Armenia vs Azerbaijan

The most common war the Americans know of is Afghanistan and the fight on terrorism. Of course, this is a war that American soldiers have fought in as well, which is why this is more common knowledge. Although, most people don’t know of the war in Armenia and the suffering happening to the citizens. 

Armenia is located in Western Asia and borders Turkey and Georgia. Azerbaijan is also a border of Armenia and these countries have always been at each other. Since WW1 these countries have been at each other's throats. It started with the Ottomans in Turkey driving out the Armenians from the country and establishing them on empty land. Seeking refuge the Armenian people went to a region called Nagorno-Karabakh and settled. Nagorno-Karabakh was initially on Azerbaijan land. This land is surrounded by natural resources such as gas and oil, making every country surrounding it eager for its control. In the 1980s Armenia had control over this land after Nagorno-Karabakh voted for that region to be under Armenia. This caused a war that had Turkey supporting Azerbaijan and Russia supporting Armenia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia was defenseless against Turkey and Azerbaijan. A full-scale war followed until 1994 when a ceasefire ended the war, for now, Nagorno-Karabakh remained on Azerbaijan land but had the influence and culture of the Armenian people. But, there was no peace treaty tying this decision together.

Over the last three decades, those in Nagorno-Karabakh have been torn and clashed, with some citizens wanting the region to continue being under Azerbaijan land while some are waiting for the region to be under the Armenian Government. Until 2016 these clashes were very minor with the occasional protest and speeches until it turned to violence. In 2016 hundreds of soldiers in the Armenian military and the Azerbaijan military were killed in a battle between the countries. This sparked the battles against the countries and the division of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Just in September of 2020 thousands of Armenian and Azerbaijan military are dead as well as civilians. Even now there are protests against switching the ruling of the land and those of the opposite. No one knows which country started this violent war or when it will end, we can only hope that these two countries will find peace again and this time permanent peace.