The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Resumption of the Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh

Abstract

The Covid‑19 virus pandemic has affected all areas of human life in the past year at three levels: national, regional, and international. The frozen Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was expected to be less intense during the corona pandemic than in previous years. On the contrary, during the coronavirus pandemic, it went through its most stressful period. Moreover, it has entered a new phase in its history with the most casualties and the longest war. In this regard, this article seeks to answer the following question in a descriptive-explanatory manner: “What role has the coronavirus pandemic played in initiating and intensifying the recent conflict in the Karabakh region?”. Therefore, to answer the article’s central question, the authors presented the hypothesis in this way. Although important national and regional factors contributed to the escalation of these tensions, the coronavirus pandemic as a catalyst had a significant impact on the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which had the highest human cost in the last three decades.