London – Azerbaijan started some action in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the next day, the local Armenians there would go with Russia’s peace idea. That means the Karabakh forces have to put down their weapons.

But here’s the twist: even after they said “peace,” you could still hear booms in Nagorno-Karabkh’s main city. The BBC said so. Now, you might be scratching your head, wondering what’s the big deal about this place and why people are fighting. Let me break it down.

What’s Nagorno-Karabakh?

Imagine a piece of land between Armenia and Azerbaijan. That’s Nagorno-Karabakh. On the map, it’s part of Azerbaijan. But most people living there? Armenians.

Back in the day, both Armenia and Azerbaijan hung out under the big Soviet Union umbrella. As things got shaky in the 1980s, Nagorno-Karabakh said they wanted to be with Armenia. But when the Soviet party ended and both countries went solo, Nagorno-Karabakh yelled that they were their own thing! They wanted to join Armenia. But that caused a huge mess. Armenia and Azerbaijan went head-to-head, loads of people got hurt, and many had to leave their homes. 

So, what’s causing all the fuss between Azerbaijan and Armenia lately?

Back in ’94, there was a ceasefire, and Nagorno-Karabakh kinda became its own thing but was close buddies with Armenia. All was kinda quiet until 2020 when a big fight started and lasted seven weeks. A lot of people got hurt. Azerbaijan got back a big chunk of the land they had lost. Only a tiny path was left that connected Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Lately, Azerbaijan’s been tightening its hold on that little path. The people in Nagorno-Karabakh, mostly Armenians, started saying they didn’t have enough medicine or food. Then, just this Tuesday, Azerbaijan started what they called a “local cleanup” inside the area. They wanted the people there, who are pro-Armenian, to step down. The latest fight? It hurt a lot of people.

Now, Azerbaijan’s planning a chat with Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian reps this Thursday.

And where do the big players stand in all this?

There’s this group, the Minsk Group. They’re under the OSCE and have Russia, the USA, and France in charge. They were made in ’94 to help sort things out between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia played peacemaker in ’94 and again in 2020.

In that 2020 peace deal, Russia said it’d send troops to keep the peace between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. But Armenia’s been saying that Russia’s slacking, not protecting the Armenians there or making sure they get the stuff they need.

The US? They’re rooting for Armenia. But Turkey, which is tight with the US because of NATO, said they’d have Azerbaijan’s back if things went south.