A New Legal Approach Towards the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Peaceful Resolution

The current research aims at proposing a new legal approach regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between The Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic and Azerbaijan, as well as The Republic of Armenia as a third party involved in the case. The conflict emerged with its current embodiment in late 1980s, due to the national movement of the Armenians in Karabakh for self-determination and reunification with Armenia. The non-violent phase of the conflict lasted no more than half a year and soon after the emergence of the Armenian movement, Azerbaijani then authorities with the help of the Soviet Internal Security Forces and OMON, launched a military attack towards the Armenian population in Karabakh intending to disarm the local Armenian self-defense militia detachments and uproot the Armenian livings in the given region. The active phase of the conflict, i.e. war of national liberation of Karabakh Armenians against the newly independent Azerbaijani Republic lasted from 1991 till 1994. During the war the newly independent Republic of Armenia conducted humanitarian, military and moral support to its compatriots in Karabakh. Azerbaijan in its turn gained the full support of The Republic of Turkey, as well as solidarity of some Islamic states etc. Russia was amongst the sole countries conducting a policy of keeping balance between belligerents both by arms supply and diplomatic stance. Generally by the Russian mediation the Armenian sides and the Azerbaijani side signed a truce agreement in May, 1994 which is in force up till now. The OSCE Minsk Group is delegated the mandate to provide a multilaterally acceptable peaceful resolution for both sides. The negotiations so far proved a little success, though they are an effective tool in keeping the fragile peace in the front line. The current research presents a thorough investigation of the historical roots of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the current legal paradigm of the conflict, as well as some basic postulates and theoretical approaches necessary for understanding and dealing with the conflict both on the scientific and academic sphere and on the “realpolitik” level. As the quintessence of the paper, the author suggests a new legal approach towards the conflict resolution assuming as a basis both the principles and norms of international law as well as the local conditions and factors peculiar to this single conflict.