Don’t Say the Name Armenia

Azerbaijan and Armenia have a connection similar to Israel and the Middle East. They have been at odds since 1988 over the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh. Even the name elicits skepticism and raises questions. A generation ago, hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani refugees were forced to flee their communities in Karabakh. People are still angry. Tensions are high. Ceasefires are frequently violated.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have no diplomatic relations, owing to the continuing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The two neighboring states had formal governmental relations as the First Republic of Armenia and the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan between 1918 and 1921, during their brief independence from the collapsed Russian Empire; these relations existed from the period after the Russian Revolution until they were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union, becoming the constituent republics of Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. The two countries' relations have been strained as a result of their two conflicts in the last century—one from 1918 to 1921 and another from 1988 to 1994. Social memory of Soviet-era cohabitation is frequently suppressed in the aftermath of continual hostilities (censored and stigmatized).