2020 & 2023 Azerbaijani Offensives in Nagorno-Karabakh: Russian-speakers' Views

Summary, in English

Early 2020s can be characterised by, among other things, shift in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, caused by Azerbaijan’s military offensives in the region in 2020 and 2023, despite the Minsk group and the EU’s efforts to help the country to resort to a peaceful solution. And while the majority of the population of Azerbaijan supported or did not really oppose the offensives, no focus has been placed on the country’s minority groups, including the unique and interesting for many reasons Russian-speaking minority. Therefore, this thesis has aimed to investigate the opinions of Azerbaijani Russian-speaking minority youth group on Azerbaijan’s offensives of 2020 and 2023, considering the EU’s norm promotions. The theoretical framework has been determined by theories on the EU as a global and regional norm promoter, whose sphere of influence includes even Azerbaijan. Finally, by using the qualitative frame analysis as the research method, and by analysing and framing the responses of the members of the Russian- speaking minority youth group to a survey with one open-ended question, it has been found out that the Russian-speaking minority youth in Azerbaijan tend to adopt a more neutral stance or even express opposition to the military offensives, compared to Azerbaijan’s majority, as well as that the opinions between those who have lived in the EU and those who have not are rather contrasting than similar. However, the findings can be problematised on several fronts, so further research is needed.

• Author: Arzu Karimzade
• Department/s: Central and Eastern European Studies
• Publishing year: 2024
• Language: English
• Document type: Student publication for Master's degree (two years)
• Topic: Languages and Literatures
• Keywords: Azerbaijan; Nagorno-Karabakh; Russian-speaking Minority
• Supervisor: Denys Kiryukhin