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Context

• Both the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed in setting up a border security and delimitation commission, signalling a step towards the resolution of a decades-long conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh Enclave.

What’s the issue?

• Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region which falls within the boundary of Azerbaijan. However, the region hosts a predominantly ethnic Armenian population with an Azeri minority and the region is called Artsakh in Armenia.
• Nagorno-Karabakh, which was once a part of the Armenian kingdom, has been ruled by several empires over the centuries — the Ottomans, the Persians, and the Russians.
• Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia later became separate Republics, with the Azeris incorporating Nagorno-Karabakh into their Republic.
• During the First World War, the Ottomans, aided by Azeris, attacked the south Caucasus, especially targeting ethnic Armenians. As the Ottomans retreated at the end of the World War, Azerbaijan and Armenia descended into a full-blown war in 1920.
• With Bolsheviks taking over the South Caucasus, they officially placed Nagorno-Karabakh as an autonomous Oblast (administrative region) in Azerbaijan’s territory, despite the chiefly Armenian population.
• With the subsiding soviet power in 1980, the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh expressed a desire to be reunited with their roots and become a part of Armenia, organising a vote for the same in 1988.
• A war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan and by 1993, Armenia had taken control of most of Nagorno-Karabakh. The war ended with a ceasefire brokered by Russia and peace talks were initiated by the Minsk Group. The group created Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1990 co-chaired by Russia, the United States, and France.
• However, the Minsk Group’s proposals were continuously rejected by both the countries and the role of the Minsk Group declined during 2020.
• Both the countries entered into a ceasefire brokered by Russia in 2020. Despite this, the clashes have not stopped along the border. The European Union has emerged as a potential peace broker under which both the countries agreed to formulate more border security and delimitation commissions yet the permanent solution remains out of sight.

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