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GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

View from "fully blockaded" Nagorno-Karabakh during Armenia's conflict with Azerbaijan

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

GZERO Media

Politics, News, Foreign Policy, News Commentary, Government, Geopolitics, International Relations, Ian Bremmer, Trump, Global Economy, Gzero World

4.7830 Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2022

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The people of the small Armenian enclave known as Nagorno-Karabakh have no way to get out. Recently, the long-simmering conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has once again heated up with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of blocking the only road that connects the disputed region with Armenia. The Azeris deny this and blame Russian peacekeepers. There are extremely heated opinions on both sides to this issue. Regardless of where the blame lies, the humanitarian risks to the region are growing. 30,000 kids cannot go to school as roads and gas have been cut off. Food can't be brought in because the airport is closed. In a special edition of the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks to Ruben Vardanyan, who last month became state minister in charge of Nagorno-Karabakh, which the Armenians refer to as Artsakh. Vardanyn discusses the blockade and reality on the ground, his region's hope for democracy, and the history of Artsakh's 30-year struggle to break free of Azerbaijan, whose government does not recognize the territory as independent. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, people living in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted in a referendum to become free from the Azerbaijan Soviet Republic. Now, Russian peacemaking forces won't commit to staying very long in the region, and the European Union and the US have called for an end to the blockade. How will a resolution be reached, and what impact might this have on the Armenia/Azerbaijan peace agreement? Host: Ian Bremmer Guest: Ruben Vardanyan

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to the GZero World podcast.

0:05.0

I'm Ian Bremmer, and this is usually where you'll find extended versions of my interviews on public television.

0:11.0

But today, I am bringing you a digital special to conversation I recently had with Ruben Vardagnan.

0:18.0

He's a Russian Armenian billionaire and philanthropist who was recently appointed

0:22.0

state minister by the self-proclaimed government of Artsakh. You got all that? I doubt it. So let's

0:28.5

step back for a minute. When the Soviet Union collapsed back in 1991, former Soviet satellite

0:34.8

states, Armenian-Azerbaijan, they were two of the 15 former Soviet Socialist Republics.

0:39.7

They went to war with each other over the rugged highlands

0:43.4

of Nagorno-Hadabakh, or so-called mountainous Harabakh.

0:46.7

The area was an Armenian enclave,

0:50.0

but it was part of the Azerbaijan-Soviet Republic

0:53.3

and the national awakenings of the Gorbachev era,

0:56.0

the so-called nationalities revolution started in 1988,

0:59.3

sparked the movement in the region to leave Azerbaijan and join Armenia.

1:04.6

The war ended in 1994 with a fragile truce,

1:08.5

leaving Nagorno-Karabakh as a de facto protectorate of Armenia that

1:12.6

was only recognized by Armenians.

1:16.2

Periodic clashes have persisted since then, during which time Azerbaijan invested its growing

1:21.2

oil wealth into a modern military.

1:24.1

Recently, the long-simmering conflict in Nagorno-Hadabakh has once again heated up with Armenia accusing

1:29.9

Azerbaijan of blocking the only road that connects the disputed region with Armenia.

1:35.6

These areas, of course, deny this.

...

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