This interview with Rusif Huseynov, Co-founder and Director of the Topchubashov Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan, was held on 10 February 2023. In it, Huseynov shares his opinion and commentary on the view from Baku on apparently dashed hopes for a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the impasse on the Lachin Corridor, Ruben Vardanyan, and the state of Track II diplomacy in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

This interview with Kamal Makili-Aliyev, an Associate Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Malmö University in Sweden and author of “Contested Territories and International Law: A Comparative Study of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Aland Islands Precedent,” was held on 17 February 2022.

This interview with Ahmad Alili, Director of the Baku-based Caucasus Policy Analysis Center (CPAC) was held on 28 October 2021.

This interview with Richard Giragosian, Director of the Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center (RSC) was held on 27 October 2021.

This interview with Arnold Alahverdian, one of the co-founders of Bright Garden Voices, an online platform to engage ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis living outside of the South Caucasus, was recorded on 1 March 2021.

This interview with Dr. Arman Grigoryan, an Associate Professor at Lehigh University in the United States, was held on 19 February 2021. An Armenian citizen, his focus is on ethnic conflict and nationalism. 

This interview with Azerbaijani activist and journalist Nigar Fatali was recorded on 12 November 2020, just days after the 9-point ceasefire agreement.

This interview with Azerbaijani photographer and journalist Jahangir Youssif was recorded on 2 November 2020, a week before the 9-point ceasefire agreement.

KARABAKH BLOG POSTS

Lachin Corridor standoff enters fourth week

Lachin Corridor standoff enters fourth week

The 25 December rally in Stepanakert, the defacto capital of what remains of the Soviet-era Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), was large. An estimated 30-35,000 ethnic Armenian residents of the breakaway region gathered in the city’s Renaissance Square in an act of defiance in response to Azerbaijani “eco—activists” picketing the Lachin corridor. 


Standoff in Lachin as Humanitarian Concerns Mount

Standoff in Lachin as Humanitarian Concerns Mount

At time of writing, the strategic Lachin corridor has been effectively blocked for twelve days by Azerbaijani protestors. Depending on whom you ask, this recent development either risks derailing an already precarious Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process or makes the signing of a treaty all the more urgent. Whatever your position, however, it was clear that Baku would apply pressure on the only connection between Armenia and what remains of the former Soviet-era Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO).

What was unknown was simply how.

EUMM Georgia to deploy a transitional planning assistance team in Armenia as EUMCAP ends

EUMM Georgia to deploy a transitional planning assistance team in Armenia as EUMCAP ends

Today, 19 December 2022, the European Union Monitoring Capacity (EUMCAP) ended its short two-month mission in Armenia. Deployed as a result of the 6 October Prague meeting between European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, its short mission coincided with apparent signals  emanating from the 27 September meeting between senior Armenian and Azerbaijani officials in Washington D.C. that a peace deal between Yerevan and Baku could be signed by year’s end.

Landmine Free South Caucasus 2022 Campaign

Landmine Free South Caucasus 2022 Campaign

Late last month civil society in Azerbaijan and Georgia marked a day of solidarity for the victims of landmines and the communities that are affected by them. I attended the event held by LINKS Europe and its local partners in Tbilisi while another event was held simultaneously by my good friend Ahmad Alili, Director of the Caucasus Policy Analysis Centre (CPAC), in Baku. I was told a similar event was also held in Yerevan.

Calls for the European Union Monitoring Capacity (EUMCAP) in Armenia to be extended

Calls for the European Union Monitoring Capacity (EUMCAP) in Armenia to be extended

According to the Armenian Foreign Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, the temporary European Union Monitoring Mission Capacity (EUMCAP) in Armenia will end on 20 December 2022. Requested by Mirzoyan on 22 September following fierce fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the border a week earlier, the decision to deploy came out the quadripartite meeting of the two leaders and European Council and French presidents, Charles Michel and Emmanuel Macron, in Prague on 6 October before being approved by EU member states on 17 October.

U.S. urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to maintain momentum in peace negotiations

U.S. urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to maintain momentum in peace negotiations

Less than a month and a half before the end of the year, hopes remain high for the normalisation of relations between Yerevan and Baku, and especially since the last round of negotiations held the United States. “I urged Prime Minister Pashinyan to sustain momentum on peace negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia following the foreign ministers’ talks in Washington on 7 November,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted on 16 November in a follow up call to the Armenian leader. Hours later he tweeted the same message, but this time addressed to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

KARABAKH-RELATED ARTICLES

ARMENIA–AZERBAIJAN: THE RISKS FOR GEORGIA

Two sizeable communities of Armenians and Azeris live – mostly separate – in Georgia. The current conflict has exacerbated the spirits of the two minorities, particularly on social media, arousing the concern of analysts

Published by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucasus, October 2020

UNLIKELY NEIGHBOURS: CO-INHABITED VILLAGES IN GEORGIA

It’s been a year since clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces left around 200 dead in what has now become known as the “Four-Day War.” Despite the carnage, and still locked in a bitter dispute over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, peace between the warring sides is as elusive as ever. 

Published by Stratfor, May 2017

A NARRATIVE OF PEACE: ETHNIC ARMENIAN-AZERI COEXISTENCE IN GEORGIA

Walking past Tbilisi’s Meidan Square towards Heydar Aliyev Park, it’s difficult not to notice dozens of tourists posing in front of a floral fixture that has become a main attraction for visitors to the city. “Tbilisi Loves You,” it reads.

Published by Meydan TV, May 2017

 

Tsopi

CULTURE THAT UNITES RATHER THAN DIVIDES

An Azeri teahouse, and naturally Azerbaijani can be heard spoken inside. A dozen men, identical in appearance, sit at tables, chain smoking and drinking cups of çay (tea). “Salam,” we say, before approaching the waitress. The owners of another Azeri teahouse, ironically run by ethnic Armenians just around the corner, directed us here, saying that the waitress too is Armenian. She is, even though the teahouse is owned by an ethnic Azeri. We take our seats at a table with the intention of once again exploring the reality of peaceful coexistence in at least one part of the South Caucasus.

Published 2010

MUSICAL DIALECTS OF THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

Published by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucasuso,  June 2013

LACHIN: THE EMPTYING LANDS

The local residents of Suarassy seem oblivious to the hidden danger as they herd cattle down a road known to have been mined during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of the early Nineties. Despite the mangled military lorry rusting in a ditch to one side, none of their cows have so far detonated seven anti-tank mines still believed to be buried underneath, so they reckon the road is safe.

Published by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) 2006

LACHIN CONFRONTS A DEMOGRAPHIC CRISIS

The flag of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh flies over the local administrative buildings in the center of Lachin, the strategic lynchpin connecting the disputed territory with the Republic of Armenia. The town and surrounding area, regarded as vital for Karabakh’s security, appear to be experiencing an unsettling demographic shift.

Published by Eurasianet 2006

LACHIN: LIFE IN NO MAN’S LAND

Anyone taking the road from Goris to Stepanakert has passed through Lachin, the strategic main artery in the lifeline between Armenia and the self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. Few actually visit the town now of course, perhaps unsurprisingly given the destruction evident throughout. The only interest for many passing through is that Lachin lies not in Karabakh, but within what the international community considers sovereign Azerbaijani territory.

Published by Transitions Online 2001

CLEARING THE KILLING FIELDS

A few kilometers from the border of the officially unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, a shepherd sits with his grazing cattle in the lush pastures of Armenian-controlled Azerbaijan. The scene could grace the front of any postcard from the scenic Caucasus.

The twisted carcasses of rusting vehicles along the roadside tell a different story, though. The shepherd is sitting in a minefield.

Published 2004

CONFLICT VOICES e-BOOKS

 

Conflict Voices – December 2010

Short essays on the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict
Download in English | Russian

 

Conflict Voices – May 2011

Short essays on the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict
Download in English | Russian

KARABAKH-RELATED PHOTO GALLERIES

LACHIN: LIFE IN NO MAN’S LAND

Documenting the lives of Armenian settlers in the town of Lachin, the crucial artery connecting Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh, in the early 2000s.

LANDMINES AND UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE

Following the first Karabakh war, the work of the HALO Trust inc learning the disputed territory of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

REFUGEES IN ARMENIA

Refugees and Internally Displaces Persons (IDPs) in Armenia.