The role of Nagorno-Karabakh in the shaping of Armenian and Azeri identity | El rol de Nagorno-Karabagh en la formación de la identidad armenia y azerí

Abstract

The paper discusses the effect of the 19 century rebirth of Armenian nationalism in the Ottoman or Western Armenia and Russian or Eastern Armenia and of Azeri nationalism in Russian Azerbaijan with its ramifications in Iran and Ottoman Turkey on the formation of Armenian and Azeri identity from the late 1800s to the present and the key role of Nagorno-Karabakh called Artsakh by the Armeniansfrom the beginning of the 20th century, using the theories of Anthony D. Smith. At the time of the disintegration of the USSR, the reinforcement of Armenian and Azeri identity over Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian victory in the first war and the armed peace generated by the 1994 ceasefire made it inevitable that a second war would take place unless a political compromise – that never happened – was reached.