AZERBAIJAN | Ethnic Cleansing in Karabakh?

On 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a major new offensive against the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, within 24 hours, the territory had surrendered. Since then, there has been a steady stream of refugees as tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians flee. But this exodus has sparked a fierce debate. While Armenia has called it ethnic cleansing, Azerbaijan strongly rejects this accusation. Instead, it argues that people are leaving voluntarily. So, how exactly should we understand their departure?

The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (also known as Nagorny-Karabakh) came to be seen as one of the most bitter and prolonged on the international stage. Emerging at the end of the Cold War, as the Soviet Union collapsed, it centred on efforts by ethnic Armenians to break away and form their own state, the Republic of Artsakh. This led to a brutal three-year war that eventually saw Armenian forces secure control of Nagorno-Karabakh and many surrounding Azerbaijani districts - leading to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris. But while efforts were made to resolve the conflict, Azerbaijan used its oil and gas wealth to rebuild its armed forces. This led to a new war in 2020, which saw Azerbaijan seize back the occupied districts and part of Nagorno-Karabakh. Since then, a new peace process has been taking place. But frustrated by the lack of progress, Azerbaijan took matters into its own hands, overrunning Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. But as most of the territory's estimated 120,000 Armenian inhabitants flee, Baku and Yerevan, and their international supporters, are locked in an angry exchange as to whether this amounts to ethnic cleansing. So, how should we understand it? And, perhaps more to the point, is there any hope that some Armenians will stay, and others will eventually return?

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*VIDEO CHAPTERS*
00:00 Introduction and Titles
00:48 Ethnic Cleansing in International Relations?
02:56 The Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
04:01 The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, 1994-2020
05:27 Peace Efforts after the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan War
07:02 The Final Assault on Nagorno-Karabakh
08:59 The Arguments for and Against Ethnic Cleansing
12:38 A Future for Armenians in Azerbaijan?

*SOURCES AND FURTHER READING*
UN Office on Genocide Prevention | Ethnic Cleansing
https://www.un.org/en/genocide....prevention/ethnic-cl
Prime Minister of Armenia
https://www.primeminister.am/en/
President of Azerbaijan
https://president.az/en
Republic of Azerbaijan | Reintegration Portal
https://reintegration.gov.az
Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry
https://amzn.to/3ZzDgtY
Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War
https://amzn.to/46diFOW

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#NagornoKarabakh #Azerbaijan #Armenia