Does a border delimitation undermine Armenia’s sovereignty?

THE UNILATERAL TRANSFER OF LAND INDICATES THAT NIKOL PASHINYAN’S ADMINSTRATION STRIVES TO ATTAIN TERRITORIAL PEACE IN THE LONG TERM OVER THE CONTENT OF ITS CITIZENS.

In a recent step towards achieving fragile peace with neighbors Azerbaijan, the Armenian government has taken a crucial decision of handing over 4 border villages to its long-term rivals. Both sides acknowledge this as an important milestone for normalizing ties that could resolve a decade-long conflict. Although these villages have been internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the region has been inhabited mainly by Armenians since the 1990s.

Now, this comes as a major setback for Armenia. Firstly, these villages form a vital connection in the highway connecting Georgia as it serves as an imperative route for the country’s foreign trade. This could now end up in Azerbaijan. Secondly, the area has advantageous military positions that could be lost.

Public discontent-

It has only been months since Armenia lost NAGORNO-KHARABAK in a lighting offensive by Azerbaijan. This had resulted in a mass exodus of Armenians inhabiting that region. Now, it faces another conundrum of handing over neighboring villages to its hostile neighbors. Many inhabitants of the villages that feel that they been isolated from the country. This has caused mass public dissatisfaction and has erupted many protests.

Thousands of protesters along with opposition leaders marched to the capital city, YEREVAN, in a move to oust the prime minister. This march was led by an Armenian Orthodox cleric, Bagrat Galstanyan. In his rally, Galstanyan demanded the resignation of the prime minister. “lied, misled, and ultimately terrorized and threatened the people. We have come to demand answers for all of this” said the archbishop.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND-

Perhaps the longest running war in post-soviet Eurasia, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict involving Armenia and Azerbaijan has lasted longer than 3 decades. Since the fall of the Russian empire in 1918, the two countries began contesting for the mountainous region. But just three years later, the Soviet-union took control over the Caucasian region which later became part of the soviet republic. The Nagorno-Karabakh region, although ethnically inhabited by Armenians was located in Azerbaijan SSR. Ethnic Armenians often requested for the region to be integrated to Armenian republic, but were often denied.

Tensions began to escalate in the last 1980s when the soviet republic implemented the glasmot–policy which granted more political freedoms. Eventually, ancient feuds between the two countries erupted once again in 1988 when the Armenians residing in Nagorno-karabakh passed a referendum demanding the unification of the region. Eventually, after the break-down of the soviet-union, both Armenia and Azerbaijan declared independence and thus reviving and escalating the conflict.

This led to the first major war, that went on for 3 years and resulted in favor of Armenia. Not only was Nagorno-karabakh under Armenian control, it also seized certain territories of Azerbaijan. This full-fledged war resulted in many casualties where, about 20,000 were reported dead and over a million were forced to flee their homes. Eventually in 1994, both sides signed a ceasefire agreement freezing the conflict.

However, throughout these years, both sides spent heavily on increasing their defense expenditure to get an advantageous position in the war. Azerbaijan, however spent heavily in these years which amounted to almost three times of Armenia.

Another war broke out in 2016, which lasted for about 4 days. This war saw the intervention of another, Turkey who stood in favor of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is perhaps, the closest country when it comes to sharing their language. Both counties then strengthened their ties and turkey assisted Azerbaijan grow militarily.

In august 2020, both the countries (Turkey and Azerbaijan) held military drills in Azerbaijan. In favor of Turkey’s support, Azerbaijan launched another attack that year in September. After many weeks of blood-shed, a ceasefire agreement was brokered by Russia. According to the agreement, Azerbaijan had taken control over 7 districts adjacent to Nagorno-karabakh which was initially under Armenian control since the war in 1994. This war was perhaps the most brutal since the last three decades, where almost 7000 military and 170 civilians lost their lives.

QUICK LIGHTNING OFFENSIVE–

On 19th September 2023, Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terrorist” offensive which regained the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region in a span of just two days. Karabakh officials stated that this caused atleast 200 civilian casualties. Eventually, Russia mediated another negotiation over the re-integration of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan. This led to a mass exodus of 100,000 Armenians inhabiting that region. Eventually, mass public protests erupted, accentuating the incompetence of the Armenian government and demanded the resignation of their prime minister.

– Shonakjit Sai