WAR TO LIBERATE AZERBAIJANI TERRITORY ACHIEVES SUCCESS: LASTING PEACE NOW POSSIBLE

The situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been a festering sore for a long time. Both countries have a case, to be honest. 

The Armenians in the Azeribaijan province of Nagorno Karabakh have every right to be independent and join Armenia, but on the other hand the Azeris have every right to liberate the once Azeri-populated territories that the Armenians seized in 1994 to link to and defend the Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabakh.

Now, with the military victory of the Azeris and the intervention of Russia in the peace process, there is a chance of a sensible peace deal being worked out. 

As you can see on the map below, the Azeris made gains in the south and were threatening to cut off the main supply route to Nagorno Karabakh, the Lachin Mountain Pass. This was what forced the Armenians to throw in the towel and beg the Russians for assistance.

Now, thanks to this military breakthrough the Armenians might be persuaded to accept a peace deal that is acceptable to both sides, like the one that was mooted at the OSCE ministerial conference in the Spanish capital Madrid in November 2007, and then updated in 2009.

Under this peace plan Armenia would keep Nagorno Karabakh but return all the surrounding territory except for a narrow corridor connecting the enclave to the rest of Armenia. In return, Armenia would cede a narrow corridor so that Azerbaijan could have a direct land connection to its own enclave, the territory of Nakhjivan.

There! Everybody happy?