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Nagorno
Karabakh is an integral part of the Armenian
homeland that was arbitrarily carved out of
Armenia in 1921 by Joseph Stalin and placed
under Azerbaijani administration as part of
the Soviet divide-and-conquer strategy in
the Caucasus.
During seven decades of Soviet Azerbaijani
rule, the Armenian population of Nagorno
Karabakh was subjected to discriminatory
policies aimed at its removal from its
homeland. By 1988 this had taken the form of
outright aggression, ethnic cleansing, and
blockades. The people of Nagorno Karabakh,
realizing that Azerbaijan's policies would
result in their destruction, sought to
resist these efforts through peaceful means,
responding to this oppression with the first
pro-democracy movement in the Soviet Union,
setting an example, at great human cost,
that marked the beginning of the end of the
Soviet Empire.
Following organized massacres and direct
military aggression by Azerbaijan, the
people of Nagorno Karabakh organized a
self-defense effort and then moved to secure
their borders, eventually succeeding in
driving Azerbaijani occupying forces out of
their territory. In January of 1992, the
democratically elected leaders of Nagorno
Karabakh exercised their right to
self-determination, in accordance with
international law, by declaring the
independence of the Republic of Nagorno
Karabakh.
Since 1992, Nagorno Karabakh has repeatedly
sought to engage in direct bilateral
negotiations with Azerbaijan to establish a
durable cease-fire and negotiate a lasting
and equitable peace. Successive Azerbaijani
governments have responded with escalating
violence, the introduction of foreign
mercenaries, and the involvement of the
Turkish military in their war against
Nagorno Karabakh. The current cease-fire,
which has lasted over seven years, is
largely the result of Azerbaijani President
Geidar Aliev's realization that his military
forces have been unable to defeat Nagorno
Karabakh on the battlefield. |
