Armenia and Azerbaijan forces began fighting again last week over a small area in the South Caucasus called Nagorno-Karabakh, a war suspended but not ended in 1994.
Armenia and Azerbaijan forces began fighting again last week over a small area in the South Caucasus called Nagorno-Karabakh, a war suspended but not ended in 1994.
At that point the Russians turned up the heat on the two former republics of the Soviet Union to achieve an end to the hostilities after a flood of refugees had been created and an estimated 30,000 might have died.
The basic problem between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the former is Christian and the latter, Shiite Muslim. Nagorno-Karabakh, the disputed area, is officially part of Azerbaijan but is inhabited largely by Christian Armenians. With 1,700 square miles and a population of less than 150,000, a conflict over it could be left to the parties to it to stew in their own juices — except for several other facts.
One of these is that the Azerbaijanis are backed by neighboring Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States. The Armenians are more or less backed by the Russians. In addition, there are many Americans of Armenian origin who are politically active in the United States
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, through its so-called Minsk group, has had some success in the past in maintaining dialogue and peace between the two countries. It, Russia and Turkey should be active again in not letting the latest conflict continue or to escalate. Nobody, including the United States, needs trouble in the Caucasus.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette