By Carina Ritcheson
Resuming on July 12, 2020 and escalating on September 27th, the decades old territorial and cultural conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis re-emerged over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is internationally-recognized as Azerbaijani, but has an Armenian population. The fighting has no clear end in sight, aggravated by the intervention of Turkey, a historical adversary and oppressor of the Armenian people. Meanwhile, Russia has good relationships with both. From the realist American perspective, this is the perfect opportunity to preserve our role as offshore balancer.
In 1921, Josef Stalin gave this land to Azerbaijan with an Armenian population. Conflict finally arose in the late 1980s with the Nagorno-Karabakh regional parliament voting to become part of Armenia. This led to war in the 1990s, resulting in millions of displaced people and hundreds of thousands dead. A ceasefire was agreed upon in 1994, but a solution was never achieved.
Presently, Russia and France are supporting Armenia, while Turkey has pledged its full support to Azerbaijan. The latter relationship revisits historical tensions within the region and provokes escalation. An old Armenian classmate of mine shared with me the current environment. He explains the Turkish involvement feels like a “continuation of the Armenian genocide.” Clearly, Turkey’s outright support of Azerbaijan, politically and militarily, worries Armenians.
Considering Russia’s role in the groundwork for this conflict, their hegemony in the region, and their healthy relations with both of their former satellite states, it makes sense for them to take responsibility. The United States does not have a role in this conflict. While we manage our election, failing Covid response, racism in America, and maintaining our international presence, Russia needs to fix this. As our past few presidents and many Americans believe, it is time to adapt to a new international system, one in which regional leaders fix a problem within their own means.
While both sides are losing military personnel and civilians, what is on the mind of most Armenians are their troops. Turkish aid rendered Syrian mercenaries as fighters, many of whom came for the promise of a nearly $2,000 payoff. Young Armenian lives are being lost while the Azeris have the mercenaries. Azerbaijan has a population of 9.7 million people with a $46.94 billion GDP, which is grossly disproportionate to Armenia who has a population of 3.1 million and a GDP of $12.43 billion. It is not difficult to understand why Armenians see this as a humanitarian crisis and are pleading for help.
Although both sides accused the other of violating the October 12 ceasefire, with cooperation there can be a longer one. Perhaps, with the aid of more powerful regional countries, they will be able to broker a compromise and save their countrymen’s lives before history repeats itself. Russia has the opportunity to step in and make peace, which does not put our international role in jeopardy. This is America’s time to delegate and focus resources on our domestic concerns.
