THE ISSUE OF AZERBAIJANI INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE AND ARMENIAN REFUGEES IN KARABAKH

From the 1990s to the present, the Karabakh conflict has been one of the frozen conflicts that deeply affected the state and nation-building process in the former Soviet geography. In Azerbaijan and Armenia, which gained independence after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the Karabakh issue has been a determining factor in deepening of perceptions of hostility between societies and the rise and fall of leaders. Any loss in Karabakh, which was a zero-sum game for Baku and Yerevan, was seen as “humiliation” and any success was seen as “the greatest victory that should be celebrated”. The Karabakh issue is a struggle for sovereignty and territorial integrity that should never be compromised for Azerbaijanis. For Armenia, it is a direct threat to the existence of the Armenian population, which has claimed to be the majority in the region throughout history. There are around 600,000 Azerbaijani displaced persons (IDPs) who left Karabakh due to the Armenian occupation in the First Karabakh War, which took place between 1991 and 1994. After the Second Karabakh War in 2020, around 100,000 Karabakh Armenians fled Karabakh, causing a refugee influx in Armenia. These two groups constitute the visible face of the ongoing discussions on territorial integrity, sovereignty and self-determination in Karabakh between these two countries. Undoubtedly, Azerbaijani IDPs and Armenian refugees reveal the devastating effects of war on societies. There are current debates regarding the status of Karabakh Armenians, who escaped from Karabakh and took refuge in Armenia. This study focuses on the divergences between international law and the political discourse on forced displacement. The statuses of IDPs and people who became refugees due to the Karabakh conflict were discussed with their similarities and differences. The focus of the study is the importance of forced displacement and related statuses for states and individuals in Karabakh.