Institute 2020

The pandemic and the Nagorno-Karabakh War (Sept. 27 – Nov. 10) brought an urgency to the Institute’s activities. And of course, although this report only covers 2020, the work has simply intensified now, in this post-war situation.

The report below is what we have done.

What do we wish we could do?

MORE OUTREACH:

Covid isolation and the war resulted in a national awakening. The new thirst for knowledge, for information that explains history and geography, that supports memory and identity – the Institute can produce content in many forms to meet that need.

FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH:

Now that Armenia’s and Artsakh’s political and legal status is front and center in everyone’s mind, it has become very obvious that the foundational documentation that is sorely required – legal and academic – is missing, or sorely insufficient. And no one can do this work except scholars.

While others are spearheading support to widows and orphans, the refugees and the displaced, or strategizing military buildup, the Institute needs the resources to develop the documents that serve as the basis for the political and legal victories that are needed. Every conversation leads to the difficult questions of status and justice for Karabakh. The answers to those questions require solid research that is integrated within the broader academic world. The Institute is well-placed to support and nurture this task.

MAKING THE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE ACCESSIBLE:

The post-war national awakening has spurred an intense interest in the Armenian language. Armenians all over the world, of all generations, are seeking paths to explore, learn, re-learn, immerse themselves in Armenian, in an accessible and productive way. The Institute already leads some of the most meaningful and relatable language related programming but that doesn’t mean more is not needed. Just the other day, the Dean was surprised that one of the most prestigious universities in Los Angeles, doesn’t offer Armenian language instruction. The intellectual and pedagogical talent is already here, all that’s necessary are the resources to launch Armenian language instruction at USC.

SUPPORTING IDENTITY AND LEADERSHIP:

All of the Institute’s programming adds substance to contemporary Armenian identity. The pandemic and the war highlighted the need to foster leadership as a driving feature of that identity. The intellectual and strategic resources of the university combined with the vision and mission of the Institute can tackle this head on – supporting and selecting Armenian identity as part of one’s growth as a leader and change maker.

2020 Accomplishments

STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES AND ENGAGEMENT:

The Institute employed up to 17 students over the course of this calendar year who supported the Institute’s research programs by transcribing interviews and digitizing documentation for four different oral history projects; writing articles for community newspapers and the Institute’s website; expanding the Institute’s network of global scholars; producing short films and editing video/audio content for media, promotional, and fundraising programs; and cataloguing and maintaining the Institute’s digital archives. The Institute held exit interviews with graduating student workers, providing them with useful feedback and guidance.

The Institute hosted two remote open houses (9/1 & 9/2) for USC students to introduce them to the various activities of the Institute and opportunities for employment, research, collaboration, and volunteering.

In January, the Institute’s student workers launched a new initiative entitled Open Mind Policy – a series of student-led discussions on topics relating to the Armenian-American experience. From speaking to a techie-turned-priest to sharing what one might not be able to share with one’s grandmother, students are given a chance to engage in thought-provoking conversations. The meetings have continued remotely via Zoom after the university transitioned to remote learning.

Since university activities have transitioned online, the Institute has held periodic zoom meetings with student workers to offer support and strategies for adjusting to remote learning and working.

In collaboration with the Armenian Students’ Association and Alpha Gamma Alpha, the Armenian Sorority, the Institute organized several events focused on helping students and families understand and process the Karabakh war, which has directly impacted families outside Armenia.

On December 12, the Institute hosted a lunch meeting with a group of Armenian Studies graduate students from UCLA in order to learn about their projects, needs, and opportunities for collaboration.

FUNDRAISING AND DONOR RELATIONS:

Given the unusual circumstances of the pandemic preventing any in-person meetings or gatherings and the central role of the war for the global Armenian community, fundraising and donor relations have taken a very different profile.

Tacori Center

The Institute had been gifted the use of a large 2 story dwelling in Armenia, just 20 minutes from the center of the capital. The Tacori Center will serve as a regional hub for conferences and retreats. Armenia’s location near Iran, Turkey, and Russia will enable scholarly gatherings for researchers unable to travel to Europe, the US or Russia, Iran. Given the new circumstances with Covid-19, the Institute is working on creative remote programming, to start.

PUBLICATIONS:

Articles:

Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian, wrote the introduction for the volume entitled, Armenia’s Velvet Revolution: Authoritarian Decline and Civil Resistance in a Multipolar World, co-edited by Laurence Broers and Anna Ohanyan and published by I.B. Tauris.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, was first author on a co-authored chapter on the status of Armenian as a heritage language in Los Angeles, “Armenian in Greater Los Angeles: Negotiating Intralinguistic Diversity in a Diaspora Epicenter,” for an upcoming Routledge volume, Multilingual La La Land, co-edited by Claire Chik & Maria Carreira.

Gegham Mughnetsyan, Chitjian Researcher Archivist at the Institute, submitted his chapter “Armenian Displaced Persons: From Funkerkaserne to Montebello,” to the upcoming volume Diaspora and ‘Stateless’ Power, edited by Tsolin Nalbandian, Sossie Kasparian, and Talar Chahinian to be published by IB Tauris.

Dr. Lilit Keshishyan, a Research Associate at the Institute and Lecturer in USC’s The Writing Program, submitted her chapter “Defiant Adherence: Cultural Critiques in Late Twentieth Century Armenian Diasporic Literature,” to the upcoming volume Diaspora and ‘Stateless’ Power, edited by Tsolin Nalbandian, Sossie Kasparian, and Talar Chahinian to be published by IB Tauris.

Videos — The Institute’s social media channels have over 120 educational videos. These are some examples:

64 Word of the Day episodes [linguistics, culture, history] on Youtube and Instagram with 50,000 views across these platforms.

5-part Deep Dive series on Armenia and Azerbaijan at War [with scholars, practitioners and journalists on the ground] originally broadcast live on Facebook and Youtube with 40,000 views.

After War, Before Peace: a new series on Youtube about the aftermath of the war; the first episode has 4,500 views.

Podcasts – The Institute has several series of podcasts, which appear on all podcast platforms and over 20,000 people have listened to these conversations just this year.

Existing Podcasts:

Unpacking Armenian Studies (14 new episodes), hosted by Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian, is home to interviews with academics, journalists and policymakers in the field of – and on the fringes of – Armenian Studies. It seeks to understand and make accessible the conversations about who these scholars are, what they do, and why it matters.

Inch by Inch (4 new episodes), hosted by Institute’s Chitjian Researcher Archivist, Gegham Mughnetsyan, features brief and very personal takes on the world with an Amrenian twist. They play with words, sounds and the memories they conjure.

New Podcasts:

Language Therapy with Dr. K (9 episodes), hosted by Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, was launched in June. It explores how sociolinguistic forces drive attitudes, decisions, and practices around language. The podcast brings together language experts, cultural icons, artists, and regular people from all walks of life, and tries to boil down complicated issues while hopefully offering some much-needed therapy and catharsis.

After War, Before Peace (1 episode), hosted by Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian, was launched on November 12, two days after the signing of the trilateral ceasefire by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. It features a new series of conversations with scholars, diplomats, policy makers, journalists, and experts to understand what comes next in the aftermath of war and before peace.

Armenia and Azerbaijan at War (5 episodes), features a series of conversations with scholars, journalists, and government officials to give context to the Nagorno-Karabakh war. Each episode looks at different themes: 1) Security or Democracy — A False Dichotomy? 2) Turkey & Russia — Friend or Foe? 3) Armenia’s Borders: Tavush Everyday 4) Understanding the ‘International Community’ and 5) Roads to Peace.

NEW PROGRAM:

In response to the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the Institute expanded its Focus on Karabakh platform on its website (in existence since 2016) to offer daily news on the war, updated maps, chronologies, timelines, and other resources. A recent addition to the portal features Voices on Karabakh, where scholars, artists, and intellectuals reflect and contribute to War: A Symposium of Thoughts.

In March, the Institute launched #MyArmenianStory, an oral history project that collects Armenian life stories through crowd-sourced interviews. The purpose of the project is to record, gather, and document individual stories and reconstitute them as part of the national story. #MyArmenianStory will create a resource base that reflects the scope and depth of the Armenian experience for researchers. The same resources will be shared with other centers on campus, since the concept and project relate to other groups. The planning stage was supported by a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon, Portugal.

In an effort to engage prospective participants, the Institute staff conducted a dozen information sessions and curated consultations with groups like educators, young professionals and students.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION AND PARTICIPATION:

Every Friday between October 9 and November 6, the Institute offered one segment of a 5-part conference series, entitled Armenia and Azerbaijan at War, which featured a series of conversations with scholars, journalists, and government officials to give context to the Nagorno-Karabakh war. Each iteration looked at a different theme: 1) Security or Democracy — A False Dichotomy? 2) Turkey & Russia — Friend or Foe? 3) Armenia’s Borders: Tavush Everyday 4) Understanding the ‘International Community’ and 5) Roads to Peace. The video and audio recordings were featured as YouTube videos and podcast recordings on the Institute’s various media outlets.

On October 31, Emil Sanamyan, editor of the Institute’s Focus on Karabakh portal, participated in the one-day conference entitled “Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh and the Palimpsests of Conflict, Violence, and Memory” organized by the Armenian Studies Center of the UCLA Promise Armenian Institute. His presentation, “Redrawing a Regional Map? What Could Be Turkey’s Goals in the New Armenia-Azerbaijan War” was part of a panel on Diplomacy and Geopolitics.

On April 24, Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, participated in a panel discussion entitled “Identity after Genocide,” organized by Glendale Community College.

EVENTS:

Lunch Talks

January 29 – Sato Moughalian, Flutist and Author, presented her recent book, Feast of Ashes: The Life and Art of David. In an illustrated talk, she recounted the career of her grandfather, the renowned ceramicist who mastered the Kütahya tradition in the years before the Great War and in 1919, founded the art known today as the Armenian ceramics of Jerusalem. This event was co-sponsored by the USC Department of Middle East Studies and USC Visual Studies Research Institute.

March 5 – Dr. Aram Simonyan, visiting Fulbright Scholar from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, presented a talk entitled, “What is worse: street crime or suit crime? Evidence of Corruption from Armenia.” This event was co-sponsored by the Fulbright Outreach Lecturing Fund.

April 13 – Mehmet Polatel, 2019-2020 USC Shoah Center for Advanced Genocide Studies Junior Postdoctoral Research Fellow, gave a talk entitled, “Continuity, Escalation, and Local Actors: The Hamidian Massacres and the Armenian Genocide,” in which he explored the relationship between the Hamidian Massacres and the Armenian Genocide by tracing people and groups who were directly involved in both of these episodes as perpetrators and usurpers.

Airing of No Passport Required on PBS

January 20 – USC Institute of Armenian Studies staff were prominently featured on Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s PBS program No Passports Required, which covers food and diaspora communities in the United States, with this particular episode focusing on the Armenian culinary scene in Los Angeles.

MEDIA MENTIONS:

During the year, the Institute actively interacted with the media, particularly in relation to the war in Karabakh. Additionally, the Institute distributed shared weekly updates and analysis with its extensive online audience.

Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian, Dornsife Q & A

Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian and Deputy Director, Shushan Karapetian, KPCC

https://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2020/10/05/21244/

https://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2020/10/05/66093/protests-break-out-in-los-angeles-over-armenia-and/

https://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2020/10/16/66142/the-latest-in-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-plus-armen

Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian, Los Angeles Times

Institute Deputy Director, Shushan Karapetian, World News

https://worldandeverything.org/2020/10/conflict-in-the-south-caucasus/

Institute Associate Director, Syuzanna Petrosyan, KTLA

Institute Associate Director, Silva Sevlian, Daily Trojan

OUTREACH AND PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

In 2020, the Institute sent 105 newsletter campaigns to a varied and extensive outreach list.

The Institute has a strong presence on the following social media platforms with 12,844 social media followers in total.

Facebook: 6815 followers

Instagram: 2190 followers

Twitter: 2687 followers

YouTube: 1152 subscribers

USC TEACHING AND SERVICE:

Dr. Lilit Keshishyan, a Research Associate at the Institute, taught 3 sections of “Writing 340 – Advanced Writing for Social Sciences” (Fall 2020) and 3 sections of “Writing 150 – Technology and Social Change” (Spring 2020) for The Writing Program at USC.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, taught “MDA 330 – The Armenian Heritage: History, Arts & Culture” course during the spring semester.

Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian, and Associate Director, Syuzanna Petrosyan, guest lectured several times for Professor Diane Winston’s Spring 2020 course Journalism 585: Specialized Reporting: Religion – Armenia: Religion and the Velvet Revolution. Institute staff also advised students in their respective projects and were involved in planning a capstone trip to Armenia,which was cancelled as a result of Covid travel restrictions.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, served as faculty advisor to Lori Patatian, a Linguistics major, who wrote her capstone project on the correlation between the use of language in the Armenian church (Classical Armenian, Modern Armenian, and English) and the influence of church attendance in the Los Angeles Community.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, along with Dr. Frank Manis from the Psychology department, is serving as an advisor to Arman Dzhraghatspanyan, a Psychology major, who is working on a study that looks at the scope to which extended family may serve as a protective buffer against traumas experienced by Armenian families.

Institute Associate Director, Silva Sevlian, was invited to guest lecture at the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism – Professor Robert Bank’s course on Public Diplomacy on November 12th, 2019. Her talk was entitled, “How Non-state Actors Perform Their Mission and Public Diplomacy” in the Armenian context in LA.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, serves as the academic advisor both to the Armenian Students’ Association and Alpha Gamma Alpha, the Armenian Sorority.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, was guest lecturer at “The War in Armenia” event organized by the Armenian Affinity group at the USC School of Pharmacy. This event was attended by high level administrators at USC and a number of faculty and students.

Institute’s Chitjian Researcher Archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan participated in the Map It Out! Workshop aimed at providing university researchers with the knowledge of digital mapping tools. The workshop was organized by USC Humanities and the University of the Future and ran between September 29-October 29.

INSTITUTE RESEARCH AND PROGRAMS:

In the framework of the Los Angeles—Yerevan Sister City relationship, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies continued its Policy Fellows Program, in collaboration with the office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian and the office of Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan. The Program selects and places mid-career professionals from Armenia in policy planning positions throughout the City of Los Angeles to learn from and contribute to the process of improving lives in both cities. Spring 2020 Fellow Ani Rubenyan came from Armenia’s Ministry of Health Department of Finance and worked full time with the City Administrative Officer of Los Angeles as a policy analyst. Her official duties involved overseeing the public’s discussions in member meetings, researching and analyzing budgets, and assessing various aspects of the healthcare system. In light of the pandemic, Rubenyan was assigned to a more urgent task – researching and reporting on the potential impacts of COVID-19 on city revenue flows.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, was awarded a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to pursue research on the representation and experience of families/students of Armenian descent in non-Armenian private/preparatory schools in the Greater Los Angeles area.

In September of 2019, the Institute announced a call for research support, entitled “From a Democratic Breakthrough to Challenges of Consolidation in Armenia,” providing an opportunity for original academic and policy research that addresses Armenia’s political transformation in the Spring of 2018. The general objectives of the call were to examine: the interests, institutions, socio-economic conditions, values, identities, and regional as well as global security conditions that shaped the context and primed the groundwork of the movement; the strategies and events that facilitated the Velvet Revolution; the challenges of democratic consolidation. Proposals were reviewed by an academic committee and twenty-three scholars from 8 countries were funded. Given the limitations on data collection presented by the pandemic, the Institute extended the deadline for scholars to complete their research.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, continued work on an ongoing research project co-sponsored by the Institute, in collaboration with the National Heritage Language Resource Center at UCLA, that examines the Dual Language Immersion Program at Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) across seven languages. An official partnership has been sealed with GUSD for a long term research collaboration that will examine the experience of heritage language students and the impact of dual language immersion on the development and maintenance of their heritage language.

Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian traveled to New Jersey and Argentina to conduct interviews for a pilot Family Documentation Project, as part of the Institute’s ongoing Digital Diaspora Initiative. Four generations of a family, spread across three continents share their memories, supported by funds from the family. This is a unique opportunity to study migration, identity, history across geographics and generations.

Interviews within the Institute’s other documentation programs: Understanding Independence (conducted in Armenia) and Digital Diaspora continued to be transcribed and translated.

The Institute continued digitizing the approximately 400 hours of video recordings from the Armen Aroyan Collection, a compilation of 100 trips and nearly 1500 travelers to Western Armenia over 27 years.

Five recordings of the Sevan Armenian Dance Ensemble have been digitized and included in the Dance Heritage Video Archive at the USC Digital Library. The existence of these recordings was discovered during an interview for the USC Institute of Armenian Studies Displaced Persons Documentation Project with Angela Savoian, whose father, Jora Makarian, was a professionally trained dancer.

NON-USC PROGRAMS, EVENTS, AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

On August 24, Institute Director, Salpi Ghazarian, was a presenter in the plenary session, Visionary Talks in the Pan Armenian Educational Forum organized by the Armenian Virtual College and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Armenia. The plenary session featured visionary leaders from major Armenian diaspora educational institutions.

On November 19, Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, discussed the past and present of the Karabakh conflict with Glendale Library Arts and Culture Director, Dr. Gary Shaffer in Introduction to the Conflict in Artsakh. The event was viewed by close to 600 people live with an additional 100 views after it was posted.

OTHER COMMUNITY SERVICE AND EVENTS / CONVENING PARTICIPATION:

The Institute provided a lesson plan on the Armenian-American experience in California for the CA Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum to the California Department of Education, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, and Research Associate, Dr. Lilit Keshishyan, serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies.

Institute Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian, serves on the Armenian General Benevolent Union Education Task Force, aimed at defining and guiding the organization’s educational programming in the diaspora.

January 11, 2021	President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan meet with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and agree to reopen transportation links. At the same time, Aliyev refuses to return an estimate 100 Armenian military personnel and civilians captured during fighting.
November 10, 2020	After Azerbaijani forces capture southern districts of Karabakh, including Hadrut and Shushi, Armenia agrees to end the fighting and withdraw from Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin. Russian peacekeeping forces enter Karabakh.
September 27, 2020	Azerbaijan initiates a full-scale offensive along the entire line of contact between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Karabakh. After days of fighting, Turkish-backed Azerbaijani forces make advances in Karabakh’s northeast and south.
July-August, 2020	Turkey pledges full support to Azerbaijan’s efforts to restore its territorial integrity. Joint military exercises take place in Azerbaijan for which Turkey transports F-16 fighter jets and other military equipment to Azerbaijan.
July 12-16, 2020	Fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border leaves 18 dead on both sides, including senior Azerbaijani officers. The fighting triggers pro-war protests in Azerbaijan.
February 15, 2020	Aliyev and Pashinyan meet in Munich and after the meeting hold a joint conference, which turns into a debate.
August 5, 2019	During a rally in Stepanakert, Pashinyan declares, “Artsakh is Armenia. Period.”
April-May 2018	After mass protests in Armenia, Sargsyan resigns, Nikol Pashinyan is elected as Armenia’s leader
February-October 2017	Sporadic clashes continue in Karabakh, until Sargsyan and Aliyev meet in Geneva and agree to reduce tensions
April 2-5, 2016	Azerbaijan initiates the largest offensive since the conclusion of active fighting in 1994. Azerbaijan forces capture several posts in the north and in the south of Karabakh, after an Armenian counterattack in the north, several positions are restored. In 4 days of fighting, heavy artillery and drones are involved, with some 200 people killed on both sides.
March 31-April 1, 2016	US Secretary of State John Kerry holds separate meetings with Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Washington. Hours later Azerbaijan begins an offensive in Karabakh.
2012-2016	Low-intensity fighting takes place in Karabakh and on Armenian-Azerbaijani border, with Azerbaijani forces conducting hit-and-run attacks, and Armenian forces retaliating.
June 2011	During talks in Kazan, Russia Aliyev walks away from an agreement with Sargsyan on basic principles of resolution.
November 2, 2008	The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, meet in Moscow and pledge to find a political solution to the Karabakh conflict, but no progress is made in talks.
November 29, 2007	After a meeting in Madrid the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs announce that a set of Basic Principles for the peaceful settlement of the conflict is proposed. The principles link Armenian withdrawals from the east and south of Karabakh to security guarantees and determination of Karabakh’s status via referendum.
February 19, 2004	During NATO training in Budapest, Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov murders Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in his sleep, triggering international condemnation and deepening of mistrust between Armenian and Azerbaijani societies.
August-December, 2003	Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev dies, succeeded by his son Ilham Aliyev.
April 2001	Armenia’s Robert Kocharyan and Azerbaijan’s Heydar Aliyev come close to an agreement that would make NKAO and Lachin corridor part of Armenia, with other territories transferred to Azerbaijan; Aliyev backs away from the agreement.
February 3, 1998	Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrossian resigns after his plan for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict is rejected. Former Karabakh leader Robert Kocharyan is elected president of Armenia.
January 1, 1997	The OSCE Minsk Groups establishes the trilateral co-chairmanship format of the United States, France, and Russia, still in effect until today.
December 2, 1996	During the OSCE summit in Lisbon, Azerbaijan stresses the importance of territorial integrity; Armenia vetoes the final document.
March 23, 1995	OSCE established the co-chairmanship of the Conference on Nagorno Karabakh under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group.
May 12, 1994	Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh agree on a cease-fire brokered by Russia, ending three years of fighting.
April-May, 1994	Armenian forces advance in Agdam and Mardakert districts.
December 1993-February 1994	Azerbaijani forces on the offensive in Karabakh, but their efforts to make advances are repulsed by Armenian forces.
November 12, 1993	UN Security Council Resolution 884 condemns the occupation of the Zangelan district and the city of Horadiz, attacks on civilians and bombardments of the territory of the Azerbaijani Republic; calls upon the Government of Armenia to use its influence to achieve compliance by the Armenians of the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic.
October 14, 1993	UN Security Council Resolution 874 expresses concern that a continuation of the conflict in and around the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic, and of the tensions between the Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijani Republic, would endanger peace and security in the region and supports the monitoring mission developed by the CSCE.
August 23-31, 1993	Armenian forces establish control over Jebrayil, Kubatli districts and part of Fizuli, to the south of NKAO’s administrative border.
July 29, 1993	UN Security Council Resolution 853 expresses concern over the seizure of the district of Agdam in the Azerbaijani Republic (not specified by whom), Urges the Government of the Republic of Armenia to continue to exert its influence to achieve compliance by the Armenians of the Nagorny-Karabakh region to comply with the resolutions.
April 30, 1993	UN Security Council Resolution 822 expresses serious concern at the deterioration of the relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, in particular, the latest invasion of the Kelbajar district of the Republic of Azerbaijan by local Armenian forces.
November 1992-February, 1993	Armenian forces retake the initiative in the war, expanding the Lachin corridor, creating a security buffer around Kapan and recapturing much of the Mardakert district
June-October, 1992	Azerbaijani forces on the offensive against Karabakh, with almost half of the Armenian territory, including Shaumyan and Mardakert districts, captured, and local population displaced.
May 18, 1992	Armenian forces take control of Lachin, establishing a corridor between Armenia and Karabakh.
May 9, 1992	Armenians take Shushi, effectively ending the siege and bombardment of Stepanakert from the GRAD launchers located in Shushi.
April 10, 1992	Azerbaijani forces enter the village of Maragha, murdering some forty civilians.
May 18, 1992	Armenian forces take control of Lachin, establishing a corridor between Armenia and Karabakh.
May 9, 1992	Armenians take Shushi, lifting the siege of Stepanakert.
April 10, 1992	Azerbaijani forces enter the village of Maragha, in NKAO’s northeast, murdering some forty civilians.
February 26, 1992	Armenian self-defense forces capture the Khojaly settlement, where Karabakh’s only airport is located; hundreds of civilians die as they flee from Khojaly towards Agdam
September 25, 1991	The siege of Stepanakert begins with shelling launched from Shushi and nearby villages. Armenian self-defense forces are surrounded in NKAO, resupplied from Armenia by helicopters.
September 21, 1991	Armenia declares independence after the positive results of the nationwide referendum.
September 2, 1991	Nagorno Karabakh declares itself a republic, citing Soviet law on secession and international principle of self-determination
August 30, 1991	Azerbaijan declares itself independent of the Soviet Union and a successor state of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (1918-20)
January 1990-August, 1991	Supported by Soviet internal troops, Azerbaijani security forces conduct operations intended to expel the Armenian population from the vicinity and inside NKAO. Armenian self-defense is organized.
January 13-19, 1990	Pogroms of the Armenian population in Baku lead to dozens killed, and remaining Armenians leaving Azerbaijan.
December 1, 1989	Legislatures of Soviet Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast make declarations of unification.
Fall 1988	Massive exodus of the Armenian population from Armenia and Azerbaijani population from Armenia; dozens killed in ethnic-motivated clashes.
July 18, 1988	The Supreme Council of the USSR rejects Armenian demands of unification.
June 17, 1988	Soviet Azerbaijan expresses opposition to calls of transferring Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast to Soviet Armenia.
June 15, 1988	Soviet Armenian legislature votes in favor of unifying with Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
June 12, 1988	Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast regional legislature votes in favor of unification with Soviet Armenia.
March 25, 1988	Soviet leader Gorbachev rejects Armenian calls of unification.
February 27-29, 1988	Pogroms in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait lead to the deaths of dozens of Armenians at the hands of Azerbaijani mob and the exodus of the large Armenian community of Azerbaijan.
February 22, 1988	Azerbaijanis march from the town of Aghdam towards Karabakh, where they meet an Armenian counter-protest, first deadly clashes ensue in the town of Askeran.
February 20, 1988	After public protests and grassroots lobbying, NKAO legislature adopts an appeal to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moscow to consider reassigning the oblast to Soviet Armenia.
July 7, 1923	Soviet Azerbaijan establishes borders of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (region), making it an enclave surrounded by Azerbaijani territory. Throughout the Soviet period Armenians raised the issue of reassigning Karabakh to Armenia, but Moscow rebuffed these efforts citing opposition from Azerbaijan.
July 5, 1921	After first Azerbaijan and then Armenia were both occupied by the Red Army, the dispute over Karabakh persisted. The Caucasus Bureau of the Russian Bolsheviks decided to establish a Karabakh autonomy inside Soviet Azerbaijan.
May 28, 1918	Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent following the Russian Revolution, and almost immediately went to war over several disputed territories, including Karabakh. By the fall of 1918, Turkish forces occupied much of the Caucasus, including Karabakh’s capital of Shusha. Turkish-Azerbaijani forces tried to control Karabakh but met Armenian resistance.

1.	At about 7AM on Sunday morning, Turkish and Azerbaijani forces launched an unprecedented attack on the Armenian-administered Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), with hundreds of missiles and drones launched, followed by ground attacks. Turkish forces included an F-16 squadron that specializes in air defense suppression, the Bayraktar drone fleet that targets ground forces, and more than 2,000 mercenary forces, most of them from Syria, used to launch ground attacks.
2.	The attack came after open threats of military action against Armenia made by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his defense minister Hulusi Akar. According to reporting by the Russian Kommersant newspaper, Akar along with other senior Turkish military officers were in Azerbaijan and directly in charge of the offensive.
3.	As the attack unfolded, Turkish leaders said that their goal was to completely oust Armenian forces from Artsakh and Turkish military and associated social media began publishing videos from Turkish Bayraktar drones showing attacks against Armenian forces, as well as claims of tactical advances.
4.	In early October, Azerbaijan’s artillery and air attacks increasingly became indiscriminate, focusing the shelling on population centers such as Stepanakert, rather than military targets. The Armenian side responded with attacks against Azerbaijani towns such as Ganja, Mingechaur and Barda.
5.	In fighting on the ground, Turkish-backed Azerbaijani forces succeeded in capturing the two Armenian-populated villages of Talish and Madagis in Artsakh’s northeast, and advanced in the south of Karabakh, along the border with Iran and through Hadrut towards Shushi. As fighting continued Azerbaijan was resupplied with ammunition from Israel, Ukraine and Belarus, and mercenaries from Turkey.
6.	In the more than 40 days of fighting, Russia, France and the United States – the three co-chairs in the international mediation effort on Karabakh – have failed to put an end to fighting or even to limit weapons and mercenary transfers that are fueling the war or introduce any other sanctions.
7.	By the time the cease-fire was agreed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey on November 10, 2020, more than 3,500 Armenians, more than 3,000 Azerbaijanis and more than 500 Syrian mercenaries were confirmed killed. More than 100,000 people were displaced.
8.	In line with the cease-fire terms, Armenian forces withdrew from Aghdam, Kelbajar and Lachin district, while Russian forces deployed along the perimeter of the part of Karabakh that remained under Armenian control and along a 5km Lachin corridor connection to the Republic of Armenia. In all some three-fourth of pre-war Armenian-controlled territory is now controlled by Turkish-backed Azerbaijan.
9.	In violation of the cease-fire terms, in November-December 2020 Azerbaijani forces continued to advance in parts of Karabakh, capturing two more Armenian settlements and more than 70 Armenian military personnel and civilians, most of whom, along with others captured before the cease-fire, remain in Azerbaijan custody.
10.	The Russian peacekeeping mission in Karabakh is agreed for five years, with no determination of Karabakh’s status or security guarantees. Still more than 50,000 Karabakh Armenians displaced during the fighting have returned to Karabakh, primarily Stepanakert, since the cease-fire.

1.	Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) is a place of great natural beauty and peopled by indigenous Armenians best known for their humility and subtle sense of humor. Among people with roots in Artsakh are the world chess champion Garry Kasparov, Soviet composer Mikael Tariverdiyev and military figure Hovanes Bagramyan.
2.	The Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute over Nagorno Karabakh is more than 100 years old and it pre-dates the establishment of independent national republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1918.
3.	Creation of the Armenian autonomy of Karabakh within Soviet Azerbaijan (1921-91) both helped freeze and preserve the conflict over the territory that reignited with the Soviet Union’s unraveling.
4.	The war over Karabakh of 1991-94, began as an ethnic cleansing campaign against Karabakh Armenians and as Armenians resisted, hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes on both sides of the conflict. Since 1990, there are no more Armenian communities on Azerbaijani-controlled side of the conflict and no Azerbaijani communities on the Armenian side.
5.	Azerbaijan – ruled by the Aliyev family for almost half a century – demands complete control over Nagorno Karabakh, which amounts to a call for its total ethnic cleansing. For decades, Azerbaijan has prohibited entry to ethnic Armenians (or people with Armenian-sounding names), independent of their citizenship. Azerbaijan has also charged its citizens who visited Armenia with treason. Any peace-building efforts were discouraged.
6.	The Second Karabakh war in the Fall of 2020 was jointly launched by Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Aliyev. Turkish air force and mercenary forces from Syria helped displace more than 30,000 Armenians, Artsakh’s civilians and infrastructure were attacked, with dozens of civilians killed, hundreds injured and tens of thousands displaced.
7.	In just 44 days of active combat, more than 3,500 Armenians, more than 3,000 Azerbaijanis and more than 500 Turkish Syrian mercenaries were killed.
8.	There are documented reports of war crimes being committed by Azerbaijani forces and Turkish mercenaries, including execution of prisoners, both civilian and military, beheadings and other degrading treatment.
9.	As a result of the November 10 cease-fire agreed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, Russian forces have been introduced and now protect the Armenian-populated parts of Karabakh and a narrow corridor from Karabakh to Armenia. A joint Russian-Turkish “monitoring center” is expected to be set up in an area adjacent to the Russian-controlled area.
10.	The agreement in force has not meant an end to the conflict. In particular, in violation of the agreement Azerbaijani forces continued to move their positions forward to capture more territory as well as prisoners of war and civilian hostages. Currently about 100 Armenians captured in Karabakh, most since after the cease-fire, are detained in Azerbaijan. Aliyev has refused to release them.

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