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Navigating the new reality: Armenians seeking adjustment after leaving Nagorno-Karabakh

On September 19th and 20th 2023, Azerbaijan took the Nagorno-Karabakh region by military means and forced the local authorities to dissolve their institutions. As a result, nearly the entire population of local Armenians fled their homes to Armenia. It is still difficult to try to make sense of how this unfolded so swiftly.

After many years of negotiations under the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group, in September 2020, Azerbaijan decided to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh (in this article many of the interlocutors refer to the region as “Artsakh”, which is its name in the Armenian context – editor’s note) conflict via military means and attacked the region. As a guarantor of the security of the Armenians living there, Armenia supported the local population.

April 11, 2024 - Razmik Martirosyan - Hot TopicsIssue 3 2024Magazine

The former check point at the start of the Lachin Corridor, which served as the only path from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh for it was blocked in 2022/23. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

 However, the Armenian side suffered a defeat in the war, which is often referred to as a “chosen defeat” in Armenia. Those who take this view accuse the authorities of not taking advantage of the negotiation process, bringing the war and planning the outcome of that war from the beginning.

On the evening of November 9th, a tripartite statement was signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia which brought an end to the 44-day war. According to the statement, seven regions that were the subject of years-long negotiations were passed over to Azerbaijan alongside Shushi and Hadrut, two parts of Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia’s long-standing desire to deploy a peacekeeping mission in the region was also fulfilled. However, Azerbaijan was not satisfied with the outcome of the war and began making territorial claims on Armenia proper. After a short time, the armed forces of Azerbaijan were already on the territory of Armenia and, according to official data presented by the authorities, since May 2021, the Azerbaijanis have occupied more than 150 square kilometres of Armenia’s sovereign territory.

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