The affair of Karabag during the Soviet period (1920-1991)

The study covers the political events that took place in and around Karabakh between 1920 and 1991. After the XI. Red Army's occupation of the South Caucasus in 1920, the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian claims about the region were included. The foundation of the problems experienced today was laid by the unification of Zangezur, one of the former living regions of the Azerbaijani Turks, into Armenia and the granting of autonomy to Nagorno-Karabakh in 1923. Armenian claims about Nakhchivan and Karabakh continued until the last periods of the Soviets. In the dissertation, the assistance of Armenian rulers and the Armenian diaspora under Soviet rule to the Armenians of Armenia and Karabakh in this regard was also investigated. The forced migration of Muslims from Armenia during the reign of Soviet leader Josef Stalin was also covered. After the 1960s, Armenians quickly organized and established many terrorist organizations in Karabakh. The Armenian rulers who came to the region with the support of the Armenian Soviet government carried out nationalist propaganda among the Armenians of Karabakh. Along with the Soviet administration, the Azerbaijani administration remained silent on All Armenian activities in the region. In addition, the individuals under the leadership of Azerbaijan, instead of stopping the Armenian activities, took decisions to develop Karabakh economically. In the 1970s, Armenian nationalists collected weapons and ammunition in the region through the organizations they founded, as well as carried out nationalist propaganda among the Armenians of the region. Since 1985, Armenians have started open activities in the region. All political and military activities carried out by Armenians in the region in recent periods have been tried to be included in the study. After Azerbaijan and Armenia gained independence in 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took on a different dimension between the two states. The events that laid the foundation of the Karabakh War are also included in the study. Research and examination of the issues related to the period; while investigating the events from the first years of the Soviet period to the collapse of the SCCB, the study was attempted to be completed by utilizing Azerbaijan, Russian, and Turkish archival documents, newspapers of the period, memoirs, and research articles describing the period and related articles.