The enemy next door

The Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God in Stepanakert (Nagorno-Karabakh) was demolished in 2026.

Ruben Vardanyan had no illusions about the impartiality of the Azerbaijani judges. "I don't see what is happening here as a real trial, but as a legal farce," said the former state minister of the Republic of Artsakh in a telephone conversation with his family in mid-February, according to Armenian media. Artsakh – this was the internationally unrecognized state with an Armenian population in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is part of Azerbaijani territory under international law. Vardanyan was arrested when Azerbaijan recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2023. Shortly thereafter, virtually all of the 120,000 Armenians living there were expelled and the Republic of Artsakh announced its dissolution.

A week after the phone call, Vardanyan was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His alleged crimes: terrorism, war crimes and 40 other charges. The trial against him is not an isolated case: at the beginning of February, an Azerbaijani military court imposed heavy sentences on 15 former representatives and military personnel of Nagorno-Karabakh. Five of them received life imprisonment. Ten other officials were sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison. The indictment included more than 2,500 crimes — including genocide, enslavement and crimes against humanity.

Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International described the proceedings as politically motivated and expressed considerable doubts about the rule of law.

Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International described the proceedings as politically motivated and expressed considerable doubts about the rule of law. President Ilham Aliyev was not impressed. In mid-February, he sharply rejected calls for the convicts to be released on the French broadcaster France 24: "Their crimes were even worse than what the Nazis did in the Second World War." In total, at least 19 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh are currently still in Azerbaijani custody, some of whom have been released in recent years.

Azerbaijan's uncompromising stance was already evident at the beginning of negotiations on a peace treaty. Six months after the end of the war in 2023, Aliyev's government insisted on the return of four villages in the border area of Armenia and Azerbaijan that were inhabited by Azerbaijanis until the wars of the 1990s but have since been abandoned. Otherwise, Aliyev threatened, war could break out again. The fact that this demand was met in May 2024 sparked violent protests in Armenia. The region is strategically important because it is close to an important connection road between the Armenian capital Yerevan and the Georgian border.

Azerbaijan further toughened the tone. In January 2025, Aliyev called Armenia a “fascist state” on Azerbaijani television and said: “And fascism must be destroyed. It will be destroyed either by the Armenian leadership or by us. We have no other choice.” The draft peace treaty presented in March 2025 after numerous rounds of negotiations caused further discontent in Armenia. Because Azerbaijan is making its signing dependent on a change in the Armenian constitution. The goal of reunification with Nagorno-Karabakh contained in its preamble should be deleted.

In addition, the ceasefire that has been in effect in Nagorno-Karabakh since the end of the war did not bring any relief. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has now accused Armenia of repeated violations of the ceasefire on their shared border. Armenia rejected the allegations and proposed setting up a joint commission to investigate the incidents. Azerbaijan did not respond to this and continued to inflame the mood. The approach “calls into question Armenia’s commitment to peace,” the government in Baku said in May 2025.

On the Armenian side, doubts remain as to whether Azerbaijan is actually seeking lasting peace. Armenians are still portrayed as fascists and enemies in Azerbaijani media and school textbooks.

In early August 2025, Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement brokered by US President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., in which they expressed their intention to make peace. Both sides pledged to end the fighting, respect each other's borders and establish diplomatic relations. However, the release of Armenian prisoners of war and a right of return for the Armenians expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh were left out.

On the Armenian side, doubts remain as to whether Azerbaijan is actually seeking lasting peace. Armenians are still portrayed as fascists and enemies in Azerbaijani media and school textbooks. The treatment of Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh is also causing outrage in Armenia. In the spring, the Caucasus Heritage Watch research project reported, citing satellite images, the destruction of two Armenian places of worship, including the Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God, the largest church in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian officials therefore accused Azerbaijan of wanting to erase traces of Armenian presence in Nagorno-Karabakh. The government in Baku rejects the allegations. At the beginning of September, the destruction of an Armenian-Russian cemetery in Shusha, whose origins date back to the 12th century, also became known.