Armenia and Azerbaijan: Thinking a way out of Karabakh

Middle East Policy

Volumn 7, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 145-176

  Laitin, David D ^a   Suny, Ronald Grigor ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033211758     PISSN: 10611924     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4967.1999.tb00348.x     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Patrick Donabedian, "The History of Karabagh from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century," in Levon Chorbajian, Patrick Donabedian and Claude Mutafian, The Caucasian Knot: The History and Geo-Politics of Nagorno-Karabagh (London and New Jersey: Zed Books, 1994), p. 53.
2. A. Abbasov and A. Memedov, "Natsional'nye i ethnicheskie men'shinstva v Azerbaidzhane," Azerbaidzhantsy: Istoriko-ethnograflcheskii ocherk (Baku: Elm, 1998), p. 63.
3. Frederik Barth (ed.), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1969), p. 17.
4. Lee Schwartz, "Regional Population Redistribution and National Homelands in the USSR," in Henry R. Huttenbach (ed.), Soviet Nationality Policies (London: Mansell, 1990), pp. 121-161.
5. This new paradigm emphasizing the nation-making effects of Soviet nationality policy rather than exclusively focusing on the nation-destroying aspects has been developed in the works of Ronald Grigor Suny, particularly, Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993) and The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993); Yuri Slezkine, "The USSR as a Communal Apartment or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism," Slavic Review, LIII, 2 (Summer 1994), pp. 414-452; and Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994); and Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account," in his Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 23-54.
6. This new paradigm emphasizing the nation-making effects of Soviet nationality policy rather than exclusively focusing on the nation-destroying aspects has been developed in the works of Ronald Grigor Suny, particularly, Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993) and The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993); Yuri Slezkine, "The USSR as a Communal Apartment or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism," Slavic Review, LIII, 2 (Summer 1994), pp. 414-452; and Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994); and Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account," in his Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 23-54.
7. This new paradigm emphasizing the nation-making effects of Soviet nationality policy rather than exclusively focusing on the nation-destroying aspects has been developed in the works of Ronald Grigor Suny, particularly, Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993) and The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993); Yuri Slezkine, "The USSR as a Communal Apartment or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism," Slavic Review, LIII, 2 (Summer 1994), pp. 414-452; and Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994); and Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account," in his Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 23-54.
8. This new paradigm emphasizing the nation-making effects of Soviet nationality policy rather than exclusively focusing on the nation-destroying aspects has been developed in the works of Ronald Grigor Suny, particularly, Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993) and The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993); Yuri Slezkine, "The USSR as a Communal Apartment or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism," Slavic Review, LIII, 2 (Summer 1994), pp. 414-452; and Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994); and Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account," in his Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 23-54.
9. This new paradigm emphasizing the nation-making effects of Soviet nationality policy rather than exclusively focusing on the nation-destroying aspects has been developed in the works of Ronald Grigor Suny, particularly, Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993) and The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993); Yuri Slezkine, "The USSR as a Communal Apartment or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism," Slavic Review, LIII, 2 (Summer 1994), pp. 414-452; and Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994); and Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account," in his Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 23-54.
10. Jon Elster, Institutional Design in Post-Communist Societies: Rebuilding the Ship at Sea (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
11. On the ownership of the state by nationalizing elites, see Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed, p. 5.
12. The Mountainous Karabakh Autonomous Region (Nagorno-Karabakhskaia Avtonomnaia Oblast') was formed in 1923. The Armenian population fell gradually. By 1959 Armenians made up 84.4 percent, but twenty years later they were just under 76 percent. Armenians feared a steady decline, even elimination from Karabakh, and often referred to the other autonomy in Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan, where they had almost completely disappeared demographically. [Suny, Looking Toward Ararat, pp. 193-195] A Kurdish autonomous region was formed around Lachin in the early 1920s and lasted about a decade before being abolished by the Soviet authorities. In subsequent censuses Kurds were counted as "Azerbaijanis."
13. [Robert O. Krikorian, "Red Kurdistan and the Struggle for Nagorno-Karabakh," Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, 6 (1992-1993), pp. 61-81.
14. Audrey L. Alstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity Under Russian Rule (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1992), pp. 207-208.
15. Visiting Karabakh in the summer of 1997, Suny observed that the local Armenians almost invariably referred to Azerbaijanis as "Turks."
16. These interviews were carried out from August 1 through 17, 1998, in collaboration with Jennifer Grocer and Carl Hershiser from the University of Texas and were supported by a grant from the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation.
17. Figures are from UNHCR, "Refugees and Others of Concern to UNHCR - 1997 Statistical Overview," available at http://www.unhcr.en/refbib/refstrat/1998/lookeuro.htm.
18. Flying over the Lachin corridor in the summer of 1997 it was possible to see clearly dozens of buildings gutted, without roofs.
19. Most of the 8,000-9,000 "Russian" soldiers in Armenia are actually Armenians in Russian uniforms, serving under Russian officers.
20. Many of the top leaders in Azerbaijan are either from Nakhichevan or from Azerbaijani families originally from Armenia known as "Eraz" (Erevan Armenians). Origins and kinship connections are key to the formation of the "clans" that run Azerbaijan (and Armenia as well). Other groups, like Karabakh Azerbaijanis or the Tat-Talysh group, make up rival clans; many of those excluded from the Eraz gathered in the Musavat party, led by Isa Gambar, a non-Eraz.
21. John J. Maresca, "The International Community's Efforts to Resolve the Conflict over Nagorno Karabakh: A Case Study in Lost Opportunities for Conflict Resolution," a report prepared for The Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, April 1995, p. 5.
22. Izvestiia, March 4, 1993, p. 2; cited in The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, XLV, 9 (March 31, 1993), p. 17.
23. Izvestiia, March 4, 1993, p. 2; cited in The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, XLV, 9 (March 31, 1993), p. 17.
24. Svante E. Cornell, "Turkey and the Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh: A Delicate Balance," Middle Eastern Studies, XXXIV, 1 (January 1998), pp. 51-72. In 1998 Laitin observed uniformed Turkish Special Forces walking through Baku, and it is widely known that Turkish officers have been helping train Azerbaijani soldiers.
25. Ibid., p. 17.
26. Nezavisimaia Gazeta, September 22, 1993, p. 1; condensed translation in The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, XLV, 38 (October 20, 1993), pp. 29-30.
27. Nezavisimaia Gazeta, September 22, 1993, p. 1; condensed translation in The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, XLV, 38 (October 20, 1993), pp. 29-30.
28. Ibid.
29. See Elizabeth Fuller, "The Karabakh Mediation Process: Grachev versus the CSCE?" RFE/RL Research Report, III, 23, June 10, 1994. Special Report of the United States Institute of Peace, "War in the Caucasus: A Proposal for Settlement of the Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh," (Washington, DC, 1994). Maresca in general saw Russia as imperialist and desiring to reestablish its influence, if not control, over the former Soviet Union. [See his, "The End of the Cold War Is Also Over," in Gail Lapidus and Renee De Nevers (eds.), The End of the Cold War Is Also Over (Stanford, CA: Center for International Security and Arms Control, Stanford University, April 1995), pp. 3-24.
30. See Elizabeth Fuller, "The Karabakh Mediation Process: Grachev versus the CSCE?" RFE/RL Research Report, III, 23, June 10, 1994. Special Report of the United States Institute of Peace, "War in the Caucasus: A Proposal for Settlement of the Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh," (Washington, DC, 1994). Maresca in general saw Russia as imperialist and desiring to reestablish its influence, if not control, over the former Soviet Union. [See his, "The End of the Cold War Is Also Over," in Gail Lapidus and Renee De Nevers (eds.), The End of the Cold War Is Also Over (Stanford, CA: Center for International Security and Arms Control, Stanford University, April 1995), pp. 3-24.
31. See Elizabeth Fuller, "The Karabakh Mediation Process: Grachev versus the CSCE?" RFE/RL Research Report, III, 23, June 10, 1994. Special Report of the United States Institute of Peace, "War in the Caucasus: A Proposal for Settlement of the Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh," (Washington, DC, 1994). Maresca in general saw Russia as imperialist and desiring to reestablish its influence, if not control, over the former Soviet Union. [See his, "The End of the Cold War Is Also Over," in Gail Lapidus and Renee De Nevers (eds.), The End of the Cold War Is Also Over (Stanford, CA: Center for International Security and Arms Control, Stanford University, April 1995), pp. 3-24.
32. In the same brochure, Daniel Sneider proposes a transitory period for Transcaucasia of Finlandization political sovereignty but limits on foreign policy options. ("Comment: The Caucasian Test Case," The End of the Cold War Is Also Over, p. 53).
33. TransCaucasus, A Chronology, V, 2 (February 1996), p. 12.
34. In these negotiations Azerbaijan gave up its earlier insistence that Karabakh Azerbaijanis have an equal negotiating status with Karabakh Armenians.
35. "Transcript of the Press Conference of President Levon Der Bedrosian," The Armenian Reporter Int'l , October 4, 1997, p. 21.