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Report
Nagorno-Karabakh: Long history of conflict over disputed territory
FRANCE 24 English
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9/20/2023
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00:00
in with reports of a ceasefire that has been clinched between
00:04
Azerbaijan and Armenia after the latest round of clashes in
00:08
Nagorno-Karabakh. Now, according to Interfax, Armenians from
00:13
Nagorno-Karabakh have agreed to lay down their weapons and a
00:17
meeting is set for tomorrow. We can now bring in France 24's
00:23
Ketevan Ghojistani from our International Affairs Desk.
00:27
Ketevan, great to see you. Talk us through how exactly we got
00:31
here because we do have a lot of international calls for peace.
00:35
We had Paris, we had the Pope, as well as the Americans and the
00:38
Russians, in fact, who told both sides to lay down their weapons.
00:42
Yes, well, these tensions had been simmering really for months
00:47
and really for decades, for three decades, basically going
00:50
back to the Soviet Union. This has been a flashpoint. Nagorno-
00:55
Karabakh is a small enclave. It's ethnically Armenian, but
00:58
the international community recognizes that region as being
01:02
part of Azerbaijan, as we see on this map. Now, back in 1991,
01:08
Nagorno-Karabakh self-declared its independence and had de
01:11
facto ruled itself. Since then, this led to the first war in
01:16
Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended in 1994. Back then, the Armenian
01:20
separatists basically controlled most of that region. Then there
01:24
was a second war, the one closest to us, back in 2020,
01:28
where Azerbaijan regained control of some parts of
01:31
Nagorno-Karabakh. And there was a ceasefire agreement
01:34
implemented with 2,000 Russian peacekeepers there to oversee
01:39
that the ceasefire holds. Then in December 2022, Azerbaijan
01:44
began blocking the only road between Nagorno-Karabakh and
01:48
Armenia called the Lachin Corridor. And this was followed
01:52
in April of this year by Azerbaijan setting up an actual
01:56
security checkpoint on that road, basically blockading
02:01
Nagorno-Karabakh. And so this has been really brewing for
02:06
months now. And there was a call this morning by the president
02:09
of Azerbaijan saying the only way we're going to stop our
02:13
operation, the anti-terrorist operation, as he called it, was
02:16
if the separatists laid down their arms. It seems at least
02:20
according to those Russian media sources, that this has
02:24
happened and could bring to an end at least this latest round
02:28
of violence.
02:29
So we do have information coming and this story is of course
02:32
developing as we speak with Karabakh separatists who are
02:36
set to hold integration talks with Azerbaijan on Thursday.
02:40
Let's talk about this angle, Ketivan. What does Russia want
02:44
in all of this? Because they have also issued calls for
02:47
peace.
02:47
Yes, and Russia is a key player in this conflict really in
02:52
Nagorno-Karabakh, not only because they have those
02:55
peacekeepers after that ceasefire, but because Russia
02:59
has always been an ally traditionally of Armenia dating
03:03
back to the fall of the Soviet Union when Armenia decided to
03:05
go the route of being protected by the Russian state, really
03:11
solely relying on Russia for its protection, joining a military
03:15
alliance of post-Soviet states. But in recent years, you've
03:19
sort of seen Russia and Armenia sort of drift apart. Russia
03:24
unable or unwilling or both to really protect Armenia, protect
03:29
the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, which has angered
03:33
Armenia and Armenia under the leadership of the Prime
03:37
Minister, Nikol Apashinyan, starting to turn towards the
03:41
Europeans, which of course, and to the West, which of course
03:44
has angered the Russians. One Russian, very angry, posting on
03:50
social media, is the former president Dmitry Medvedev, who
03:53
can see part of what he said. He was referring, it seems, to
03:58
Nikol Apashinyan, saying that he decided to flirt with NATO
04:03
and his wife defiantly went to our enemies with cookies. Guess
04:07
what fate awaits him? He's referring to Armenia joining
04:12
exercises, military exercises with the Americans. He's also
04:16
referring to the visit by Apashinyan's wife to Kyiv,
04:20
meeting with President Zelensky, Armenia sending aid to
04:25
Ukraine, which Russia sees as their enemy, of course. And
04:29
there is a growing relationship between the leaders of Russia
04:35
and Azerbaijan. There's also some gas deals there. So Russia
04:39
also sort of doing a balancing act between Armenia and
04:43
Azerbaijan. And finally, there is the war in Ukraine, which
04:47
means that the Russians are very busy somewhere else, not
04:51
maybe paying as close attention to Armenia as the Armenians
04:54
would like. And so the Russians really, it seems, according to
04:59
Nikol Apashinyan, are not doing their job, not helping out as
05:03
much as they would want. And it seems that this position by the
05:08
the Russians to sort of play both sides is not sitting well with the Armenians.
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