Contents
Introduction
Azerbaijan and Armenia – The Story of Nagorno-Karabakh – Part 1
The History
Concluding Remarks
Other News
Bitesize Edition
Last year in September, we saw the majority of the population of Nagorno Karabakh flee after an Azerbaijani military offensive. The region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but was governed and populated by ethnic Armenians.
To understand issues of the present day, we have to study the path travelled to get us here. Today we’ll explore up to 1936 in the history of this conflict and Armenia, which has a number of key geopolitical powers involved, including Russia, Iran, Turkey, and of course, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Introduction
Today marks the beginning of a new series where I’ll embark on covering a collection of conflicts existing today between states that will continue into this period of geopolitical uncertainty. Even though global superpower geopolitics will pause in 2024 as domestic issues rise to the surface, these regional conflicts will continue to occur in the background.
There is the potential for peaceful peace deals brokered by the big geopolitical players, but with issues focused more domestically this year, unless the big players want to paint a pretty picture of their global strength and pursuit of a peaceful world, then I wouldn’t expect this to occur.
In the case of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as former states in the Soviet sphere, Russia is a relevant part of this story. Armenia also finds itself stuck between many states stronger than it, such as Turkey, Iran, and as mentioned, Russia. Seeing its territory shrink and be subject to Azeri attacks over the last few years, the Armenians have turned to the United States and the West, with France also taking a large role in supporting the Armenians.
More on the current situation in upcoming pieces. For now, let’s explore how we got to the present day in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Azerbaijan and Armenia – The Story of Nagorno-Karabakh – Part 1
Until recently, as with many elements of rising geopolitical tensions in our current age, nobody had heard of Nagorno-Karabakh. Why is the little-known enclave a sign of rising geopolitical tensions?
The History
The Armenian Mountain of Ararat is predicted to be the resting place of Noah’s Ark after the great flood. We find ourselves in a great flood of rising global geopolitical tension, and Azerbaijan and Armenia find themselves locked in a disagreement in an area of the world surrounding many powerful states. France, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and even stretching as far as Pakistan, India, and China. They’re all involved to some level in the story of Nagorno-Karabakh. Before exploring how these states are involved, how did we get here in the first place?
Armenia is rich in history, dating back to indications of the first humans 325,000 years ago and the first country to adopt Christianity around the year 300. This occurred under the Arsacid dynasty, whose rule lasted for just over a century. After the dynasty fell, Eastern Armenia fell under Persian rule and Western Armenia to the Roman Empire. This split was due to an earlier partition of Armenia in 387 by the Byzantines and Sassanids, an Iranian empire.
Eventually, much of Persian Armenia was recovered by Byzantine Emperor Maurice, the least threatening-sounding Emperor to ever live, who defeated the Persians in 591. The Muslim conquest of Armenia occurred in 638-639, by armies of the Caliphate.
The Iranian Sallarid dynasty conquered parts of Armenia in the second half of the 10th century (901-1000). The Seljuk Turks took the capital city of Ani in 1045 which was still held by the Byzantines. This ended Christianity in Armenia for centuries with small exceptions throughout history.
This history is a contributing reason to why many states have interests in Armenia. Throughout history, rather than letting states decide their own fate, power and influence is inflicted upon them, with tradition and culture being important characteristics of national identity. Back then, control of territory ensured increased resources, wealth, and influence. Hence why Turkey and Iran have interests in Armenia. They stem from this history. Russia joins the story slightly later.
The Ottoman-Persian Wars saw Yerevan, Armenia’s present-day capital city, change hands countless times. In the Peace of Amasya in 1555 between the Safavid Iranians and the Ottomans, Armenia was split again. Western Armenia was controlled by the Ottomans, and Eastern Armenia was part of Safavid Iran.
In historical fashion, this peace didn’t last particularly long, although 49 years by historical standards isn’t to be sniffed at. The Ottoman-Safavid War of 1603-1618 reignited tensions. Another Ottoman-Safavid War occurred in 1623-1639, ending with the Treaty of Zuhab. Guess where this got us? Back to the same conditions as the 1555 Peace of Amasya. This ended 150 years of war between the Ottomans and Persians. But Russia was soon lurking to the North.
In the early 1800s, we saw the first Russo-Persian War (1804-1813). This ended with the Treaty of Gulistan, in which a Russian victory saw heavy concessions made on Iranian territory. Included in this deal? Karabakh.
The Persians felt hard done by, and so another war kicked off. The Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828 began, and Russia took more territory in the Caucasus through the Treaty of Turkmenchay.
This is why the concept of geopolitical memory is so interesting to me. What do states in the present day still consider important? Is it when they were at peak power and began to inevitably decline that they blamed other states? If so, would present-day Iran blame Russia for its loss of territory in the Caucasus? Or do they have bigger fish to fry such as the United States, and so work together? The only way to understand the concept of geopolitical memory more deeply is to understand the culture and long-term government policy of states, which is difficult without being there and many states don’t often reveal their long-term aims. What are the strongest incentives for nations to pursue the geopolitical goals they pursue, even if that aligns them with states they have fought with in the past? A very interesting topic that I’ve explored on a surface level, but there's lots more that can be discussed. Now back to the history!
During the 19th century, due to Russia’s conquering of the Caucasus regions held by Iran, the demographics changed drastically. As per George Bournoutian, an Armenian-American historian, “the population of 100,000 (of Eastern Armenia) was roughly 80% Muslim (Persian, Azeri, Kurdish) and 20% Christian (Armenian). Over time, many Armenians who had left to avoid war returned, estimated to be 57,000 ethnic Armenia refugees returning from Persia. 35,000 Muslims left the region at the same time.
Towards the end of the 1800s, atrocities started to occur to the Armenian population. The Hamidian Massacres of the 1890s estimate casualties between 100,000 and 300,000. The 1909 Adana Massacre saw Armenian Christians massacred by Ottoman Muslims to the number of 20,000 to 25,000. The Hamidian Massacres were planned by the government, who were ruling over a drastically declining Ottoman Empire. We see numerous examples of declining empires attempting to cling onto power, when in my opinion, due to the cyclical nature of empires, reinforced by human nature for power, greed, and ego, it is inevitable they will all collapse. Why does nobody collapse peacefully?
In 1915, the Ottoman Empire carried out the Armenian Genocide, lasting between 1915 and 1921, during and after World War One. The process was to kill the male population through massacre and forced army conscription, and to forcefully deport the women, children, and elderly on death marches, which left the population stranded and left to die in the Syrian Desert. It is estimated 1.5 million Armenians died in the genocide, but other estimates range from 800,000 – 1,800,000.
After the Armenian Genocide and World War One, the Russian Revolution occurred, and the Ottoman Empire collapsed. The states in the Caucasus formed their own state, the Transcaucasian Federation. The state only lasted half a year. The First Republic of Armenia was established in May 1918.
A Georgian-Armenian border war was fought in 1918 over the disputed provinces of Lori and Javakheti. The Georgian forces remained in the Lori Province after the Ottomans withdrew post-World War One.
The first conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan unfolded between 1918 and 1920. The Azeris had ethnic and cultural ties to Turkey. Azerbaijan made heavy demands for Armenian territory, including Elizavetpol, Tiflis, Yerevan, Kars, and Batum. During this conflict, one of the regions where territorial clashes occurred was Karabakh.
The Paris Peace Conference and Treaty of Sevres included giving Armenia some favourable clauses. All parties signing the treaty were to recognise Armenia as a free and independent state, and Armenia was given access to the Black Sea and large portions of the Eastern Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Government signed the Treaty of Sevres, but Sultan Mehmed V׀, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, never did. The Turkish National Movement arose from the Treaty of Sevres as the Turks didn’t want to concede any territory to Armenia or Greece.
Turkey and Armenia fought again in the Turkish-Armenian War of 1920. The Treaty of Alexandropol was signed in December 1920 but was never ratified due to the arrival of a certain occupation by Soviet Russia. The Treaty of Moscow eventually saw Soviet Russia cede to Turkey’s territorial demands for the province of Kars and the Surmalu District.
The Treaty of Kars was signed between Turkey and the Soviet Union’s three republics in the Caucasus, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR) was the republic of the Soviet Union including the three states.
This existed until 1936 when all three states became constituent republics of the Soviet Union.
Note: In my opinion, it's easier to visualise these geographical changes than it is to read about them. The Wikipedia page on the History of Armenia and the link just below include links to sources including maps that show the changes in Armenian territory throughout the history described in this piece.
Concluding Remarks
Next week, we’ll tell the remainder of this story up to the present day, before exploring other hidden conflicts occurring around the globe.
Other News
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Biden Will Sign Executive Decision Targeting Settlers in the West Bank
Employees Spending Equivalent of One Month’s Grocery Bill On The Return To The Office
Global Polling Shows How Much Global Support Israel Has Lost
Indian Navy Rescue 19 Pakistan Nationals From Somali Pirates
John Kirby: No Plans to Target Israeli Government Officials With Sanctions
Mexico To Surpass China As Largest Exporter To United States
Philippines and Vietnam Agree To Expand Cooperation In South China Sea
Sullivan Urged All Possible Efforts To Get Hamas Hostages Released Without Delay
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Confirms UAE's Firm Support for UNRWA
US Department of State: US Imposed Sanctions On Four Extremist Settlers in West Bank
US Economy Adds 353,000 Jobs, Blowing Past Wall Street Expectations
US Economy Is Booming. Why Are Tech Companies Laying Off Workers?
US Secretary of Defence: We Don’t Want War Between Israel and Hezbollah
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