Karabakh Odyssey

Karabakh has gone from democratic intra-state disagreements and protests

to clashes between local ethnic populations.

The majority of Stepanakert Armenians challenged the authority

of the autocratic Azerbaijani political leaders in Baku.

This culminated in fighting between local Armenian militia and Azerbaijani troops.

The conflict spilled over into an inter-state war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

All too soon,

Russia and Turkey

became entangled into rival alliances.

With Armenians and Azerbaijanis

temporarily exhausted by war,

a 1990s Moscow-brokered ceasefire was signed.

 It brought several decades of protracted negotiations,

but no overall final peace treaty.

The planned Minsk international conference was never held.

Instead border clashes continued to occur.

Several limited conflicts even burst out.

All the while,

the region was increasingly armed by Russia, Turkey, and Israel.

More precision-deadly revolutionary weapons were introduced,

destabilizing an already dangerous and hostile situation.

The sadly predictable outcome was a larger international war,

with combatants from other countries participating

in a variety of ways.

A hasty and fragile ceasefire was once more brokered by Moscow.

Will it endure?

Will others assist its implementation?

Or will some undercut it?

Where is the long-awaited international peace conference?

Is another potentially catastrophic war looming on the horizon?

The painful Karabakh odyssey continues.

Alan Whitehorn

November 30 – December 26, 2020

Alan Whitehorn is an Armenian-Canadian poet and professor emeritus of political science.