Azerbaijan Opens Fire On Armenian Positions In Nagorno-Karabakh, Three People Reported Killed

Relevance: GS2 - Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora Prelims - Current events of national and international importance

(Source: The Hindu, 09/19/2023)

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Why in the news?

• Recently, the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry began an “anti-terrorist” operation against Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh leading to at least three deaths.
• The operation followed the landmine explosion that killed four soldiers and two civilians in the region.

Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh

• Azerbaijan’s position: The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan has stated that it is incapacitating front-line positions and military assets belonging to Armenia in the region using high-precision weapons.
• They claimed that Armenian forces fired at Azerbaijan-controlled Shusha using smuggled weapons.
• The ministry claimed that humanitarian corridors had been created to evacuate people.
• Armenia’s position: Armenia’s Foreign Ministry denied the presence of their soldiers or weapons in Nagorno-Karabakh.
• Russia which is the peacekeeper in the region following the conclusion of the six-week war in 2020, claimed that it was not aware of Azerbaijan’s plans.
• Casualties:
  • According to the human rights ombudsman in Nagorno-Karabakh, two people including a child were killed in the firing and 23 people, including 8 children were wounded.
  • The region was also suffering from a severe shortage of food and medicines due to the blockade of the road between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

Tensions between allies

• Failure to keep road open: Armenia has claimed that the Russian peacekeeping force in Nagorrno Karabakh has been unable to keep the road to Armenia open as specified in the post-2020 war armistice.
  • This has been attributed to the loss of Russian soldiers in the war with Ukraine.
• U.S. military exercise: Relations between Armenia and Russia, who are long-time allies have also been affected by the recent military exercises between Armenia and the U.S.A.
• Rome Convention: Armenia has also moved towards ratifying the Rome Convention which created the International Criminal Court that indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Impact

• The worsening of ties between Armenia and Russia has encouraged Azerbaijan to take bolder action in the disputed region as it believes Russia will be less willing to intervene.
• Experts have claimed that Russia would prefer a crisis in the region in order to implement a regime change in Armenia to better suit its ambitions.

Nagornno-Karabakh

• Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked, hilly, and wooded territory of Azerbaijan. It is also known as Artsakh in Armenian.
• The region with a population of around 150,000 people is primarily ethnically Armenian, with a small Azeri minority.
• Geographical location: It is located in the South Caucasus area covering the southern Caucasus mountains and consists primarily of modern-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
• Prominent cities in the region include Susha and Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh.
• History of conflict:
  • Throughout history, Nagorno-Karabakh, which was originally part of the Armenian Kingdom, has been governed by the Ottomans, Persians, and Russians.
  • During World War I, the Ottomans, supported by Azeris, assaulted the South Caucasus, particularly ethnic Armenians.
  • As the Ottomans withdrew at the end of World Conflict I, Azerbaijan and Armenia plummeted into a full-fledged war in 1920, wreaking havoc on Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
  • Nagorno-Karabakh and its surrounding territories have been under ethnic Armenian control since the end of a separatist war in 1994.
  • However, Azerbaijan regained the territories and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh through a six-week war (Second Nagorno-Karabakh War) in 2020.
• Strategic Significance: The Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Sea houses several gas and oil pipelines transporting oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey and Europe.
  • Azerbaijan is part of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) linking Russia and India.
• Other factors behind the crisis:
  • Cultural Identity: The identity and demographic makeup of the region have been altered impacting the traditions and culture of the region and forcing people to migrate.
  • Religious: Azerbaijan is predominantly Muslim and Armenia is predominantly Christian.
  • Domestic Politics: Leaders of both countries have repeatedly fueled the issue in order to satisfy their political ambitions.

India’s position on the issue

• Azerbaijan has actively supported Pakistan’s position on the Kashmir issue while Armenia has supported India.
• Initially, India supported the idea of respecting territorial integrity but modified its stance following Azerbaijan’s support for Pakistan.
• India has previously supported Russia, the USA, and France by voting against an Azerbaijani resolution that demanded the evacuation of Armenian forces in 2008.
• India has backed a peaceful resolution to the crisis given its interests in the region.

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FAQs

MCQs

Question: Which one of the following countries does not border the Caspian Sea? (UPSC CSE 2003)

(a) Armenia

(b) Azerbaijan

(c) Kazakhstan

(d) Turkmenistan