Armenia: Difference between revisions
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Shortly after [[World War I]] Armenia was independent for a brief period, thanks to the Russian and Ottoman empires collapsing. You see, just before the Empire fell, Russia had ([[Overly Long Gag|as usual]]) [[Curb Stomp Battle|soundly beaten]] Turkey and retaken most of the historically Armenian territories, and when Armenia became independent it had inherited these territories. But, the country was quickly weakened by wars with its neighbors and though it put up a valiant effort not to be conquered by Ataturk's newly resurrected Turkey, it was eventually assimilated into the Soviet Union, which opted to give most of Armenia's land back to Turkey during a period when they were hoping to lure Turkey towards communism. Armenia would remain a Soviet republic until regaining independence in 1991.
Modern Armenia still has poor relations with Turkey, and also with its neighbour, Azerbaijan, over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, nominally an autonomous Arminopohone part of the Azerbaijani SSR <ref>[[It's a Long Story]], but the gist of it is: Stalin's [[Divide and Conquer]] tactics basically carved up the Caucasus and placed lots of ethnicities that didn't like other in the same administrative area. Nagorno-Karabakh, being a traditionally Armenian area, was yanked wholesale and given to the Azerbaijani SSR in 1923. This is a bit more complicated due to the wars the country had been in before being annexed by the USSR, and at least part of the reason for the Azerbaijan transfer was to placate Turkey.</ref>, but which the region's native Armenians, [[Armos With Armor|with help from the country itself]], freed after a war between 1992-1994. It's now declared itself an independent country known as Artsakh, which no one recognizes - no, not even Armenia, because the situation's basically been frozen ever since the 1994 ceasefire and [[Status Quo Is God|understandably, the Armenian government is not eager to restart armed conflict]]; though the Armenian president has gone on the record stating Armenia would recognize it if another war broke out. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, hasn't been quite as passive, and violates the ceasefire almost daily. The country
Turkey, showing solidarity with its ally Azerbaijan, shut its borders with Armenia during the war, and the borders remain closed to this day. Which only adds insult to injury when you consider Armenia's former historic lands that Turkey annexed in the 1920's, including Mt. Ararat, sits just on the other side of the border. On the other side, Russia, despite having pretty amicable relations with both Turkey and Azerbaijan, has generally sided with Armenia in the Karabakh matter, and it's an open secret that the war was basically won with the Russian equipment and aid. Of course, exactly because of its good relations with all involved countries Russia has the ''least'' incentive in rekindling the conflict.
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