Nagorno – Karabakh War
Nagorno- Karabakh is an area between state of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It was a
landlocked mountainous region. In the other hand, it also known as Caucasus where Russia,
Iran and Turkey meet. Globally, that region was recognized as part of Azerbaijan however the
population are filled with most Armenian ethnics. That area also governed by the Nagorno –
Karabakh Republic or known as Republic of Artsakh. In 19 th century, three major power dueled
for dominance of the region. The region also populated by Christian Armenian and turkic azeris
and become part of Russian empire until 20 th century. Under the Soviet control, Nagorno-
Karabakh become autonomous region with majority of Armenian. It all lasted until 1991 when
Soviet Union started to collapsed and Nagorno-Karabakh declares itself as independent republic
and cause a full scale war between Armenian and Azeris. 1992 remarks the starting of the first
Karabakh War where the war is dominated by the Armenian.
The fighting lasting until 1994 when Russian declared a ceased fire agreement for the
conflicting parties and Armenian was the winning parties during that time. However the
agreement did not fully stopped the small conflict from happen until 2020, the war escalated
makes the second Karabakh war launches by Azerbaijan armies to recapture city of Karabakh.
The war lasted for 6 weeks and causing 3000 Azerbaijani and 4000 Armenian lost their live. In
this war, Azerbaijan received support from Turkey in terms of financial and weaponry. They gain
support as both Azerbaijan and Turkey are come from the same ethnic group which is Turks
Muslim. Their concept is “one nation, two states”. Finally, in this second war Azerbaijan more
dominance rather than Armenia. However this paper is to find the strengthen within the looses
of Armenian army to be related with 10 principle of war and basic consideration of defense.
During the second Nagorno-karabakh war, there is innovation occur within Armenian
defense. During the war, Armenian army practice attritional war. They fought according to
primer soviet doctrine of land operation 1989. Based on basic consideration of defence wich is
use of ground, the Armenian proven that they rely on an obsolete system fortified areas and
massive marching columns.
Centralization of fire power
Armenia put the bulk of its available defense funds into defensive forces. In the twenty-
first century, the Armenian air force purchased and deployed S-300 SAMs, Buk-M1-2 SAMs, and
Tor-M2KM SAMs, giving them a robust and integrated air defense system.33 Armenia
augmented these by purchasing large quantities of shoulder-launched man-portable SAMs as
well
At the tactical level in Armenian occupied Karabakh (known to the Armenians as the
Republic of Artsakh), the Armenian army maintained an independent division-size force called
the Artsakh Defense Army. The headquarters of this force is in the Artsakh capital, Stepanakert, and
the force was composed of three motorized rifle brigades, a tank regiment, and supporting elements.34
The Artsakh Defense Army reportedly received priority with light arms, heavy artillery, tanks, and
armored vehicles from its parent Armenian army
Deployment of the Armenian army? First, only a small portion of its strength was
available to defend against an attack on Karabakh. Second, it was equipped with weapons that
proved of little use in combating the Azerbaijani army, particularly with regard to its networked
and expensive air defense system that was useless when confronted with small UAs and ballistic
missiles.
Mutual Support
Iran, on the other hand, backed Armenia on critical matters such as Armenia’s
occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran’s interest in this matter is its concern over the
areas in the Northwest of the country close to the conflict zone—East Azerbaijan, West
Azerbaijan and Ardebil, which are peripheral areas populated mostly by ethnic Azerbaijanis.
Security
After a brutal war in the early 1990s, for 30 years the Karabakh region of the Republic of
Azerbaijan was under the occupation of Armenia, and an estimated one million ethnic
Azerbaijanis were forced from their homes while the Armenian side laid mines on thousands of
square miles of occupied Azerbaijani territory around a small community of ethnic Armenians
connected to the Armenian Republic by a single road called “Lachin-Khankendi.” A total of
3,385 victims of Armenian mines have been registered by the Mine Action Agency of the
Republic of Azerbaijan since 1991.
The end of the second Karabakh war in November 2020 should have meant the
withdrawal of the Armenian military and the de-mining of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
Instead, since the end of the war the list of victims of Armenian mine terror grew by over 300
people – 251 injured and 55 killed – as Armenian paramilitaries living in the Karabakh region of
the Republic of Azerbaijan continue to lay traps along the perimeter of the liberated territory as
reported by Hikmet Hajiyev, adviser to the Azerbaijan president. This systematic policy of
terror, further evidenced by the refusal by the Armenian side to provide a complete map of the
minefields to Azerbaijan, is but one manifestation of the Armenian version of “gray zone”
tactics.
Reference
1. Unknown (2023, October 2nd). Nagorno–Karabakh Profile. Retrieved from
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18270325
2. Adilah Hasna Khairunisa. (2022). Identity and Foreign Policy: Turkey’s Support of
Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. Retrieved from
https://eudl.eu/pdf/10.4108/eai.31-3-2022.2320955
3. Zhirayr Amirkhanyan (2022). A Failure to Innovate : The Second Nagorno-Kharabakh War
Pages 124. Retrieved from https://press.armywarcollege.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=3133&context=parameters
4. Lt Col Edward J Erickson (2020). The 44-days War in Nargorno-Karabakh : Turkish Drone
Succes or Operational Art. Retrieved from
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/military-review/img/Online-Exclusive/
2021/erickson/Erickson-the-44-day-war.pdf
5. Roza Bayramli (2023). Armenia’s “Gray Zone” Tactics in Karabakh. Retrieved from
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/analysis/opinion-armenia-s-gray-zone-tactics-in-karabakh-
region/2998793
