Armenia/Azerbaijan: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict enters phase 2

Azerbaijan | 19 July 2018

Radio Free Europe reported on 26 June 2018 that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh region at a military parade marking the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan"s armed forces. He called the breakaway region "primordially Azerbaijani territory" and said that Baku will never accept its "occupation." He also declared that Azerbaijan will "reinstate its control" over both Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territory held by ethnic Armenian forces. "The war is not over. Only its first phase has ended," he said. ‚ "Nagorno-Karabakh continues to be a bone of contention between Armenia and Azerbaijan", explains Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research. "It is a region where the majority of the population is (Christian) Armenian, while the rest of Azerbaijan is predominantly Shia Muslim. Open war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1988 over control of the region and only in 1994 was a cease-fire implemented. More than 30,000 people were killed in the fighting. Ever since then, there have been sporadic outbreaks of violence and all efforts to find a peaceful solution have so far failed." Rolf Zeegers continues: "The Church in Azerbaijan has been seriously affected by this conflict. All Armenians living in Azerbaijan outside of Nagorno-Karabakh have left the country. The Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh itself are completely isolated, as no country has recognized the independence of the region. Religious nationalism on both sides is preventing a peaceful outcome and violence may erupt again at any moment."