Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context UsefulNotes / RepublicOfArtsakh

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/artsakh_map.jpg]]
2The '''Republic of Artsakh''' ('''Armenian:''' ''Արցախի Հանրապետություն Arts'akhi Hanrapetut'yun''), also known as simply Artsakh and formerly the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, is a breakaway de-facto republic in the South Caucasus recognized only by three other non-UN states[[note]]Those states are fellow de-facto republics UsefulNotes/{{Abkhazia}}, UsefulNotes/SouthOssetia and UsefulNotes/{{Transnistria}}. It is also recognized by the Australian state of New South Wales, the Basque Country in Spain, and nine US states[[/note]]. Still recognized internationally as part of {{UsefulNotes/Azerbaijan}}, the predominantly Armenian-populated region voted to break away from Azerbaijan with the [[UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag dissolution of the Soviet Union]], leading to a bloody ethnic conflict between Azerbaijan and {{UsefulNotes/Armenia}} between 1991 and 1994, which ended in an uneasy ceasefire that forced Azerbaijani troops and civilians to leave the region. This status quo held on until 2020, when another war erupted and led to Azerbaijan regaining most of Artsakh outside of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and a tiny land corridor connecting it with Armenia.
3
4There was a long history of dispute over the land before it culminated into a war; Armenia and Azerbaijan, both rarely independent in their respective histories, had previously fought over it when both countries became independent from the [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russian Empire]] in 1918. When Armenia, Azerbaijan and UsefulNotes/{{Georgia}} declared independence, their declared boundaries contradicted one another, leaving contested lands like Nagorno-Karabakh, Javakh, South Ossetia and Nakhichevan in a sort of gray area and leading to wars between all three countries. After the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] annexed the South Caucasus, the Bolsheviks mulled over what to do with the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenia's Zangezur (modern Syunik) province was experiencing a rebellion from 1920 to 1921, and the original idea was to give the Armenian SSR control of Karabakh in order to quell it. They were all set to change the boundaries, but by June of 1921 the rebellion fizzled out, and the Bolsheviks, among them a young UsefulNotes/JosefStalin (who usually gets blamed for this decision), decided to do an about-face, and instead created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijani SSR in an attempt to please everyone, despite protests from Nagorno-Karabakh's citizens who would rather it have been part of the Armenian SSR. This occurred, not-so-coincidentally, when the Soviet Union was trying to lure Azerbaijan's ally UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} toward communism. There were also economic reasons it was not made part of the Armenian SSR, since access to the area is much easier from the Azerbaijan side (although if this same logic had been applied to Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan's exclave to the south-west of Armenia, they would have given it to Armenia), and part of it could have been to weaken Armenian nationalist movements that would aspire for a unified Armenia, but the short story is it seemed like a good solution at the time; the Soviet Union expected to be around for a very long while, no one knew what would happen seventy years later. The fact still stands though that Artsakh was never under Azerbaijan's direct control, though an Azeri minority did exist there up until the 1990s war.
5
6Things were relatively peaceful until the 1980's when the Soviet Union began to collapse, and Artsakh's citizens saw their chance to bring the issue of either joining Armenia or becoming independent to the Soviet Union's attention again. In February 1988 the Karabakh Council of People's Deputies passed a resolution requesting secession from Azerbaijan and an annexation to Armenia, with a 110-17 voting margin. Moscow, however, rejected their request. The Azerbaijani SSR loudly protested the secession movement, and both anti-Armenian and anti-Azerbaijani pogroms erupted across the two soviet republics, only spurring their push for independence. The Soviet Union, bogged down by other troubles, quickly lost control of the situation after failing to stop Artsakh’s independence movement with military crackdowns such as Operation Ring. Then of course, the Soviet Union collapsed, its republics declared independence, and with no one to stop them, war broke out. UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} played both sides of the conflict for its own profit at first (and still sells weapons to both parties), but eventually more or less sided with Armenia, while Turkey passively sent weapons and support to Azerbaijan. With the war becoming increasingly ugly, and fears of a much larger conflict erupting between Russia and Turkey, eventually a ceasefire was brokered; this being after Armenia had largely gained the upper hand in the war. As stated earlier, this was an uneasy ceasefire, as the truce was violated on a regular basis.
7
8Peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have stalled over the years, unfortunately. Ceasefire violations are an everyday occurrence, more often coming from the Azeri side, and every now and then there are still casualties. In order to not disturb the peace process no member of the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations has recognized the state yet, including Armenia. Despite this the country went ahead and declared independence anyway during the war, forming its own democratic republic and constitution. After using the names Nagorno-Karabakh and Artsakh interchangeably, it elected to change its name to the Republic of Artsakh (a name with Armenian roots and an old medieval name for the region) after a referendum in 2017. Freedom House ranks its government above both Armenia and Azerbaijan in terms of political and civil rights. The Artsakh situation is a textbook example of two conflicting concepts in international law; territorial integrity, and the right to self-determination. It is a contradiction that doesn't look like it will solve itself any time soon.
9
10Turkey closed its border with Armenia over the conflict to show solidarity with its ally, despite its many parallels with the UsefulNotes/NorthCyprus conflict. It is one of the main hurdles (besides the obvious genocide issue) in Turkish-Armenian relations, as Turkey demanded Armenia at least cede the buffer zones around Artsakh [[note]]Armenian army also occupied some territory not a part of Artsakh's Soviet boundaries for defensive purposes until the renewed conflict of 2020. The Armenian army also committed ethnic cleansing by exiling the majority of local Azeris, excusing it with fear Azerbaijan would surround it.[[/note]], if not all of it before the borders can be reopened. It is presumed by most observers that Turkey was pressured into adding these conditions by Azerbaijan. Armenians both inside and outside of Artsakh fear a major humanitarian disaster should Azerbaijan ever succeed in annexing Artsakh, and this is not helped by warlike and racist statements regularly issued by Azerbaijan's president (who on more than one occasion has laid Azeri claim to all of Armenia, even the internationally recognized bit), not to mention lingering memories of the anti-Armenian pogroms, such as those in Sumgait and Baku. In April 2016, amidst controversy surrounding the Azerbaijani president's off-shore hidden wealth revealed by the Panama Papers, Azerbaijan launched the first major offensive against Artsakh since 1994, briefly capturing some villages and positions and committing atrocities against civilians before being driven back and a ceasefire being reinstated by the Azeri side; this provided everyone involved with a sobering prelude of the war that was to come four years later. Since then, attempts have been made to return the two countries to the negotiating table; however, the OSCE's proposal for Artsakh to sacrifice some surrounding territories to Azerbaijan in exchange for peace was rejected by the Armenian side because of how vulnerable that would leave Armenia and Artsakh if Azerbaijan decided to unleash an offensive once claiming these territories.
11
12In 2020, Azerbaijan, emboldened by support from Turkey and UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}, renewed the conflict on September 27th, and with the help of the Turkish army managed to take swaths of the land in the next 44 days before a Russian-brokered ceasefire. The Armenians was forced to agree to cede roughly two thirds of Artsakh, which consisted of all lands explicitly not part of the Nagorno-Karabakh region as well as some that are, leaving only Stepanakert and Martakert as the two main cities, no longer under Armenian control, but under Russian military protection. The deal happened after Azerbaijan captured Shusha/Shushi, Artsakh's second largest city that overlooks Stepanakert, which would have left the Artsakh government an easy prey should it continue the war. Citizens living in the lands that were to be ceded were given some time to leave, most of them opting to burn their own houses down rather than have them fall into the hands of the Azeris. Russian peacekeepers will patrol the area until at least 2025, by which time the final status of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh may be decided. The deal effectively blockaded Artsakh; the only remaining access to Armenia is a thin strip of land called the Lachin corridor, which was declared a neutral region to be supervised by Russian troops. Many international observers surmised that, in lieu of an instant annexation, Azerbaijan wants to choke out the few remaining inhabitants of Artsakh until they give up.
13
14It's because of this conflict that Armenia (and by association, Artsakh itself) has to rely on its borders with UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} and Georgia to survive, as its much longer borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey are closed. Luckily, UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates and its allies have usually looked the other way with regards to Iran's international trade sanctions in this case (although the US has tried to put pressure on Armenia to stop doing business with Iran). On the other side, despite that the land itself doesn't have much monetary worth and most of their money comes from Caspian oil deposits anyway, Azerbaijan's government has used the Karabakh issue to instill a national unity by demonizing the Armenians as a common enemy, thus helping the Aliyev dynasty stay in power. It is feared by the Azeri government that if Artsakh were to become recognized by the UN, many of Azerbaijan's other disenfranchised minorities would want independence as well. This, however, is highly unlikely in any case, as not even Armenia recognizes Artsakh.
15
16The name of Republic of Artsakh refers to the ancient Armenian province that existed in the area from around the 1st century B.C. into medieval times, and is used interchangeably with Nagorno-Karabakh, a name which only came about in the 1600-1700's. ''Nagorno-Karabakh'' is Russian for "Highland Karabakh", Karabakh being a region that spans all of Artsakh and parts of Armenia and Azerbaijan and is derived from a Turkic and Persian combination words meaning "black garden". The population is predominantly Christian, with most Christians being affiliated with the Armenian Apostolic Church. Several historical monasteries were popular with tourists, mostly from the Armenian diaspora, as most travel could only take place through its border with Armenia. Before the 2020 war, Artsakh was operated by a puppet pro-Armenian government, even using the same currency, the dram, although it is still technically a separate state. Traveling to Artsakh was relatively safe as long as one stayed away from the ceasefire lines, and didn't mind being banned from traveling to Azerbaijan afterward and added to their black list (Azerbaijan saw it as unauthorized trespassing into their borders; though if you're an ethnic Armenian you're automatically banned from entering the country anyway). This happened to Creator/AnthonyBourdain in 2017, although he likely expected it. An airport has been built in the capital city of Stepanakert to make the country more accessible, though it remains out of use due to threats from Azerbaijan, which prompted the countries in the OSCE Minsk Group to convince Armenia to hold off on it.
17
18In the aftermath of the 2020 war, a lot is expected to change in the coming years, and whether or not Artsakh will gain international recognition or be completely absorbed into Azerbaijan remains to be seen.
19
20----
21[[AC:The Artsakhi flag]]
22https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nagorno-karabakh_flag_954.png
23->The flag basically reuses that of UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}, save for the white zigzag pattern which symbolizes its separation from Armenia and its aspirations for a reunion with its cultural motherland and which also resembles patterns on traditional rugs in the region.
24----
25[[AC:Government]]
26* Unitary presidential constitutional republic
27** President: Arayik Harutyunyan

Top