) and foreign production (Israel - Spike, Ukraine - Skif "). In 2014, Russia delivered several self-propelled Chrysanthemum ATGMs.

Russia supplied Azerbaijan with serious sapper equipment that can be used to overcome the enemy’s fortified bands.

Also from Russia were received air defense systems: S-300PMU-2 Favorit (two divisions) and several Tor-M2E batteries. There are old Shilka and about 150 Soviet complexes Krug, Osa and Strela-10. There is also a Buk-MB and Buk-M1-2 air defense division transferred by Russia and an Israeli-made Barak 8 air defense division.

There are tactical complexes "Tochka-U", which were purchased from Ukraine.

We should also mention unmanned aerial vehicles, among which there are even drums. Azerbaijan purchased them from Israel.

The country's air force is armed with Soviet MiG-29 fighters (16 units), MiG-25 interceptors (20 units), Su-24 and Su-17 bombers, and Su-25 attack aircraft (19 units). In addition, the Azerbaijani Air Force has 40 L-29 and L-39 trainers, 28 Mi-24 attack helicopters and Mi-8 and Mi-17 transport and combat helicopters delivered by Russia.

Armenia has a much smaller military potential, due to its more modest share in the Soviet “legacy”. And with finances, Yerevan is much worse - there are no oil fields on its territory.

After the end of the war in 1994, large funds were allocated from the Armenian state budget for the creation of fortifications along the entire front line. The total number of ground forces in Armenia today is 48 thousand people, another 210 thousand are in reserve. Together with the NKR, the country can expose about 70 thousand soldiers, which is comparable with the army of Azerbaijan, but the technical equipment of the Armenian armed forces is clearly inferior to the enemy.

The total number of Armenian tanks is just over a hundred units (T-54, T-55 and T-72), armored vehicles - 345, most of them were made at the factories of the USSR. Armenia has practically no money to modernize the army. Russia gives her its old weapons and gives loans for the purchase of weapons (of course, Russian).

Armenian air defense has five S-300PS divisions in service, there is information that the Armenians maintain the equipment in good condition. There are older models of Soviet technology: S-200, S-125 and S-75, as well as Shilka. Their exact number is unknown.

The Armenian Air Force consists of 15 Su-25 attack aircraft, Mi-24 helicopters (11 units) and Mi-8, as well as multi-purpose Mi-2s.

It should be added that in Armenia (the city of Gyumri) there is a Russian military base on which the MiG-29 and the S-300V air defense system are deployed. In the event of an attack on Armenia, according to the CSTO treaty, Russia must help the ally.

Caucasian knot

Today, the situation in Azerbaijan looks much more preferable. The country managed to create a modern and very strong armed forces, which was proved in April 2018. It is not clear what will happen next: Armenia is beneficial to maintain the current situation, in fact, it controls about 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan. However, this is not too profitable for Baku.

Attention should be paid to the domestic political aspects of the April events. After the fall in oil prices, Azerbaijan is experiencing an economic crisis, and the best way to pacify the discontented at such a time is to start a “small victorious war”. In Armenia, business in the economy is traditionally bad. So for the Armenian leadership, war is also a very suitable way to refocus the attention of the people.

The number of armed forces on both sides is approximately comparable, but in their organization the army of Armenia and NKR lagged behind modern armed forces for decades. Events at the front clearly showed this. The opinion that the high Armenian morale and the difficulties of waging war in the highlands would equalize everything turned out to be erroneous.

The Israeli Lynx MLRS (300 mm caliber and 150 km range) are superior in accuracy and range to everything that has been done in the USSR and is now being produced in Russia. In conjunction with Israeli drones, the Azerbaijani army was able to deliver powerful and deep strikes at enemy targets.

The Armenians, having launched their counteroffensive, could not dislodge the enemy from all their positions.

With a high degree of probability, we can say that the war will not end. Azerbaijan demands the liberation of the areas surrounding Karabakh, but the Armenian leadership cannot do this. For him, this will be a political suicide. Azerbaijan feels like a winner and wants to continue the fighting. Baku has shown that it has a formidable and combat-ready army that can win.

Armenians are angry and confused, they demand to recapture the lost territories from the enemy at any cost. In addition to the myth of the superiority of its own army, another myth crashed: about Russia as a reliable ally. Over the past years, Azerbaijan has received the latest Russian weapons, and only the old Soviet ones were delivered to Armenia. In addition, it turned out that Russia was not eager to fulfill its obligations under the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

For Moscow, the state of the frozen conflict in the NKR was an ideal situation that allowed it to exert its influence on both sides of the conflict. Of course, Yerevan was more dependent on Moscow. Armenia has almost been squeezed surrounded by unfriendly countries, and if opposition supporters come to power in Georgia this year, it may be completely isolated.

There is one more factor - Iran. In the last war, he sided with the Armenians. But this time the situation may change. Iran has a large Azerbaijani diaspora, which the leadership of the country cannot ignore.

Recently, negotiations were held in Vienna between the presidents of the countries with the mediation of the United States. An ideal solution for Moscow would be the introduction of its own peacekeepers into the conflict zone, this would further strengthen Russian influence in the region. Yerevan will agree to this, but what needs to be offered to Baku to support such a move?

The worst development for the Kremlin will be the start of a full-scale war in the region. Having the liabilities of Donbass and Syria, Russia may simply not pull another armed conflict on its periphery.

Video on the Karabakh conflict

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The essence and history of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh

Over 25 years, Nagorno-Karabakh remains one of the most potentially explosive points in the South Caucasus. Today there is a war going on again - Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of escalation. Read the conflict history in Sputnik Help.

TBILISI, Apr 3 - Sputnik.   The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal 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 different points of view 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. included in the political and cultural sphere of Assyria and Urartu. It is first mentioned in 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 (meliks) of Nagorno-Karabakh retained a semi-independent status. In the XVII-XVIII centuries, the Artsakh princes (meliks) led the liberation struggle of the Armenians against the Shah of Persia and Sultan Turkey.

According to Azerbaijani sources, Karabakh is one of the oldest historical regions of Azerbaijan. According to the official version, the term “Karabakh” appears in the 7th century and is interpreted as a combination of the Azerbaijani words “gara” (black) and “bug” (garden). Among other provinces of Karabakh (Ganja in Azerbaijani terminology) in the 16th century it was part of the Safavid state, later it became an independent Karabakh khanate.

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

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

How the war began

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the regional Council of Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region adopted a decision “On a petition to the Supreme Soviets of the Azerbaijan SSR and the ArmSSR for the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Republic from the structure of the Azerbaijan SSR to the ArmSSR”.

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

On September 2, 1991, a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional and Shaumyan district councils was adopted in Stepanakert, which adopted the Declaration on the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, Shaumyan District and part of the Khanlar District 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 declared this act illegal and abolished the autonomy of Karabakh that existed in the Soviet years. Following this, an armed conflict began, during which Azerbaijan tried to keep 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

Losses of both sides during the Karabakh conflict amounted, according to various sources, to 25 thousand people killed, more than 25 thousand were injured, hundreds of thousands of civilians left their homes, more than four thousand people are missing.

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

Conversation

On May 5, 1994, with the mediation of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, 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 to 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 Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to resolve 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 of the leaders of the two countries have been held. The last meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan as part 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 the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, called the Madrid, 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.

sputnik-georgia.ru

Nagorno-Karabakh: causes of conflict

The war in Nagorno-Karabakh is inferior in scale
  Chechen: it killed about 50,000 people, but the duration
  this conflict surpasses all the Caucasian wars of recent decades.   So,
  today it is worth remembering why Nagorno-Karabakh has become known throughout the world, the essence and causes of the conflict and what latest news is known from this region.

Background to the Nagorno-Karabakh war

The background of the Karabakh conflict is very long, but
  briefly its reason can be expressed as follows: Azerbaijanis, who are
  Muslims, since ancient times began to argue over the territory with the Armenians, who are
  Christians. It is difficult for the average man to understand the essence of the conflict, since
  kill each other because of nationality and religion in the 20-21 century, yes, as well as
because of the territory - complete idiocy. Well, you do not like the state, within
  whom you ended up, pack your bags, go to Tula or Krasnodar with tomatoes
  to trade - you are always welcome there. Why war, why blood?

Scoop is to blame

Once upon a time under the USSR, Nagorno-Karabakh was included in
  Azerbaijan SSR. By mistake or not by mistake, it doesn’t matter, but paper on the ground
  was with the Azerbaijanis. Probably could have agreed peacefully, dance
  collective lezginka and treat each other with a watermelon. But it was not there. Armenians
  they didn’t want to live in Azerbaijan, to adopt its language and legislation. But also
  dumping tomatoes in Tula or in your Armenia is not very
  were going. Their argument was iron and quite traditional: “they lived here
  Didi! ”

Azerbaijanis to give
  they didn’t want their territory either, they also had didos there, and even paper on
  the land was. Therefore, they did exactly the same as Poroshenko in Ukraine, Yeltsin
  in Chechnya and Snegur in Transnistria. That is, they introduced troops for guidance
  constitutional order and protecting the integrity of borders. The first channel, I would call
  it is a Bandera punitive operation or an invasion of blue fascists. By the way
  well-known hotbeds of separatism and wars actively fought on the Armenian side -
  Russian Cossacks.

In general, Azerbaijanis started shooting at Armenians, and Armenians at
  Azerbaijanis. God sent a sign to Armenia in those years - the Spitak earthquake, in
  which killed 25,000 people. Well, sort of like, the Armenians would have taken, but left
  to the vacated place, but they still really did not want to give land
  to Azerbaijanis. And so they shot each other for almost 20 years, signed
  all sorts of agreements, they stopped shooting, and then they started again. Last
  news from Nagorno-Karabakh is still periodically full of headlines about shootings,
  killed and wounded, that is, although there is no great war, it smolders. Here in 2014
  with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group, together with the USA and France, the process on
  settlement of this war. But even this didn’t bear much fruit - the point continues
  stay hot.

Probably everyone guesses what is in this conflict and
  Russian trace. Russia really could have long ago resolved the conflict in
  Nagorno-Karabakh, but it is not profitable for her. Formally, she recognizes boundaries
  Azerbaijan, but it helps Armenia - as duplicitously as in Transnistria!

Both states are very dependent on Russia and lose this
the Russian government does not want dependence. In both countries are located
  Russian military facilities - in Armenia, the base in Gyumri, and in Azerbaijan -
  Gabala radar. Russian Gazprom deals with both countries, purchasing gas
  for deliveries to the EU. And if one of
  countries from under Russian influence, so it will be able to become independent and
  rich, why good things will join NATO or hold a gay parade. Russia therefore
  very interested in the weak CIS countries, that’s where they support death, war
  and conflicts.

But as soon as the power changes, Russia will unite with
  Azerbaijan and Armenia within the EU, tolerance will come in all countries,
  Muslims, Christians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Russians will hug each other and will
  go to visit each other.

In the meantime, the percentage of hatred towards each other among Azerbaijanis and
  Armenians just rolls over. Sign up for a VK account with an Armenian or Azeri,
  talk and just marvel at how serious the split is.

I want to believe that maybe even after 2-3 generations this
  hatred will fade away.

On the night of April 2, an aggravation of the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region was recorded. The countries accuse each other of violating the truce. How did the conflict begin and why have long-standing disputes not ceased around Nagorno-Karabakh?

Where is Nagorno-Karabakh located?

Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed region on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was founded on September 2, 1991. The estimated population for 2013 is more than 146,000 people. The vast majority of believers are Christians. The capital and largest city is Stepanakert.

How did the confrontation begin?
   At the beginning of the XX century, mainly Armenians lived in the region. It was then that the area became the site of bloody Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes. In 1917, due to the revolution and collapse of the Russian Empire in Transcaucasia, three independent states were proclaimed, including the Republic of Azerbaijan, which included the Karabakh region. However, the Armenian population of the region refused to obey the new authorities. In the same year, the First Congress of Karabakh Armenians elected its own government - the Armenian National Council.
The conflict between the parties continued until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan. In 1920, Azerbaijani troops occupied the territory of Karabakh, but after a couple of months, the resistance of the Armenian armed forces was suppressed thanks to Soviet troops.
In 1920, the population of Nagorno-Karabakh was granted the right to self-determination, but de jure the territory continued to submit to the authorities of Azerbaijan. Since that time, not only mass riots broke out in the region, but also armed clashes.
   In 1987, dissatisfaction with the socio-economic policies of the Armenian population increased sharply. The measures taken by the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR did not affect the situation. Mass strikes of students began, and in the large city - Stepanakert - thousands of nationalist rallies were held.
   Many Azerbaijanis, evaluating the situation, decided to leave the country. On the other hand, Armenian pogroms began to take place everywhere in Azerbaijan, as a result of which a huge number of refugees appeared.
   The regional council of Nagorno-Karabakh decided to secede from Azerbaijan. In 1988, an armed conflict began between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The territory got out of control of Azerbaijan, however, a decision on its status was postponed indefinitely.
   In 1991, hostilities began in the area with numerous casualties on both sides. An agreement on a complete ceasefire and a settlement of the situation was reached only in 1994 with the help of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in Bishkek.

When did the conflict escalate?
   It should be noted that the relatively recent conflict over many years in Nagorno-Karabakh again reminded of itself. This happened in August 2014. Then clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border occurred between the military of the two countries. Both sides killed more than 20 people.

What is happening now in Nagorno-Karabakh?
   On the night of April 2, the conflict intensified. The Armenian and Azerbaijani sides accuse each other of his escalation.
   Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announces shelling by the Armenian armed forces using mortars and heavy machine guns. It is alleged that over the past day, the Armenian military violated the ceasefire 127 times.
   In turn, the Armenian military department says that the Azerbaijani side took "active offensive operations" on the night of April 2 using tanks, artillery and aviation.

Are there any casualties?
   Yes there is. However, the data on them vary. According to the official version of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as a result of hostilitiesdied at least 30 soldiers and 3 civilians. The number of wounded, both civilian and military, has not yet been officially confirmed.

On the night of April 2, 2016 in Nagorno-Karabakh, on the contact line of the conflicting parties, fierce clashes of the Armenian and NKR military with the Azerbaijani army took place, the parties accused each other of violating the ceasefire. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as a result of the fighting on April 2-3, at least 33 people (18 Armenian soldiers, 12 Azerbaijani and 3 civilians) were killed and more than 200 were injured.

On April 5, the conflicting parties agreed to cease fire from 11:00 Moscow time.

Region Data

Nagorno-Karabakh is an administrative-territorial entity located in the Transcaucasus between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Self-proclaimed republic, not recognized by any UN member state. Territory - 4.4 thousand square meters. km, population - 148 thousand 900 people, the vast majority are Armenians. The administrative center is Stepanakert (Khankendi - azerb. Variant of the name of the city). Since 1921, the region as an administrative-territorial unit was part of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic on the basis of broad autonomy. In 1923, received the status of an autonomous region (NKAO) as part of the Azerbaijan SSR. The region has long been the subject of a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to the 1926 census, the share of Armenians among the population of Nagorno-Karabakh was 94% (out of 125.2 thousand people), according to the last Soviet census of 1989 - 77% (out of 189 thousand). In the Soviet period, Armenia repeatedly raised the issue of transferring Nagorno-Karabakh to its jurisdiction, but did not receive the support of Moscow.

Continuation

Start of conflict

In 1987, a campaign to collect signatures for reunification with Armenia began in Nagorno-Karabakh. In early 1988, 75 thousand signatures were transferred to the Central Committee of the CPSU, which caused an extremely negative reaction from the authorities of the Azerbaijan SSR.

On February 20, 1988, the NKAO regional council appealed to the Supreme Council (AF) of the USSR and the Supreme Councils of the Azerbaijan and Armenian Union Republics with a request to consider the issue of transferring the region to Armenia. The Soviet leadership regarded this request as a manifestation of nationalism. In June of the same year, the Armenian Armed Forces agreed to join the NKAR in the republic, Azerbaijan, in turn, declared this decision illegal.

On July 12, 1988, the regional council of Nagorno-Karabakh announced its secession from Azerbaijan. In response, on July 18, the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces adopted a resolution stating that it was impossible to transfer the NKAR to Armenia.

Since September 1988, armed clashes began between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, which turned into a protracted conflict. In January 1989, by decision of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, direct control by the allied leadership was introduced in the NKAO. On December 1, 1989, the Soviets of the Armenian SSR and NKAO adopted a resolution on the "reunification" of the republic and the region. However, in January 1990, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared it unconstitutional.

In early 1990, artillery battles began on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. On January 15, 1990, Moscow introduced a state of emergency in the NKAR and adjacent areas. In April-May 1991, the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and parts of the Soviet army carried out the operation "Ring" in the region with the goal of disarming "Armenian illegal armed groups."

Armed conflict 1991-1994

On August 30, 1991, a declaration was adopted on the restoration of independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Azerbaijan.

On September 2, 1991, at the joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional and Shaumyan District Council, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) was proclaimed as part of the USSR. It included the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, the Shaumyan district and later - part of the Khanlar region of Azerbaijan. This marked the beginning of an open armed confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan for control of the region in 1991-1994. The Karabakh conflict was the first major armed confrontation in the territory of the post-Soviet space.

On December 10, 1991, at a referendum on the status of NKR, 99.98% of its members supported the independence of the region, but neither the Soviet leadership nor the international community recognized the results of the plebiscite.

On December 19-27, 1991, in connection with the collapse of the Soviet Union, internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs were withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation in the conflict zone is completely out of control. On January 6, 1992, the NKR Armed Forces adopted the Declaration "On State Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic."

The fighting escalated in May 1992, when the self-defense units of Karabakh took control of the city of Shusha, from which the Azerbaijani troops regularly conducted a bombardment of Stepanakert and surrounding villages.

At the beginning of the conflict, NKR was surrounded on almost all sides by Azerbaijani regions, which allowed Azerbaijan to establish an economic blockade of the region back in 1989. On May 18, 1992, Armenian forces broke through the blockade in the region of Lachin, establishing communication between Karabakh and Armenia ("Lachin corridor"). In turn, in the summer of 1992, Azerbaijani troops established control over the northern part of the NKR. In the spring of 1993, with the support of Armenia, the “Defense Army of Karabakh” was able to create a second corridor linking the NKR with the republic.

In 1994, the NKR defense forces established practical complete control over autonomy (92.5% of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region), and also completely or partially occupied seven border regions of Azerbaijan (8% of the territory of Azerbaijan). In turn, Azerbaijan retained control over part of the Martuni, Martakert and Shaumyan districts of the NKR (15% of the declared territory of the NKR). According to various estimates, the losses of the Azerbaijani side during the conflict were from 4 to 11 thousand killed, the Armenian from 5 to 6 thousand people. Wounded on both sides are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of civilians have become refugees.

Negotiation process

Attempts to resolve the conflict peacefully have been undertaken since 1991.

On September 23, 1991, in Zheleznovodsk (Stavropol Territory), the leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a communiqué on ways to achieve peace in Karabakh. In March 1992, at the initiative of Moscow, the OSCE Minsk Group was established, which included representatives of 12 countries. The co-chairs of the group were Russia, the USA and France.

On May 5, 1994, with the mediation of Russia and Kyrgyzstan, an armistice and ceasefire agreement, known as the Bishkek Protocol, was concluded between the parties to the conflict. The document entered into force on May 12, 1994. The truce was observed without the intervention of peacekeepers and the participation of third countries.

On November 29, 2007, the OSCE Minsk Group prepared proposals on the basic principles for resolving the conflict (Madrid Document). Among them: the return to Azerbaijan of territories captured during the armed conflict; Granting to Nagorno-Karabakh an intermediate status providing guarantees of security and self-government; providing a corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and others.

Since June 2008, meetings of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, have been regularly held on the peaceful settlement of the conflict. The last, 19th meeting was held on December 19, 2015 in Bern (Switzerland).

Positions of the parties

Baku insists on restoring territorial integrity, returning refugees and internally displaced persons to Nagorno-Karabakh. Only after that Azerbaijan intends to start negotiations on determining the status of the NKR. Azerbaijani authorities are ready to provide the region with autonomy within the republic. At the same time, the republic refuses to conduct direct negotiations with Nagorno-Karabakh.

For Armenia, the priority issue is the self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh (the return to Azerbaijan is excluded) and the further recognition of its status by the international community.

Incidents after the Armistice

Since the signing of the Bishkek Protocol in 1994, the parties to the conflict have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire, there were local incidents with firearms at the border, but in general the ceasefire continued.

In late July - early August 2014, the situation in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict sharply worsened. According to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, in the summer of 2014, 13 servicemen of the Azerbaijani army were killed and there were wounded. Official data on losses from the Armenian side were not published. In November 2014, according to the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, a Mi-24 combat helicopter of the Nagorno-Karabakh defense army was shot down by the Azerbaijani side in a conflict zone during a training flight. The helicopter crew died. In turn, the Azerbaijani military claimed that the helicopter attacked their positions and was destroyed by return fire. After this incident, shelling again began on the contact line, and deaths and injuries were reported from both sides. In 2015, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense repeatedly reported on Armenian drones shot down over the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces. The Armenian Ministry of Defense denied this information.

For the first time in 22 years, the “frozen” conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has a real opportunity to develop into a full-scale war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a result of the war in the early 90s, about 30 thousand people died, almost a million were refugees. Ruposters presents a selection of rare photographs of interethnic conflict in the post-Soviet Transcaucasus.

The territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh since the IV century BC was part of the first Armenian kingdom, then - Greater Armenia. After 500 years of being under Arab influence, Karabakh again for a long time (from the 9th to the 18th centuries) became a part of Armenian state formations. In 1813, the territory became part of the Russian Empire.

Khojavend, 1993

USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev was criticized by all parties to the conflict: both Azerbaijanis (and this despite the Gorbachev statement in July 1990 that "the patience of the Azerbaijani people is endless") and Armenians (local media published "data" on the Turkic origin of the mother of the head of the USSR).

The result of shelling "City" of the city of Martakert, 1992

Armenian clergyman

Grandmother-Azerbaijani and Armenian fighter, 1993

Numerous foreign mercenaries took part in the Karabakh war (1992-1994). Armenia in the war was supported mainly by representatives of the large Armenian diaspora - in particular, fighters from the Dashnaktsutyun party.

On the side of Azerbaijan, Chechen warlords Basayev, Raduyev and Arab Khattab fought (the Azerbaijani colonel testifies: "About a hundred Chechen volunteers led by Shamil Basayev and Salman Raduev provided invaluable assistance. But even because of heavy losses, they were forced to leave the battlefield and leave "). According to Western sources, Azerbaijan has attracted several hundred Mujahideen from Afghanistan and the Turkish Gray Wolves.

106-year-old Armenian woman, Tech village, January 1, 1990

The outbreak of war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the 90s was not the first armed conflict over the disputed territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the 20th century. The largest clashes were in 1918-1921, when Azerbaijan did not recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. It all ended only in 1921, with the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus. Then the disputed territory was cut to the Azerbaijan SSR. Riots in Karabakh continually flared up throughout the Soviet period.

Losses on both sides during the war of 1992-1994 amounted to approximately 30 thousand people. The Azerbaijani authorities estimated their losses at about 20 thousand people - military and civilian. Another 1 million people have allegedly become refugees.

Guarded pickers

Cemetery in Stepanakert, 1994

Boy with a Toy Gun, Stepanakert, 1994

Following the war, Nagorno-Karabakh gained de facto independence from Azerbaijan. At the same time, the territorial structure of the unrecognized republic is rather specific: almost 14% of the former Azerbaijan SSR fell into the NKR and at the same time, Azerbaijan still controls 15% of the declared territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani writers Shikhly and Semedoglu

The events of February 1992 in the city of Khojaly became one of the blackest pages of the war. After the city was taken by the NKR self-defense forces, from 180 (data from the Humans Rights Watch) to 613 civilians of Azerbaijan died (according to the authorities of Azerbaijan). Some sources suggest that these events could become a “retaliation action” for the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait (1988) and Baku (1990), according to various estimates, from several dozen to several hundred people became victims.

Camping, 1992

Stepanakert, 1992

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In the series of ethnic conflicts that swept the Soviet Union in the last years of its existence, Nagorno-Karabakh was the first. Adjustment policy launched Mikhail Gorbachev, was tested for strength by 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 plain and upland parts. The Azerbaijani population historically dominated in Plain Karabakh, and the Armenian population in Nagorny.

Wars, peace, wars again - that is how the peoples lived side by side, now at odds, now at peace. After the collapse of the Russian Empire, Karabakh became the scene of a fierce Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920. The confrontation, in which the 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 heated discussion, the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) Decided to leave Nagorno-Karabakh within the Azerbaijan SSR with the granting of broad regional autonomy to it.

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

Defrosting mutual insults

Over the years, Moscow has not paid attention to these subtleties. Attempts in the 1960s to raise the theme of the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Armenian SSR were harshly suppressed - then the central leadership considered that such nationalistic incentives should be stopped in the bud.

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

As long as the situation in the country as a whole remained stable, everything was calm in Nagorno-Karabakh too. Small skirmishes on national soil were not taken seriously by anyone.

The restructuring of Mikhail Gorbachev, among other things, “thawed” the discussion of previously forbidden topics. For nationalists, whose existence until now was only possible in a remote underground, this has become a real gift of fate.

It was in Chardakhlu

Big always starts with small. In the Shamkhor region of Azerbaijan there was an Armenian village of Chardakhly. During the Great Patriotic War, 1250 people left the village for the front. Of these, half were awarded orders and medals, two became marshals, twelve - generals, seven - Heroes of the Soviet Union.

In 1987 party committee secretary Asadov   decided to replace   Director of the local state farm Yegiyan   on the Azerbaijani leader.

The villagers were not even indignant at the removal of Yegiyan, who was accused of abuse, but about how it was done. Asadov acted rudely, impudently, offering the former director to "leave for Yerevan." In addition, the new director, according to locals, was "a barbecue with elementary education."

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 Asadov began to threaten the villagers.

From a letter from the residents of Chardakhly to the Prosecutor General of the USSR: “Each visit of Asadov to the village is accompanied by a detachment of police and a fire engine. There was no exception and the first of December. Arriving with the police detachment late in the evening, he forcibly gathered the Communists to hold the party meeting he needed. When he didn’t succeed, they began to beat the people, arrested and took 15 people on a pre-fitted bus. Among the beaten and arrested were participants and invalids of the Great Patriotic War ( Vartanyan V., Martirosyan X.,   Gabrielyan A.   etc.), milkmaids, advanced link ( Minasyan G.) and even former deputy of the Supreme Council SSR of many convocations Movsesyan M.

Not calmed down by his atrocities, the hated Asadov, on December 2, again with another large detachment of police organized another pogrom in his homeland marshal Baghramyan   on the day of his 90th birthday. This time, 30 people were beaten and arrested. Any racist from colonial countries can envy such sadism and lawlessness. ”

“We want to go to Armenia!”

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

“It will be the same with us if we do not join Armenia,” - who and when said this first, is not so important. The main thing is that already at the beginning of 1988 the official press organ of the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and the Council of People’s Deputies of the NKAO "Soviet Karabakh" began to print materials that supported this idea.

One after another, delegations of the Armenian intelligentsia traveled to Moscow. 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 fix it. In Moscow, in light of the policy of perestroika, delegates were received, promising to study the issue. In Nagorno-Karabakh, this was perceived as the center’s readiness to support the transfer of the region of the Azerbaijan SSR.

The situation began to heat up. Slogans, especially from young people, sounded more radical. People far from politics began to fear for their safety. They began to look at the neighbors of another nationality with suspicion.

The leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR held a meeting of party and economic activists in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, stigmatizing "separatists" and "nationalists." The brand was, in general, correct, but, on the other hand, did not give answers to the question of how to live on. Among the partaktivnoy Nagorno-Karabakh, the majority supported calls for the transfer of the region to Armenia.

Politburo for all the good

The situation began to get out of control of the authorities. Since mid-February 1988, a rally was held almost non-stop on the central square of Stepanakert, the participants of which demanded the transfer of the NKAR to Armenia. Actions in support of this demand also began in Yerevan.

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the People’s Deputies of the NKAR appealed to the Supreme Councils of the Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of transferring the NKAR from Azerbaijan to Armenia: “Meeting the wishes of the NKAR workers, ask the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR and The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR to show a deep understanding of the aspirations of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and to resolve the issue of transferring the NKAR from the composition of the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR, one temporarily to apply to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of a positive decision, the transfer of Nagorny Karabakh from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR "

Every action gives rise to opposition. In Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan, mass rallies began to take place demanding to stop the attacks of Armenian extremists and keep Nagorno-Karabakh within the republic.

On February 21, the situation was considered at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. What Moscow decides was closely monitored by both sides of the conflict.

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

Probably, this was the essence of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy - general correct phrases about all good and against all bad. But the exhortations no longer helped. While the creative intelligentsia spoke at rallies and in print, on the ground more and more often the process was controlled by radicals.

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

The first blood and pogrom in Sumgait

The Shusha region of Nagorno-Karabakh was the only one in which the Azerbaijani population dominated. The situation here was fueled by rumors that in Yerevan and Stepanakert "they brutally kill Azerbaijani women and children." There was no real ground for these rumors, but they were enough to ensure that on February 22 an armed crowd of Azerbaijanis began a “campaign against Stepanakert” to “restore order”.

At Askeran settlement, distraught avengers were met by police cordons. It was not possible to enlighten 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 did not wait - in Sumgait, a satellite city of the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. At this time, people began to appear there, calling themselves “refugees from Karabakh” and telling about the horrors committed by the Armenians. In the stories of the "refugees" there was actually not a word of truth, but they heated the atmosphere.

Sumgayit, founded in 1949, was a multinational city - for decades, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians lived and worked here for a long time ... Nobody was ready for what happened in the last days of February 1988.

It is believed that the last straw was the message on TV about the skirmish near Askeran, where two Azerbaijanis were killed. The rally in support of the preservation of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in Sumgait turned into an action in which the slogans “Death to the Armenians!” Began to sound.

Local authorities, law enforcement agencies could not stop what was happening. Pogroms began in the city, which lasted two days.

According to official figures, 26 Armenians died in Sumgait, hundreds were injured. They managed to stop the madness only after the introduction of troops. But here, everything turned out to be not so simple - at first the military was ordered to exclude the use of weapons. Only after the account of wounded soldiers and officers exceeded a hundred, patience snapped. Six Azerbaijanis were added to the dead Armenians, after which the riots ceased.

Exodus

The blood of Sumgait made ending the conflict in Karabakh an extremely difficult task. For Armenians, this pogrom was a reminder of the massacre in the Ottoman Empire that took place at the beginning of the 20th century. In Stepanakert they repeated: “See what they are doing? Can we stay in Azerbaijan after that? ”

Despite the fact that Moscow began to use tough measures, the logic in them was not visible. 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 Sumgait, the exodus of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Armenians from Azerbaijan began. Frightened people, abandoning everything they had acquired, fled from their neighbors, who suddenly became enemies.

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

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

The general crisis that began in the USSR distracted the attention of politicians from the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. None of the parties was ready to make concessions. By the beginning of 1990, illegal armed groups on both sides launched military operations, tens and hundreds of people were already killed and wounded.

Soldiers of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR on the streets of the city of Fizuli. The introduction of a state of emergency on the territory of the NKAR, the border regions of the Azerbaijan SSR. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Mikhalev

Hate education

Immediately after the August putsch of 1991, when the central government virtually ceased to exist, independence was declared not only by Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. 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 units of the internal troops of the already defunct Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR were withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh, no one could stop the massacre anymore.

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

For over a quarter of a century, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has existed as an unrecognized state. Azerbaijani authorities continue to declare their intention to regain control of the lost territories. Fighting of various intensities on the contact line flashes regularly.

On both sides people hate their eyes. Even a neutral commentary on a neighboring country is seen as a national betrayal. Children from an early age are inspired by the idea of \u200b\u200bwho is the main enemy who should be destroyed.

“Where and for what, neighbor,
  So many troubles fell on us? ”

Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyanin 1909 he wrote the poem "A Drop of Honey." In Soviet times, it was well known to students in the translation of Samuel Marshak. Tumanyan, who died in 1923, could not know what would happen in Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of the 20th century. But this wise man, who knew the story well, in one poem showed how sometimes monstrous fratricidal conflicts arise from mere trifles. Do not be too lazy to find and read it completely, but we will give only its end:

... And the fire of war burned,
  And two countries are ravaged
  And there’s nobody to mow the field,
  And no one to wear the dead.
  And only death, ringing a scythe,
  Wanders desert strip ...
  Leaning at the gravestones
  Living Alive says:
  - Where and for what, neighbor,
  So many troubles fell on us?
  Here the story ends.
  And if any of you
  Ask the storyteller a question,
  Who is more guilty here - a cat or a dog,
  And is there really so much evil
  Crazy fly brought, -
  The people will answer for us:
  There will be flies - there would be honey! ..

P.S.   The Armenian village of Chardakhlu, the birthplace of heroes, ceased to exist in late 1988. More than 300 families living in it moved to Armenia, where they settled in the village of Zorakan. Previously, this village was Azerbaijani, but with the onset of the conflict, its inhabitants became refugees, as did the inhabitants of Chardakhlu.