2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war was an armed conflict between Azerbaijan and the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh together with Armenia. It was the latest escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but partially governed by Artsakh. A ceasefire agreement was signed between the President of Azerbaijan,. Ilham Aliyev, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Under the agreement, the warring sides will keep control of their currently held areas, while Armenia will return the surrounding territories it occupied in 1994 to Azerbaijan.

About 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in brief

Summary 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflictThe 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war was an armed conflict between Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, and the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh together with Armenia. It was the latest escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but partially governed by Artsakh. The war was marked by the deployment of drones, sensors, long-range heavy artillery and missile strikes, as well as by state propaganda and the use of official social media accounts in online information warfare. Total casualties on both sides may be in the low thousands. A ceasefire agreement was signed between the President of Azerbaijan,. Ilham Aliyev, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, ending all hostilities in the area from 00: 00, 10 November 2020 Moscow Time. Under the agreement, the warring sides will keep control of their currently held areas, while Armenia will return the surrounding territories it occupied in 1994 to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will also gain land access to its Nakhchivan exclave bordering Turkey and Iran. Approximately 2,000 Russian soldiers will be deployed as peacekeeping forces along the Lachin corridor for a mandate of at least five years. Three ceasefires brokered by Russia, France and the United States failed to stop the fighting. Clashes erupted around the Armenian holdout pocket despite the ceasefire agreement, and it has been reported that the Azerbaijani forces seized control of Hin Tagher on 12 December.

On 13 December, each side accused the other of reigniting the conflict. The Russian peacekeeping force requested both sides to respect the ceasefire. However, the next day the Russian Ministry of Defence released a map showing both Azerbaijan’s and Armenia’s borders of the peacekeeping mission, both under Azerbaijan’s control. The current conflict has its roots in World War I and today the region is de facto part of the Azerbaijan SSR. During the Soviet era, the region was predmonantly supported by the Armenian-populated SSR, and was oblastly governed as an autonomous region within the SSR following World War II. The region is still fiercely contested between Armenians and Azerbaijanis and today it is jure part of Azerbaijan, although large parts are de facto held by the de facto Republic of Artsakh, which has an Armenian ethnic majority. It is also claimed that Azerbaijan is the only country in the world that recognises Artsakh as an independent state, and that Artsakh is a breakaway state with a majority of Armenians. The conflict was won by Azerbaijan, although the extent of this support has been disputed. The next day, Armenia and Artsakh introduced martial law and total mobilization, while Azerbaijan introduced martial law, a curfew and partial mobilization. The first major breach of the ceasefire occurred on 11 December, near Hadrut. The second major breach occurred on 12 December, with some clashes continuing in the region.