In general I'm happy about the Old Empire's power being reduced, but in the process it was always going to get... rough around the edges, geographically speaking. Also an example of why it's not right to call these "frozen conflicts" - the conflict isn't frozen, the solution is.
I visited both Azerbaijan and Armenia multiple times, and to say both should have wildly different priorities than to wage another war is a massive understatement. It's incredibly sad to see and I hope it will be calm soon again. Some of my two cents:
- For those trying to portray this as a Christian vs. Muslim conflict, it isn't. Not in the first, second, third, fourth etc. place at least. This is an ancient mountain people and an ancient steppe people fighting for a piece of land they have both inhabited for a very long time. Any attempt to portray this as a religious conflict, from one angle or another, is just propaganda. (Of the two countries, Armenia is the more religious one too.)
- In my personal experience, I have the impression that the assertion - made in this thread before - that many Azerbaijanis' hatred towards Armenians verges on genocidal is correct, unfortunately. This is even the case for otherwise reasonable, relatively liberal, Russian-language educated, non-religious people from Baku.
- At the same time, Armenian attempts to connect this conflict to their genocide or blame Azerbaijanis for it are incorrect - I understand it, being attacked from all sides by enemies who themselves feel very clearly motivated by something they have in common, but it's not factually correct. Azerbaijanis aren't to blame for the Armenian genocide and in fact, both sides have committed pogroms against each other historically. Just look up the Khojaly massacre for a relatively recent case. This is truly a case of "both sides do it".
I met an Azeri at uni, and getting Azeris to talk about Armenians is a lot like Eastern Europeans talking about Romani’s. It seemed a very deep rooted conviction.
