• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Military Conflict Escalating in Nagorno-Karabakh

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
In an effort to balance the incessant discussion of the US election around here, I thought I would draw our attention to another important story.

An escalating military conflict is going on between Armenia and Azerbaijan in a region called Nagorno-Karabakh. It's a region technically recognized as part of Azerbaijian, but the population is predominantly ethnically Armenian. The region has been under dispute between the two countries for years.

Nagorno-Karabakh dispute: Armenia, Azerbaijan standoff explained

Recent conflict has worsened as both sides have claimed shots have been fired by the other side across their border.


Leaders from both sides have rejected the possibility of peace talks.

Azerbaijan and Armenia reject talks as Karabakh conflict zone spreads

The region is apparently of interest internationally because of oil and gas pipelines that run through the region (Russia is a major fossil fuel exporter).

This is not a conflict I know much about, so if anyone else has insights or other information, I'd love to hear it.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
As your articles explain, this conflict goes back decades. It was suppressed during the Soviet Union, but once that power declined, the rivalries escalated again.

The basic problem, as far as I can see, is that we have two communities defined by culture and language with corresponding 'countries' associated with them. BUT, there is an enclave within one that has the culture of the other. That enclave wants to be with their culture, not with their geography.

I recall things being particularly bad there in the early 1990's when the USSR fell.

As I recall, there is also a religious component to the cultural differences: Armenia is Christian and Azerbaijan is mostly Islamic.
 

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
As your articles explain, this conflict goes back decades. It was suppressed during the Soviet Union, but once that power declined, the rivalries escalated again.

The basic problem, as far as I can see, is that we have two communities defined by culture and language with corresponding 'countries' associated with them. BUT, there is an enclave within one that has the culture of the other. That enclave wants to be with their culture, not with their geography.

I recall things being particularly bad there in the early 1990's when the USSR fell.

As I recall, there is also a religious component to the cultural differences: Armenia is Christian and Azerbaijan is mostly Islamic.

I forgot about the religious division, thanks for mentioning that.
 

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
How Azerbaijan is Lobbying Washington to Sanitize its War | The American Conservative

Here's an op-ed on the situation as it relates to the US: Azerbaijan is evidently spending quite a bit of money paying for lobbying firms to write favorable pieces for them in both right and left-wing American media outlets. Reportedly Armenia has also done so but on a much smaller scale. The US provides military aid to both Azerbaijan and Turkey, a NATO member.
 
Top