The latest ongoing escalation on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan hits us with an unbalanced, aggressive, and uncompromising phase of the conflict, different from the previous precedents. Azerbaijan using military operations as a tool to ensure superiority in negotiations, is largely benefiting from the current geopolitical situation. This political context in a broader sense appears as a result of the collapse of the multipolar world, followed up by the strengthening of cold war narratives, and making peripheries in Russia's sphere of influence choose between empires. Turkey's active participation in the power games in the region and its use of the conflict to secure its economic and political interests is another complex representation of the changing geopolitics.
Apart from that, there is no doubt about how much this conflict, that its scope was not limited to one-night escalations and lasted for more than 30 years, and that its power dynamics have changed dramatically since 2020, is a tool for the ruling class in Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is also very clear that these raising power asymmetries around the conflict are creating new nationalist discourses and fueling revanchism.
Today, the failure of the negotiation process is put forward as the main justification for military operations. However, it is obvious how the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments failed to build "peace" outside the loop of "territorial integrity" and "self-determination", by blaming each other for 30 years and conducting macho-masculinist and elitist negotiations. For the parties unwilling to make concessions, the collective memory, hatred, and ethno-nationalist propaganda created by the conflict are actually the main means of extending their power. People condemned to remain in a cycle of renewed traumas, losses, and resentments, are mere observers of these closed-door negotiations, regardless of whether their regime is democratic or authoritarian.
For thousands of people who were defeated in the classical sense and lost their territories in the first Karabakh war, returning to Karabakh became the main need for a long time. However, the Second Karabakh War proved once again that this need is not only related to returning home, but also to national identity and, in a broader sense, to the capitalist interests of the ruling class. Therefore, as if the land gains achieved after the war of 2020 were not enough, the Azerbaijani authorities, who claim more territory, today attack the territory of Armenia and talk about creating a "buffer zone" and insinuate this to the people under the name of "just war". It does not fit into any context of justice to occupy the territories of Armenia and justify it by citing the occupation of Azerbaijani territories at some point and turning it into a bargain during negotiations. Therefore, the answer to the aggressive behaviour of the Azerbaijani authorities should come from the people of Azerbaijan: We cannot be in the same position in the war waged by the ruling class, which turns us, our resources, and our bodies into instruments! We don't share the same "justice" with the regime that keeps us in constant danger by using our security as an excuse! We stand against any wars waged in our name at the cost of the lives, health, and future of hundreds and thousands of people!
We urgently need unity for these and future crises to come that leave us desperate and powerless. This unity can destroy the existing internal and external political consents by expressing its radical opposition to imperialist political games, wars, military operations, and deadlocked negotiations. It's time to reject Azerbaijan’s aggression in addition to holding both governments accountable, and demand public diplomacy and peacebuilding!