Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact

The Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact (Armenian: շփման գիծ, shp’man gits, Azerbaijani: təmas xətti) is the militarized area that has separated the Armenian forces (namely the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army) and the Azerbaijan Armed Forces since the May 1994 ceasefire that ended the Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-94).[1] It has been described as "heavily fortified,"[1] "a heavily-mined no-man's-land,"[2] and a "buffer zone of trenches."[3] According to Thomas de Waal it is the "most militarised zone in the wider Europe,"[4] and one of the three most militarized zones in the world (along with Kashmir and North Korea). De Waal described it as a "fearsome scar on the map, more than 200 km long, with World-War-I-style trenches on either side, bristling with heavy weaponry."[5] Gerard Toal and John O'Loughlin wrote in the Washington Post that the line of contact "features World War I-style trenches on both sides, in some places three rows deep."[6]

There have been occasional violations of the ceasefire, usually characterized by low-intensity fighting.[7] The most deadly of these occurred in April 2016.[8]

Refernces

  1. 1 2 Smolnik, Franziska (2016). Secessionist Rule: Protracted Conflict and Configurations of Non-state Authority. Campus Verlag. p. 12. ISBN 9783593506296.
  2. ↑ Bagirova, Nailia; Mkrtchyan, Hasmik (4 April 2016). "Armenia warns Nagorno-Karabakh clashes could turn into all-out war". Reuters.
  3. ↑ Kao, Lauren (11 May 2016). "Eight Things You Need to Know About Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict". Eurasian Research and Analysis (ERA) Institute.
  4. ↑ de Waal, Thomas (3 April 2016). "Nagorno-Karabakh's cocktail of conflict explodes again". BBC News.
  5. ↑ Lejava, Nino (8 April 2016). "(Nagorno-) Karabakh – The Danger of Getting Used to a Conflict". Heinrich Böll Foundation.
  6. ↑ Toal, Gerard; O'Loughlin, John (6 April 2016). "Here are the 5 things you need to know about the deadly fighting in Nagorno Karabakh". The Washington Post.
  7. ↑ "The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh". The Economist. 15 April 2016. But despite the ceasefire, low-scale fighting continued along the line of contact.
  8. ↑ "Nagorno-Karabakh violence: Worst clashes in decades kill dozens". BBC News. 3 April 2016.
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