Nagorno-Karabakh Enclave
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Nagorno-Karabakh Enclave
Subject : International Relations
Section: Places in news
Concept :
- Azerbaijan said it set up a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor, the only land link between Armenia and the the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Nagorno-Karabakh Region
- Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous and heavily forested region that under international law is recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
- However, ethnic Armenians who constitute the vast majority of the population there reject Azeri rule (the legal system of Azerbaijan).
- After Azerbaijan’s troops were pushed out of the region following a war in the 1990s, these ethnic Armenians have been in administrative control of Nagorno-Karabakh, with support from Armenia.
- Strategic Significance:
- The energy-rich Azerbaijan has built several gas and oil pipelines across the Caucasus (the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea) to Turkey and Europe.
- Some of these pipelines pass close to the conflict zone (within 16 km of the border).
- In an open war between the two countries, the pipelines could be targeted, which would impact energy supplies and may even lead to higher oil prices globally.
