War In Nagorno-Karabakh Research Articles

The Foreign Policy of Donald Trump’s Administration in Transcaucasia

Transcaucasia is a politically complicated region. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have different foreign policy vectors, strategies, and relations with the United States. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the main political processes in Transcaucasia during the presidency of Donald Trump. The research is focused primarily on the development of bilateral relations of the United States with the countries of Transcaucasia in three directions: military cooperation, economic relations, and promotion of democracy. We examine the role and the interests of the United States in Transcaucasia and the priorities of the foreign policy of Trump’s administration there. The role of Russia is significant in the region as well, especially after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Russian Federation is against losing its dominance there and the expansion of NATO in Transcaucasia. It tries to deepen the authoritarian regime in the region and keep it under its control. The research findings show clearly the importance of cooperation and partnership between this complicated region and the United States, which can be a much better guarantor of stability, development, and democratic progress in Transcaucasia.

The impact of COVID-19 and armed conflict on cancer care in Armenia: A cross-sectional study.

e18551 Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the spectrum of cancer services, exposing vulnerable cancer patients to significant risks. In Armenia, the negative effect of the pandemic was amplified by the Nagorno-Karabakh war in September-November 2020. We explored the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and armed conflict on cancer care provision in Yerevan, Armenia. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional survey among all oncologists, nurses, and clinical residents (n = 123) actively providing cancer care to adults and children since 2019 at three publicly-funded institutions in Yerevan, Armenia, namely the National Center of Oncology, Hematology center after prof. R.H.Yeolyan, and Mikaelyan Institute of Surgery. Data collection was conducted between November 1 and December 27, 2021. The survey included 71 items assessing institutional characteristics, COVID-19 diagnoses, disruptions to care, adaptations of care, and availability of human and material resources. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze responses from 89 participants (72%). Results: Disruptions to cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic were reported due to staff absenteeism (16%) and lack of access to cancer treatment [chemotherapy (14%), radiotherapy (7%), surgery (7%)], elective surgery (27%), intensive care services (10%), diagnostic examinations (3%), and inpatient beds (6%). Shortages of clinical staff for pediatric cancer care were noted by 40% of respondents and were mainly attributed to COVID-19 infection (53%) or self-isolation due to testing positive for COVID-19 (25%). Half of the respondents reported suboptimal cancer patient care and outcomes (e.g. delayed diagnosis and treatment, complications of treatment, elevated mortality rates) caused primarily by the de-prioritization of cancer services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main issues reported by the respondents during the armed conflict were delays in elective surgery (36%) and staff shortages (17%). Confirmed cases of COVID-19 among patients were reported by respondents as: < 10 (by 6% of respondents), 11-50 (36%), 51-100 (27%) and > 100 (7%). Ten respondents (11%) reported that colleagues had died after contracting COVID-19. Twenty-six percent of respondents reported that the overall rate of hospitalizations decreased during the pandemic and 12% reported increased use of telemedicine. Reductions in material resources were reported by 18% of respondents, while 15% reported funding cuts to their unit by the institution. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent armed conflict led to disruptions in cancer care in Armenia, resulting in suboptimal care and outcomes for cancer patients. These findings emphasize the need for proactive planning to maintain standards of cancer care delivery in times of societal crises.

European Union Policy in the South Caucasus after the Karabakh War of 2020

The article focuses on the transformation of the European Union’s policy in the South Caucasus after the NagornoKarabakh war of 2020. Before the war, the foreign and security policy in the region had depended on the OSCE Minsk Group, Georgia’s role in the Russian-Georgian confrontation, and the Eastern Partnership program for the South Caucasus. After Azerbaijan won the Nagorno-Karabakh war with Turkey’s support, the previous line of policy stopped being effective. It failed to unite the countries of the South Caucasus, to remove the Russian Federation from the region, and to make the European Union a real mediator in the conflict zone. The democratization of the local political regimes also failed, despite the proEuropean position of Georgia and the velvet revolution in Armenia. As a result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 2020, Russian and Turkish troops entered the South Caucasus, and Russia, Turkey, and Iran started acting as peace mediators. The European Union failed to strengthen the role of the OSCE Minsk Group and the mechanisms of the Eastern Partnership in the region. Ever since 2020, it has been trying to develop a common policy for all ethnic and inter-confessional conflicts in the postSoviet space. The European Union keeps failing in its competition and partnership with Russia, while Turkey is getting more active and independent in the region. Thus, the European Union will have to develop a new model of influence in the South Caucasus and the whole post-Soviet space. In the current global confrontation, it is very important to find an international actor able and willing to interact with all parties. The European Union seems to be the one, and its actions in resolving regional conflicts require a detailed research.

The Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020 and the change of the regional status quo

The article aims to determine how the change in the status quo in the aftermath of the Karabakh war in 2020 influenced Russia’s position in the region. It strives to answer the question of how this change impacted the geopolitical power balance for Russia. The author used the historical events’ analysis method as well as examined both official information and the opinions of independent experts before attempting to make the most important provisions by comparing, contrasting and analysing these frequently diametrically opposed forecasts and opinions. The author argues that, contrary to some speculations, the situation might have changed not in favour of Russia in the longer run. The Karabakh war of 2020 highlighted the competition between regional powers, including Turkey, in the region and beyond. As a result of the war of 2020, Russia was able to station its peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh but also had to count with Turkey’s substantial influence over the region, which has a tendency to expand to Central Asia and Northern Caucasus. To withstand the regional competition Moscow has charted a policy to foster economic cooperation projects between warring states, to enhance internal cohesion in this post-USSR territory under its guidance. This will allow Russia to transform the South Caucasus into a more or less stable region that will be its buffer belt, with guaranteed non-hostile regimes.

A Failure to Innovate: The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War

The root cause for the defeat of the Armenian forces in the second Nagorno-Karabakh War was flawed military doctrine inherited from the Soviet Union. This article analyzes the major problems faced by Armenia, uncovers the main reasons for unsuccessful innovation, tests empirical findings against some of the most authoritative theories of the field, and outlines current research on the largest state-onstate warfighting of recent years, while substantiating the analysis with established scholarship in the field of military innovation.

Multi-dimensional assessment of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War

This article contains an assessment of the last war in the Southern Caucasus, referring to it as the second Nagorno–Karabakh war. The assessment is concentrated on the military capabilities built up prior to the major escalation of this war and operational features identified during the battles. The assessment uses analytic categories of processed information and initiatives that sovereign actors took during decision cycles and the conduct of military campaigns. Those analytic categories are named dimensions, with the strategic and military dimensions being the most important for this analysis. The key findings of this article suggest that additional dimensions could be used in researching the complex conditions of the war, which might have a continuous impact even outside the Southern Caucasus. The review of initiatives at the strategic dimension suggested that the built-up of two competing security policy fractions in the South Caucasus was an influential factor. The assessment of the military dimension of that war provided insights regarding the tactical choices of both adversaries. That assessment revealed some significant differences in how the campaign was conducted on both sides. Further complex tensions in the region are expected as national political decisions will drive strategic choices and drive the development of military capabilities. Given the fact that both countries were short of a consensus-based peace deal and Russia sent in peacekeeping forces, further developments in the political and strategic dimensions of this war saga should be expected.

A Medical Student’s Volunteering Experience During the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War

War is always a damaging situation for parts involved; no matter which one wins at the end, every side has something to lose, such as soldiers, money, and the nation's safety. I was in my home country (Azerbaijan), attending online classes and having my routine study day. The date was the 27th of September 2020, when we heard that war started between Armenia on the western side of my country. I applied to several authorities; in the end, I was able to go to Salyan Central Hospital in Salyan (150km distance from the war zone) as a volunteer to help the personnel for medical care to wounded soldiers. I saw different types of injured soldiers; they mostly came with extremity wounds, trunk wounds, and concussions due to explosions. I was impacted by the soldiers who had concussions. I tell the story of my experience as a volunteer serving in a war zone.

Վարձկաններն Իրանի քաղաքական խոսույթում. թաքվիրական շարժումների դեմ պայքարը՝ որպես Միջին Արեւելքն ու Հարավային Կովկասը միավորող գործոն

The narratives of the struggle against the “takfiri forces” have a crucial place in the Iranian discourse on the Middle East. This struggle was a basis for the Islamic-political explanation of Iran’s engagement in the Middle East. During and after the 2020 war in Nagorno Karabakh, this religious-political structure entered also in the Iranian discourse on the South Caucasus: “taqfiri forces” was a definition Iran was using referring to the Syrian mercenaries used by Azerbaijan during the War. The article discusses the Iranian political responses to the involvement of the mercenaries in the Karabakh War and stresses the feature that the vocabulary of those responses can be explained as a tool for connecting the Middle East and the South Caucasus regions.

Rat u Nagorno Karabahu 2020. godine - uloga svetskih i regionalnih sila

This paper analyzes the war in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, called the Second War and won by Azerbaijan. In addition to the military analysis, research was also carried out on the topic of political, economic and security circumstances that preceded the outbreak of armed conflict, with special emphasis on the role of key foreign policy actors, primarily Russia, Turkey and Iran. Special attention was paid to foreign policy position of the United States on the said conflict. The analysis of the peace agreement, as well as all political and military-security implications that arose from that agreement and that could reflect on the further stability and preservation of peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh region was conducted. The research results indicate that regardless the signed peace agreement and cessation of armed conflicts between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces, Nagorno-Karabakh still remains an area of high conflict potential, and in the future renewed armed conflicts can certainly be expected, at the beginning they could have limited potential, but certainly with a tendency to grow into a new war.

Evaluating the Triadic Relationship between the Armenian Diaspora, Armenia’s Cultural Identity, and the Artsakh War: Toward a Sustainable Map of Peace

The Nagorno-Karabakh war is an ethnic, religious, and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Artsakh, an Armenian enclave situated within Azerbaijan. The modern conflict began in 1988 when Armenians demanded that Artsakh be transferred from Soviet Azerbaijan to Soviet Armenia. The dispute escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s. A ceasefire signed in 1994 provided for two decades of relative stability, but escalations in April 2016, and most recently in October 2020, renewed the antagonism. More than 30 years have passed with no resolution, costing thousands of lives and millions of dollars. Culture and heritage shape values, beliefs, and aspirations, defining a people’s identity. Here I explore the relationship between Armenia’s cultural identity and its survival and assess whether Armenia can preserve its cultural identity even if it relinquishes the territory of Artsakh. Armenia’s withdrawal from the remaining areas of Artsakh, in exchange for renumeration from Azerbaijan, financial and military assistance from the European Union (EU), and financial and logistical assistance from Azerbaijan, the EU, and the United States, with relocation of Artsakh Armenians to Armenia proper, would trigger a permanent end to unnecessary human suffering.

On the Periodisation of the German Involvement in the Settlement of Armed Conflicts in the Post-Soviet Space

Currently, Germany is demonstrating its ambition to establish itself as a full-fledged global player. German strategic intrusion into the post-Soviet space in the form of participation in the settlement of armed conflicts is a factor contributing to the fulfilment of this ambition. The article proposes a periodisation for this aspect of German foreign policy. Both the evolution of tactics for using political and diplomatic tools in a given territory and the expansion of the composition of regional players are demonstrated for each period. The author focuses on the evolution of the German approach to the resolution of armed conflicts in the region (Georgian-Abkhaz, Georgian-South Ossetian, Transnistrian, and in the east of Ukraine). The German approach to the regulation of armed conflicts in the region has had two components. The first component is federalization as a way to eliminate local contradictions: Germany provided support to the central authorities of the former Soviet republic, often not taking into account the interests of the separatist party. The second component is German attempts to ensure that the parties to the conflict sign and implement the Association Agreement with the EU. This dramatically complicated the settlement process, creating a high probability of its degradation and leading, sometimes, to the resumption of discontinued armed clashes. The paper pays close attention to the German position on the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Illegal: The Recourse to Force to Recover Occupied Territory and the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War

Abstract The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and its lingering aftermath, have put the fundamental and largely unsettled question of the jus ad bellum in the spotlight: when part of one state’s territory is occupied by another state for a prolonged duration, can the former state have lawful recourse to military force to recover its land? Prior to the 2020 conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh region was widely regarded as belonging de jure to Azerbaijan, but as being unlawfully occupied – for more than 25 years – by Armenia. Accordingly, was Azerbaijan entitled to claim self-defence to lawfully recover it, even though the pre-2020 territorial status quo in the region had existed for more than a quarter of a century? In addition, could Azerbaijan invoke self-defence again in the near or distant future to recover those remaining parts of territory that continue to be outside of its control now that a new ceasefire is being enforced in the region? The answers to these questions have ramifications that extend far beyond the Caucasus, being of relevance for a wide range of pending conflicts around the globe. Upon closer scrutiny, the present authors believe that a negative answer is in order.

TURKISH-IRANIAN COMPETITION IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

Turkey and Iran have maintained stable relations for decades and established cooperation by exploring their common interests despite many political disputes, ideological differences, or economic competition. But recently, many emerging disagreements of the two neighbors started to test the breaking point of this longtime balance. Today, Ankara and Tehran are trying to get a better hand against each other through diplomatic, military, and economic instruments. Starting by presenting an overview of Turkish-Iranian relations, this article focuses on the main points of friction between the two actors in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The region is going through a critical juncture with crucial events such as the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020 and the aftermaths of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. So far, Turkey has increased its regional influence by strengthening its economic and diplomatic presence and establishing military cooperation. This target is pursued through the Turkic identity, which provides the ideological basis for Ankara’s regional strategy. The Islamic Republic of Iran, on the other hand, is trying to defend the regional status quo to resist the containment strategy and international isolation that it has been facing since the revolution. The “axis of resistance” idea that Iran pursues, especially in the Middle East, is almost nonexistent in the Central Asian and Caucasian region due to the Russian factor, lack of sympathy to such an approach on the part of the regional actors, and the Regime’s reluctance to change the status quo in its Northern and Eastern borders. In addition to Ankara and Tehran’s competing regional desires, several bilateral problems to solve in energy, trade, security, and migration management put the actors on the opposing sides. The study claims that the incompatibility between the actors’ regional strategies increases to the point that their rivalry in the Middle East will expand to Central Asia and the Caucasian region. But in contrast to this slow process, there are imminent common issues that can only be solved by a joint effort by Turkey and Iran, and this necessity will restrain the damages of this incompatibility on bilateral relations.

The Role of Turkish Drones in Azerbaijan’s Increasing Military Effectiveness: An Assessment of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War

This study focuses on Turkey as a rising drone power in the international arena in recent years. In this context, the article will scrutinize the case of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which broke out on September 27, 2020. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, one of the frozen problems in the Caucasus region, was ended in favor of Azerbaijan less than two months later. Turkey took on a game-changing role in the region by supplying its ally Azerbaijan with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for use in the conflict, and significantly contributed to Azerbaijan’s victory. Turkey’s political, diplomatic, and military contributions to Azerbaijan will likely be discussed on the global agenda for years to come; this study will contribute to the literature on the role and impact of Turkey’s military support, especially its drones, on Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh victory.

Military Propaganda at the Second Stage of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War (October 12 – November 10): Official Materials of Armenia and Azerbaijan Defense Ministries

Military Propaganda at the Second Stage of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War (October 12 – November 10): Official Materials of Armenia and Azerbaijan Defense Ministries

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ANTI-TANK GUIDED-MISSILE (ATGM) CONTROL SYSTEM USING SEMI-AUTOMATIC COMMAND LINE OF SIGHT (SACLOS) METHOD BASED ON DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING

<div><p class="Els-history-head">The Anti-Tank Guided-Missile (ATGM) system has a very important role in the modern battlefield. This system proved its effectiveness in many modern conflicts such as the Syrian Civil War and Nagorno-Karabakh War. The ATGM system has a very simple electronic and mechanism but it has a very high level of accuracy and precision. One of the control methods used in ATGM is SACLOS method. This method tracks missile position by detecting an infrared lamp that is placed on the missile tail. The tracking system sends control signals to the missile as a result of the correction of the missile position when flying. The infrared tracking system in this research was made using a modified OV5647 camera with the addition of a 940 nm narrow bandpass filter. There are 3 cameras with 1x, 8x, and 16x magnifications which are accessed using 3 Raspberry Pi boards. X and y coordinate data of the infrared lamp is sent to the airframe using wireless telemetry. Atmega328 microcontroller process x and y coordinate data into input proportional control. The result of this research is the prototype of an anti-tank missile control system with an infrared tracking instrument capable track a series of 88 infrared LEDs as far as 997.16 meters with a tracking speed of 90.11 FPS. The threshold parameters of image processing using luminance of YUV color space has a range of 240-255. The control parameter Kp=7 is used in wind tunnel testing with airspeed 20 m/s capable of directing airframe motion to the telescope's crosshairs.</p></div>

Iran’s Security Interests and Policies in the South Caucasus

The aim of this essay is to demonstrate that cooperation and competition between Russia, Iran, and Turkey requires ongoing regional political recalibrations regarding oil and gas pipelines and transportation routes. We argue that while much has changed in regional politics, Russian domination of the region remains intact, with Tehran and Ankara finding themselves in constant competition with each other while also balancing their interests versus those of Russia. We first review oil and gas pipelines administered by the Republic of Azerbaijan, the major beneficiary of the U.S. sanctions on Iran and the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war. We then explore a comparative analysis of the security interests and strategies of Iran, Russia, and Turkey toward the South Caucasus. Finally, we examine the way in which the second Nagorno-Karabakh war has posed new challenges to Iran’s interests and policies in the region.

The Struggle for Memory: The Khachkar Field of Julfa and Other Armenian Sacred Spaces in Azerbaijan

Abstract During the last century, the Armenian Church and nation have lost most of their sacred spaces. One of the most peculiar cases is the history and afterlife of the khachkars (crossstones) of Julfa. The cemetery of Julfa was known for its endless unique khachkars and other monuments, constituting an exceptional sacred space in terms of spirituality and art history. The area was systematically and entirely destroyed by Azerbaijan in 2005. In the 2010s, Armenians reacted to the destruction by reviving the memory of Julfan khachkars by erecting their replicas to various locations in Armenia and other countries. As khachkars are supposed to be unique and unrepeatable, this struggle for memory requires an interpretative analysis. The problematics became urgent after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war when hundreds of Armenian monasteries, churches and sacred monuments were left under the control of Azerbaijan. There is no reason to assume that their fate in the long run will be any better than the hundreds of already demolished Armenian churches and monasteries in Azerbaijan.

Military Propaganda at the First Stage of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War (September 27 – October 11): Official Materials of Armenia and Azerbaijan Defense Ministries

Military Propaganda at the First Stage of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War (September 27 – October 11): Official Materials of Armenia and Azerbaijan Defense Ministries

TÜRKİ YE’Nİ N YENİ BÖLGELERE YÖNELİ K “İ DDİ ALI” DIŞ POLİ Tİ KASI: HERKESİ N DOSTLARA İ HTİ YACI VAR

This article’s main argument is that after failure of ‘zero problems with neighbours’ oriented foreign policy Turkey is experiencing the transformation of foreign policy and more focusing towards the regions which were ignored before. After Arab Spring, especially after the Syrian Crisis, it has been observed that ‘zero problem with neighbours’ oriented foreign policy became ineffective and lost its effect in the Middle East. However, this does not mean that Turkey’s foreign policy loses its assertiveness. After assertive policies towards Middle East and Mediterranean areas, Turkey’s assertive foreign policy shifted towards new regions, which are historically, have less confrontation with Turkey and has positive trends against Turkey such as Caucasus and Central Asia. In this context, while the relations with the Turkic Council were deepened, the policy towards this region became clear with the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. During the Second Nagorno- Karabakh War Turkey gave strong support to Azerbaıjan both in term of rhetoric and military support as well based on Turkish drones and other Turkish made military equipment which shows the assertiveness of Turkey. The development of the Turkic Council’s member countries both politically and economically made organization an important regional actor. Thus, Turkic Council become an important tool for Turkish foreign policy in terms of assertiveness. Turkey’s assertive foreign policy will increase which is the in compliance with the Turkey’s national security. Also for region countries, it is important that Turkey put weight on region, which is crucial for Turkish foreign policy. Keywords: Assertiveness, Caucasus, Turkish Foreign Policy, Turkic Council.