The Karabakh Flashpoint: Turkish Authoritarian Rule and the Recurrence of Genocide

Abstract:The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, currently a serious humanitarian crisis, is often categorized as a post-Soviet conflict. This article challenges that conceptualization and reframes the historiography of Nagorno-Karabakh by shedding light on Bolshevik-Kemalist collaboration in the South Caucasus. The true flashpoint of the conflict stems back to 1917, a period of imperial decline, which occurred during the ongoing process of the Armenian Genocide. The cooperation between Turkish and Azerbaijani actors between 1917 to 1921 demonstrates the intent to undermine the Armenian national pattern in the Karabakh region, as well as other regions including Zangezur, and Nakhichevan. Present-day grievances reflect similar Turkish and Azerbaijani intentions. The collapse of the Russian, and Ottoman Empires had severe consequences for the Armenians of the Karabakh region, as Bolsheviks and Kemalists supported genocidal policies towards them. From a historical perspective, Bolshevik-Kemalist cooperation in the South Caucasus provides a disturbing precursor to the region’s current authoritarian actors and their impact on enflamed ethno-territorial tensions and the region’s cycles of stability.