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Explanation
This area of the Caucasus contains peoples who were opposed
to each other before the Russians exercised imperial control.
The control from Moskva weakened after the break up of the USSR
and the hostilities have been freed to be expressed again.
Apart from general cultural hatred the cause of conflict is
an enclave (Nagorno- Karabakh - northern Karabakh) inhabited
mainly by Armenians but politically part of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Stalin defined the frontiers and the recent leadership of the
USSR seemed unable to change that decision.
Sensing that there was no will to stop them the Azeris tried
to expel the Armenians. Both sides armed themselves.
Both republics were heading for independence outside the Soviet
Union even before the final abolition of the USSR. Though both
joined the Commonwealth of Independent States there are signs
that this grouping has no power to prevent the war which had
begun by December 1991.
By February 1992 it had become a quite nasty little hot war
with great destruction of cities and villages by both sets of
fighters. There have been massacres. It has spread to become
a major war between the main republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
as both have armed themselves and the former Soviet army has
withdrawn. By June 1992 the war had spread to the Azeri enclave
of Nakhichevan which is separated from the main part of Azerbaijan
by a part of Armenia. Moreover, the Armenians had captured a
corridor from Armenia to Karabakh. Azerbaijan may ally itself
with Turkey, which would like to control the oil, and has its
own traditional enmity to Armenians. There were reports in July
1992 that "retired" Turkish officers are assisting
the Azeri forces.
By April 1993 Armenia had occupied large parts of Azerbaijan
to incorporate Karabakh. This increased the interest of Turkey
and Iran. In November 2009 the president of Azerbaijan has been making belligerent speeches about regaining the lost territory. Is the war going to revive? Wikileaks
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