"The woman is created for a man, not a man for a woman" - such a postulate ...
15 years ago (1994) Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia signed the Bishkek Protocol on the termination from May 12, 1994 in the Zone of the Karabakh conflict.
Nagorno-Karabakh - the region in the Transcaucasus, the de-Yura is part of Azerbaijan. The population is 138 thousand people, the overwhelming majority - Armenians. The capital is the city of Stepanakert. The population is about 50 thousand people.
According to Armenian open sources, Nagorno-Karabakh (the ancient Armenian name - Artsakh) is first mentioned in the inscriptions of Sardura II, King Urartu (763-734 BC). In the early Middle Ages, Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Armenia, armenian sources argue. After most of this country in the Middle Ages was captured by Turkey and Iran, the Armenian principalities (Melichesia) of Nagorno-Karabakh retained a semi-independent status.
According to Azerbaijani sources, Karabakh is one of the most ancient historical regions of Azerbaijan. According to the official version, the emergence of the term "Karabakh" refers to the VII century and is interpreted as a combination of Azerbaijani words "Gara" (black) and "Bag" (Garden). Among other provinces of Karabakh (Ganja in Azerbaijani terminology) in the XVI century. He was part of the state of Sefavidov, later became an independent Karabakh Khanate.
According to the Kurject Treaty of 1805, Karabakh Khanate, as Muslim-Azerbaijani Earth, was subordinate to Russia. IN 1813. In the Gulistan peace treaty, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Russia. In the first third of the XIX century, according to the Turkmenky Treaty and the EDIRNA Agreement, artificial placement of the Armenians resettled from Iran and Turkey in Northern Azerbaijan, including Karabakh, began.
On May 28, 1918, an independent state was created in Northern Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (ADR), which preserved its political power over Karabakh. At the same time, the Republic announced Armenian (Ararat) put forward its claims on the Karabakh, not recognized by the Government of the ADR. In January 1919, the Government of the ADR created the Karabakh province, which included Shushinsky, Javaneshire, Jebrail and Zangezur district.
IN july 1921 By the decision of the Caucasus Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) Nagorno-Karabakh was included in the Azerbaijan SSR for the Rights of Wide Autonomy. In 1923, the Nagorno-Karabakh AO as part of Azerbaijan was formed on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
February 20, 1988 The extraordinary session of the regional council of deputies of the NCAO has decided "On the petition to the Supreme Sovieties of AZSSR and the Armsman on the transfer of NKAO from the AZSSR to the Armsman." The refusal of the Union and Azerbaijani authorities summoned the protest of Armenians not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also in Yerevan.
On September 2, 1991, a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional and Shaumyan district councils took place in Stepanakert. The session adopted a declaration on the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the boundaries of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, the Shaumyan district and part of the Khanlar district of the former Azerbaijani SSR.
December 10, 1991, a few days before the official decay of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, at which the overwhelming majority of the population of 99.89% were in favor of complete independence from Azerbaijan.
Official Baku recognized this act illegal and abolished the autonomy of Karabakh existing in the Soviet years. After this, an armed conflict began, during which Azerbaijan tried to keep Karabakh, and Armenian detachments defended the independence of the region with the support of Yerevan and the Armenian diaspora from other countries.
During the conflict, regular Armenian parts fully or partially captured seven districts, which Azerbaijan considered his own. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
At the same time, the Armenian side believes that under the control of Azerbaijan, part of the Karabakh remained under the control of Azerbaijan - the village of Mardajtsky and Martuninsky districts, the entire Shaumian district and the Gutashensky subarea, as well as Nakhichevan.
In the description of the conflict, the parties lead their figures on losses that differ from these opposite side. According to consolidated data, the loss of both parties during the Karabakh conflict was killed from 15 to 25 thousand people, more than 25 thousand wounded, hundreds of thousands of civilians left the place of residence.
May 5, 1994 With the mediation of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS in the capital of Kyrgyzstan Bishkek, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia signed the Protocol, which was in the history of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict as Bishkek, on the basis of which on May 12, an agreement was reached on the cease-fire.
On May 12 of the same year, the Minister of Defense of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan (now - President of Armenia), Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Mamedrafffi Mamedov and the Army of the Army of Defense of the NKR Samvel Babayan, was confirmed by the commitment of the parties previously reached the cease-fire, was confirmed.
The negotiation process for resolving the conflict began in 1991. September 23, 1991in Zheleznovodsk there was a meeting of the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia. In March 1992, the Minsk Group of Safety and Cooperation Organization in Europe (OSCE) was established to resolve the Karabakh conflict, the co-chairs of which are USA, Russia and France. In mid-September 1993, the first meeting of representatives of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh took place in Moscow. At about the same time in Moscow, a closed meeting of the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and who occupied the post of Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, Robert Kocharian at the time. Since 1999, regular meetings of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia are held.
Azerbaijan insists on the preservation of its territorial integrity, Armenia protects the interests of the unrecognized republic, since the unrecognized NKR is not a party to negotiations.
Armenian soldiers in positions in Nagorno-Karabakh
The Nagorno-Carbakh conflict has become one of the ethnopolitical conflicts of the second half of the 1980s on the territory of the then still existing USSR. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to large-scale structural shifts in the sphere of ethno national relations. The confrontation between the National Republics and the Union Center, which caused the systemic crisis and the beginning of centrifugal processes, reanimated the solar processes of ethnic and national character. State-legal, territorial, socio-economic, geopolitical interests intertwined into one node. The struggle of some republics against the Union Center in some cases turned out the struggle against autonomy against its republican "metropolis." Such conflicts were, for example, Georgian-Abkhaz, Georgian-Ossetian, Transnistrian conflicts. But the most large-scale and bloody, which turned into the actual war of two independent states was the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO), later the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). In this confrontation, the line of ethnic opposition of the parties immediately arose, and the opposing parties on the ethnic basis were formed: Armenians-Azerbaijanis.
Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation in Nagorno-Karabakh had a long history. It is worth noting that the territory of Karabakh was attached to the Russian Empire in 1813 as part of the Karabakh Khanate. Interethnic contradictions led to major Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes in 1905-1907 and 1918-1920. In May 1918, in connection with the revolution in Russia, the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic appeared. However, the Armenian population of Karabakh, whose territory entered the ADR, refused to obey the new authorities. The armed confrontation continued until the establishment of Soviet power in this region in 1920, then the parts of the Red Army, together with Azerbaijani troops, were able to suppress Armenian resistance to Karabakh. In 1921, the decision of the Kavburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh was left within the Azerbaijan SSR with the provision of broad autonomy. In 1923, the districts of the Azerbaijan SSR with mainly Armenian population were combined into the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh (AONK), which since 1937 began to be called the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO). At the same time, the administrative boundaries of autonomy did not coincide with the ethnic one. Armenian leadership from time to time raised the question of the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia, but in the center it was decided to establish the status quo in the region. Socio-economic tension in Karabakh has surrendered into mass riots in the 1960s. At the same time, the Karabakh Armenians felt disadvantaged in cultural and political rights in the territory of Azerbaijan. However, the Azerbaijani minority both in NKAO and the Armenian SSR (who did not have its own autonomy) put forward counter-discrimination.
Since 1987, the region has increased the dissatisfaction of the Armenian population with its socio-economic situation. Charged to the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR in preserving the economic backwardness of the region, in the infringement of the rights, culture and identity of the Armenian minority in Azerbaijan. In addition, the existing problems, previously silent, after the coming to the power of Gorbachev quickly became a wealth of wide publicity. At rallies in Yerevan, caused by discontent with the economic crisis, called calls to transfer NKAO to Armenia. Nationalist Armenian organizations, the nascent national movement was heated protests. The new leadership of Armenia was opened by the opposition local nomenclature and the ruling communist regime as a whole. Azerbaijan, in turn, remained one of the most conservative republics of the USSR. Local authorities led by G. Niyev, suppressed all sorts of political dissent and remained to the last faithful center. Unlike Armenia, where most of the party functionaries expressed their readiness to cooperate with the national movement, the Azerbaijani political leadership was able to keep power until 1992 in the fight against the so-called. national democratic movement. However, the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR, state and law enforcement agencies, which used old levers of influence, were not ready for events in NKAO and Armenia provoked, in turn, mass performances in Azerbaijan, created conditions for the uncontrolled behavior of the crowd. In turn, the Soviet leadership, which was afraid that speeches in Armenia on the accession of NKAO may lead not only to the revision of national-territorial boundaries between the republics, but also can lead to the uncontrolled collapse of the USSR. The requirements of the Karabakh Armenians and the public of Armenia were considered as manifestations of nationalism contrary to the interests of the working people of the Armenian and Azerbaijan SSR.
During the summer of 1987 - Winter 1988. On the territory of the NKAO passed mass protests of Armenians demanding branches from Azerbaijan. In some places, these protests have surrendered into collisions with the police. At the same time, representatives of the Armenian intellectual elite, public, political, cultural figures tried to actively lobby the reunion of Karabakh with Armenia. Signatures were gathered among the population, delegations were sent to Moscow, representatives of the Armenian diaspora abroad were trying to attract the attention of the international public to the aspirations of Armenians to reunification. At the same time, the Azerbaijani leadership, which announced the unacceptability of the revision of the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR, conducted a policy of using familiar levers to return control over the situation. A large delegation of representatives of the leadership of Azerbaijan, a republican party organization was sent to Stepanakert. The group also included leaders of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, KGB, prosecutor's office and the Supreme Court. This delegation condemned the "extremist-separatist" moods in the region. In response to these actions in Stepanakert, a mass rally was organized about the reunification of the NKAO and the Armenian SSR. On February 20, 1988, the session of the NCAO Deputies was as follows to the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR, the Armenian SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of the transfer of NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia. However, the Azerbaijani authorities and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU refused to recognize the requirements of the regional council of NKAO. The central authorities and later stated that the border crossing is unacceptable, and calls for the entry of Karabakh to Armenia were declared the miscarions of "nationalists" and "extremists". Immediately after the appeal of the Armenian majority (Azerbaijani representatives refused to take part in the meeting) of the NCAO Regional Council on the Karabakhi Office from Azerbaijan, a slow slaughtering began to armed conflict. The first reports of acts of violence on interethnic soil in both ethnic communities appeared. The explosion of the rally activity of Armenians caused a response of the Azerbaijani community. It came to clashes with the use of firearms and the participation of law enforcement officers. The first victims of the conflict appeared. In February, a mass strike that lasted with interruptions until December 1989 began in NCAO, 22-23 of February was already in Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan, elemental rallies were held in support of the decision of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee on the inadmissibility of revising the national-territorial structure.
By the turning point in the development of an interethnic conflict, the Armenian pogrom in Sumgait on February 27-29, 1988 according to official data, 26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis died. Similar events occurred in Kirovabada (now Ganja), where the armed crowd of Azerbaijanis attacked the Armenian community. However, compactly resident Armenians managed to repulse, which led to victims on both sides. All this happened with the inaction of the authorities and the rule of law, as some eyewitnesses claimed. As a result of clashes from NKAO, the flows of the Refugees-Azerbaijanis reached. Armenian refugees also appeared after the events in Stepanakert, Kirovabad and Shushe, when the rallies for the integrity of the Azerbaijani SSR have surrendered into inter-ethnic clashes and pogroms. Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes and on the territory of the Armenian SSR began. The reaction of the central authorities was the change of party leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. On May 21, troops were introduced into Stepanakert. According to Azerbaijani sources, the Azerbaijani population was expelled from several cities of the Armenian SSR, in NKAO, as a result of the strike, the obstacles of local Azerbaijanis were repaired, which were not allowed to work. In June-July, the conflict adopted an inter-republican orientation. The Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR unleashed the so-called "war of laws". The Supreme Presidium of the AzSSR recognized the unacceptable decision of the NKAO Regulation on the exit from Azerbaijan. The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR agreed to the entry of NKAO to the Armenian SSR. In July, mass strikes began in Armenia in connection with the decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on the territorial integrity of the Azerbaijan SSR. Union management actually faced the Azerbaijan SSR on the issue of conservation of existing borders. After a number of clashes in NKAO, on September 21, 1988, a curfew and a special position were introduced. The rally activity in Armenia and Azerbaijan led to outbreaks of violence against the civilian population and increased the number of refugees who formed two counterflow. In October and the first half of November, the tension increased. Multiple meetings were held in Armenia and Azerbaijan, representatives of the Karabakh Party, who held a radical position on the accession of NKAO to Armenia, defeated the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenian SSR in the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenian SSR. The result of the results of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Council of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Council. In November 1988, the accumulated discontent in society based on the results of the Republican authorities policy in relation to the preservation of the NKAO resulted in thousands of rallies in Baku. The death sentence of one of the defendants in the case of the Pogromov in Sumgait Akhmedov, made by the Supreme Court of the USSR, provoked the wave of pogroms in Baku, rented on the entire Azerbaijan, especially in the city with the Armenian population - Kirovabad, Nakhichevan, Hanlar, Shamhor, Sheki, Kazakh, Mink Prone. The army and militia in most cases did not interfere in the events occurring. At the same time, the shelling of border villages in Armenia began. In Yerevan, a special position was also introduced and rallies and manifestations were banned, military equipment and battalions with special weapons were introduced into the streets of the city. At this time, the most massive flow of refugees, caused by violence both in Azerbaijan and in Armenia.
By this time, armed formations began to be created in both republics. In early May 1989, Armenians who lived north of NKAO began to create the first combat units. In the summer of the same year, Armenia introduced the blockade of the Nakhichevan ASSR. As a response, the People's Front of Azerbaijan introduced the economic and transport blockade of Armenia. On December 1, the Armenian SSR and the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh at the joint meeting adopted a decision on the reunification of NKAO with Armenia. Since the beginning of 1990, armed clashes began - mutual artillery shelling at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. In the deportation of the Azerbaijani forces of Armenians from the Shaumyan and Khanlar regions of Azerbaijan, helicopters and BTR were used for the first time. On January 15, the Presidium of the USSR Suns introduced a state of emergency in the NCAO, in the areas of the Azerbaijan SSR border with it, and on the Line of the USSR State Border on the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR. On January 20, internal troops were introduced in Baku to prevent the capturing of the power of the People's Front of Azerbaijan. This led to clashes, as a result of which up to 140 people died. Armenian militants began to penetrate settlements with the Azerbaijani population, committing acts of violence. Combat clashes of militants with internal troops are frequent. In turn, the divisions of the Azerbaijani Roson took shares on the invasion of the Armenian villages, which led to the death of civilians. Azerbaijani helicopters began to fake Stepanakert.
On March 17, 1991, a All-Union referendum was held on the preservation of the USSR, which supported the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR. At the same time, the Armenian leadership, who adopted on August 23, 1990, the Declaration on the independence of Armenia, in every way prevented a referendum in the republic. On April 30, the so-called "Ring" operation began, conducted by the forces of the Azerbaijan MIA and the internal troops of the USSR. The purpose of the operation was announced disarmament of the illegal armed formations of Armenians. This operation, however, led to the death of a large number of civilians and the deportation of Armenians from 24 settlements in Azerbaijan. The escalation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict took place before the collapse of the USSR, the number of clashes grew, the parties used various types of weapons. From December 19 to December 27, the internal troops of the USSR was derived from the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. With the collapse of the USSR and the withdrawal of internal troops from the NKAO, the situation in the conflict zone became uncontrollable. The full-scale war of Armenia against Azerbaijan began for the NCAO output from the latter.
As a result of the section of the military property of the Soviet Army, derived from the Transcaucasus, the greatest part of the weapon went to Azerbaijan. On January 6, 1992, the Declaration on Independence of NKAO was adopted. Full-scale fighting began using tanks, helicopters, artillery and aviation. The combat units of the Armenian Armed Forces and Azerbaijani Omon attacked the enemy village, carrying large losses and inflicting civil infrastructure damage. On March 21, a temporary weekly truce was concluded, at the end of which on March 28, the Azerbaijani side took the largest offensive on Stepanakert since the beginning of the year. The attackers used the Grad system. However, the assault on the capital of NKAO ended to no avail, the Azerbaijani forces suffered large losses, the Armenian military took the original positions and discarded the enemy from Stepanakert.
In May, Armenian armed formations attacked Nakhichevan, the territory of Azerbaijani exclave, bordering Armenia, Turkey and Iran. From Azerbaijan, the shelling of the territory of Armenia were made. On June 12, the summer offensive of the Azerbaijani troops began until August 26. As a result of this offensive under the control of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, for a short time, the territory of the former Shaumian and Mardakert districts of NKAO was transferred. But it was the local success of the Azerbaijani Forces. As a result of the counteroffensiveness of the Armenians, the opponent had a strategic height in the Mardakert district, the Azerbaijani offensive itself had already exhausted by mid-July. In the course of combat actions, weapons and specialists were used by the USSR, mainly by the Azerbaijani side, in particular aviation, anti-aircraft installations. In September-October 1992, the Azerbaijani army undertook an unsuccessful attempt to block the Lachin Corridor - a small area of \u200b\u200bthe territory of Azerbaijan, who was located between Armenia and NKAO, which controlled Armenian armed formations. On November 17, the unfolded offensive of the NKR army began to Azerbaijani positions, which made a decisive fracture in the advantage of Armenians. The Azerbaijani side abandoned the offensive operations for a long time.
It is worth noting that from the very beginning of the military phase of the conflict, both sides began to accuse each other in the use of the rows of mercenaries. In many cases, these charges were confirmed. Azerbaijan's Armed Forces fought Afghan Mujahideen, Chechen mercenaries, including famous field commanders Shamil Basayev, Hattab, Salman Raduyev. Turkish, Russian, Iranian and allegedly American instructors also acted in Azerbaijan. Armenian volunteers who came from Middle Eastern countries were fighting on the side of Armenia, in particular from Lebanon and Syria. As part of the forces of both parties also operated former military personnel of the Soviet Army and mercenaries from the former Union republics. Both sides used armament from the warehouses of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Army. In early 1992, Azerbaijan got a squadron of combat helicopters and attack aircraft. In May of the same year, the official transfer of armaments of the 4th Commercial Army began to Azerbaijan: tanks, BTR, BMP, artistors, including Grad. By June 1, the Armenian side got tanks, BTR, BMP and artillery also from the arsenal of the Soviet Army. The Azerbaijani side actively used aircraft and artillery in the bombing of NCAO settlements, the main purpose of which was the outcome of the Armenian population from the territory of autonomy. As a result of the raids and the shelling of civilian objects, a large number of victims among civilians were noted. However, the Armenian air defense is initially a rather weak, managed to resist the Azerbaijani aircraft aviation in connection with the increase in the number of anti-aircraft plants among Armenians. By 1994, the first aircraft appeared as part of Armenian Armed Forces, in particular, through the assistance of Russia as part of military cooperation on the CIS.
After the reflection of the summer offensive of the Azerbaijani troops, the Armenian side moved to active offensive actions. From March to September 1993, Armenian troops as a result of hostilities managed to take a number of settlements of NKAO, controlled by Azerbaijani forces. In August, the Russian envoy Vladimir Kazimirov achieved a temporary cease-fire extended until November. At a meeting with the Russian President B. Yeltsin, the President of Azerbaijan G. Aliyev announced the refusal to solve the conflict by the military. In Moscow, negotiations between the Azerbaijani authorities and representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh took place. However, in October 1993, Azerbaijan broke the truce and attempted an attempt on the south-western section of the NKAO. This offensive was chosen by the Armenians who switched to the counteroffensive on the southern section of the front and by November 1, a number of key areas took part, isolated from Azerbaijan, part of the Zangean, Jabrailian and Kubatlinsky districts. The Armenian army, thus, occupied the Areas of Azerbaijan north and south of directly NKAO.
In January-February, one of the most bloody battles took place at the final stage of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict - the battle for the Omar Pass. This battle began with the offensive in January 1994 of the Azerbaijani forces on the northern part of the front. It is worth noting that the fighting was conducted on an empty territory where there were no civilian population, as well as in hard weather conditions, on high mountains. In early February, the Azerbaijanis approached close to the city of Kelbajar, occupied a year earlier by Armenian forces. However, the initial success of the Azerbaijanis could not be developed. On February 12, Armenian parts were transferred to the counteroffensiveness, and the Azerbaijani forces had to retreat through the Omarsky pass to the initial positions. The losses of Azerbaijanis in this battle amounted to 4 thousand people, Armenians of 2 thousand kelbajar district remained under the control of the defense forces of the NKR.
On April 14, 1994, the Council of Heads of the CIS states on the initiative of Russia and with the direct participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia adopted a statement with a clear formulation of the issue of ceasefire as an urgent need to settle in Karabakh.
In April-May, Armenian forces as a result of the offensive on the ter territory forced Azerbaijani troops to retreat. On May 5, 1994, on the initiative of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS, the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, the Federal Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, a meeting was held, following which representatives of the Governments of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the NKR signed the Bishkek Protocol with a call to stop the fire on the night of May 8 on May 9, 1994 of the year. On May 9, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia in Nagorno-Karabakh, Vladimir Kazimirov prepared a "an agreement on an indefinite ceasefire", which the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan M. Mamedov signed on the same day in Baku. On May 10 and 11, "Agreement" was signed by the Minister of Defense of Armenia S. Sargsyan and the commander of the NKR S. Babayan Army. The active phase of the armed confrontation ended.
The conflict was "frozen", according to the terms of the agreements reached, the status quo was preserved on the basis of combat operations. As a result of the war, the actual independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from Azerbaijan and its control over the south-western part of Azerbaijan was proclaimed up to the border with Iran. This includes the so-called "security zone": five adjacent to the NKR regions. At the same time, the five Azerbaijani enclaves are controlled by Armenia. On the other hand, Azerbaijan retained control over 15% of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to various estimates, the losses of the Armenian side are estimated at 5-6 thousand people killed, including among civilians. Azerbaijan lost during the conflict from 4 to 7 thousand people killed, while the bulk of losses falls on military formation.
The Karabakh conflict has become one of the most bloody and large-scale in the region, yielding by the number of equipment used and human losses only by two Chechen wars. As a result of hostilities, strong damage was made by the infrastructure of the NKR and the adjacent areas of Azerbaijan, caused the outcome of refugees, both from Azerbaijan and from Armenia. As a result of the war on the relationship of Azerbaijanis and Armenians, a strong blow was inflicted, the atmosphere of hostility is preserved to this day. Diplomatic relations have not been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the armed conflict was conserved. As a result, single cases of combat clashes continue on the distinction lines of the opposing parties and at the present time.
Ivanovo Sergey
Where is Nagorno Karabakh?
Nagorno-Karabakh is a controversial region on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was founded on September 2, 1991. The population according to the estimate for 2013 is more than 146,000 people. The absolute majority of believers - Christians. The capital and largest city is Stepanakert.
How did the confrontation begins?
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Armenians lived in the region. It was then that the area was the place of bloody Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes. In 1917, due to the revolution and collapse of the Russian Empire, three independent states were proclaimed in Transcaucasia, including the Azerbaijan Republic, where and the Karabakh region was entered. However, the Armenian population of the district refused to obey the new authorities. In the same year, the first congress of Armenian Karabakh elected his own government - Armenian National Council.
The conflict between the parties continued until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan. In 1920, Azerbaijani troops occupied the territory of Karabakh, but after a couple of months, the resistance of Armenian armed groups thanks to the Soviet troops was suppressed.
In 1920, the population of Nagorno-Karabakh provided the right to self-determination, but de-Yura territory continued to obey the authorities of Azerbaijan. From this time, not only mass riots, but also armed clashes periodically broke out in the region.
How and when was the self-proclaimed republic created?
In 1987, dissatisfaction with the socio-economic policy from the Armenian population sharply increased. The measures taken by the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR did not affect the situation. Mass student strikes began, and in a major city - Stepanakert - thousands of nationalist meetings were held.
Many Azerbaijanis, appreciating the situation, decided to leave the country. On the other hand, Armenian pogroms began to be held in Azerbaijan everywhere, as a result of which a huge number of refugees appeared.
Photo: Tasse
The regional council of Nagorno-Karabakh decided to leaving the composition of Azerbaijan. In 1988, armed conflict began between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The territory emerged from under the control of Azerbaijan, but the decision on its status was postponed indefinitely.
In 1991, military actions began in the area with numerous losses on both sides. Agreement on the complete cease-fire and the settlement of the situation was achieved only in 1994 with the help of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS in Bishkek.
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When was the aggravation of the conflict?
It should be noted that relatively recently many years of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh again reminded himself. This happened in August 2014. Then the shocks at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border occurred between the military of the two countries. More than 20 people died on both sides.
What is happening now in Nagorno-Karabakh?
On the night of April 2, it happened. The Armenian and Azerbaijani side accuse each other in his escalation.
The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan claims shelling from the Armed Forces of Armenia using mortars and large-caliber machine guns. It is argued that over the past day, Armenian military violated the cease-fire regime 127 times.
In turn, the Armenian Military Office says that the Azerbaijani side took on the night of April 2 "active offensive actions" using tanks, artillery and aviation.
Are there any victims?
Yes there is. However, the data on them will differ. According to the official version of the UN administration to coordinate humanitarian issues, over 200 was injured.
UKHV UN: "According to official sources in Armenia and Azerbaijan, at least 30 soldiers and 3 civilians died as a result of hostilities. The number of wounded, both civil and military, was not yet officially confirmed. According to unofficial sources, over 200 people were injured. "
How did power and public organizations responded to this situation?
The Russian Foreign Ministry supports constant contact with the leadership of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan and Armenia. And Maria Zakharov called on the parties to stop violence in Nagorno-Karabakh. As the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, reports of serious
It should be noted that it remains as tense as possible. , Yerevan denounced these statements and called the trick. In Baku, these charges denied and talk about provocations from Armenia. Azerbaijani President Aliyev convened the Security Council of the country, which broadcast national television.
Presidential PACE appeal to the sides of the conflict with a call to refrain from the use of violence and resume negotiations on a peaceful settlement has already been published on the organization's website.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was also made with a similar appeal. He convinces Yerevan and Baku and protect the civilian population. The staff of the Committee also declare that they are ready to become intermediaries at the negotiations of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On the geopolitical map of the world, there are enough places that can be marked in red. Here they calm down, the military conflicts begreged again, many of whom have more than a century of history. There are not so many "hot" points on the planet, but still it is better that they do not exist at all. However, unfortunately, one of these places is not so far from the Russian border. We are talking about the Karabakh conflict, briefly tell about which is quite difficult. The very essence of this confrontation of Armenians and Azerbaijanis is rooted at the end of the nineteenth century. And many historians believe that the conflict between these nations exists a much longer time. It is impossible to tell about him without mentioning the Armenian-Azerbaijani war, which took a large number of lives on both sides. The historic chronicle of these events is conducted by Armenians and Azerbaijanis very carefully. Although every nation sees only his right thing in what happened. In the article, we will analyze the causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict. And also briefly outline today's situation in the region. Several sections of the article We will highlight the Armenian-Azerbaijan War of the late nineteenth - the beginning of the twentieth century, part of which are armed clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Characteristics of military conflict
Historians often argue that the causes of many wars and armed conflict are misunderstanding among the mixed in the composition of the local population. In the same way, the Armenian-Azerbaijani war can be described in 1918-1920. Historians call it ethnic conflict, but the main reason for the broken war is seen in territorial disputes. They were the most relevant in those places where Armenians and Azerbaijanis were historically got on the same territories. Peak military clashes fell at the end of the First World War. Relative stability in the region, the authorities managed to achieve only after the entry of the republics in the Soviet Union.
The first Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic did not enter direct clashes among themselves. Therefore, the Armenian-Azerbaijani war had some similarity with partisan resistance. The main activities occurred at the disputed territories, where the republics were supported by the militia detachments created by their fellow citizens.
For all the time, the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920 lasted, the highest and active actions took place in Karabakh and Nakhichevan. All this was accompanied by a real harsh, which eventually caused the demographic crisis in the region. The most difficult pages in the history of this conflict, Armenians and Azerbaijanis call:
- March massacre;
- armenian massacre in Baku;
- Shushinskaya massacre.
It should be noted that the young Soviet and Georgian governments tried to provide intermediary services in the Armenian-Azerbaijani war. However, such an approach did not have any action and did not become a guarantor of stabilization of the situation in the region. It was possible to solve the problem only after the Red Army ranked controversial territories, which led to the overthrow of the ruling regime in both republics. However, in some regions, the fire of war was only slightly fit and flared up yet. Speaking about it, we mean the Karabakh conflict, the consequences of which our contemporaries cannot fully appreciate.
Background of military action
From the most long time, tense relations were noted in the disputed territories between the people of Armenia and the people of Azerbaijan. The Karabakh conflict has become just a continuation of a long and dramatic story, unfolding for several centuries.
Religious and cultural differences between the two peoples often considered the reason that led to an armed collision. However, the real reason for the Armenian-Azerbaijani War (in 1991 she broke out with a new force) was a territorial question.
In 1905, the first mass riots began in Baku, which resulted in armed conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Gradually, he began to flow to other regions of the Transcaucasus. Everywhere, where the ethnic composition was mixed, regular clashes were occurring, which were precursors of the future war. Its triggering mechanism can be called the October Revolution.
From the seventeenth year of the last century, the situation in the Transcaucasia was completely destabilized, and the hidden conflict moved to the open war, which took many lives.
A year after the overthrow of the revolution, serious changes occurred at the once unified territory. Initially, independence was proclaimed in the Transcaucasus, but the new state lasted only a few months. It is historically natural that it broke up into three independent republics:
- Georgian Democratic Republic;
- The Republic of Armenia (Karabakh conflict very seriously struck the Armenians);
- Azerbaijani Democratic Republic.
Despite this division, in Zangezure and Karabakh, who became part of Azerbaijan, lived a lot of Armenian population. They categorically refused to obey the new authorities and even created organized armed resistance. This is partly and spawned the Karabakh conflict (we briefly consider it a little later).
The purpose of Armenians living in the voiced territories was to enter into the Republic of Armenia. Armed clashes between the disparate Armenian detachments and the troops of Azerbaijan were repeated regularly. But for any final decision, both parties could not come.
In turn, there was a similar situation. It entered the Erivan province, densely populated by Muslims. They resisted the entry into the republic and received material support from Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The eighteenth-nineteenth years of the last century were for military conflict the initial stage, when the formation of opposing camps and opposition groups took place.
The most important events for the war occurred in several regions almost simultaneously. Therefore, we will consider the war through the prism of armed clashes in these areas.
Nakhichevan. Muslim resistance
The Mudrosorian truce, signed in the eighteenth year of the last century and marked the defeat immediately changed the alignment of forces in the Transcaucasia. Her troops, previously introduced into the Transcaucasian region, were forced to hastily leave him. The liberated territories after several months of independent existence were decided to introduce into the Republic of Armenia. However, this was done without the consent of the locals, most of which were Azerbaijani Muslims. They began to resist, especially since the Turkish military supported this opposition. Soldiers and officers in a minor amount were transferred to the territory of the New Republic of Azerbaijan.
Her authorities supported their compatriots and made an attempt to separate the controversial regions. One of the Azerbaijani leaders even announced Nakhichevan and a few other areas closest to him with an independent Arak Republic. A similar outcome was enulged by bloody clashes, to which the Muslim population of the self-proclaimed republic was ready. Support for the Turkish army was very useful and, according to some forecasts, Armenian government troops would be broken. Serious clashes managed to avoid thanks to the intervention of Britain. Through its efforts, Governor-General was formed on declared independent territories.
For several months of the nineteenth year, under the British protectorate, disputed territories managed to restore peaceful life. A telegraph message with other countries was gradually improved, the railway canvas was repaired and several trains were beaten. However, British troops could not remain in these territories for a long time. After peace negotiations with the Armenian authorities, the parties came to the Agreement: the British left the area of \u200b\u200bNakhichevan, and Armenian military units entered there fully right to these lands.
This solution led to the indignation of Azerbaijani Muslims. Military conflict flashed with a new force. Robberies, houses and Muslim shrines were burned everywhere. In all districts close to Nakhichevan, fights thundered and minor clashes. Azerbaijanis created their detachments and performed under British and Turkish flags.
As a result of the battles, Armenians almost completely lost control over Nakhichevan. The surviving Armenians were forced to leave their homes and run to Zangezur.
Causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict. Historical reference
This region does not boast of stability so far. Despite the fact that theoretically, the decision of the Karabakh conflict was found in the last century, in reality it did not become a real output from the current situation. And with their roots, it goes in distant times.
If we talk about the history of Nagorno-Karabakh, I want to stop in the fourth century to our era. It was then that these territories became part of the Armenian kingdom. In the future, they became part of the six centuries geographically entered one of its provinces. In the future, these areas have not once changed their belonging. They were governed by Albanians, Arabs, again naturally, the territory with such history as a distinguishing feature of the population has a distinctive feature. This has become one of the reasons for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
For a better understanding of the situation, it must be said that at the very beginning of the twentieth century in this region there were already clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. From 1905 to 1907, the conflict periodically gave themselves about himself a short-term armed skirmis among the local population. But the October Revolution became the point of reference of the new turn in this conflict.
Karabakh in the first quarter of the twentieth century
In 1918-1920, the Karabakh conflict broke out with a new force. The reason was the proclamation of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic. It was necessary to enter Nagorno-Karabakh with a large number of Armenian population. It did not adopt a new government and began to resist him, including armed.
In the summer of 1918, Armenians residing in these territories convened the first congress and elected their own government. Knowing this, the Azerbaijani authorities took advantage of the help of Turkish troops and began to gradually suppress the resistance of the Armenian population. The first were attacked by Armenians Baku, the bloody massacre in this city became a lesson for many other territories.
By the end of the year, the situation was far from normal. The collisions between the Armenians and Muslims continued, chaos reigned everywhere, robbery and robbery were widespread. The situation was complicated by the fact that refugees from other regions of the Transcaucasus began to flow into the region. According to the preliminary estimates of the British, about forty thousand Armenians disappeared in Karabakh.
The intermediate decision of the Karabakh conflict British, who quite confidently felt in these territories, were seen in the transfer of this region under the management of Azerbaijan. Such an approach could not not shock Armenians who considered the British government to their ally and an assistant in regulating the situation. They did not agree with the proposal to keep the decision of the conflict for the Parisian peace conference and appointed their representative in Karabakh.
Attempts to solve the conflict
The Georgian authorities offered his help in stabilizing the situation in the region. They organized a conference where plenipotentiary delegates from both young republics arrived. However, the settlement of the Karabakh conflict was impossible due to a different approach to his decision.
Armenian authorities proposed to be guided by ethnic characteristics. Historically, these territories belonged to Armenians, so their claims for Nagorno-Karabakh had grounds. However, Azerbaijan brought indisputable arguments in favor of an economic approach to the decision of the destinies of the region. It is separated from Armenia in the mountains and is not in any way related to the state geographically.
After prolonged disputes, the parties did not come to compromise. Therefore, the conference was considered to be failed.
Furious conflict
After an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan introduced the economic blockade of these territories. He was supported by British and Americans, but even they were forced to recognize such measures extremely cruel, as they led to hunger among the local population.
Gradually, Azerbaijanis increased their military presence in controversial territories. Periodic armed clashes did not overgrow in a full-fledged war only thanks to representatives from other countries. But it could not continue for a long time.
On the fate of the Kurds in the Armenian-Azerbaijan War in official reports of that period was not always mentioned. But they took an active part in conflict, entering specialized equestrian detachments.
In early 1920, a decision was made to recognize controversial territories for Azerbaijan at the Paris Peace Conference. Despite the nominal solution to the issue, the situation has not stabilized. Robbery and missing continued, the bloody ethnic cleansing, carrying the lives of whole settlements, was frequent.
Armenian uprising
Decisions of the Paris Conference led to the relative world. But in the current situation, he was only calm before the storm. And she sank in the winter of 1920.
Against the background of the newly aggravated national massacre, the Azerbaijani government demanded unconditional subordination of the Armenian population. To this end, the Assembly was convened, whose delegates worked until the first numbers of March. However, they also did not come to one. Some performed only for the economic association with Azerbaijan, and others refused any contact with the authorities of the republic.
Despite the established truce, the Governor-General, delivered by the Azerbaijan Republican Government to manage the region, gradually began to push the military contingent here. In parallel, he introduced the mass of the rules limiting the Armenians in movements, and compiled a plan for the destruction of their settlements.
All this only aggravated the situation and led to the beginning of the uprising of the Armenian population on March 23, 1920. Armed groups attacked several settlements at the same time. But it turned out to achieve a noticeable result in one of them. It was not possible to keep the city rebels: in the first days of April, he was returned to the government of the Governor's General.
The failure did not stop the Armenian population, and the solar military conflict resumed on the territory of Karabakh with a new force. During April, settlements passed from one hands to others, the forces of opponents were equal, and the stress every day was only intensified.
At the end of the month, Azerbaijan has occurred, which radically changed the situation and the ratio of forces in the region. Over the next six months, Soviet troops entrenched in the republic and entered Karabakh. Most of the Armenians switched to their side. Those officers who did not fold the weapons were shot.
Subtotals
Initially, the right to him was fixed behind Armenia, however, a little later, the introduction of Nagorno-Karabakh was the final decision to Azerbaijan as autonomy. However, such a result did not satisfy any of the parties. Periodically there were minor conflicts provoked by the Armenian, then the Azerbaijani population. Each of the peoples considered himself stipulated in the rights, and the question of the transfer of the region under the authorities of Armenia was raised repeatedly.
The situation only externally seemed stable, which was proven in the late eighties - the beginning of the nineties of the last century, when they again started talking about the Karabakh conflict (1988).
Resumption of conflict
Until the end of the eighties, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh remained conditionally stable. Conversations about changing the status of autonomy periodically conducted, but it was done in very narrow circles. Politics Mikhail Gorbachev influenced the mood in the region: the dissatisfaction of the Armenian population in its position increased. The people began to gather on rallies, they sounded words about the intentional containment of the development of the region and prohibit the resumption of links with Armenia. During this period, the nationalist movement was activated, whose leaders were told about the dismissive attitude of the authorities to Armenian culture and traditions. Increasingly sounded appeals to the Soviet government with calls for the exit of autonomy from Azerbaijan.
The ideas of reunion with Armenia leaked in printed publications. In the republic itself, the population actively supported new trends that negatively affected the authority of the leadership. Trying to keep the folk speeches, the Communist Party rapidly lost its position. Tensions in the region grew, which inevitably led to the next turn of the Karabakh conflict.
By 1988, the first clashes between the Armenian and Azerbaijani population were registered. The impetus to them was the dismissal in one of the villages of the collective farm - Armenian. Mass riots were suspended, but in parallel in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, the collection of signatures in favor of the merger was launched. With this initiative, the group of delegates was sent to Moscow.
In the winter of 1988, refugees from Armenia began to arrive in the region. They talked about the oppression of the Azerbaijani people in Armenian territories, which added tensions in and so a difficult situation. Gradually, the population of Azerbaijan was divided into two opposing groups. Some believed that Nagorno-Karabakh finally should be part of Armenia, while the separatist trends were traced in unfolding events.
At the end of February, People's Deputies-Armenians voted for appealing to the Supreme Council of the USSR with a request to consider the painful question with Karabakh. The deputies-Azerbaijanis refused to vote and demonstratively left the meeting room. The conflict gradually went out of control. Many feared bloody clashes among the local population. And they did not make them wait.
On February 22, it was hardly possible to dilute two groups of people - from Agdam and Askeran. In both localities, quite strong opposition groups have formed, having a weapon in their arsenal. It can be said that this collision has become a signal to the beginning of this War.
In the first days of March, the wave of strikes swept in Nagorno-Karabakh. In the future, people still will not resort to such a way to pay attention. In parallel, people who support the decision on the impossibility of revising the Status of Karabakh began to be published on the streets of Azerbaijani cities. The most popular were similar processions in Baku.
Armenian authorities tried to restrain the pressure of the people, who increasingly advocated the union with the controversial areas. In the republic, several official groups collecting signatures in support of the Karabakh Armenians and conducting explanatory work on this issue in the masses are even formed. Moscow, despite numerous appeals from the Armenian population, continued to adhere to the decision on the former status of Karabakh. However, it was encouraged by representatives of this autonomy promises to establish cultural relations with Armenia and providing a number of sending to the local population. Unfortunately, such semi-dimensions could not satisfy both sides.
There were rumors about the oppression of certain nationalities, people went to the streets, many of them had a weapon. The situation finally outlined due to control in the recent days of February. At this time, the bloody pogroms of Armenian quarters occurred in Sumgait. For two days, law enforcement agencies could not restore order. The official reports did not pay reliable information about the number of victims. The authorities still hoped to hide the real state of affairs. However, the Azerbaijanis were tuned to carry out mass pogroms, destroying the Armenian population. It was hardly possible to prevent the repetition of the situation with Sumgait in Kirovobad.
In the summer of 1988, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan came to a new level. The republics began to use in the confrontation conditionally "legitimate" methods. These include the partial economic blockade and the adoption of laws regarding Nagorno-Karabakh without consideration of the opinions of the opposite side.
Armenian-Azerbaijan War 1991-1994
Until 1994, the situation in the region was extremely difficult. The Soviet group of troops was introduced in Yerevan, in some cities, including in Baku, the authorities established the Commandant hour. Folk unrest were often poured into mass violes, to stop which was not even for the military contingent. At the Armenian-Azerbaijani border were the norm of artillery shelling. Conflict overgrown in full-scale war between both republics.
In 1991, he was proclaimed by the republic, which caused another round of hostilities. On the fronts used armored vehicles, aviation and artillery. Victims on both sides only provoked the holding of regular military operations.
Let's sum up
Today, the causes and consequences of the Karabakh conflict (in summary) can be found in any school textbook on history. After all, he is an example of a frozen situation that has not found its final decision.
In 1994, the warring parties concluded an agreement on the intermediate result of the conflict, it is possible to consider the official change in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the loss of several Azerbaijani territories, which previously belonged to the border. Naturally, Azerbaijan himself considered a military conflict not solved, but only frozen. Therefore, in 2016, he began shelling the territories adjacent to Karabakh.
Today, the situation threatens to grow again into a full-fledged military conflict, because the Armenians do not want to return to their neighbors of the Earth, attached several years ago. The Russian government advocates a truce and seeks to leave a conflict in a frozen state. However, many analysts believe that this is impossible, and sooner or later, the situation in the region will again become uncontrollable.
In the series of interethnic conflicts, which covered the Soviet Union in the last years of its existence, Nagorno-Karabakh became the first. Perestroika policy started Mikhail GorbachevHe was checked for strength events in Karabakh. The check showed the complete inconsistency of the new Soviet leadership.
Region with a difficult story
Nagorno-Karabakh, a small block of land in the Transcaucasus, has an ancient and difficult fate, where life roads of neighbors - Armenians and Azerbaijanis are intertwined.
The geographic area of \u200b\u200bKarabakh is divided into flat and high-nebulous parts. In the plain Karabakh, the Azerbaijani population historically prevailed, in Nagorno-Armenian.
Wars, the world, again wars - the peoples lived nearby, then enjoying, then reconciles. After the collapse of the Russian Empire, Karabakh became the arena of the fierce Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1918-1920. The opposition, the main role in which nationalists played on both sides, went on it only after the establishment of Soviet power in the Transcaucasia.
In the summer of 1921, after a rapid discussion, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) decided to leaving Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Azerbaijan SSR with the provision of broad regional autonomy.
The autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which became the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region in 1937, preferred to consider itself part of the Soviet Union, and not part of the Azerbaijan SSR.
"Defrost" mutual offense
Over the years in Moscow, these subtleties did not pay attention. Attempts in the 1960s, in the 1960s, raise the topic of the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian SSR were rigidly suppressed - then the central leaders found that such nationalist proliferations should be stopped in an embryo.
And the reason for concern among the Armenian population of the NKAO was still. If in 1923, Armenians were over 90 percent of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, then by the mid-1980s, this percentage declined to 76. It was not an accident - the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR deliberately made a bet on changing the ethnic component of the region.
While the situation as a whole in the country remained stable, everything was calm in Nagorno-Karabakh. Nobody accepted small clashes on national soil.
Perestroika Mikhail Gorbachev, among other things, "defined" a discussion of previously forbidden topics. For nationalists, whose existence is still possible only in a deaf underground, it became a real gift of fate.
It was in Chardahlo
Big always starts with small. In the Shamhorsky district of Azerbaijan, there was an Armenian village Chardachly. During the Great Patriotic War from the village went to the front of 1250 people. Of these, half were awarded orders and medals, two became Marshal, twelve - generals, seven - the heroes of the Soviet Union.
In 1987 secretary of the district party of the Assads I decided to replace Directors of the local state farm Yehyan on the leader of Azerbaijanis.
Selyan outraged even the removal of Egypt, accused of abuse, but how it was done. Asadov acted rudely, Nakhpom, offering the former director "Leaving to Yerevan". In addition, the new director, according to local, was a "barbecue with primary education."
The inhabitants of Chardahlo were not afraid of the Nazis, they were not afraid of the head of the district. The new appointence simply refused to admit, and Asadov began to threaten the villagers.
From the letter of residents of Chardachly, the Prosecutor General of the USSR: "Each Assad's arrival in the village is accompanied by a detachment of the police and a fire truck. There was no exception and first of December. Arriving with a police squad late in the evening, he forcibly collected the Communists to spend the party assembly they needed. When he could not succeed, he began to beat the people, arrested and brought 15 people in a pre-fitted bus. Among the beaten and arrested were participants and disabled of the Great Patriotic War ( Vartanyan V., Martirosyan X., Gabrielyan A. etc.), milking, advanced links ( Minasyan) and even former deputy of the Supreme Council of AZ. SSR many convocations Movsesyan M.
Without calming down with his atrocity, mansionic Asads of the second December again, with another big detachment of the police organized another pogrom at home marshal Baghamya On the day of his 90th anniversary of his birth. This time, 30 people were beaten and arrested. Such sadism and lawlessness can envy any racist from colonial countries. "
"We want to Armenia!"
An article about events in Chardachly was published in the Rural Life newspaper. If there were no special importance in the center of what is happening, then a wave of indignation rose in Nagorno-Karabakh among the Armenian population. How so? Why the broken functioner remains unpunished? What will happen next?
"With us will be the same, if we do not join Armenia," who and when he said first, is not so important. The main thing is that at the beginning of 1988, the official printed organ of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional commission of Azerbaijan and the Council of People's Deputies of the NKAO "Soviet Karabakh" began to print materials in which this idea was maintained.
The delegation of the Armenian intelligentsia went to Moscow one after another. Meeting with representatives of the Central Committee of the CPSU, they assured - in the 1920s, Nagorno-Karabakh was enshrined for Azerbaijan by mistake, and now it's time to fix it. In Moscow, in the light of the remittance policies, the delegates took, promising to learn the question. In Nagorno-Karabakh, it was perceived as the readiness of the center to support the transmission of the region of the Azerbaijan SSR.
The situation began to heat up. Slogans, especially from the mouth of youth, sounded all radical. People, far from politics, began to fear for their safety. At the neighbors of another nationality began to look with suspicion.
The leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR held a collection of a party and economic asset in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, on which the "separatists" and "nationalists" brand. Clamp, in general, right, but, on the other hand, did not give answers to the question of how to live on. Among the partation of Nagorno-Karabakh, most supported calls for the transmission of the region to Armenia.
Politburo for all good
The situation began to go out from under the control of the authorities. From mid-February 1988, a rally took place on the central square of Stepanakert, whose participants demanded the transfer of NKAO Armenia. Shares in support of this requirement began in Yerevan.
On February 20, 1988, the extraordinary session of NKAO deputies requested the Supreme Sovieties of the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of the transfer of NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia: "Going to meet the wishes of the working people of NKAO, to ask the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR and The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR show a sense of a deep understanding of the aspirations of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and resolve the issue of the transfer of NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR, at the same time apply to the Supreme Council of the SSR Union on the positive decision to issue the NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR " .
Any action gives rise to opposition. In Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan, mass shares were held with the requirement to stop the shooting of Armenian extremists and to preserve Nagorno-Karabakh in the republic.
On February 21, the situation was viewed at the meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. By what Moscow decides, both sides of the conflict carefully followed.
"Consistently guided by the Leninist Principles of National Policy, the Central Committee of the CPSU appealed to the patriotic and internationalist senses of the Armenian and Azerbaijani population, with a call, not to succumb to the provocations of nationalist elements, to fully fix the great property of socialism - the fraternal friendship of Soviet peoples," said the text published following the discussion .
Probably, this was the essence of Mikhail Gorbachev's politics - the general correct phrases of everything well and against all the bad. But the exhortation no longer helped. While creative intelligentsia performed on rallies and in print, in the ground, the radicals were increasingly controlled.
Rally in the center of Yerevan in February 1988. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ruben Mangasaryan
First blood and pogrom in Sumgait
Schushinsky district of Nagorno-Karabakh was the only one in which the Azerbaijani population prevailed. The situation here was heated with rumors that the Azerbaijani women and children were killed in Yerevan and Stepanakert. " There was no real soil under these rumors, but they were enough for February 22 an armed crowd of Azerbaijanis began to "campaign on Stepanakert" for "guidance of order".
Militia cordons met the Militia Cordona in the settlement of Assaran. Fold the crowd failed, sounded shots. Two people died, and, ironically, Azerbaijani killed by a policeman-Azerbaijani became ironically, the conflict.
The real explosion occurred there, where they were not waiting - in Sumgait, the satellite city of the capital of Azerbaijan Baku. At this time, people who called themselves "refugees from Karabakh" began to appear there and told the horrors of the Armenians. In the stories of "refugees" in fact there was not a word of truth, but they gated the situation.
Sumgait, founded in 1949, was a multinational city - Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians lived next to decades, and the Russians, ... For what happened in the last few days of February 1988, no one was ready.
It is believed that the last drop was the message on TV about the skirmis under Askeran, where two Azerbaijani died. The rally in support of the preservation of Nagorno-Karabakh in the composition of Azerbaijan in Sumgait turned into an action on which the slogans "Death Armenians!" Began to sound.
Local authorities law enforcement bodies have not been able to prevent. The city began pogroms that continued two days.
According to official data, 26 Armenians died in Sumgait, hundreds were injured. Stop madness succeeded only after entering the troops. But here everything turned out to be not so simple - at first the military was given an order to exclude the use of weapons. Only after the score of the wounded soldiers and officers exceeded the hundred, patience burst. Six Azerbaijanis were added to the dead Armenians, after which the unrest ceased.
Exodus
Blood Sumgaita made a cessation of conflict in Karabakh extremely difficult task. For Armenians, this pogrom became a reminder of the massacre in the Ottoman Empire, which occurred at the beginning of the XX century. In Stepanakert, they repeated: "See what they do? Do we have to stay in Azerbaijan after that? "
Despite the fact that Moscow began to use tight measures, the logic in them was not viewed. It happened that two members of the Politburo, coming to Yerevan and Baku, gave mutually exclusive promises. The authority of the central government fell catastrophically.
After Sumgait, the outcome of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Armenians from Azerbaijan began. Frightened people, throwing all the acquired, fled from the neighbors, overnight become enemies.
It would be dishonest to talk only about the scum. Not everyone was spinless - during the pogroms in Sumgait Azerbaijanis, often risking with their own lives, hid by Armenians. In Stepanakert, where "Avengers" began a hunt for Azerbaijanis, they were saved by Armenians.
But these decent people could not stop the ever-growing conflict. That's where new clashes broke out here, which did not have time to stop the internal troops introduced into the region.
The general crisis, which began in the USSR, was increasingly distracted by politicians from the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. None of the parties was ready to make concessions. By the beginning of 1990, illegal armed formations from both sides launched a fighting, the score of the dead and wounded was already on dozens and hundreds.
Servicemen of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR on the streets of the city of Fizuli. The introduction of a state of emergency in the territory of NKAO, border areas of the Azerbaijan SSR. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Mikhalev
Raising hatred
Immediately after the August 1991 coup, when the central government almost ceased to exist, independence was proclaimed not only by Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Since September 1991, what is happening in the region has become a war in the full sense of the word. And when at the end of the year from Nagorno-Karabakh, the units of the internal troops of the USSR of the USSR were replaced, no one could no longer interfere with the slaughter.
The Karabakh war, which lasted until May 1994, ended with the signing of a truce agreement. The common losses of the parties killed by independent experts are estimated at 25-30 thousand people.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has existed for more than a quarter of a century as an unrecognized state. Azerbaijani authorities continue to declare the intention to return control over the lost territories. The fighting of various intensity on the contact line flashes regularly.
On both sides, people will prevent hatred eyes. Even a neutral comment to a neighbor's country is seen as a national betrayal. For children from the Small Years, the thought of who is the main enemy, which must be destroyed.
"Where and for that, a neighbor,
On us fell so much trouble? "
Armenian poet Ovanes Tumanyanin 1909 he wrote a poem "drop of honey". In Soviet times, it was well known to schoolchildren in the translation of Samuel Marshak. Tumanyan, who died in 1923, could not know what would happen in Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of the XX century. But this wise man who knew the story well, in one poem showed how sometimes the monstrous fratricidal conflicts originate from the trifles. Do not be lazy to find and read it completely, and we only give it the ending:
... and lasted the fire of war,
And two countries are ruined
And there is no one to mow
And there is no one to wear the dead.
And only death, linking oblique,
Wandering desert stripe ...
Leaning out at the grave plates
Live alive says:
- From where and for what, neighbor,
So many troubles fell on us?
Here the story ends.
And if any of you
Tell a storytellor question
Who is the guilty here - Cat Ile Dog,
And really so much evil
Crazy fly brought -
For us will be answered by the people:
There will be flies, "honey would be! ..
P.S. The Armenian village Chardahlo, the birthplace of heroes, ceased to exist at the end of 1988. More than 300 families who inhabited, moved to Armenia, where Zorakan settled in the village. Previously, this village was Azerbaijani, but with the beginning of the conflict, his residents became refugees, as well as the inhabitants of Chardahlo.
