Tweet
ARMENIA: PROBLEM CHILD OF SOUTH CAUCASUS - OPED
Eurasia Review
Feb 3 2015
By Eurasia Review
By Mushvig Mehdiyev*
While many of the countries that formed the Soviet Union have found
peace and stability, this has not been the case in the south Caucasus
where Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.
What is it that has prevented the two countries from resolving their
differences and find a solution to the 25-year old conflict? Why is it
that the Minsk Group, established by the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, and that comprises mediators from the U.S.,
France and Russia, have failed to achieve any breakthrough in more
than two decades?
Location and extent of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
(lighter color)
Armenia is the problem child of the South Caucasus. They have
repeatedly blocked the way to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Close to the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1988, Azerbaijani troops
and Armenian separatists began a bloody war over the Nagorno-Karabakh
region, which is the part of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized
territory. Although the war ended in a truce in 1994, it fueled the
forcible occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh alongside seven other adjacent
Azerbaijani districts, killing dozens and displacing tens of thousands
of ethnic Azerbaijanis.
One reason why solving this dispute is important is because it provides
fuel to keep the fires of discord burning, a situation that may erupt
in open warfare at any moment pulling the rest of the region in a
deadly and disastrous chain of events.
"No one can ignore the simple fact that Armenia is an aggressor nation
that continues to occupy Azerbaijan's territory, and constitutes a
belligerent threat to peace and security in the entire post-Soviet
region," said the Hill, a Washington, DC-based newspaper.
Adding to the tension, Armenia's rulers, its president and military
brass have periodically delivered threats against Azerbaijan.
For instance, on November 8, 2012, in an interview with The Wall
Street Journal, President Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia would strike
Azerbaijan in a disproportionately hard way.
Sargsyan's regular speeches of intimidating Azerbaijan has become a
tradition, as on November 14, 2010, he threatened a devastating and
decisive air strike on the rival country, evoking not too-distant
memories of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), when Nazi war planes
bombarded parts of Azerbaijan.
Artak Davtyan, a high-ranking Armenian official added: "Armenian
forces can attack military units of the supposed rival with missiles,
as well as its strategic and economic objects at a distance of 300
kilometers and more."
These words prove Armenia's clear stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute - the post-Soviet country opts for constructive attempts
rather than coming with peace-building actions.
Georgia, another country in the South Caucasus region, faces severe
problems caused by Armenia. In the historical Georgian province
of Samtskhe-Javakheti Armenians triggered ethnic tension when they
claimed the regions and provinces belonged to Armenia.
The history of the compact Armenian population in Samtskhe-Javakheti
started 170 years ago, according to the Institute for Central Asian
and Caucasian Studies in Sweden and the Institute of Strategic Studies
of the South Caucasus in Azerbaijan. After winning the 1828-1829 war
against the Ottoman Empire and seizing the Black Sea coast between
the Kuban River and the port of Poti, as well as a large chunk of
Meskheti and Javakheti, Russia started to move Armenians from Turkey
to the Central Caucasus and Georgia in great numbers. The newcomers
who settled in the Akhalkalaki (Javakheti) soon outnumbered all the
local Georgians, says the source.
Since Samtskhe-Javakheti is a transit territory for the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which is called an "official enemy"
by all Armenians, the local Armenians present a potential threat to
the pipeline. Therefore, terrorism and subversion attempts cannot
be completely excluded. The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, which
ends in Turkey, as well as the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline may also face
the same threats from Armenians.
The investigative institutes claim that today Javakheti is another
delayed action bomb in the South Caucasus region, as the insistent
demands from Armenians for autonomy fuels the region's instability.
Moreover Yerevan is also very active behind the scenes, even resorting
to issuing threats and warning Georgia if it engages in acts of
violence against the Armenian political movements in Javakheti,
it will not remain impartial to the fate of its fellow countrymen
living in the region.
Meanwhile, the religious elite of Armenia have very recently urged
Georgia to return hundreds of Georgian Orthodox churches to Armenian
control. The Armenian side filed a claim against its neighbor demanding
for restoration of its ownership over 442 churches in the territory
of Georgia.
One of the churches, Zugdidi, has supposedly been built in in 70-80s
of the XVIII century, according to the Armenian historians and
scholars. But the scholars in Georgia claim that a documentary fact
proves that until the abolition of the Georgian statehood in 1801,
it has been strictly forbidden for the Armenians to build their
churches in the country's territory.
* Mushvig Mehdiyev is a journalist at the Baku-based AzerNews
newspaper, and is engaged in developing regular analytical articles
about the South Caucasus region.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/03022015-armenia-problem-child-south-caucasus-oped/
Eurasia Review
Feb 3 2015
By Eurasia Review
By Mushvig Mehdiyev*
While many of the countries that formed the Soviet Union have found
peace and stability, this has not been the case in the south Caucasus
where Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.
What is it that has prevented the two countries from resolving their
differences and find a solution to the 25-year old conflict? Why is it
that the Minsk Group, established by the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, and that comprises mediators from the U.S.,
France and Russia, have failed to achieve any breakthrough in more
than two decades?
Location and extent of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
(lighter color)
Armenia is the problem child of the South Caucasus. They have
repeatedly blocked the way to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Close to the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1988, Azerbaijani troops
and Armenian separatists began a bloody war over the Nagorno-Karabakh
region, which is the part of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized
territory. Although the war ended in a truce in 1994, it fueled the
forcible occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh alongside seven other adjacent
Azerbaijani districts, killing dozens and displacing tens of thousands
of ethnic Azerbaijanis.
One reason why solving this dispute is important is because it provides
fuel to keep the fires of discord burning, a situation that may erupt
in open warfare at any moment pulling the rest of the region in a
deadly and disastrous chain of events.
"No one can ignore the simple fact that Armenia is an aggressor nation
that continues to occupy Azerbaijan's territory, and constitutes a
belligerent threat to peace and security in the entire post-Soviet
region," said the Hill, a Washington, DC-based newspaper.
Adding to the tension, Armenia's rulers, its president and military
brass have periodically delivered threats against Azerbaijan.
For instance, on November 8, 2012, in an interview with The Wall
Street Journal, President Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia would strike
Azerbaijan in a disproportionately hard way.
Sargsyan's regular speeches of intimidating Azerbaijan has become a
tradition, as on November 14, 2010, he threatened a devastating and
decisive air strike on the rival country, evoking not too-distant
memories of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), when Nazi war planes
bombarded parts of Azerbaijan.
Artak Davtyan, a high-ranking Armenian official added: "Armenian
forces can attack military units of the supposed rival with missiles,
as well as its strategic and economic objects at a distance of 300
kilometers and more."
These words prove Armenia's clear stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute - the post-Soviet country opts for constructive attempts
rather than coming with peace-building actions.
Georgia, another country in the South Caucasus region, faces severe
problems caused by Armenia. In the historical Georgian province
of Samtskhe-Javakheti Armenians triggered ethnic tension when they
claimed the regions and provinces belonged to Armenia.
The history of the compact Armenian population in Samtskhe-Javakheti
started 170 years ago, according to the Institute for Central Asian
and Caucasian Studies in Sweden and the Institute of Strategic Studies
of the South Caucasus in Azerbaijan. After winning the 1828-1829 war
against the Ottoman Empire and seizing the Black Sea coast between
the Kuban River and the port of Poti, as well as a large chunk of
Meskheti and Javakheti, Russia started to move Armenians from Turkey
to the Central Caucasus and Georgia in great numbers. The newcomers
who settled in the Akhalkalaki (Javakheti) soon outnumbered all the
local Georgians, says the source.
Since Samtskhe-Javakheti is a transit territory for the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which is called an "official enemy"
by all Armenians, the local Armenians present a potential threat to
the pipeline. Therefore, terrorism and subversion attempts cannot
be completely excluded. The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, which
ends in Turkey, as well as the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline may also face
the same threats from Armenians.
The investigative institutes claim that today Javakheti is another
delayed action bomb in the South Caucasus region, as the insistent
demands from Armenians for autonomy fuels the region's instability.
Moreover Yerevan is also very active behind the scenes, even resorting
to issuing threats and warning Georgia if it engages in acts of
violence against the Armenian political movements in Javakheti,
it will not remain impartial to the fate of its fellow countrymen
living in the region.
Meanwhile, the religious elite of Armenia have very recently urged
Georgia to return hundreds of Georgian Orthodox churches to Armenian
control. The Armenian side filed a claim against its neighbor demanding
for restoration of its ownership over 442 churches in the territory
of Georgia.
One of the churches, Zugdidi, has supposedly been built in in 70-80s
of the XVIII century, according to the Armenian historians and
scholars. But the scholars in Georgia claim that a documentary fact
proves that until the abolition of the Georgian statehood in 1801,
it has been strictly forbidden for the Armenians to build their
churches in the country's territory.
* Mushvig Mehdiyev is a journalist at the Baku-based AzerNews
newspaper, and is engaged in developing regular analytical articles
about the South Caucasus region.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/03022015-armenia-problem-child-south-caucasus-oped/