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ÉLITE FRANÇAISE

NUMÉRO 11, NOVEMBRE 2020

THE ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI CONFLICT
written by:Nermine Nasser

There have been many differences between Armenia independence from Azerbaijan, but it refused, leading
and Azerbaijan for about a century, where at the to several conflicts between the Armenian minority and
beginning of the twentieth century there were various the Azerbaijani forces since 1988 until the region ’s
ethnic minorities, including “Coptic Armenians ” and Parliament held a referendum on independence in
“Muslim Azerbaijanis ”. December 1991 and the region declared itself as an
1905 was the beginning of problems between them independent state under the name “Artsakh ” and put
due to differences in race and religion and it almost the same flag of Armenia, with a little difference,
continued to escalate until the outbreak of the First but that independence wasn ’t recognized by Azerbaijan,
World War. the international community and also
The Armenians exploited the Ottoman state's Armenia.Azerbaijan,.
preoccupation with the war and tried to promote their
state with the help of Russia, so the Ottoman state As a result of the independence of the region, the total
carried out massacres of the Armenian minority in war between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted in 1992
1915, historically famous as the “Armenian and ended with the cease-fire in 1994.
Genocide ”, which lasted for three years, and more However, that situation wasn ’t satisfactory to both,
than a half-million Armenians were killed. particularly Azerbaijan, because Armenia occupied the
region, also, about 9% of the Azerbaijani territories.
With the defeat of the Soviet Union to the Ottoman Therefore, since then there have been numerous clashes
state, the Union has annexed the entire ‘’ Caucasus on the border between the two states till now, such as
region ’’ under its rule and made for every minority a the 2014 clashes, 2015, and 2016.
state. The latest were the clashes of September 27, 2020 --
When ‘’ Joseph Stalin ’’ divided between Azerbaijan which have continued till now -- and hundreds of
and Armenia, he put between them the "Nagorno soldiers and civilians were killed, and it's the first time
Karabakh" region, which is approximately 4,000 since the 1990s that the disputed territories are being
square kilometers, although fully within the territory subjected to continuous missile attack by the two states.
of Azerbaijan, the majority of its population is of Then, the tensions between the two States were renewed
Armenian origin and want to become part of again because Azerbaijan wanted to recover its
Armenia. occupied territories by Armenia.

In the late 1980s, and with the beginning of the In addition to that, There have been many diplomatic
weakness of the Soviet Union, the Union republics efforts to solve the conflict over the past years, but this
took advantage of that weakness and began declaring conflict has continued and those efforts have failed.
their independence one after another, including Now, what is the position of the international
Armenia and Azerbaijan. community towards that conflict?
The Nagorno Karabakh region also demanded
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