Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict

After three decades of on-and-off conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, relations between the two countries are at a turning point. Their 2020 war saw Baku regain most of the territory it lost to Armenia in the 1990s. Azerbaijan’s one-day operation in September 2023 took back the rest of the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, part of which had de facto remained governed by ethnic Armenian officials. Now Armenia faces a humanitarian crisis as it struggles to manage both the refugees who fled in 2020 and over 100,000 more who vacated Karabakh in 2023. The risk of further fighting persists: the two states remain at odds on issues regarding, among other things, border demarcation and transport links. Through fieldwork and advocacy, Crisis Group works to promote integration and resettlement prospects for displaced people including, but not limited to, the Armenians who left Karabakh and the Azerbaijanis who were pushed out of the territory 30 years ago and seek to return. The long-term goal is to build peace via normalised relations between the two countries, renewed trade and transport links and regional integration.

You can find more about the history of this conflict and access a downloadable database on The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Visual Explainer.

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In The News

25 Nov 2023
Azerbaijan does not trust Western incentives for peace talks … [Azerbaijanis] would like to see more emphasis on issues such as investments and reconstruction. Nu.NL

Zaur Shiriyev

Analyst, South Caucasus
30 Oct 2023
In my meetings with displaced people scattered throughout Armenia … I have not met a single person who is considering returning to Nagorno-Karabakh any time soon. CBC

Olesya Vartanyan

Senior Analyst, South Caucasus
3 Oct 2023
Nagorno-Karabakh is at the center of Armenian identity, and the Russians allowed it to collapse. They lost Armenian society. Al-Monitor

Olesya Vartanyan

Senior Analyst, South Caucasus
22 Sep 2023
It was quite obvious … that any military action [by Azerbaijan] that was to take place in [Nagorno-Karabakh], it would lead to the defeat of the local Armenian side. AP

Olesya Vartanyan

Senior Analyst, South Caucasus
21 Sep 2023
The biggest problem … is what to do with the many displaced [Armenians] who cannot return to the villages that were captured by Azerbaijan [in Nagorno-Karabakh]. The New York Times

Olesya Vartanyan

Senior Analyst, South Caucasus

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Zaur Shiriyev

Analyst, South Caucasus
Zaur Shiriyev

Olesya Vartanyan

Senior Analyst, South Caucasus
Olesya Vartanyan

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