WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CAUSES FOR CONCERN OVER THE DISPUTE?
As the death toll, including of civilians, continues to mount, including outside Nagorno-Karabakh itself, there are obvious humanitarian concerns over the escalation of the conflict.
In addition, there is concern that this may develop into a proxy conflict between Turkey and Russia. As already mentioned, Turkey has declared its support for Azerbaijan, while Russia has traditionally had close ties to Armenia, with which it has a mutual defence pact and a military base. Russia’s recent good relations with Azerbaijan would normally be a pathway to resolving the issue.
However the Turkish involvement, including by allegedly bringing in Syrian rebel fighters with a Turkish private security company to assist the Azeri, complicates the situation, and drags Turkey’s simmering tensions with Russia in Syria into the equation.
The dispute…