In 1921 the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin from Moscow decided to create two Soviet Socialist Republics in the region that are placed under their political influence: Armenia and Azerbaijan. The mountain then became border separating one people, and Artzakh passed under the control of Baku, the capital of a Turkish-speaking Azeri people, culture and history totally foreign to the Armenian people that inhabits the mountains . It was at that time military theory that outweighs the reality of peoples: a frontier must be a “high point” from which the guns can fire far into enemy territory, in anticipation of possible wars. Since aviation exists, this theory is absurd, but it has emerged in the Caucasus as in the Alps (confer the Tirol, Austria and Italy between separate or separated from the Val d’Aosta Savoy, Catalonia divided in two by the Pyrenees, and so many other examples including the Caucasus).
Armenia, in 1921, out of a terrible trauma, that of the first genocide in history, committed in Turkey, where more than a million Armenians were exterminated because of their language and their religion, that the Christian church of Armenia, among the oldest in Christendom. Their emblem is Mount Ararat, perpetually snow-capped peak above 5,000 meters, omnipresent in the landscape of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and where, according to the Bible, Noah and his ark providential failed after surviving the Flood which swept from the top. At the foot of the mountain, from the memorial erected in Yerevan in memory of the great Armenian genocide, there are watchtowers, and the dust raised by the movements of troops of the Turkish army. For an impenetrable border now separates Armenia Mount Ararat: the border with Turkey, the state in which one million Armenians were exterminated for no other reason than to eliminate all risk of reunification of the territories populated by Armenians with neighboring Armenia. The reference to the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Yerevan is omnipresent, and, despite several failed attempts, the trigger is still not on the agenda with the Turkish regime.
In Artzakh also the awareness of the peril is great, facing the majority Turkic Azerbaijan led by one of the most brutal dictators in the world, Alyev son who took Alyev father’s estate, in a political climate that evokes Korea North. In the 20s until 1990 under the communist boot that was deported to Siberia countless political opponents, Armenians underwent Moscow’s decisions. The Artzakh was called Karabakh, the name given to this area by the Iranians, as if suddenly decided to call Brussels Frankreich France a country named by its inhabitants because it is the name used in Germany. And for Soviet, they have that Russian Deputy Nagorno means mountainous. Thus was born the Nagorno-Karabakh, “oblast” (district) of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh remains, a century later, the official name of the Artzakh for the international community. In addition, at the time, Stalin, who saw far, decided to create from scratch a “Azeri corridor” between the Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh oblast to separate fictitiously the Karabakhi Armenians and . Arbitrary decision which, 95 years later, still determines the political situation as it is built after the collapse of the Soviet empire.
The Republic of Armenia was the first of the Union Republics to shake off the Soviet yoke, by general strikes and a climate of widespread revolt. This time, Soviet tanks remain powerless and the democratic revolution will prevail, installing a democracy in Yerevan recognized by all international bodies. Azerbaijan will also erect an independent country after the end of the Soviet Union, with its oil wealth in the Caspian Sea, off the capital Baku. But it is a dictatorship that it will soon impose, and that continues today, the Alyev son who replaced his father. For them Azerbaijan is “one and indivisible”, and Nagorno-Karabakh must “azériser” speak the language since Azeri Russian, which served previously language of communication between the two peoples, is now banned, and submit to the law of large numbers becoming Azeris and renouncing be Armenians.
The revolt broke out in 1990 and four years of war will devastate Artzakh. On September 2, 1991, the Karabakhi proclaim their independence as the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh according to the internationally common designation. On September 2 became the National Day of Artzakh. A referendum in December 1991 confirm the proclamation of independence. The Azeri army then committed a war that lasted until 1994. Given their numerical inferiority, the Karabakhi require the support of Armenia sends his troops to protect against the pogroms that threaten Armenians in Azerbaijan and who began to massively kill karabakhi established communities in Baku and Sumgait, the two major industrial cities in Azeri territory. The memory of the 1915 genocide is still there!
Lachlin row, and all the territorial strip artificially created by Stalin to separate Artzakh of Armenia, Armenian are put under protection to avoid encirclement and the fighting inside the country turn to the advantage of Karabakhi. The stronghold of the Azeri army stormed to Shuchi and the Azeri army, routed, demand a cease-fire which will be negotiated under the auspices of the “Minsk Group” that brings new Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Russia, France and the United States. It is signed May 12, 1994, and is still officially in force. But since then, the Azeri army periodically tries to supply a new military escalation by organizing a merciless air blockade, and increasing incidents along the front lines. Just a few weeks a gunfire shot down a helicopter karabakhi army, and it took the intervention of commandos to recover the bodies of the three drivers. The border with Armenia is also the scene of sporadic clashes. Most recently civilians were wounded and one Armenian serviceman killed by artillery fire. The situation is unstable, dangerous, and Azerbaijan has oil weapon to influence the international scene, through corruption or buying support from petro-dependent states to isolate the Armenian authorities in Stepanakert and Yerevan.
In the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh separatist authorities have installed a flawless democracy, with regular and fair elections, a struggle noticed against corruption, a large place of women in public life and total freedom of the press. The contrast is striking with the dictatorship which prevails in Baku!
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