Anar Jahangirli – Why an “independent Artsakh/NK” was a fiction and only a smokescreen to misguide the international community?

A long🧵for some who used to and still believe that there was an "independent" Karabakh/Artsakh and why Azerbaijan’s military action on September 19, 2023, was a necessity to de-occupy and establish the full sovereignty over Karabakh.

On June 15, 1988, the Parliament of Armenian SSR gives its consent for NKAO’s inclusion into the Armenian SSR, and in December’89 adopts a resolution "On the Reunification of Armenia SSR with Karabakh Autonomous Region"essentially putting forward a legal claim on sovereign territories of another Union Republic.

As the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan turned into a war between two independent countries, with Azerbaijan losing control of 15% of its internationlay recognized territories & over 700,000 IDPs.

Although the Karabakh Armenians continued to perform self government, their institutions acted as an extension of 🇦🇲government and were fully dependent on the allocations from Armenia’s state budget, w minimal diaspora support. Maps published in Armenia showed Karabakh as part of one country.

Budgetary allocations from Armenia grew from $120-130M/year to $350M/year until the entity ceased to exist in 2023. Many sources proving that the NK was almost entirely on Armenia’s payroll.

An unprecedented situation takes place in 1998: After President Ter-Petrosian’s resignation, Robert Kocharian ran for Presidency of 🇦🇲. Kocharian, having been born & resided in Soviet Azerbaijan was a leader of Karabakh separatists.

The Article 124-2 of Armenia’s (1995) constitution read: Everyone who has attained the age of 40, has been a citizen of only the Republic of Armenia for the preceding six years, has permanently resided in the Republic of Armenia for the preceding six years, has voting right, and has a command of the Armenian language may be elected as President of the Republic.

Kocharian, being busy with mounting armed separatism in Azerbaijan, and committing war crimes in Khojaly killing more than 600 Azerbaijani civilians, could not have resided in Armenia. He presented a fake proof of residency, got registered and won the elections.

In 2003, when Kocharian ran for the 2nd term, the opposition tried to sue him for being ineligible to run. Armenia’s Court of Appeals upheld the candidacy of Kocharian citing the "Reunification of Armenian SSR with Karabakh" as a basis to count Kocharian’s Karabakh residency as having resided in Armenia.

In the last 30 years, Armenia provided passports to Karabakh Armenians with a special code "070". Separatist leaders who visited France and the US on multiple occasions received visas applying as Armenian citizens. Those passports listed "Armenia" as people’s birthplace, despite Soviet time’s status quo.

The banks and cell phone carriers were working under the license from the Republic of Armenia’s Central Bank and Ministry of Communications and able to provide credit card transactions and roaming services. @GSMA used to sanction Armenia for illegal "Karabakh Telecom" a few times but there were loopholes.

The Army was supplied both with conscripts and ammo by Armenia, and the command structure was fully under the Chief of General Staff of Armenia’s Ministry of Defence. The former commander of NK army was arrested and charged with criminal negligence in Armenia proper. If the dude is from an "independent" republic, why is he being charged in Armenia?

The currency in circulation in NK was the Armenian dram. The utilities and their management were integrated into Armenia’s central system. Internet/cable connections, water management, transportation system – were all financed and managed by Armenia, as a province.

In the 44-days war, the majority of the soldiers who died, arrested or went missing were from Armenia proper. There is a huge cemetery in Yerevan, where the soldiers who fought in the war were buried. These cemeteries exist in almost every town in Armenia.

Most importantly, the European Court of Human Rights, in its landmark decision Chiragov vs. Armenia,
hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre?i=001-1553… confirmed the effective control of the entire Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

In conclusion: Armenia finally declared of its recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over Karabakh, but still needs to remove references to ill-adopted domestic legal acts from its constitution.