Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict

Publication Date: August 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: International relations

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Abstract:

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, a clash between the principles of territorial integrity and self-determination, is the longest interethnic dispute in the former Soviet Union. Ethnic Armenians, the majority in the Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, have a different culture, religion, and language than Azeris. They seek to join Armenia or to become independent. Azerbaijan seeks to preserve its national integrity. The dispute has produced violence, mutual expulsion of rival nationals, charges and countercharges. After the December 1991 demise of the Soviet Union and subsequent dispersal of sophisticated Soviet weaponry, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict worsened, and thousands of deaths and 1.4 million refugees resulted.

In May 1992, Armenians forcibly gained control over Karabakh and appeared to attack the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, an Azeri enclave separated from Azerbaijan by Armenian territory. Fear of possible action by Turkey, Russia, and others led to demands for action by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), now the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations.

Since 1992, the CSCE/OSCE Minsk Group mediated the dispute. In 1993, fighting escalated on Azeri territory near Karabakh and a new government in Baku could not reverse a trend of military defeats. After Armenian territorial conquests, the CSCE proposed "urgent measures" and the U.N. Security Council endorsed them -- to no avail. Russia produced a cease-fire in May 1994 that has held despite violations. Intractable issues include Armenian withdrawal from Azeri territory, the Lachin corridor between Armenia and Karabakh, peacekeepers, and, most of all, Karabakh's status. In December 1996, an OSCE Chairman's statement, supported by all members except Armenia, referred to Azeri territorial integrity as a basis for a settlement. Armenian President Ter Petrosyan accepted May 1997 Minsk Group proposals, and was forced from power in February 1998.

In November 1998, a Minsk Group proposal took Armenian views more into account. Armenia accepted it, but Azerbaijan rejected it. Armenian President Kocharian and Azerbaijan President Aliyev have met directly many times since July 1999. The October 1999 assassinations of government officials in Armenia delayed settlement efforts. Since 2002, the two presidents' personal representatives have met with the Minsk Group cochairs, while the presidents themselves have met on the sidelines of international conclaves. Aliyev's illness since spring 2003 has stalled all talks. Observers generally believe that no progress would be made until after the 2003 presidential elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan, if then.

The United States is officially neutral in the dispute in part because it is a Minsk Group co-chair and mediator. Congress has tended to favor Armenia. Sec. 907 of P.L. 102-511, October 24, 1992, is a ban on U.S. aid to the Azerbaijan government aimed at pressuring it to lift its blockades of Armenia and Karabakh. Subsequent legislation modified the ban but retained it. P.L. 107-115, January 10, 2002, the foreign operations appropriations bill for 2002, granted the President authority to waive 907. The President did so in January 2002 and 2003.