The analysis of the Second Karabakh war from the perspective of Just War Theory

Abstract

The process of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been fruitless for many years, despite the mediation of international organizations and major powers. Unrealized legal documents and successive provocations by Armenia led to the Second Karabakh War. The 1994 ceasefire had been deliberately violated over the years, the international legal documents recognizing the occupation and demands on unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and other surrounding territories of Azerbaijan have not been implemented, and no solution to the conflict has been agreed for 30 years it reduced confidence that it could be resolved by negotiations. As a result, all this led to the start of a large-scale war in September 2020. Given this situation, the research focuses on the analyzing the 44-day second Karabakh war in the autumn 2020 from the perspective of the Just War Theory and examines the application of the principles of the relevant theory in this war. The chapters of this study examine the short history of the conflict, the Second Karabakh war, and the basic principles of the theory of just war. The following sub-chapters assess the course, end, and consequences of the Second Karabakh War from the perspective of JWT. This study differs from previous studies in that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is developed from the perspective of all three basic principles of the JWT. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the war that took place one and half year ago through JWT and to clarify the inevitability of the war for the sides. The assessment of the war in accordance with the principles of the JWT determined whether the parties complied with these principles or not. While the Armenian side was waging a war that violated basic principles, Azerbaijan joined a just war to defend its lands and territorial integrity. To have a just cause; to have a military resolution as the last resort in the settlement process; to possess the right and legitimate intention; to have a prospect to attain the desired goal; to use proportional means to attain the desired goal-The war of the Azerbaijani side, which substantiated all this, was clarified by facts. Finally, all "just" and "unjust" wars that end human life, no matter how justified, are condemned.