There are enough places on the geopolitical map of the world that can be marked in red. Here military conflicts either subside or flare up again, many of which have a history of more than a century. There are not so many such “hot” spots on the planet, but it is still better if they do not exist at all. However, unfortunately, one of these places is not so far from the Russian border. We are talking about the Karabakh conflict, which is quite difficult to talk about briefly. The very essence of this confrontation between Armenians and Azerbaijanis goes back to the end of the nineteenth century. And many historians believe that the conflict between these nations has existed for a much longer time. It is impossible to talk about it without mentioning the Armenian-Azerbaijani war, which claimed a large number of lives on both sides. The historical chronicle of these events is kept very carefully by Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Although each nationality sees only its own rightness in what happened. In the article we will analyze the causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict. We will also briefly outline the current situation in the region. We will highlight several sections of the article to the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of the late nineteenth - early twentieth centuries, part of which are armed clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Characteristics of military conflict

Historians often argue that the causes of many wars and armed conflicts are misunderstandings among the mixed local population. The Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920 can be characterized in the same way. Historians call it an ethnic conflict, but they see the main reason for the outbreak of war in territorial disputes. They were most relevant in those places where historically Armenians and Azerbaijanis coexisted in the same territories. The peak of military clashes occurred at the end of the First World War. The authorities managed to achieve relative stability in the region only after the republics joined the Soviet Union.

The First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic did not enter into direct clashes with each other. Therefore, the Armenian-Azerbaijani war had some similarities with partisan resistance. The main actions took place in disputed territories, where the republics supported militia groups created by their fellow citizens.

During the entire period that the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920 lasted, the bloodiest and most active actions took place in Karabakh and Nakhichevan. All this was accompanied by real massacres, which ultimately became the cause of a demographic crisis in the region. Armenians and Azerbaijanis call the most difficult pages in the history of this conflict:

• March massacre;
• massacre of Armenians in Baku;
• Shusha massacre.

It should be noted that the young Soviet and Georgian governments tried to provide mediation services in the Armenian-Azerbaijani war. However, this approach had no effect and did not guarantee stabilization of the situation in the region. The problem was resolved only after the Red Army occupied the disputed territories, which led to the overthrow of the ruling regime in both republics. However, in some regions the fire of war was only slightly extinguished and flared up more than once. When we talk about this, we mean the Karabakh conflict, the consequences of which our contemporaries still cannot fully appreciate.

Background to military operations

Since ancient times, tensions have been noted in the disputed territories between the people of Armenia and the people of Azerbaijan. The Karabakh conflict was just a continuation of a long and dramatic history unfolding over several centuries.

Religious and cultural differences between the two peoples were often considered to be the reason that led to the armed conflict. However, the real reason for the Armenian-Azerbaijani war (in 1991 it broke out with renewed vigor) was the territorial issue.

In 1905, the first mass riots began in Baku, which resulted in an armed conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Gradually it began to flow to other regions of Transcaucasia. Wherever the ethnic composition was mixed, regular clashes occurred, which were harbingers of a future war. Its trigger can be called the October Revolution.

Since the seventeenth year of the last century, the situation in Transcaucasia has been completely destabilized, and the hidden conflict turned into an open war, which claimed many lives.

A year after the revolution, serious changes took place in the once united territory. Initially, independence was declared in Transcaucasia, but the newly created state lasted only a few months. Historically, it is natural that it split into three independent republics:

• Georgian Democratic Republic;
• Republic of Armenia (the Karabakh conflict hit the Armenians very seriously);
• Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Despite this division, a significant Armenian population lived in Zangezur and Karabakh, which became part of Azerbaijan. They categorically refused to obey the new authorities and even created organized armed resistance. This partly gave rise to the Karabakh conflict (we will look at it briefly a little later).

The goal of the Armenians living in the designated territories was to become part of the Republic of Armenia. Armed clashes between scattered Armenian detachments and Azerbaijani troops recurred regularly. But both sides could not come to any final decision.

In turn, a similar situation arose. It included the Erivan province, densely populated by Muslims. They resisted joining the republic and received material support from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The eighteenth and nineteenth years of the last century were the initial stage for the military conflict, when the formation of opposing camps and opposition groups took place.

The most important events for the war took place in several regions almost simultaneously. Therefore, we will look at the war through the prism of armed clashes in these areas.

Nakhchivan. Muslim resistance

The Mudros truce, signed in the eighteenth year of the last century and which marked the defeat, immediately changed the balance of power in Transcaucasia. Its troops, previously introduced into the Transcaucasian region, were forced to hastily leave it. After several months of independent existence, it was decided to integrate the liberated territories into the Republic of Armenia. However, this was done without the consent of local residents, most of whom were Azerbaijani Muslims. They began to resist, especially since the Turkish military supported this opposition. A small number of soldiers and officers were transferred to the territory of the new Republic of Azerbaijan.

Its authorities supported their compatriots and made an attempt to isolate the disputed regions. One of the Azerbaijani leaders even declared Nakhichevan and several other regions closest to it as an independent Arak Republic. Such an outcome promised bloody clashes, for which the Muslim population of the self-proclaimed republic was ready. The support of the Turkish army was very helpful and, according to some forecasts, the Armenian government troops would have been defeated. Serious clashes were avoided thanks to British intervention. Through her efforts, a General Government was formed in the territories declared independent.

In a few months of 1919, under British protectorate, the disputed territories managed to restore peaceful life. Gradually, telegraph communication with other countries was established, the railway track was repaired and several trains were launched. However, British troops could not remain in these territories for long. After peaceful negotiations with the Armenian authorities, the parties came to an agreement: the British left the Nakhichevan area, and Armenian military units entered there with full rights to these lands.

This decision led to outrage among Azerbaijani Muslims. The military conflict broke out with renewed vigor. Looting occurred everywhere, houses and Muslim shrines burned. In all areas close to Nakhichevan, battles and minor clashes raged. The Azerbaijanis created their own units and performed under the British and Turkish flags.

As a result of the battles, the Armenians almost completely lost control over Nakhichevan. The surviving Armenians were forced to leave their homes and flee to Zangezur.

Causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict. Historical reference

This region still cannot boast of stability. Despite the fact that theoretically a solution to the Karabakh conflict was found back in the last century, in reality it did not become a real way out of the current situation. And its roots go back to ancient times.

If we talk about the history of Nagorno-Karabakh, then I would like to dwell on the fourth century BC. It was then that these territories became part of the Armenian kingdom. Later they became part of and for six centuries were territorially part of one of its provinces. Subsequently, these areas changed their affiliation more than once. They were ruled by Albanians, Arabs, again Naturally, territories with such a history as a distinctive feature have a heterogeneous population composition. This became one of the reasons for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

To better understand the situation, it must be said that at the very beginning of the twentieth century there were already clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in this region. From 1905 to 1907, the conflict periodically made itself felt with short-term armed clashes among the local population. But the October Revolution became the starting point of a new round in this conflict.

Karabakh in the first quarter of the twentieth century

In 1918-1920, the Karabakh conflict flared up with renewed vigor. The reason was the proclamation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. It was supposed to include Nagorno-Karabakh with a large Armenian population. It did not accept the new government and began to resist it, including armed resistance.

In the summer of 1918, the Armenians living in these territories convened the first congress and elected their own government. Knowing this, the Azerbaijani authorities took advantage of the help of Turkish troops and began to gradually suppress the resistance of the Armenian population. The Armenians of Baku were the first to be attacked; the bloody massacre in this city became a lesson for many other territories.

By the end of the year the situation was far from normal. Clashes between Armenians and Muslims continued, chaos reigned everywhere, and looting and brigandage became widespread. The situation was complicated by the fact that refugees from other regions of Transcaucasia began to flock to the region. According to preliminary estimates by the British, about forty thousand Armenians disappeared in Karabakh.

The British, who felt quite confident in these territories, saw an interim solution to the Karabakh conflict in the transfer of this region under the control of Azerbaijan. This approach could not help but shock the Armenians, who considered the British government their ally and assistant in regulating the situation. They did not agree with the proposal to leave the resolution of the conflict to the Paris Peace Conference and appointed their representative in Karabakh.

Attempts to resolve the conflict

The Georgian authorities offered their assistance in stabilizing the situation in the region. They organized a conference, which was attended by plenipotentiary delegates from both young republics. However, the settlement of the Karabakh conflict turned out to be impossible due to different approaches to its solution.

The Armenian authorities proposed to be guided by ethnic characteristics. Historically, these territories belonged to the Armenians, so their claims to Nagorno-Karabakh were justified. However, Azerbaijan made undeniable arguments in favor of an economic approach to deciding the fate of the region. It is separated from Armenia by mountains and is in no way connected with the state territorially.

After lengthy disputes, the parties did not reach a compromise. Therefore, the conference was considered a failure.

Further course of the conflict

After an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan introduced an economic blockade of these territories. He was supported by the British and Americans, but even they were forced to admit such measures were extremely cruel, as they led to starvation among the local population.

Gradually, the Azerbaijanis increased their military presence in the disputed territories. Periodic armed clashes did not develop into a full-fledged war only thanks to representatives from other countries. But this could not last long.

The participation of the Kurds in the Armenian-Azerbaijani war was not always mentioned in official reports of that period. But they took an active part in the conflict, joining specialized cavalry units.

At the beginning of 1920, at the Paris Peace Conference, it was decided to recognize the disputed territories as Azerbaijan. Despite the nominal solution to the issue, the situation has not stabilized. Robberies and robberies continued, and bloody ethnic cleansing became a frequent occurrence, claiming the lives of entire settlements.

Armenian revolt

The decisions of the Paris Conference led to relative peace. But in the current situation, it was just the calm before the storm. And it struck in the winter of 1920.

Against the backdrop of renewed national massacres, the Azerbaijani government demanded the unconditional submission of the Armenian population. For this purpose, an Assembly was convened, whose delegates worked until the first days of March. However, they also did not reach a consensus. Some advocated only for economic unification with Azerbaijan, while others refused any contact with the authorities of the republic.

Despite the established truce, the governor-general, appointed by the Azerbaijani republican government to govern the region, gradually began to draw military contingents here. At the same time, he introduced a lot of rules restricting the movement of Armenians and drew up a plan for the destruction of their settlements.

All this only aggravated the situation and led to the beginning of the uprising of the Armenian population on March 23, 1920. Armed groups attacked several settlements simultaneously. But it was possible to achieve noticeable results only in one of them. The rebels failed to hold the city: already in early April it was returned to the authority of the governor-general.

Failure did not stop the Armenian population, and the long-standing military conflict resumed with renewed vigor on the territory of Karabakh. During April, settlements passed from one hand to another, the forces of the opponents were equal, and the tension only intensified every day.

At the end of the month, the Sovietization of Azerbaijan took place, which radically changed the situation and the balance of power in the region. Over the next six months, Soviet troops gained a foothold in the republic and entered Karabakh. Most of the Armenians went over to their side. Those officers who did not lay down their arms were shot.

Subtotals

Initially, the right to it was assigned to Armenia, but a little later the final decision was the introduction of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan as an autonomy. However, this outcome did not satisfy either side. Minor conflicts arose periodically, provoked either by the Armenian or Azerbaijani populations. Each of the peoples considered themselves to have their rights infringed, and the question of transferring the region to Armenian rule was raised more than once.

The situation only seemed stable outwardly, which was proven in the late eighties and early nineties of the last century, when they started talking about the Karabakh conflict again (1988).

Renewed conflict

Until the end of the eighties, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh remained relatively stable. Discussions about changing the status of autonomy were carried out periodically, but this was done in very narrow circles. The policies of Mikhail Gorbachev influenced the mood in the region: the dissatisfaction of the Armenian population with their situation intensified. People began to gather for rallies, words were heard about deliberately restraining the development of the region and a ban on the resumption of ties with Armenia. During this period, the nationalist movement intensified, whose leaders talked about the disdainful attitude of the authorities towards Armenian culture and traditions. More and more often there were appeals to the Soviet government calling for the autonomy to secede from Azerbaijan.

Ideas of reunification with Armenia also leaked into print media. In the republic itself, the population actively supported new trends, which negatively affected the authority of the leadership. Trying to contain popular uprisings, the Communist Party was rapidly losing its position. Tension in the region grew, which inevitably led to another round of the Karabakh conflict.

By 1988, the first clashes between the Armenian and Azerbaijani populations were recorded. The impetus for them was the dismissal of the head of a collective farm in one of the villages - an Armenian. Mass unrest was suspended, but in parallel, a collection of signatures in favor of unification was launched in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. With this initiative, a group of delegates was sent to Moscow.

In the winter of 1988, refugees from Armenia began to arrive in the region. They talked about the oppression of the Azerbaijani people in Armenian territories, which added tension to an already difficult situation. Gradually, the population of Azerbaijan was divided into two opposing groups. Some believed that Nagorno-Karabakh should finally become part of Armenia, while others traced separatist tendencies in the unfolding events.

At the end of February, Armenian people's deputies voted to appeal to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a request to consider the pressing issue with Karabakh. Azerbaijani deputies refused to vote and demonstratively left the meeting room. The conflict gradually got out of control. Many feared bloody clashes among the local population. And they were not long in coming.

On February 22, it was difficult to separate two groups of people - from Agdam and Askeran. Quite strong opposition groups with weapons in their arsenal have formed in both settlements. We can say that this clash was the signal for the start of a real war.

In early March, a wave of strikes swept across Nagorno-Karabakh. In the future, people will resort to this method more than once to attract attention. At the same time, people began to take to the streets of Azerbaijani cities in support of the decision on the impossibility of revising the status of Karabakh. The most widespread such processions were in Baku.

The Armenian authorities tried to contain the pressure of the people, who increasingly advocated unification with the once-disputed regions. Several official groups have even been formed in the republic, collecting signatures in support of the Karabakh Armenians and conducting explanatory work on this issue among the masses. Moscow, despite numerous appeals from the Armenian population, continued to adhere to the decision on the previous status of Karabakh. However, she encouraged the representatives of this autonomy with promises to establish cultural ties with Armenia and provide a number of concessions to the local population. Unfortunately, such half-measures could not satisfy both sides.

Rumors about the oppression of certain nationalities spread everywhere, people took to the streets, many of them had weapons. The situation finally got out of control in late February. At this time, bloody pogroms of Armenian neighborhoods took place in Sumgait. For two days, law enforcement agencies were unable to restore order. Official reports never included reliable information about the number of victims. The authorities still hoped to hide the real state of affairs. However, the Azerbaijanis were determined to carry out mass pogroms, destroying the Armenian population. It was with difficulty that we managed to prevent a repeat of the situation with Sumgait in Kirovobad.

In the summer of 1988, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a new level. The republics began to use conventionally “legal” methods in confrontation. These include a partial economic blockade and the adoption of laws regarding Nagorno-Karabakh without considering the opinions of the opposite side.

Armenian-Azerbaijani war 1991-1994

Until 1994, the situation in the region was extremely difficult. A Soviet group of troops was introduced into Yerevan, and in some cities, including Baku, the authorities established a curfew. Popular unrest often resulted in massacres, which even the military contingent was unable to stop. Artillery shelling has become the norm on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The conflict escalated into a full-scale war between both republics.

In 1991, it was proclaimed a republic, which caused another round of hostilities. Armored vehicles, aviation and artillery were used on the fronts. Casualties on both sides only provoked further military operations.

Let's sum it up

Today, the causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict (in a brief summary) can be found in any school history textbook. After all, he is an example of a frozen situation that has never found its final solution.

In 1994, the warring parties entered into an agreement on the Intermediate result of the conflict can be considered an official change in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the loss of several Azerbaijani territories that were previously classified as border areas. Naturally, Azerbaijan itself considered the military conflict not resolved, but merely frozen. Therefore, in 2016, shelling of the territories adjacent to Karabakh began.

Today the situation threatens to escalate again into a full-fledged military conflict, because the Armenians do not at all want to return to their neighbors the lands annexed several years ago. The Russian government advocates a truce and seeks to keep the conflict frozen. However, many analysts believe that this is impossible, and sooner or later the situation in the region will again become uncontrollable.

In a series of interethnic conflicts that engulfed the Soviet Union in the last years of its existence, Nagorno-Karabakh became the first. Perestroika policy launched Mikhail Gorbachev, was tested for strength by the 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 flat and mountainous parts. The Azerbaijani population historically predominated in Plain Karabakh, and the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Wars, peace, wars again - and so the peoples lived side by side, now at war, 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 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 a heated discussion, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) decided to leave Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Azerbaijan SSR and grant it broad regional autonomy.

The Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which became the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region in 1937, preferred to consider itself part of the Soviet Union rather than part of the Azerbaijan SSR.

“Unfreezing” mutual grievances

For many years, Moscow did not pay attention to these subtleties. Attempts in the 1960s to raise the topic of transferring Nagorno-Karabakh to the Armenian SSR were harshly suppressed - then the central leadership considered that such nationalist inclinations should be nipped in the bud.

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

While the overall situation in the country remained stable, everything was calm in Nagorno-Karabakh. No one took minor clashes on ethnic grounds seriously.

Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika, among other things, “unfrozen” the discussion of previously taboo topics. For the nationalists, whose existence until now was only possible in the deep underground, this was a real gift of fate.

It happened in Chardakhlu

Big things always start small. In the Shamkhor region of Azerbaijan there was an Armenian village of Chardakhly. During the Great Patriotic War, 1,250 people from the village went to the front. Of these, half were awarded orders and medals, two became marshals, twelve became generals, seven became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

In 1987 Secretary of the District Party Committee Asadov decided to replace director of the local state farm Yegiyan to an Azerbaijani leader.

The villagers were outraged not even by the removal of Yegiyan, accused of abuse, but by the way it was done. Asadov acted rudely and impudently, suggesting that the former director “go to Yerevan.” In addition, the new director, according to locals, was a “kebab maker with primary education.”

The 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 Assadov began to threaten the villagers.

From a letter from residents of Chardakhly to the Prosecutor General of the USSR: “Every visit of Asadov to the village is accompanied by a detachment of police and a fire truck. There was no exception on the first of December. Arriving with a police detachment late in the evening, he forcibly gathered the communists to hold the party meeting he needed. When he failed, they began to beat people, arrested and transported 15 people on a pre-arranged bus. Among those beaten and arrested were participants and disabled people of the Great Patriotic War ( Vartanyan V., Martirosyan X.,Gabrielyan A. etc.), milkmaids, advanced team members ( Minasyan G.) and even former deputy of the Supreme Council of Az. SSR of many convocations Movsesyan M.

Not calmed by his crime, the misanthropic Assadov again organized another pogrom in his homeland on December 2 with an even larger detachment of police. Marshal Bagramyan on his 90th birthday. This time 30 people were beaten and arrested. Any racist from colonial countries could envy such sadism and lawlessness.”

“We want to go to Armenia!”

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

“The same thing will happen to us if we don’t join Armenia,” who said it first and when 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 publish materials that supported this idea.

Delegations of the Armenian intelligentsia went to Moscow one after another. 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 correct it. In Moscow, in the light of the policy of perestroika, delegates were received with promises to study the issue. In Nagorno-Karabakh, this was perceived as the center’s readiness to support the transfer of the region to the Azerbaijan SSR.

The situation began to heat up. Slogans, especially from the mouths of young people, sounded more and more radical. People far from politics began to fear for their safety. Neighbors of other nationalities began to be viewed with suspicion.

The leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR held a meeting of party and economic activists in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, at which they branded “separatists” and “nationalists.” The stigma was, in general, correct, but, on the other hand, it did not provide answers to the question of how to live further. Among the Nagorno-Karabakh party activists, the majority supported calls for the transfer of the region to Armenia.

Politburo for everything good

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

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of people's deputies of the NKAO addressed the Supreme Councils of the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of transferring the NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia: “To meet the wishes of the workers of the NKAO, ask the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR and The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR must show a sense of deep understanding of the aspirations of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and resolve the issue of transferring NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR, while simultaneously petitioning the Supreme Council of the USSR for a positive solution to the issue of transferring NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR." ,

Every action gives rise to a reaction. Mass actions began to take place in Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan demanding to stop attacks by Armenian extremists and preserve Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the republic.

On February 21, the situation was considered at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Both sides of the conflict were closely watching what Moscow would decide.

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

This was probably the essence of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy - general, correct phrases about everything good and against everything bad. But exhortations no longer helped. While the creative intelligentsia spoke at rallies and in the press, radicals increasingly controlled the process on the ground.

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

First blood and pogrom in Sumgayit

The Shusha region of Nagorno-Karabakh was the only one in which the Azerbaijani population predominated. The situation here was fueled by rumors that “Azerbaijani women and children were being brutally murdered” in Yerevan and Stepanakert. There was no real basis for these rumors, but they were enough for an armed crowd of Azerbaijanis to begin a “march on Stepanakert” on February 22 to “establish order.”

Near the village of Askeran, the distraught avengers were met by police cordons. It was not possible to reason with 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 were not expecting it - in Sumgait, a satellite city of the Azerbaijani capital Baku. At this time, people began to appear there, calling themselves “refugees from Karabakh” and talking about the horrors committed by the Armenians. In fact, there was not a word of truth in the stories of the “refugees,” but they heated up the situation.

Sumgayit, founded in 1949, was a multinational city - Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians lived and worked here side by side for decades... No one was prepared for what happened in the last days of February 1988.

It is believed that the last straw was the TV report about the clash near Askeran, where two Azerbaijanis were killed. A rally in support of preserving Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in Sumgait turned into an action at which the slogans “Death to the Armenians!” began to be heard.

Local authorities and law enforcement agencies were unable to stop what was happening. Pogroms began in the city and lasted for two days.

According to official data, 26 Armenians were killed in Sumgait and hundreds were injured. It was possible to stop the madness only after the deployment of troops. But here, too, everything turned out to be not so simple - at first the military was given an order to exclude the use of weapons. Only after the number of wounded soldiers and officers exceeded a hundred did patience run out. Six Azerbaijanis were added to the dead Armenians, after which the riots stopped.

Exodus

The blood of Sumgait has made ending the conflict in Karabakh extremely difficult. For Armenians, this pogrom was a reminder of the massacres in the Ottoman Empire that occurred in the early 20th century. In Stepanakert they repeated: “Look what they are doing? Can we really stay in Azerbaijan after this?”

Despite the fact that Moscow began to use tough measures, there was no logic in them. 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 Sumgayit, the exodus of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Armenians from Azerbaijan began. Frightened people, abandoning everything they had acquired, fled from their neighbors, who overnight became enemies.

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

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

The general crisis that began in the USSR increasingly diverted the attention of politicians from the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. Neither side was ready to make concessions. By the beginning of 1990, illegal armed groups on both sides launched hostilities, the number of killed and wounded was already in the tens and hundreds.

Military personnel of the USSR Ministry of Defense on the streets of the city of Fizuli. Introduction of a state of emergency on the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug and its bordering regions of the Azerbaijan SSR. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Mikhalev

Education by hate

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

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

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has existed as an unrecognized state for more than a quarter of a century. The Azerbaijani authorities continue to declare their intention to regain control over the lost territories. Fighting of varying intensity on the contact line breaks out regularly.

On both sides, people are blinded by hatred. Even a neutral comment about a neighboring country is considered a national betrayal. From an early age, children are instilled with the idea of ​​who is the main enemy who must be destroyed.

“Where and for what, neighbor,
Have so many troubles befallen us?

Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan in 1909 he wrote the poem “A Drop of Honey.” In Soviet times, it was well known to schoolchildren in the translation by Samuil Marshak. Tumanyan, who died in 1923, could not have known what would happen in Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of the 20th century. But this wise man, who knew history well, in one poem showed how sometimes monstrous fratricidal conflicts arise from mere trifles. Don’t be lazy to find and read it in full, and we will only give its ending:

...And the fire of war blazed,
And two countries are ruined,
And there is no one to mow the field,
And there is no one to carry the dead.
And only death, ringing with its scythe,
Walking through a deserted strip...
Bowing at the gravestones,
Living to living says:
- Where and for what, neighbor,
So many troubles have befallen us?
This is where the story ends.
And if any of you
Ask the narrator a question
Who is guilty here - the cat or the dog,
And is there really so much evil?
A stray fly brought -
The people will answer you for us:
If there are flies, there would be honey!..

P.S. The Armenian village of Chardakhlu, the birthplace of the heroes, ceased to exist at the end of 1988. More than 300 families that inhabited it moved to Armenia, where they settled in the village of Zorakan. Previously, this village was Azerbaijani, but with the outbreak of the conflict its inhabitants became refugees, just like the inhabitants of Chardakhlu.

It's hard to believe, but Armenians and Azerbaijanis have been killing and hating each other for decades over a small geographical area totaling just under four and a half thousand square kilometers. This region is divided into a mountainous region, where the majority of the population was Armenians, and a lowland region, where Azerbaijanis predominated. The peak of clashes between peoples occurred at the time of the collapse of the Russian Empire and the civil war. After the Bolsheviks won, and Armenia and Azerbaijan became part of the USSR, the conflict was frozen for many years.

Nagorno-Karabakh has a total area of ​​just under four and a half thousand square kilometers // Photo: inosmi.ru

By the decision of the Soviet government, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Azerbaijan. The Armenian population could not come to terms with this for a long time, but did not dare to resist this decision. All manifestations of nationalism were harshly suppressed. And yet, the local population always said that they were part of the USSR, and not the Azerbaijan SSR.

Perestroika and Chardakhlu

Even during Soviet times, clashes on ethnic grounds occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the Kremlin did not attach any importance to this. After all, there was no nationalism in the USSR, and Soviet citizens were a single people. Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika, with its democratization and glasnost, thawed the conflict.

In the disputed territory itself, no dramatic events took place, unlike the village of Chardakhlu in the Azerbaijan SSR, where a local party leader decided to replace the head of the collective farm. The former Armenian leader was shown the door and an Azerbaijani was appointed instead. This did not suit the residents of Chardakhlu. They refused to recognize the new boss, for which they were beaten, and some were arrested on false charges. This situation again did not cause any reaction from the center, but the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh began to be indignant at what the Azerbaijanis were doing to the Armenians. After this, demands to annex Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia began to sound very loudly and persistently.

The position of the authorities and first blood

At the end of the eighties, Armenian delegations flocked to Moscow, trying to explain to the center that Nagorno-Karabakh is a primordially Armenian territory, which, by a huge mistake, was annexed to Azerbaijan. The leadership was asked to correct historical injustice and return the region to its homeland. These requests were supported by mass rallies in which the Armenian intelligentsia participated. The center listened attentively, but was in no hurry to make any decisions.

Requests to return Nagorno-Karabakh to their homeland were reinforced by mass rallies in which the Armenian intelligentsia participated. The center listened carefully, but was in no hurry to make any decisions // Photo: kavkaz-uzel.eu

Meanwhile, in Nagorno-Karabakh, aggressive sentiment against its neighbor grew by leaps and bounds, especially among young people. The last straw was the march of the Azerbaijanis to Stepanakert. Its participants sincerely believed that in the largest city of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenians were brutally killing Azerbaijanis, which in fact was not even close to the truth. A crowd of distraught avengers was met by a police cordon near Askeran. Two Azerbaijanis were killed during the suppression of the riot. These events led to mass pogroms in Sumgait, a satellite city of Baku. Azerbaijani nationalists killed twenty-six Armenians and inflicted various injuries on hundreds. The pogrom was stopped only after troops were brought into the city. After this, war became inevitable.

A crisis

The pogrom in Sumgait led to the fact that Azerbaijanis abandoned everything they had acquired and fled from Armenia, fearing death. The Armenians, who by the will of fate ended up in Azerbaijan, did the same. Real military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1991 after the collapse of the USSR and the declaration of independence by Azerbaijan and Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh also declared itself a sovereign state, but no foreign countries were in a hurry to recognize its independence.

In the nineties, gangs began an open war in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the number of victims went from dozens to hundreds. The Karabakh war flared up with renewed vigor after the troops of the defunct USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, which had prevented the massacre from beginning until the very end, were withdrawn from the disputed territory. The armed conflict lasted for three years and was stopped by the signing of an armistice agreement. More than thirty thousand people became victims in this war.

Our days

Despite the truce, clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh did not stop. Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan wanted to cede the disputed territory. This situation led to an extraordinary rise in nationalism. A neutral, rather than hateful, comment about a neighbor was viewed with suspicion.

On the night of April 2, an escalation of the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region was recorded. Countries blame each other for violating the truce. How did the conflict begin and why do many years of disputes around Nagorno-Karabakh persist?

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 2013 population estimate is over 146,000. The vast majority of believers are Christians. The capital and largest city is Stepanakert.

How did the confrontation begin?
At the beginning of the 20th century, the region was inhabited mainly by Armenians. It was then that this area became the site of bloody Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes. In 1917, due to the revolution and collapse of the Russian Empire, three independent states were proclaimed in Transcaucasia, including the Republic of Azerbaijan, which included the Karabakh region. However, the Armenian population of the area refused to submit to the new authorities. In the same year, the First Congress of Armenians of Karabakh 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 be subject to the authorities of Azerbaijan. Since that time, not only mass unrest, but also armed clashes have periodically flared up in the region.
In 1987, dissatisfaction with socio-economic policies on the part of the Armenian population increased sharply. The measures taken by the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR did not affect the situation. Mass student strikes began, and nationalist rallies of many thousands took place in the large city of Stepanakert.
Many Azerbaijanis, having assessed 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 left the control of Azerbaijan, but a decision on its status was postponed indefinitely.
In 1991, hostilities began in the area with numerous losses on both sides. An agreement on a complete ceasefire and 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 relatively recently the long-term conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh again reminded itself. This happened in August 2014. Then clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border occurred between the military of the two countries. More than 20 people died on both sides.

What is happening now in Nagorno-Karabakh?
On the night of April 2, the conflict escalated. The Armenian and Azerbaijani sides blame each other for its escalation.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense claims shelling by the Armenian armed forces using mortars and heavy machine guns. It is alleged that over the past 24 hours, the Armenian military violated the ceasefire 127 times.
In turn, the Armenian military department says that the Azerbaijani side took “active offensive actions” using tanks, artillery and aviation on the night of April 2.

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

The most serious clashes have occurred in the zone of the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation since 1994 - from the moment when the parties agreed on a truce, stopping the hot phase of the war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

On the night of April 2, the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone sharply worsened. “I ordered not to succumb to provocations, but the enemy has completely lost his belt,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev explained what was happening. The Armenian Ministry of Defense announced “offensive actions from the Azerbaijani side.”

Both sides announced significant losses in manpower and armored vehicles from the enemy and minimal losses on their part.

On April 5, the Ministry of Defense of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic announced that it had reached an agreement on a ceasefire in the conflict zone. However, Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.

History of the conflict

On February 20, 1988, the Council of Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO), predominantly populated by Armenians, addressed the leadership of the USSR, the Armenian SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR with a request to transfer Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee refused, which led to mass protests in Yerevan and Stepanakert, as well as pogroms among both the Armenian and Azerbaijani populations.

In December 1989, the authorities of the Armenian SSR and NKAO signed a joint resolution on the inclusion of the region into Armenia, to which Azerbaijan responded with artillery shelling of the Karabakh border. In January 1990, the Supreme Council of the USSR declared a state of emergency in the conflict zone.

At the end of April - beginning of May 1991, Operation “Ring” was carried out in the NKAO by the forces of the Azerbaijani riot police and the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs troops. Over the course of three weeks, the Armenian population of 24 Karabakh villages was deported, and more than 100 people were killed. The forces of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Soviet army carried out actions to disarm participants in the clashes until August 1991, when the putsch began in Moscow, which led to the collapse of the USSR.

On September 2, 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was proclaimed in Stepanakert. Official Baku recognized this act as illegal. During the outbreak of the war between Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and its supporting Armenia, the parties lost from 15 thousand to 25 thousand people killed, more than 25 thousand were injured, hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their places of residence. From April to November 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding a ceasefire in the region.

On May 5, 1994, the three sides signed a truce agreement, as a result of which Azerbaijan effectively lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Official Baku still considers the region an occupied territory.

International legal status of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

According to the administrative-territorial division of Azerbaijan, the territory of the NKR is part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In March 2008, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution “The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, which was supported by 39 member states (the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, the USA, Russia and France, voted against).

At the moment, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has not received recognition from the UN member states and is not its member; therefore, in the official documents of the UN member states and the organizations formed by them, some political categories are not used in relation to the NKR (president, prime minister -minister, elections, government, parliament, flag, coat of arms, capital).

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is recognized by the partially recognized states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldavian Republic.

Escalation of the conflict

In November 2014, relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan sharply deteriorated after the Azerbaijani military shot down an Armenian Mi-24 helicopter in Nagorno-Karabakh. Regular shelling resumed on the line of contact; for the first time since 1994, the sides accused each other of using large-caliber artillery weapons. During the year, deaths and injuries were repeatedly reported in the conflict zone.

On the night of April 2, 2016, large-scale hostilities resumed in the conflict zone. The Armenian Ministry of Defense announced “offensive actions” by Azerbaijan using tanks, artillery and aviation; Baku reported that the use of force was a response to shelling from mortars and heavy machine guns.

On April 3, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced a decision to unilaterally suspend military operations. However, both Yerevan and Stepanakert reported that the fighting continued.

Press Secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan reported on April 4 that “fierce fighting along the entire length of the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani forces continues.”

For three days, the parties to the conflict reported large losses to the enemy (from 100 to 200 killed), but this information was immediately refuted by the opposing side. According to independent estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 33 people were killed in the conflict zone and more than 200 were injured.

On April 5, the Ministry of Defense of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic announced that it had reached an agreement on a ceasefire in the conflict zone. Azerbaijan announced a stop to hostilities. Armenia announced the preparation of a bilateral ceasefire document.

How Russia armed Armenia and Azerbaijan

According to the UN Register of Conventional Arms, in 2013, Russia supplied heavy weapons to Armenia for the first time: 35 tanks, 110 armored combat vehicles, 50 launchers and 200 missiles for them. There were no deliveries in 2014.

In September 2015, Moscow and Yerevan agreed to provide a $200 million loan to Armenia for the purchase of Russian weapons in 2015–2017. This amount should supply Smerch multiple launch rocket system launchers, Igla-S anti-aircraft missile systems, TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems, RPG-26 grenade launchers, Dragunov sniper rifles, Tiger armored vehicles, ground-based electronic reconnaissance systems "Avtobaza-M", engineering and communications equipment, as well as tank sights intended for the modernization of T-72 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles of the Armenian Armed Forces.

In the period 2010–2014, Azerbaijan concluded contracts with Moscow for the purchase of 2 divisions of S-300PMU-2 anti-aircraft missile systems, several batteries of Tor-2ME anti-aircraft missile systems, and about 100 combat and transport helicopters.

Agreements were also concluded for the purchase of at least 100 T-90S tanks and about 100 units of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, 18 Msta-S self-propelled artillery mounts and the same number of TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems, Smerch multiple launch rocket systems .

The total cost of the package was estimated at no less than $4 billion. Most of the contracts have already been completed. For example, in 2015, the Azerbaijani military received the last 6 of 40 Mi-17V1 helicopters and the last 25 of 100 T-90S tanks (under 2010 contracts), as well as 6 of 18 TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems (under a 2011 agreement). In 2016, the Russian Federation will continue to supply BTR-82A armored personnel carriers and BMP-3 armored infantry vehicles (Azerbaijan received at least 30 of them in 2015).

Evgeny Kozichev, Elena Fedotova, Dmitry Shelkovnikov