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Nagorno-Karabakh’s Myth of Ancient Hatreds
The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan is sometimes explained as a result of ‘ancient hatreds’. In reality, it is nothing of the sort, despite both sides using history to bolster their claims to the region.

Jo Laycock | Published 08 Oct 2020

During the last week of September an Azerbaijani offensive re-ignited a decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh (‘Mountainous Karabakh’) region. Within a week, the conflict had escalated beyond the ‘line of contact’ dividing Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. Stepanakert, capital of the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, has sustained heavy shelling, with Amnesty International condemning the use of cluster munitions. Armenia has struck targets in Azerbaijan beyond the contested Karabakh region and civilians as well as soldiers have lost their lives in the most prolonged violence since the 1994 ceasefire. These events differ from previous flare-ups, not only in intensity, but in the direct Turkish support for Azerbaijan, including the country’s widely reported recruitment of mercenaries from Syria.

Nagorno-Karabakh (to Armenians, Artsakh) is a highland region located between the states of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Historically, the majority of its population have been Armenians, but it has deep geographical, cultural and economic connections with the lowlands of Azerbaijan. When conflict broke out here at the end of the 1980s, ‘ancient hatreds’ proved to be a tempting explanatory framework for some observers. While this trope is still sometimes evident, there is scant historical evidence to support it. This is a distinctly modern conflict, with groundwork laid not in the ancient past, but during the creation of Soviet states in the South Caucasus. In particular, the decision in 1921 to incorporate the region into Soviet Azerbaijan rather than Soviet Armenia has been identified as pivotal. This is certainly true, but a focus on poor decision making by the Soviet political elite should not preclude examining longer-term contexts and processes.

During the 19th century the demographic balance of the Caucasus was changed by shifting imperial borders and population resettlements, increasing overall Armenian presence. Though the region remained a multi-ethnic space, the influence of European discourses of nationalism meant that its intermingled populations increasingly saw their futures in national terms. Modernisation created new tensions and inequalities which often played out along ethnic lines. In 1905 the city of Baku became the centre of widespread clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis (in Russian imperial terminology, Tatars). From 1914, war and the Armenian Genocide led to cycles of violence and displacement across the region. In the aftermath of imperial collapse and revolution, Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis each tried to carve out distinct national spaces for themselves. Karabakh was one of several localities where this led to violence.