Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Deal)

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Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Deal

Recently, Russia brokered a new peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the two countries that have been in a military conflict for over six weeks over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus.

Modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan both became part of the Soviet Union when it was formed in the 1920s. Nagorno-Karabakh was an ethnic-majority Armenian region, but the Soviets gave control over the area to Azerbaijan authorities.
The Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh made several calls to be transferred to Armenian authority control in the following decades. But it was only as the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late 1980s that Nagorno-Karabakh's regional parliament officially voted to become part of Armenia.
Azerbaijan sought to suppress the separatist movement, while Armenia backed it. This led to ethnic clashes, and - after Armenia and Azerbaijan declared independence from Moscow - a full-scale war started.
Years of clashes followed between Azerbaijan forces and Armenian separatists. The violence lasted into the 1990s, leaving tens and thousands dead and displacing hundreds of thousands.
In 1994, Russia brokered a ceasefire, by which time ethnic Armenians had taken control of the region.

The Caucasus are a strategically important mountainous region in south-east Europe. For centuries, different powers in the region - both Christian and Muslim - have vied for control there.
Armenia is majority Christian while oil-rich Azerbaijan is majority Muslim.
While the Azeris claim that the disputed region was under their control in known history, Armenians maintain that Karabakh was a part of the Armenian kingdom.
Turkey (a member of NATO) has close ties to Azerbaijan, while Russia is allied with Armenia- although it also has good relations with Azerbaijan.

The deal, which is meant to end the conflict between the two nations, was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
As per the new peace deal, both sides will now maintain positions in the areas that they currently hold, which will mean a significant gain for Azerbaijan as it has reclaimed over 15-20 per cent of its lost territory during the recent conflict.
Further, under this agreement, all military operations are suspended, Russian peacekeepers will be deployed along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor that connects the region to Armenia.
These Russian peacekeepers with a force of roughly 2,000 will be deployed in the area for a period of five years.
Refugees and internally displaced persons will return to the region and the adjacent territories and the two sides will also exchange prisoners of wars and bodies.
Significantly, a new corridor will be opened from Nakhchivan to Azerbaijan, which will be under Russian control.

While the area remains in Azerbaijan, it is today governed by separatist Armenians who have declared it a republic called the “Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast”.
While the Armenian government does not recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as independent, it supports the region politically and militarily.
Russia’s role in the conflict has been somewhat opaque since it supplies arms to both countries and is in a military alliance with Armenia called the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
Russia has always taken a balanced position on the matter and has traditionally good relations with both countries.

Even after the 1994 peace deal, the region has been marked by regular exchanges of fire.
In 2016, the region saw a four day war before Russia mediated peace.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, chaired by France, Russia and the US, has tried to get the two countries to reach a peace agreement for several years.
In October 2020 also, both countries agreed to a ceasefire agreement, which was also brokered by Russia but was unsuccessful.