Artsakh Ethnic Cleansing: The 2020 Genocidal War and Forced Deportation of the Armenian Population of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)
of 120,000 Armenians from Artsakh following Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing campaign.
Decades of State-Sponsored Armenophobia in Azerbaijan
The ethnic cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) did not begin in 2020—it was the culmination of decades of deep-rooted hatred, propaganda, and systematic Armenophobia sponsored by the Azerbaijani state. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan intensified its campaign of anti-Armenian indoctrination, erasing Armenian history from textbooks, glorifying war criminals, and fostering a society where Armenians were dehumanized.
This climate of hostility was not confined to rhetoric. Pogroms against Armenians in Sumgait (1988), Kirovabad (1988), and Baku (1990) laid the foundation for Azerbaijan’s long-term objective: to eliminate the Armenian presence from Artsakh. Over time, this policy evolved from social discrimination and violent riots into full-scale military aggression.
The 2020 Genocidal War Against Artsakh
In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched a full-scale war against the Armenian population of Artsakh. Backed militarily and politically by Turkey—a country with its own long and bloody history of genocide against Armenians—Azerbaijan deployed advanced weaponry, including drones, banned munitions like cluster bombs, and foreign mercenaries, including jihadist fighters from Syria.
The 44-day war resulted in thousands of deaths, widespread destruction, and the occupation of historic Armenian territories. This was not merely a conflict over land. It was a calculated campaign to annihilate the Armenian presence in Artsakh, a region Armenians have inhabited for millennia.
Ethnic Cleansing and the Forced Exodus of 2023
Three years after the war, in 2023, Azerbaijan imposed a blockade on the Lachin Corridor—the only lifeline connecting Artsakh to Armenia. This blockade caused severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel, creating a humanitarian crisis intended to break the spirit of the local population.
In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a final military offensive, forcing nearly 120,000 Armenians to flee their ancestral homeland in a matter of days. This mass displacement, carried out under the threat of death and starvation, constitutes an act of ethnic cleansing—an act of genocide under international law.
The Armenian population of Artsakh, which had lived on these lands for thousands of years, was erased in weeks. Villages were emptied. Cemeteries desecrated. Families split. Centuries-old cultural traditions cut off at the root.
A Thousand-Year Civilization Uprooted
Artsakh was not just a territory—it was a cradle of Armenian civilization. Home to some of the world’s oldest Christian churches, including sites dating back to the 1st century, the region bore witness to the uninterrupted presence of Armenians since antiquity. Monasteries such as Amaras, Dadivank, and Gandzasar stood as living testaments to this deep heritage.
Under Azerbaijani control, many of these sacred sites now face erasure, vandalism, or appropriation. This cultural destruction is not incidental—it is part of a broader effort to erase Armenian identity from the region permanently.
Another Chapter in the Final Solution
What happened in Artsakh is not an isolated event—it is the continuation of a genocidal pattern by Turkic powers, from the Ottoman Empire to the modern-day regimes of Turkey and Azerbaijan. These two allied states share a vision of a pan-Turkic corridor stretching from Ankara to Baku and beyond, one in which Armenians have no place.
The ethnic cleansing of Artsakh is yet another iteration of the final solution sought by successive Turkic regimes: the complete elimination of the Armenian people from their indigenous lands.