U.S.-backed peace deal in Caucasus entrenches ethnic cleansing, blocks refugee return, and risks escalating regional conflict
Original framing: “ANCA Capitol Hill briefing warns flawed “peace” process creates conditions for renewed genocide” — startpage news
The conflict traces back to Soviet-era administrative borders (1921) that placed Artsakh within Azerbaijan despite its 94% Armenian population. The 1988-1994 war and 2020 Second Karabakh War followed similar scripts: Azerbaijan’s military campaigns (backed by Turkey and Israel) to 'reclaim' territory, followed by ceasefires that freeze displacement. The 2020 deal’s Lachin Corridor mirrors 19th-century Russian imperial policies that used transport routes to assert control over the Caucasus.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is a microcosm of how post-Soviet geopolitics weaponizes 'peace processes' to entrench authoritarianism and displace indigenous peoples, with the U.S.
and EU complicit in legitimizing Azerbaijan’s oil-backed regime through energy deals like the Southern Gas Corridor. The 2020 deal’s Lachin Corridor is not a neutral transport route but a strategic asset that rewards ethnic cleansing, echoing 19th-century imperial 'divide and rule' tactics in the Caucasus. Indigenous Armenian stewardship of Artsakh—rooted in 2,500 years of cultural continuity—has been systematically erased by Azerbaijan’s blockade and demographic engineering, a pattern mirrored in other frozen conflicts (e.g., Cyprus, Western Sahara). Marginalized voices—Artsakh’s refugees, Azerbaijani dissidents, and queer Armenians—are excluded from negotiations, while diaspora activism risks being co-opted by nationalist agendas. A viable path forward requires demilitarizing the Lachin Corridor, freezing energy deals until human rights conditions are met, and centering Artsakh Armenians in reparations and autonomy frameworks, lest the region become another Syria-style proxy battleground.