The Wars of Nagorno Karabagh – Stage and Backstage

By Jean-Marie Lorge

At the end of September 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched a sudden and massive assault against the Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabagh.
Over six weeks, the Azerbaijani army (fully supported by Turkey) and the Armenian armies (from the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh) violently clashed amidst artillery fire, deadly drone ballets and tanks attacks… In early November 2020, the Armenians were defeated. The world then suddenly remembered that the Caucasus is as complicated as it is explosive.
The Wars of Nagorno Karabagh – Stage and Backstage is intended to help better understand this crisis – its historical background, implications and pitfalls (first prize in the last category would go to the regional political map redrawn by Stalin) as well as the geopolitical interests of Russia, Iran, and Israel… Particular attention is given to the new game played by Turkey which is now spurred on by the ambition of again becoming, at all costs, a member of the club of world powers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Feb 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398460805

Jean-Marie Lorge

Jean-Marie Lorge is a former international civil servant. During his career at the United Nations (UNDP and UNDP–OPS) of more than a quarter of a century, he held various positions in New York, as well as in fourteen countries of Africa, Latin America and Europe.

Book preview

The Name, by Way of

Introduction

Artsak: name of a province of the former Armenian kingdom (the fifteenth province, which itself became a kingdom, and whose heart was the current Karabakh).

This is how the Armenians, since the Armenia-Azerbaijan war of 1991–94, designate the Upper Karabakh or Nagorno Karabakh (name retained by the international community).

This name illustrates the historical mosaic of the region. The most commonly quoted etymology speaks for itself:

Nagorno: mountainous in Russian.

Kara: black, dark in Turkish.

Bakh: garden in Persian.

For the first term, it is unquestionable. As regards to the second and third, "se non è vero…"

It is obviously difficult, if not impossible, to understand the Nagorno Karabakh conflicts if we skip the essential points of Armenia’s history and the prominent features of the soul of its people.

Short Presentation

The first Nagorno-Karabakh war ended in 1994 with an Armenian victory (Republic of Armenia and self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh). As a result of the first war, Azerbaijan lost 13% of its territory.

After six weeks of fighting, the second war ended on 9 November 2020. Azerbaijan’s victory was overwhelming.

The Caucasus has always been generous with this type of classic conflict, whose goals clearly fit into the local context.

However, one can question whether the goals of this second war are of the same nature as those of the first conflict, or have we witnessed the introduction of a new dimension, anchored in a pan-Turquist vision?

Without the slightest pretension to the assertion of a total knowledge, this booklet offers the reader some reading grids based on historical and geopolitical backgrounds and on Ismail Enver’s great dream.

Chapter I

History – Some Milestones

in an Endless Sequence of

Calamities and Twists

Introductory Note

The same remark regarding the mosaic pattern emerges from a brief glance at the Armenian history. This pattern is illustrated by the change in the names of the Armenian provinces over the centuries:

Satrapies: Persian and Hellenic-Persian world (Seleucids in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great).

Marzapans: Persian from the fifth to the seventh century AD (border provinces).

Themes: Byzantium.

Khanats: Turco-Mongolian, then Persian.

Melikhats: Persian.

Vilayets: Ottoman Empire.

Governments, Republics and Oblasts: Tsarist Russia, then USSR.

Marz: Each of the ten current administrative regions of the country.

1. The Pre-Armenian Era

The Kingdom of Urartu (ninth century to sixth century BC) roughly occupies the eastern part of Turkey.

Non-Indo-European language (ergative, like Georgian or Basque, and agglutinative like Turkish).

Brilliant civilization, enemy of the Assyrians. It must also repel Scythian and Cimmerian assaults.

Renowned for the metallurgy of copper and its wine production (perhaps we owe them the invention of this drink!), horse breeding…

Like Assyria, Urartu falls under the power of the Medes between the seventh and the sixth century BC.

It disappeared in the sixth century BC. Its territory is then occupied by Illyrian people from the Balkans, of Indo-European language, who gradually merge with the people of Urartu, to give birth to the Armenian people.

2. The Armenian Kingdom

The two populations complete their melting ¹ and ² the Persian influence ³ is overriding (Persians, Medes, Parthians).

The Armenian kingdom asserts itself, shines, falters and collapses (from the second century BC to the beginning of the fifth century AD). This kingdom constitutes a never-ending stake during centuries between Rome and Persia.

Some examples:

In 190 BC, with the support of Rome, a satrap of the Persian Empire proclaims himself king of