Armenia and Azerbaijan have a long history of discord and animosity, largely centered around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a self-declared republic that announced its "disappearance" by the end of the year, just a week after a surprise attack by Baku on this breakaway enclave.
This announcement coincides with the flight of more than half of the population of the separatist republic.
Here's an overview of the two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, both of which fought two wars over this small mountainous area, predominantly inhabited by Armenians but internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been a source of strained relations between Yerevan and Baku. This Armenian-majority enclave, which was attached to Azerbaijan by Soviet authorities in 1921, declared independence unilaterally in 1991 with support from Armenia.
Subsequently, a war erupted in 1988 and lasted until 1994, resulting in 30,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of refugees. Baku's defeat allowed Yerevan to gain control of the region and adjacent Azerbaijani territories.
In the fall of 2020, a new war broke out, claiming 6,500 lives in just six weeks. However, this time the war ended with Armenia's defeat, as it was forced to cede important areas in Nagorno-Karabakh and its surroundings to Azerbaijan.
Russia, which mediated a ceasefire, deployed peacekeeping forces to the region. However, these Russian soldiers, numbering two thousand, were unable to prevent clashes and the blockade imposed by Baku for months, which Yerevan claims aims for "ethnic cleansing."
Armenia, a predominantly Christian country since the fourth century, has experienced turmoil since gaining independence in 1991.
This landlocked and impoverished state has witnessed its share of revolutions, deadly repression, and hotly contested elections, marred by nepotism and authoritarianism among various leaders.
In the spring of 2018, a peaceful revolution brought Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to power. Pashinyan initiated widely praised reforms aimed at democratizing institutions and combating corruption.
Despite his defeat in the 2020 conflict, Pashinyan secured a resounding electoral victory in the early legislative elections held in June 2021.
Azerbaijan, a Shiite state on the Caspian Sea coast, has been under the control of a single family since 1993. Heydar Aliyev, a former Soviet intelligence general, ruled the country with an iron grip until October 2003, when he handed power to his son Ilham shortly before his death.
Like his father, Ilham Aliyev, in power for several decades, has allowed no room for opposition. In 2017, his wife was appointed as the first vice president of Azerbaijan.
Turkey, with strategic aspirations in the former Soviet Caucasus and Central Asia, has made Azerbaijan, a Turkish-speaking and oil-rich state, its key regional ally, cementing their friendship through shared animosity towards Armenia.
Turkey has also supported Azerbaijan's desire to control Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia, with its deep-seated historical animosity towards Turkey, primarily due to the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, which claimed the lives of around 1.5 million Armenians, refuses to accept Turkey's denial of the genocide, instead referring to it as mutual massacres.
Russia, the primary regional power, has closer ties to Armenia than Azerbaijan, although it sells arms to both countries.
Yerevan has joined political, economic, and military alliances under Moscow's influence, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Armenia relies on Russian support, while Azerbaijan, much wealthier, increases its military spending.
This year, Pashinyan distanced himself from Moscow and even organized joint military exercises with the United States in September, due to his frustration with Russia's indifference or inability to act in Nagorno-Karabakh.
AFP