Турция   ::   Демоян Гайк

«Турецкий след» в Карабахском конфликте – как в историческом отношении, так и с современных позиций – ясно показывает, что Турция, даже будучи региональной державой, не имеет никакого морального права быть задействованнойв процессах его разрешения.

____________________



6 «Декларация о принципах международного права, касающихся дружественных отношений и сотрудничества между государствами в соответствии с Уставом Организации Объединенных Наций», принятая 24 октября 1970 года, см. http://www.un.org/russ-ian/documen/gadocs/convres/r25-2625.pdf

Summary of the volume

"Turkey and the Karabakh Conflict in 1990s: a Comparative Historical Analysis"

Rooted in recent history, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh originated at the time when Turkic-speaking nomads began to migrate into the West of the South Caucasus. The national identity of Azerbaijanis evolved in a clash of geopolitical interests between great powers striving to establish their control over Baku oil reservoirs. Since then, Azerbaijan gained strategic importance; the historically Armenian-populated Karabakh, both highland and lowland, and Nakhichevan were used as bargaining chips in exchange for the loyalty of Azerbaijani leaders.

The present conflict can be viewed as one between the newly emerged Azerbaijani state and national identity on one side, and the historically formed Armenian identity, on the other. The conflict also has economic, political and cultural aspects, described in numerous publications in the field of conflict studies.

The current Turkish approach to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has many parallels in history. Pursuing the realization of ambitious pan-Turkist policy during the World War I, the Young Turk government had implemented its deplorable genocidal plan of annihilating Armenians throughout the Ottoman Empire and was set to occupy the Russian Transcaucasus in order to establish a link with Turkic-speaking communities in the Russian Empire. As a result of the occupation, the new Azerbaijani state was created under the aegis of the Ottoman military leadership aiming to secure the geopolitical interests of Turkey based on the idea of ethnic and religious solidarity.

The chiefly Armenian-populated Highland Karabakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) stood in the way of Turkey's expansionist policies. After Turkish troops captured Baku and massacred over 10,000 Armenians, they went on to occupy Karabakh. Spreading terror in the region and persecuting the Armenian population, the Turkish occupation government of Azerbaijan was met with a strong resistance of local Armenian self-defense units.