USC Institute of Armenian Studies Celebrates 15 Years of Innovation and Education

October 8, 2019

Tucked in between the School of International Relations and the Political Science and Policy departments at USC, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies punches above its weight as it engages with the resources of a global university, and targets the intellectual and strategic needs of the Armenian nation and the Republic of Armenia.

On September 29, the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies Leadership Council will host a gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to celebrate 15 years of championing education, innovation, and thoughtful change. Guests will hear about the mission and current projects of the Institute, and will be offered the opportunity to take part in and support programs that look to the future.

“We ask – What are the grand challenges facing Armenia and Armenians – and we develop research and programming around the search for answers,” noted Salpi Ghazarian, who has been director of the Institute since 2014.

The Institute was conceived and created by a group of Los Angeles community leaders who, together, represent the entire community. All of the major institutions and segments of the community believed in the need to create and support an intellectual center that would feed the needs of all segments of the community and the nation. This is reflected in the composition of the Institute’s Leadership Council, who, to this day, lead the work of securing the resources to allow the Institute to flourish. The members are: Diane Cabraloff, Charles Ghailian, Vahe Karapetian, Michael Kazanjian, Frank Melkonian, Prof. Donald Miller, Lori Muncherian, Gerald Papazian, Sinan Sinanian, Hon. Dickran Tevrizian, Savey Tufenkian. Also part of the Leadership Council were the recently deceased, and much-beloved, Dr. Mihran Agbabian and John Berberian.

Chaired by entrepreneur and community leader Charles Ghailian, the Leadership Council continues to enlarge the Institute’s support base and welcome a new generation of donors and thinkers to ensure the Institute’s longevity.

In the first decade, under Professor Hrair Dekmejian’s leadership, there were several conferences held in conjunction with various community entities. Although the Institute is not a teaching Institute, Professor Dekmejian initiated several classes that offer students an opportunity to learn about history and culture, as part of their university studies.

Over the last five years, the Institute has broken new ground by strategically funding research in areas that are crucial to Armenia’s experience, and creating massive, world-class platforms where the research and intellectual conversation can take place, among qualified specialists and with an eager and curious audience.

Among the most notable of these programs were two events: The first was called “Celebrity Diplomacy: Redefining Armenia’s Role in the Diaspora.” Then, weeks following what has come to be called Armenia’s Velvet Revolution, the Institute convened a second program, inviting political scientists and activists to participate in a second program entitled “Now What? Armenia Tomorrow.” The programs featured newly elected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, newly selected President Armen Sarkissian, former speaker of Georgia’s parliament David Usupashvili, in addition to others from all over the world who were present virtually. Both events were live-streamed in both English and with Armenian translation and were watched by 16,000 people around the world.

Institute Associate Director Syuzanna Petrosyan is responsible for the Institute’s global outreach. “These live presentations, together with thousands of attendees, ensure that each speaker, each expert, each scholar, and each program is taken beyond Southern California, and to policy and change makers around the world,” Petrosyan said.

Many of the speakers who are invited to participate are from among the three dozen researchers around the globe who have been supported by the Institute and its donors as they study Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Scholars from Brazil, China, Poland, the U.S., and of course, Armenia, went to the region to explore and write about the economy, health care, education, foreign policy, women’s issues among a host of topics. “This is an important contribution to broadening the discourse in the international media and academia and provide data-based research to policy makers in Armenia,” said Dr. Lilit Keshishyan, a research associate at the Institute. In October, the Institute will announce a special and very timely call for research, this one entitled, “From a Democratic Breakthrough to Challenges of Consolidation in Armenia.”

“The world was very interested in how and why the Velvet Revolution happened. That interest continues, but it’s important to do the research that begins to offer answers,” said Institute Deputy Director, Shushan Karapetian.

As new generations of Diasporan Armenians come of age, they will not only need access to knowledge but also new knowledge to sustain their complicated identities in the societies that they live in. The Institute’s “Digital Diaspora Initiative” is creating, gathering, digitizing, and making accessible materials that comprise the Armenian Diaspora experience with the aim of not only further integrating the Armenian experience within a global context, but providing new generations access to their own histories.

“This is our story. Diaspora history is an integral part of world history, California history, local histories, and it’s up to us to ensure that the historic record includes this last eventful century and its incredible experiences – beginning with attempted destruction of a nation, yet ending with statehood. There are not enough studies of this unbelievable trajectory,” said Ghazarian.

As part of the initiative, the Institute has been conducting oral histories of Armenians in the Diaspora and collecting photographs and other relevant documents representing the experiences of interviewees. The “Displaced Persons Documentation Project” includes 30 recorded video interviews and 1,000+ collected and scanned images, documenting the experiences of the displaced Armenians of World War II who worked in forced labor in Germany and were eventually granted refuge in the U.S. The larger diaspora project, an ongoing endeavor, continues to document the experiences of individuals who have had a hand in shaping diaspora communities and whose stories shed light on these communities, past and present.

The Institute’s public programming is possibly best recognized through the Innovate Armenia festival of ideas and action. Always live-streamed in two languages, it is the most direct way to provide access to the wealth of knowledge that exists in and about the Armenian world. The 4,000 people who attend include many students and young professionals who seek new ways to connect to the Armenian experience, and to understand it in a comparative context, especially in Los Angeles, where so many Diasporas converge and face similar challenges.

Another way the Institute appeals to this young generation of 21st century Armenians is through fun and interesting podcasts. “Podcasts are like your own personal radio station. It is an attractive compelling space where knowledge about all aspects of the Armenian experience are shared through conversations with the professors and researchers who spend their lives studying language, history, immigration, education – and all of it is presented through the story of their lives,” noted Sareen Habeshian, the Institute’s Media Content and Operations Manager.

You can listen to the podcasts by visiting the Institute’s website or searching for the USC Institute of Armenian Studies on iTunes, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

Roughly one year ago, the Institute embarked on a critical search for the stories of those who were directly engaged in Armenia’s independence movement. Recording the memories of the actors in the independence years offers a window to the events, circumstances, and personalities that led to the incredibly difficult years and decades that followed.

“We want to record causes, motivations, circumstances and external factors that explain what happened and what went wrong,” said Associate Director Syuzanna Petrosyan.

“Understanding Independence: Oral Histories of Armenia 1988 – 1994” consists of long-form high quality video interviews with the participants of the independence movement, including environmentalists, political activists, members of the Karabakh Committee, journalists, teachers. The memories recorded on video, as well as personal mementos, photos, notes, journals, and unofficial personal correspondence are digitized and secured for history. All of the material is made digitally available to provide sources for scholars, artists, filmmakers, and researchers worldwide. The digital archive will be incorporated into the USC Digital Libraries while the hard copies will be housed at the National Library of Armenia.

This is not the only Armenia-based program. Soon, the USC Tacori Center will be open as a unique regional retreat and conference center, open year-round to host students, journalists, scholars, and artists to work and create together.

Continuing for the second year, the Institute’s pioneering Policy Fellows program brings mid-career civil servants from Armenia to the City of Los Angeles, where in cooperation with the office of Councilmember Paul Krekorian, they are placed in similar City positions to exchange knowledge and gain new perspectives.

“All of these programs are about the nation’s and the republic’s challenges – identifying them and tackling them using the resources of a world class university, and a passionate, committed community. We look forward to many more decades of good work together,” concluded Ghazarian.

A Word a Day

Students at the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. (Photo by Nanor Zinzalian)

BY SHUSHAN KARAPETIAN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Shortly after I joined as Deputy Director, a new tradition was born at the Institute of Armenian Studies – the Word of the Day. Given my background in Armenian Studies and Linguistics, students would often come to my office and ask how to say a particular word in Armenian or wonder about the exact meaning behind certain idiomatic phrases. These student-generated questions evolved into daily live mini lessons during which I introduce them to new Armenian words by exposing them to thousands of years of Armenian thought. To show that the really long words many students are intimidated by are comprised of much smaller and familiar roots, I encourage students to deduce the meaning of a word simply by combining the roots and using context clues. The lessons also draw on the similarities between English and Armenian, both Indo-European languages with a common ancestor, and a wealth of examples from Classical Armenian and both modern Eastern and Western Armenian. The Word of the Day goes live on Instagram so that anyone with interest can take part simply by following the Institute’s Instagram @uscarmenianstudies and Facebook pages facebook.com/uscarmenian. Everyone can suggest words that they’ve always been curious about. For example, did you know that the word երկրպագու/yerkrpagu, meaning admirer or fan, comes from the Classical Armenian roots երկիր(ground)and պագանեմ(I kiss). In other words, I kiss the ground you walk on! New words, new stories, new connections, every day, at the Institute of Armenian Studies. What’s your word of the day?

The Value of Old Papers

Staff at USC Institute of Armenian Studies. (Photo by Nanor Zinzalian)

BY GEGHAM MUGHNETSYAN, CHITJIAN RESEARCHER ARCHIVIST

In my position as the Chitjian Researcher Archivist at the USC Dornslife Institute of Armenian Studies, I’m a curator. I have access to ideas, materials, and documents from around the world and across a century. Sometimes, as I work through these old handwritten documents, identifying them, describing them, I realize that a lot of what I think about now, today, on timely issues, Armenians had articulated 200, 300 years ago in voluminous papers and journals which have now yellowed without the public ever really accessing them. The vast majority of people simply do not have the time to dedicate to digging through these volumes of knowledge, but lots of people have the same interests that I have. Here is where we come in as an Institute, as archivists, as researchers, to unearth these materials, to curate that Armenian story from everything that we see in our research and to bring it to light in a way that is of this age.

Day at the Institute

Staff at USC Institute of Armenian Studies. (Photo by Nanor Zinzalian)

BY SILVA SEVLIAN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

I walk in at 9 a.m. and the phone is ringing. It’s a call from someone in San Francisco who wants to attend the 15th Anniversary Gala. This is followed shortly after by a phone call from 94-year-old Valentine Reigh, who lives mere miles away from USC, and is one of our regular callers. After a tentative attempt – several years ago – to find someone who would be able to read and appreciate her mother’s old papers, she gifted her family’s photos and documents. Every couple of weeks, the postman arrives with a new, bulging manila envelope bearing copiously written notes, cards, journals and… well, we haven’t sorted it all out yet.

A day in the life of the Institute is something like a day at Grand Central Station. Housed on the third floor of the iconic Von Kleinsmid Center building, our archivist will run into the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown while walking down the corridor.

Former Vice Dean and International Relations Professor Steve Lamy comes in to share the new Global Policy master’s program. He’s counting on the Institute’s collaboration, which will lead to graduate students visiting Armenia on a regular basis.

A student worker shares a story with the rest of the Institute team: a Thornton Music School junior brought in a movie about a Grammy-award-winning Puerto-Rican rapper who traced his Armenian heritage back to Nagorno-Karabakh.

On any given day, the Institute’s dozen student workers will be treated to an impromptu academic discussion by a visiting Turkish scholar or a political science professor who has a craving for Armenian coffee.

The office closes in the early evening and as I turn the lock, Professor Robert English walks by, fresh from his trip to Russia where he began preliminary talks with top Russian leaders for the Understanding Independence project. Bari Gisher, he says with a grin.

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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