NEWTIMES

The year 2020 was unprecedented for most nations around the world owing to the many challenges ushered in by the COVID-19-induced global pandemic. For Azerbaijanis and Armenians, last year is also remembered for the 44-day war that effectively ended the three-decades-long protracted conflict between their two nations over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which underwent tectonic changes after the Second Karabakh War had always had underlying bias perception in Western media, partly caused by religious perception and partly by ideological divide. Strong Armenian diaspora and lobby organizations, present in Western society helped to proliferate certain narrative about the history and the current trend in the conflict. Despite the fact that for almost thirty years internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan was under Armenian occupation, Western media frequently portrayed the conflict as freedom movement of a Christian nation against Muslim Azerbaijan. Such misrepresentation was predetermined by a strong Orientalist bias, which in recent years reinforced by rising Islamophobia and Turkophobia in American and European media.

The five-week-long war in the South Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan for control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts has ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire. President Putin has managed to score yet another victory in the region, establishing a foothold, this time on the border with Iran.

"Everything is devastated – the infrastructure is destroyed, residential and administrative buildings are demolished", President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan declared in his address to the nation on 1 December, referring to Azerbaijani territories in Karabakh recently liberated from the Armenian occupation.

Many reports indicate that Armenia relied on the help of mercenary groups from various countries including the PKK terrorist organization members.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region's ecosystem, wildlife, and natural resources have been badly damaged by the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Recognizing of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state would be unreasonable and in clear breach of international law.

The Armenian side clearly understands that it's not opening borders with "sworn enemies," speaking about lifting the economic blockade. Therefore, when asked if the borders' opening also applies to Turkey, Pashinyan replied: "No. Since Turkey is not part of this agreement. We want to have not one road to Russia, but several possible routes. For example, if we can resolve our problems as a result of these negotiations, imagine what a turning point will be for Armenia if, ultimately, the railway becomes real for our country, a factor that will link us to the Persian Gulf and Russia."

Armenians are renowned the world over as a resourceful and skillful people. For a small nation, they have produced a remarkable number of impressive and original minds, and Kardashians too.

Europe's glutted natural gas markets are about to get a fresh source of supply after BP Plc and its partners finished a major new pipeline from Azerbaijan into southern Europe.