Causes of conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Key moments of confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia

Prehistory of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war. 1905

The conflict between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis has deep roots. There are not only religious, but also broader, cultural differences. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were no clear boundaries between the Armenian and Azerbaijani territories. Everything belonged to one empire. Two peoples settled "inside the territories" of another people, that is, a situation developed when, for example, first there was a settlement of Azerbaijanis, then Armenians, then again Azerbaijanis. “Inside the territories” is used in quotation marks, since these territories belonged to the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. No one just cared about the peaceful division of the lands, so that everyone had their own country. As a result, land surveying is still taking place, although not with such heat. A typical story in the territories of the former colonies: “efficiency” is important for empires, not the life of peoples. Here it is appropriate to recall to some extent the Middle East: inadequate drawing of borders as a symbol of the "effective management" of the empire. More similarities follow.

Cossack patrol near the burnt oil fields in Baku, 1905

The first clashes in the 20th century occurred just when the imperial center trembled - in 1905. In February 1905, the massacre in Baku and Nakhichevan (the territory bordering with present-day Armenia). Then a rumor spread in Baku teahouses that the Armenians wanted to attack Muslims on a Shiite holiday, any funerals of victims of contract killings turned into demonstrations. The situation was tense. Then a group of Armenians shot an Azerbaijani worker. This is where the pogroms broke out.

The beginnings of conflict at the end of the 19th century

If we delve further into prehistory, we will find several causes of conflict in the last decades of the 19th century. After Russia annexed Transcaucasia, the empire applied the same practices to these territories as to its European possessions. In particular, non-Christians could occupy no more than a third of the seats in local governments. Initially, this measure was directed against the Jews, but in Transcaucasia it turned against Muslims. As a result, most of the seats in the meetings were occupied by Armenians.

Further, the Russian Empire tried to rely on Armenians as conductors of its power in the region (Christians, on the other hand). However, this only developed a sense of exclusivity among the Armenian nobility, which went against the goals of the empire. More and more Armenians remember the great Armenian kingdom. They will not only think about him more often, but also write about him when the governor and politics in Transcaucasia change. Grigory Golitsyn, appointed in 1886, will support the Muslims: he will greatly reduce the number of Armenian officials, and Azerbaijanis will take their place. Golitsyn will see a danger in the Armenians, since they are the same Jews - this is how it was written in the reports to St. Petersburg. Armenian schools will be closed, children will receive education according to the Russian model, the history and geography of Armenia will be excluded from school curricula. Armenian nationalists, in particular the Dashnaktsutyun party, will embark on the path of terror.

It is noteworthy that the representatives of the empire, in general, were inactive. The Bolsheviks later saw the reason for the massacre in the fact that the imperial authorities deliberately pitted the more loyal Muslim Azerbaijani population against the revolutionary-minded Armenian population.

Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920

Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1919-1920

As already noted, the history around the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is reminiscent of how they fought in the Middle East. Only in smaller spaces, very close and no less confusing. Azerbaijan sought to reach the borders of friendly Turkey and take the territories inhabited by Azerbaijanis under its control. The main actions unfolded in Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhichevan. Everything is in the direction from Azerbaijan to the border with Turkey. The Armenians also wanted to take control of all the territories inhabited by Armenians.

Azerbaijani artilleryman in Karabakh

During the war, the mutual hatred of the neighbors reached such an extent that both sides destroyed the settlements of the enemies. The terrain in the war zones, according to foreigners, was not just depopulated - there was simply nothing left. Both sides expelled enemy peoples, shot, destroyed villages, turned the received territories into purely Armenian or Azerbaijani territories.

The territories inhabited by Armenians in Azerbaijan were empty or were settled by Azerbaijanis and Kurds. 17 thousand Armenians were killed in 24 villages in Shamakhi district, 20 thousand Armenians in 20 villages in Nukhinsky district. A similar picture was observed in Aghdam and Ganja. In Armenia, the regions inhabited by Azerbaijanis were also left without their original inhabitants. Dashnaks, members of the Dashnaktsutyun party and controlled troops “cleared” the Novobayazet, Erivan, Echmiadzin and Sharuro-Daralagez districts of Azerbaijanis.

Karabakh Armistice Commission, 1918

The Entente is doing something (the Bolsheviks won)

In view of the inaction, for obvious reasons, of the Russian authorities in this direction, the British and the Americans got involved in resolving the situation around the conflict near the borders of the Ottoman Empire. And at first everything went well for the Armenians, they even called the British allies. The victors in the Great War were able to recapture Western Armenia on paper - in 1920 the Treaty of Sevres was signed, denoting the division of Turkey. The implementation of the papers was prevented by the coming to power of the Kemalists in Turkey. They did not ratify the treaty signed by the Sultan's government.

Brits in Baku

In addition to the Treaty of Sevres and the Paris Conference that took place a year before Sevres (there, for example, the United States was given a mandate for the Transcaucasus in the spirit of those established in the Middle East), one should note the constant mediation of the British in the negotiations, their attempts to reconcile the parties. But, apparently, because of some goals in Paris, the British pursued a more pro-Azerbaijani policy, which aroused the indignation of the Armenians. The latter considered themselves a "little ally" of Britain. In general, the efforts of the Entente to establish peace in the region were in vain. And not even because the Bolsheviks came and pacified everyone by the power of the Red Army. Simply, apparently, such a deep hatred is not smoothed out by papers and diplomats. This is visible today.

TBILISI, April 3 - Sputnik. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan SSR. Negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict have been held since 1992 within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a historical region in Transcaucasia. The population (as of January 1, 2013) is 146.6 thousand people, the vast majority are Armenians. The administrative center is the city of Stepanakert.

Background

Armenian and Azerbaijani sources have different points of view on the history of the region. According to Armenian sources, Nagorno-Karabakh (ancient Armenian name - Artsakh) at the beginning of the first millennium BC. was part of the political and cultural sphere of Assyria and Urartu. First mentioned in the cuneiform writing of Sardur II, king of Urartu (763-734 BC). In the early Middle Ages, Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Armenia, according to Armenian sources. After most of this country was captured by Turkey and Persia in the Middle Ages, the Armenian principalities (melikdoms) of Nagorno-Karabakh retained a semi-independent status. In the 17th-18th centuries, the princes of Artsakh (meliks) led the liberation struggle of Armenians against the Shah's Persia and Sultan's Turkey.

According to Azerbaijani sources, Karabakh is one of the most ancient historical regions of Azerbaijan. According to the official version, the appearance of the term "Karabakh" dates back to the 7th century and is interpreted as a combination of the Azerbaijani words "gara" (black) and "bag" (garden). Among other provinces, Karabakh (Ganja in Azerbaijani terminology) was part of the Safavid state in the 16th century, and later became an independent Karabakh khanate.

In 1813, according to the Gulistan peace treaty, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Russia.

In early May 1920, Soviet power was established in Karabakh. On July 7, 1923, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (AO) was formed from the mountainous part of Karabakh (part of the former Elizavetpol province) as part of the Azerbaijan SSR with the administrative center in the village of Khankendy (now Stepanakert).

How did the war start

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the regional Council of Deputies of the NKAO adopted a decision "On a petition to the Supreme Soviets of the AzSSR and the ArmSSR on the transfer of the NKAR from the AzSSR to the ArmSSR."

The refusal of the allied and Azerbaijani authorities caused demonstrations of protest by Armenians not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also in Yerevan.

On September 2, 1991, a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional and Shahumyan regional councils took place in Stepanakert, which adopted a Declaration on the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, the Shaumyan region and part of the Khanlar region of the former Azerbaijan SSR.

On December 10, 1991, a few days before the official collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, in which the vast majority of the population - 99.89% - voted for complete independence from Azerbaijan.

Official Baku recognized this act as illegal and abolished the autonomy of Karabakh that existed in the Soviet years. Following this, an armed conflict began, during which Azerbaijan tried to keep Karabakh, and the Armenian detachments defended the independence of the region with the support of Yerevan and the Armenian diaspora from other countries.

Victims and losses

The losses of both sides during the Karabakh conflict amounted, according to various sources, to 25 thousand people were killed, more than 25 thousand were injured, hundreds of thousands of civilians left their places of residence, more than four thousand people are missing.

As a result of the conflict, Azerbaijan lost over Nagorno-Karabakh and, in whole or in part, seven regions adjacent to it.

Negotiation

On May 5, 1994, through the mediation of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh signed a protocol calling for a ceasefire on the night of May 8-9. This document entered the history of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict as the Bishkek Protocol.

The negotiation process to resolve the conflict began in 1991. Since 1992, negotiations have been underway on a peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France. The group also includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Turkey.

Since 1999, regular bilateral and trilateral meetings of the leaders of the two countries have been held. The last meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, within the framework of the negotiation process on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, took place on December 19, 2015 in Bern (Switzerland).

Despite the confidentiality surrounding the negotiation process, it is known that they are based on the so-called updated Madrid principles, transmitted by the OSCE Minsk Group to the parties to the conflict on January 15, 2010. The main principles of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, called Madrid, were presented in November 2007 in the capital of Spain.

Azerbaijan insists on maintaining its territorial integrity, Armenia defends the interests of the unrecognized republic, since the NKR is not a party to the negotiations.

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 more than a century of history. There are not so many such “hot” spots on the planet, but it is still better that 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 rather difficult to briefly describe. 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 by Armenians and Azerbaijanis very carefully. Although each nationality sees only its rightness in what happened. In the article we will analyze the causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict. And also briefly outline the current situation in the region. We will single out several sections of the article to the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of the late nineteenth - early twentieth century, part of which are armed clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Characteristics of the 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 the main reason for the outbreak of war is seen 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 came 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 resemblance to partisan resistance. The main actions took place in the disputed territories, where the republics supported the militias created by their fellow citizens.

For all the time that the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920 lasted, the most bloody and active actions took place in Karabakh and Nakhichevan. All this was accompanied by a real massacre, which eventually became the cause of the demographic crisis in the region. Armenians and Azerbaijanis call the most difficult pages in the history of this conflict:

• March massacre;
• the 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 become a guarantor of the stabilization of the situation in the region. The problem was solved 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. Speaking of this, we mean the Karabakh conflict, the consequences of which our contemporaries still cannot fully appreciate.

History of hostilities

Since ancient times, tense relations 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 story unfolding over several centuries.

Religious and cultural differences between the two peoples were often considered the reason that led to the armed clash. 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 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, there were regular clashes that were harbingers of a future war. Its trigger mechanism can be called the October Revolution.

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

A year after the revolution, serious changes took place in the once unified territory. Initially, independence was proclaimed in Transcaucasia, but the newly created state lasted only a few months. It is historically natural that it broke up 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 lot of 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 briefly consider it a little later).

The goal of the Armenians living in the announced territories was to become part of the Republic of Armenia. Armed clashes between scattered Armenian detachments and Azerbaijani troops were repeated regularly. But neither side could come to any final decision.

In turn, a similar situation has developed. 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 consider the war through the prism of armed clashes in these areas.

Nakhichevan. Muslim resistance

The Truce of Mudros, signed in the eighteenth year of the last century and marked the defeat, immediately changed the balance of power in the Transcaucasus. Its troops, previously introduced into the Transcaucasian region, were forced to hastily leave it. After several months of independent existence, it was decided to introduce the liberated territories into the Republic of Armenia. However, this was done without the consent of the local residents, most of whom were Azerbaijani Muslims. They began to resist, especially since the Turkish military supported this opposition. Soldiers and officers in small numbers 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 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 the intervention of Britain. Through her efforts, a governor-general was formed in the declared independent territories.

In a few months of the nineteenth year, under the British protectorate, the disputed territories managed to restore a 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 region, and the Armenian military units entered there with full rights to these lands.

This decision led to the indignation of Azerbaijani Muslims. The military conflict broke out with renewed vigor. Looting took place everywhere, houses and Muslim shrines were burned. In all areas close to Nakhichevan, battles and minor clashes thundered. Azerbaijanis created their own units and performed under 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. History reference

This region cannot boast of stability so far. Despite the fact that theoretically a solution to the Karabakh conflict was found 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 a part of one of its provinces and for six centuries were geographically part of it. In the future, these areas have changed their ownership more than once. They were ruled by Albanians, Arabs, again Naturally, territories with such a history as a distinctive feature have a heterogeneous composition of the population. This was one of the causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

For a better understanding of 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 by short-term armed skirmishes 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 number of the 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, looting and robbery 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 of the British, about forty thousand Armenians disappeared in Karabakh.

The British, who felt quite confident in these territories, saw an intermediate solution to the Karabakh conflict in the transfer of this region under the control of Azerbaijan. Such an approach could not 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 solution 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 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 offered to be guided by ethnic characteristics. Historically, these territories belonged to the Armenians, so their claims to Nagorno-Karabakh were justified. However, Azerbaijan made compelling 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 come to a compromise. Therefore, the conference was considered a failure.

Further course of the conflict

After an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan imposed an economic blockade of these territories. He was supported by the British and Americans, but even they were forced to recognize such measures as 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 it couldn't go on for 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 for Azerbaijan. Despite the nominal solution of the issue, the situation has not stabilized. Looting and robbery continued, and bloody ethnic cleansing, which claimed the lives of entire settlements, became a frequent occurrence.

Armenian uprising

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

Against the backdrop of a renewed national massacre, the Azerbaijani government demanded the unconditional submission of the Armenian population. For this purpose, an Assembly was convened, the delegates of which worked until the first days of March. However, no consensus was reached either. Some advocated only 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 manage the region, gradually began to gather military contingent here. In parallel, he introduced a lot of rules restricting Armenians in movement, 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 at the same time. But only one of them managed to achieve a noticeable result. The rebels failed to hold the city: already in the first days of April it was returned under the authority of the governor-general.

The failure did not stop the Armenian population, and the long-standing military conflict resumed on the territory of Karabakh with renewed vigor. During April, the 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 entrenched themselves 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, neither side was satisfied with the outcome. Periodically, minor conflicts arose, provoked either by the Armenian or by the Azerbaijani population. Each of the peoples considered themselves infringed in their rights, and the issue of transferring the region under the rule of Armenia was raised repeatedly.

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

Renewal of the conflict

Until the end of the 1980s, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh remained conditionally stable. There were talks about changing the status of autonomy from time to time, but this was done in very narrow circles. The policy of Mikhail Gorbachev influenced the mood in the region: the dissatisfaction of the Armenian population with their position intensified. The people began to gather for rallies, there were words about the deliberate restraint of the development of the region and the ban on resuming ties with Armenia. During this period, the nationalist movement became more active, whose leaders spoke about the disdainful attitude of the authorities towards Armenian culture and traditions. Increasingly, there were appeals to the Soviet government calling for the withdrawal of autonomy from Azerbaijan.

The ideas of reunification with Armenia also leaked into the print media. In the republic itself, the population actively supported new trends, which negatively affected the authority of the leadership. Trying to hold back popular uprisings, the Communist Party was rapidly losing its positions. 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 in one of the villages of the head of the collective farm - an Armenian. Mass riots were 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 the 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, the Armenian people's deputies voted for an appeal to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a request to consider the urgent issue with Karabakh. Azerbaijani deputies refused to vote and defiantly left the meeting room. The conflict gradually got out of control. Many feared bloody clashes among the local population. And they did not keep themselves waiting.

On February 22, with difficulty, they managed to separate two groups of people - from Aghdam 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 the first days of March, a wave of strikes swept through Nagorno-Karabakh. In the future, the people will more than once resort to this method of attracting attention to themselves. In parallel, people began to take to the streets of Azerbaijani cities, speaking in support of the decision on the impossibility of revising the status of Karabakh. The most massive were such processions in Baku.

The Armenian authorities tried to contain the pressure of the people, who increasingly advocated unification with once disputed areas. Several official groups have even 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 former status of Karabakh. However, she encouraged the representatives of this autonomy with promises to establish cultural ties with Armenia and provide a number of indulgences to the local population. Unfortunately, such half-measures could not satisfy both sides.

Rumors spread everywhere about the oppression of certain nationalities, people took to the streets, many of them had weapons. The situation finally got out of control in late February. At that time, bloody pogroms of the Armenian quarters took place in Sumgayit. For two days, law enforcement agencies could not restore order. The official reports did not include 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. With difficulty, it was possible to prevent a repetition of the situation with Sumgayit in Kirovobad.

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

Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1991-1994

Until 1994, the situation in the region was extremely difficult. A Soviet group of troops was introduced into Yerevan, in some cities, including Baku, the authorities established a curfew. Popular unrest often resulted in massacres, which even the military contingent could not stop. On the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, shelling by artillery has become the norm. The conflict escalated into a full-scale war between the two republics.

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

Summing up

Today, the causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict (in brief) can be found in any school history textbook. After all, he is an example of a frozen situation that has not 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 previously belonged to the border. Naturally, Azerbaijan itself considered the military conflict not resolved, but merely frozen. Therefore, in 2016, the shelling of the territories adjacent to Karabakh began.

Today, the situation threatens to escalate into a full-fledged military conflict again, 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.

Armenian soldiers in positions in Nagorno-Karabakh

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict became one of the ethno-political conflicts of the second half of the 1980s on the territory of the then Soviet Union. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to large-scale structural shifts in the sphere of ethno-national relations. The confrontation between the national republics and the union center, which caused a systemic crisis and the beginning of centrifugal processes, revived the long-standing processes of ethnic and national character. State-legal, territorial, socio-economic, geopolitical interests intertwined into one knot. The struggle of some republics against the union center in a number of cases turned into a struggle of autonomies against their republican "mother countries". Such conflicts were, for example, the Georgian-Abkhazian, Georgian-Ossetian, Transnistrian conflicts. But the most large-scale and bloody, which escalated into an actual war between two independent states, was the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO), later the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). In this confrontation, a line of ethnic confrontation of the parties immediately arose, and the warring parties were formed along ethnic lines: Armenian-Azerbaijanis.

The Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation in Nagorno-Karabakh has a long history. It should be noted that the territory of Karabakh was annexed to the Russian Empire in 1813 as part of the Karabakh Khanate. Interethnic contradictions led to major Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes in 1905-1907 and 1918-1920. In May 1918, in connection with the revolution in Russia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic appeared. However, the Armenian population of Karabakh, whose territory became part of the ADR, refused to obey the new authorities. Armed confrontation continued until the establishment of Soviet power in the region in 1920. Then the units of the Red Army, together with the Azerbaijani troops, managed to suppress the Armenian resistance in Karabakh. In 1921, by decision of the Caucasus Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh was left within the boundaries of the Azerbaijan SSR with broad autonomy granted. In 1923, the regions of the Azerbaijan SSR with a predominantly Armenian population were united into the Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh (AONK), which since 1937 became known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO). At the same time, the administrative boundaries of the autonomy did not coincide with the ethnic ones. The Armenian leadership from time to time raised the issue of transferring Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, but in the center it was decided to establish the status quo in the region. Socio-economic tensions in Karabakh escalated into riots in the 1960s. At the same time, the Karabakh Armenians felt infringed on their cultural and political rights in the territory of Azerbaijan. However, the Azeri minority, both in the NKAR and in the Armenian SSR (which did not have its own autonomy), made counter accusations of discrimination.

Since 1987, the dissatisfaction of the Armenian population with their socio-economic situation has increased in the region. There were accusations against the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR of maintaining the economic backwardness of the region, of infringing on the rights, culture and identity of the Armenian minority in Azerbaijan. In addition, the existing problems, previously hushed up, after Gorbachev came to power, quickly became the property of wide publicity. At the rallies in Yerevan, caused by dissatisfaction with the economic crisis, there were calls to transfer the NKAR to Armenia. Nationalist Armenian organizations and the nascent national movement fueled the protests. The new leadership of Armenia was openly opposed to the local nomenklatura and the ruling communist regime as a whole. Azerbaijan, in turn, remained one of the most conservative republics of the USSR. Local authorities, headed by H. Aliyev, suppressed all kinds of political dissent and remained loyal to the center to the last. Unlike Armenia, where most of the party functionaries expressed their readiness to cooperate with the national movement, the Azerbaijani political leadership was able to hold power until 1992 in the fight against the so-called. national democratic movement. However, the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR, state and law enforcement agencies, using the old levers of influence, were not ready for the events in the NKAO and Armenia, which, in turn, provoked mass demonstrations in Azerbaijan, which created conditions for uncontrolled crowd behavior. In turn, the Soviet leadership, who feared that the speeches in Armenia on the annexation of the NKAO, could lead not only to a revision of the national-territorial borders between the republics, but could also lead to the uncontrolled collapse of the USSR. The demands of the Karabakh Armenians and the public of Armenia were considered by him as manifestations of nationalism, contrary to the interests of the working people of the Armenian and Azerbaijan SSR.

During the summer of 1987 - winter of 1988. On the territory of the NKAR, mass protests of Armenians were held, demanding secession from Azerbaijan. In a number of places, these protests escalated into clashes with the police. At the same time, representatives of the Armenian intellectual elite, public, political and cultural figures tried to actively lobby for the reunification of Karabakh with Armenia. Signatures were collected among the population, delegations were sent to Moscow, representatives of the Armenian diaspora abroad tried to draw the attention of the international community to the aspirations of Armenians for reunification. At the same time, the Azerbaijani leadership, which declared the unacceptability of revising the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR, pursued a policy of using the usual levers to regain control over the situation. A large delegation of representatives of the leadership of Azerbaijan and the republican party organization was sent to Stepanakert. The group also included the heads of the Republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB, the Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court. This delegation condemned "extremist-separatist" sentiments in the region. In response to these actions, a mass rally was organized in Stepanakert on the reunification of the NKAR and the Armenian SSR. On February 20, 1988, the session of people's deputies of the NKAR addressed the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR, the Armenian SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of transferring the NKAR from Azerbaijan to Armenia. However, the Azerbaijani authorities and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU refused to recognize the demands of the regional council of the NKAR. The central authorities continued to state that the redrawing of the borders was unacceptable, and calls for the entry of Karabakh into Armenia were declared the intrigues of "nationalists" and "extremists." Immediately after the appeal of the Armenian majority (Azerbaijani representatives refused to take part in the meeting) of the regional council of the NKAR about the separation of Karabakh from Azerbaijan, a slow slide to an armed conflict began. There were first reports of acts of inter-ethnic violence in both ethnic communities. The explosion of the rally activity of the Armenians provoked a response from the Azerbaijani community. It came to clashes with the use of firearms and the participation of law enforcement officers. The first victims of the conflict appeared. In February, a mass strike began in the NKAO, which lasted intermittently until December 1989. On February 22-23, spontaneous rallies were held in Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan in support of the decision of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee on the inadmissibility of revising the national-territorial structure.

The pogrom of Armenians in Sumgayit on February 27-29, 1988 became a turning point in the development of the inter-ethnic conflict. According to official figures, 26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis were killed. Similar events took place in Kirovabad (now Ganja), where an armed crowd of Azerbaijanis attacked the Armenian community. However, the densely populated Armenians managed to fight back, which led to casualties on both sides. All this happened with the inaction of the authorities and the rule of law, as some eyewitnesses claimed. As a result of the clashes, flows of Azerbaijani refugees began to flow from the NKAR. Armenian refugees also appeared after the events in Stepanakert, Kirovabad and Shusha, when rallies for the integrity of the Azerbaijan SSR escalated into inter-ethnic clashes and pogroms. Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes also began on the territory of the Armenian SSR. The reaction of the central authorities was the change of party leaders in Armenia and Azerbaijan. On May 21, troops were brought into Stepanakert. According to Azerbaijani sources, the Azerbaijani population was expelled from several cities of the Armenian SSR, and as a result of the strike, obstacles were placed in the NKAR to local Azerbaijanis, who were not allowed to work. In June-July, the conflict took on an inter-republican orientation. The Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR unleashed the so-called "war of laws". The Supreme Presidium of the AzSSR declared unacceptable the decision of the regional council of the NKAO on secession from Azerbaijan. The Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR agreed to the entry of the NKAR into the Armenian SSR. In July, mass strikes began in Armenia in connection with the decision of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU on the territorial integrity of the Azerbaijan SSR. The allied leadership actually took the side of the Azerbaijan SSR on the issue of maintaining the existing borders. After a series of clashes in the NKAO, on September 21, 1988, a curfew and a special situation were introduced. Rally activity on the territory of Armenia and Azerbaijan led to outbreaks of violence against the civilian population and increased the number of refugees who formed two counter streams. In October and the first half of November, the tension increased. Thousands of rallies were held in Armenia and Azerbaijan, and representatives of the Karabakh party won the early elections to the Supreme Council of the Republic of the Armenian SSR, taking a radical position on the annexation of the NKAO to Armenia. The arrival in Stepanakert of members of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR did not bring any result. In November 1988, the accumulated discontent in society over the results of the policy of the republican authorities regarding the preservation of the NKAR resulted in thousands of rallies in Baku. The death sentence of one of the defendants in the Sumgayit pogrom case, Akhmedov, pronounced by the Supreme Court of the USSR, provoked a wave of pogroms in Baku, which spread to the whole of Azerbaijan, especially to cities with an Armenian population - Kirovabad, Nakhichevan, Khanlar, Shamkhor, Sheki, Kazakh, Mingachevir. The army and police in most cases did not interfere in the events. At the same time, shelling of border villages on the territory of Armenia began. A special situation was also introduced in Yerevan and rallies and demonstrations were banned, military equipment and battalions with special weapons were brought to the streets of the city. During this time, there is the most massive flow of refugees caused by violence both in Azerbaijan and in Armenia.

By this time, armed formations had begun to form in both republics. At the beginning of May 1989, the Armenians living north of the NKAO began to create the first combat detachments. In the summer of the same year, Armenia introduced a blockade of the Nakhichevan ASSR. As a response, the Popular Front of Azerbaijan imposed an economic and transport blockade on Armenia. On December 1, the Armed Forces of the Armenian SSR and the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh at a joint meeting adopted resolutions on the reunification of the NKAR with Armenia. Since the beginning of 1990, armed clashes began - mutual artillery shelling on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Helicopters and armored personnel carriers were used for the first time during the deportation of Armenians from the Shahumyan and Khanlar regions of Azerbaijan by the Azerbaijani forces. On January 15, the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces declared a state of emergency in the NKAR, in the regions of the Azerbaijan SSR bordering it, in the Goris region of the Armenian SSR, as well as on the line of the state border of the USSR on the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR. On January 20, internal troops were brought into Baku to prevent the seizure of power by the Popular Front of Azerbaijan. This led to clashes resulting in up to 140 deaths. Armenian fighters began to penetrate into the settlements with the Azerbaijani population, committing acts of violence. Combat clashes between militants and internal troops became more frequent. In turn, units of the Azerbaijani OMON undertook actions to invade Armenian villages, which led to the death of civilians. Azerbaijani helicopters began shelling Stepanakert.

On March 17, 1991, an all-Union referendum on the preservation of the USSR was held, which was supported by the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR. At the same time, the Armenian leadership, which adopted on August 23, 1990, the declaration of independence of Armenia, in every possible way prevented the holding of a referendum on the territory of the republic. On April 30, the so-called operation "Ring" began, carried out by the forces of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs and the internal troops of the USSR. The purpose of the operation was declared to be the disarmament of illegal armed formations of Armenians. This operation, however, led to the death of a large number of civilians and the deportation of Armenians from 24 settlements on the territory of Azerbaijan. Before the collapse of the USSR, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict escalated, the number of clashes grew, the parties used various types of weapons. From December 19 to 27, the internal troops of the USSR were withdrawn from the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. With the collapse of the USSR and the withdrawal of internal troops from the NKAO, the situation in the conflict zone became uncontrollable. A full-scale war began between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the withdrawal of the NKAO from the latter.

As a result of the division of the military property of the Soviet army, withdrawn from Transcaucasia, the largest part of the weapons went to Azerbaijan. On January 6, 1992, the declaration of independence of the NKAR was adopted. Full-scale hostilities began with the use of tanks, helicopters, artillery and aircraft. The combat units of the Armenian armed forces and the Azerbaijani OMON alternately attacked enemy villages, inflicting heavy losses and damaging civilian infrastructure. On March 21, a temporary week-long truce was concluded, after which, on March 28, the Azerbaijani side launched the largest offensive against Stepanakert since the beginning of the year. The attackers used the Grad system. However, the assault on the NKAO capital ended in vain, the Azerbaijani forces suffered heavy losses, the Armenian military took their original positions and pushed the enemy back from Stepanakert.

In May, Armenian armed formations attacked Nakhichevan, an Azerbaijani exclave bordering Armenia, Turkey and Iran. From the side of Azerbaijan shelling of the territory of Armenia was carried out. On June 12, the summer offensive of the Azerbaijani troops began, which lasted until August 26. As a result of this offensive, the territories of the former Shaumyan and Mardakert regions of the NKAO came under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces for a short time. But it was a local success of the Azerbaijani forces. As a result of the Armenian counteroffensive, strategic heights in the Mardakert region were recaptured from the enemy, and the Azerbaijani offensive itself ran out of steam by mid-July. During the hostilities, weapons and specialists of the former USSR Armed Forces were used, mainly by the Azerbaijani side, in particular aviation, anti-aircraft installations. In September-October 1992, the Azerbaijani army made an unsuccessful attempt to block the Lachin corridor - a small section of the territory of Azerbaijan, located between Armenia and the NKAR, controlled by Armenian armed formations. On November 17, a full-scale offensive of the NKR army began on the Azerbaijani positions, which made a decisive turn in the war in favor of the Armenians. The Azerbaijani side refused to conduct offensive operations for a long time.

It is worth noting that from the very beginning of the military phase of the conflict, both sides began to accuse each other of using mercenaries in their ranks. In many cases, these accusations were confirmed. Afghan Mujahideen, Chechen mercenaries fought in the armed forces of Azerbaijan, including well-known field commanders Shamil Basayev, Khattab, Salman Raduyev. Turkish, Russian, Iranian and presumably American instructors also operated in Azerbaijan. Armenian volunteers who came from the Middle Eastern countries, in particular from Lebanon and Syria, fought on the side of Armenia. The forces of both sides also included former servicemen of the Soviet Army and mercenaries from the former Soviet republics. Both sides used weapons from the warehouses of the armed forces of the Soviet Army. In early 1992, Azerbaijan received a squadron of combat helicopters and attack aircraft. In May of the same year, the official transfer of weapons from the 4th Combined Arms Army to Azerbaijan began: tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery mounts, including Grad. By June 1, the Armenian side got tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and artillery also from the arsenal of the Soviet Army. The Azerbaijani side actively used aviation and artillery in the bombing of the settlements of the NKAR, the main purpose of which was the exodus of the Armenian population from the territory of the autonomy. As a result of raids and shelling of civilian objects, a large number of civilian casualties were noted. However, the Armenian air defense, initially rather weak, managed to withstand the air raids of the Azerbaijani aviation due to the increase in the number of anti-aircraft installations in the hands of the Armenians. By 1994, the first aircraft appeared in the armed forces of Armenia, in particular, thanks to Russia's assistance in the framework of military cooperation in the CIS.

After repulsing the Summer Offensive of the Azerbaijani troops, the Armenian side switched to active offensive operations. From March to September 1993, as a result of hostilities, Armenian troops managed to take a number of settlements in the NKAO controlled by Azerbaijani forces. In August-September, Russian envoy Vladimir Kazimirov secured a temporary ceasefire that was extended until November. At a meeting with Russian President B. Yeltsin, Azerbaijani President G. Aliyev announced his refusal to resolve the conflict by military means. Negotiations were held in Moscow between the Azerbaijani authorities and representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, in October 1993, Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire and attempted an offensive in the southwestern sector of the NKAR. This offensive was repulsed by the Armenians, who launched a counteroffensive in the southern sector of the front and by November 1 occupied a number of key regions, isolating parts of the Zangilan, Jabrayil and Kubatli regions from Azerbaijan. The Armenian army, thus, occupied the regions of Azerbaijan to the north and south of the NKAO directly.

In January-February, one of the bloodiest battles took place at the final stage of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict - the battle for the Omar Pass. This battle began with the offensive in January 1994 of the Azerbaijani forces on the northern sector of the front. It is worth noting that the fighting took place in the devastated territory, where there were no civilians left, as well as in severe weather conditions, in the highlands. In early February, the Azerbaijanis came close to the city of Kelbajar, occupied a year earlier by Armenian forces. However, the Azerbaijanis failed to build on the initial success. On February 12, the Armenian units launched a counteroffensive, and the Azerbaijani forces had to retreat through the Omar Pass to their original positions. The losses of Azerbaijanis in this battle amounted to 4 thousand people, Armenians 2 thousand. The Kelbajar region remained under the control of the NKR defense forces.

On April 14, 1994, on the initiative of Russia and with the direct participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Council of CIS Heads of State adopted a statement clearly posing the issue of a ceasefire as an urgent need for a settlement in Karabakh.

In April-May, the Armenian forces, as a result of an offensive in the Ter-Ter direction, forced the Azerbaijani troops to retreat. On May 5, 1994, at the initiative of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, the Federal Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, a meeting was held, following which representatives of the governments of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the NKR signed the Bishkek Protocol calling for a ceasefire on the night of May 8-9, 1994 of the year. On May 9, Vladimir Kazimirov, Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of Russia in Nagorno-Karabakh, prepared an “Agreement on an indefinite ceasefire”, which was signed in Baku on the same day by Azerbaijani Defense Minister M. Mammadov. On May 10 and 11, the "Agreement" was signed respectively by the Minister of Defense of Armenia S. Sargsyan and the Commander of the NKR Army S. Babayan. The active phase of the armed confrontation is over.

The conflict was "frozen", according to the agreements reached, the status quo was preserved following the results of hostilities. As a result of the war, the actual independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from Azerbaijan and its control over the southwestern part of Azerbaijan up to the border with Iran was proclaimed. This included the so-called "security zone": five regions adjacent to the NKR. At the same time, five Azerbaijani enclaves are also controlled by Armenia. On the other hand, Azerbaijan retained control over 15% of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to various estimates, the losses of the Armenian side are estimated at 5-6 thousand people killed, including among the civilian population. Azerbaijan lost between 4,000 and 7,000 people during the conflict, with the bulk of the losses falling on military units.

The Karabakh conflict has become one of the most bloody and large-scale in the region, yielding in terms of the amount of equipment used and human losses only to two Chechen wars. As a result of the hostilities, severe damage was inflicted on the infrastructure of the NKR and the adjacent regions of Azerbaijan, and caused an exodus of refugees, both from Azerbaijan and from Armenia. As a result of the war, the relationship between Azerbaijanis and Armenians was dealt a severe blow, and the atmosphere of hostility persists to this day. Diplomatic relations were never established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the armed conflict was mothballed. As a result, isolated cases of combat clashes continue on the demarcation line of the warring parties at the present time.

Ivanovsky Sergey

The Caucasus is one of the few regions of the world where a huge number of diverse ethnic groups are concentrated in a relatively small area. It is sometimes difficult for a person inexperienced in local realities to understand all the diversity of local cultures, languages ​​or religions. Let's try to understand the problem using the example of the two largest Caucasian peoples. So, what is the difference between Azerbaijanis and Armenians? We will consider the differences in several aspects:

• linguistic;
• religious;
• historical;
• cultural.

Languages

According to the modern linguistic classification, the Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European family. Its closest living relative is presumably Greek, and of the dead languages, Phrygian. Among the Indo-European languages, Armenian is included in the group of which it is recognized as the only representative, while many other groups (Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, Romance) gave a large number of "descendants" in the form of national languages, which are spoken by most of the world's population. By the way, in this regard, Armenian has much in common with Greek: the latter is also the only representative of a separate Indo-European branch, although some linguists identify a number of Greek dialects spoken by the Greeks of the Diaspora.

The difference between Azerbaijanis and Armenians is that their language, belonging to the Oguz branch of the Turkic languages, has nothing in common with the Indo-European ones. According to one of the hypotheses, the Indo-European and Altaic languages ​​(including the Turkic ones) are "relatives" at a higher taxonomic level, entering the so-called Nostratic macrofamily. The separation of the Proto-Indo-European language and the ancestor of the Altaic languages ​​​​occurred presumably 12 thousand years ago. Naturally, there can be no direct evidence for this; the hypothesis was put forward on the basis of data from glottochronology, which studies the order and rate of change of languages ​​under the influence of time and in interaction with other languages. The Azerbaijani language is so similar to Turkish that many even consider it a dialect of the latter.

Comparison

According to the second parameter, the difference is also fundamental: the Armenians were the first people in the world to adopt Christianity as the state religion. This happened in 301 AD. The second was Georgia - 324, and in the Roman Empire the final formation of Christianity as a state religion took place only at the end of the 4th century during the reign of Theodosius the Great. For more than 18 centuries, despite all the historical troubles, Armenia has been professing Christianity.

Azerbaijanis adhere to Shiite Islam. In this they differ from their close relatives, the Turks, who profess Sunnism. The difference is explained by the fact that the territory of Azerbaijan for a long time was politically dependent on Iran, where the Shiite variety of Islam took root a very long time ago. There is no specific date for the adoption of Islam by Azerbaijanis, since they did not have a single statehood for a long time, and the formation of their ethnic group, unlike the Armenian one, continued throughout the late Middle Ages and even into the New Age.

Historical differences

Without delving into the historical nuances relating to the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples, it is still worth noting some features. The penetration of Armenians into the territory where their country is now located began several thousand years ago. But about when exactly, there are several hypotheses. According to one (based on the writings of Herodotus), the Armenians are part of the Phrygians who migrated to the east around 7-8 centuries BC. According to another hypothesis, the Armenians live on their territory even longer, which is recorded in the Hittite hieroglyphic sources. How true both assumptions are is the subject of scientific debate. It is known that the ancient state of Urartu, partly located on the site of modern Armenia, was inhabited by a non-Indo-European people, therefore, the Armenians are not their direct descendants.

What is the difference between Azerbaijanis and Armenians in terms of the development of the territories they occupy today? Azerbaijanis migrated to Transcaucasia already before the eyes of medieval historians. The Turkization of the former Caucasian Albania (an ancient and early medieval state) began around the 11th century AD. Several waves of alien nomads (Seljuk Turks, whose language belongs to the Oguz branch of the Turkic languages) radically changed the ethnographic map of the region, where the peoples of the Caucasian language family or Iranians previously lived. Gradually, the ethnographic differences between different groups of Oghuz aliens smoothed out, and the local population was assimilated and became part of the young Azerbaijani ethnos.

Culture and Diaspora

The famous historian and ethnologist Lev Gumilyov considered the Armenians to be a “splinter” of the Byzantine Empire. This is true, because the Armenians gave Byzantium many representatives of the ruling class, including the military, and even seven emperors and one dynasty, unfairly called Macedonian by historians. And later, when the shaft of the Muslim conquest swept through Asia Minor and the Caucasus, the Armenians preserved the Christian (largely Byzantine) culture. The territory of Armenian settlement was earlier much larger than the territory of modern Armenia. Mount Ararat, which is a national symbol, is now in Turkey, although it is visible from the territory of Armenia with the naked eye.

The fact is that after a series of Russian-Turkish wars, part of the Armenian lands became part of the Russian Empire, which preserved both the Armenian culture and the Armenians as a people, and in the Ottoman Empire they were subjected to numerous persecutions and physical destruction (the last case was the genocide of 1915, when about a million Armenians died). As a result, the Armenians of Turkey settled all over the world, giving rise to the diaspora. The rest were either physically destroyed, or, having converted to Islam, were assimilated by the Turks, there are few exceptions. And now fewer Armenians live in Armenia than outside the country (about 3 million and 8-9 million, respectively). The Armenians of the Diaspora left a noticeable mark in the culture of the countries of their settlement. These are Sherilyn Sargsyan, better known as the singer Cher, French singer Charles Aznavour (Shakhnur Aznavuryan), Russian marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Ayvazyan) and many others.

Most Azerbaijanis also live outside of Azerbaijan (8 million and 24-27 million people, respectively). Unlike the Armenians, who settled all over the world, the Azerbaijanis are concentrated mainly in the nearby Muslim states. More than twice as many Azerbaijanis live in Iran alone than in Azerbaijan itself! But this did not happen as a result of an exodus from the country, but because in the 19th century Russia and Iran divided the disputed territory arbitrarily, without looking at the fact that as a result, entire nations were separated. Azerbaijanis also left a noticeable cultural mark outside their country, and above all in Iran: the poet Mohammed Shahriyar, the singer Gugush, the historian and linguist Ahmed Kesravi.

For a long time, in contact with each other, Azerbaijanis and Armenians clashed a lot. Differences in language, culture and religion, multiplied by the high population density of Transcaucasia and the relatively small amount of free land, often gave rise to interethnic clashes. The conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijani name), or Artsakh (the same in Armenian) is another confirmation of this. As anyone who has studied history will understand, in this case the definition of "who first started" the conflict is meaningless. It is necessary to negotiate on the basis of the status quo - the current state of affairs.