Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh controlled parts of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, including its capital Stepanakert. It had been an enclave within Azerbaijan from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war until the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive, when the Azerbaijani military took control over the remaining territory controlled by Artsakh. Its only overland access route to Armenia after the 2020 war was via the 5 km (3.1 mi) wide Lachin corridor, which was placed under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces.
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion during the 1990s. The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been entirely claimed by and partially controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, but is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan gradually re-established control over Nagorno-Karabakh region and the seven surrounding districts since 2020.
The European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia is an unarmed peacekeeping mission operated by the European Union in Georgia. EUMM was conceived in September 2008 following the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement, which ended the Russo-Georgian War. The mission has around 200 monitors from various EU member states and operates with an annual budget of roughly 18 million Euros. Its headquarters are in Tbilisi, with field offices in Gori, Mtskheta and Zugdidi.
There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, largely due to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The two neighboring states had formal governmental relations between 1918 and 1921, during their brief independence from the collapsed Russian Empire, as the First Republic of Armenia and the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan; these relations existed from the period after the Russian Revolution until they were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union, becoming the constituent republics of Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. Due to the three wars waged by the countries in the past century—one from 1918 to 1921, another from 1988 to 1994, and the most recent in 2020—the two have had strained relations. In the wake of ongoing hostilities, social memory of Soviet-era cohabitation is widely repressed.
Armenia and the European Union have maintained positive relations over the years. Both parties are connected through the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed in 2017. Former Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan expressed confidence that the new partnership agreement would "open a new page" in EU–Armenia relations. While, the former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini concluded in June 2019, that Armenia–EU relations are on an "excellent" level.
The European Union Operations Centre was an ad-hoc, non-standing, non-commanding headquarters facilitating the planning and conduct of military operations deployed as part of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP) that was active between 2012 and 2016.
The EU Strategy for the South Caucasus is a long term strategy which is directed to create a secure political, economical and social environment next to the eastern borders of the European Union. This is an objective of the European Neighbourhood Policy, and forthcoming Eastern Partnership Program.
The military forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a border conflict since 12 May 2021, when Azerbaijani soldiers crossed several kilometers (miles) into Armenia in the provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik. Azerbaijan is currently occupying at least 215 square kilometres (83 sq mi) of Armenian territory. Azerbaijan has not withdrawn its troops from internationally recognised Armenian territory despite calls to do so by the European Parliament, United States and France – two of three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Since the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan has made numerous incursions into Armenian territory.
The 2022 Armenian protests were a series of anti-government protests in Armenia that started on 5 April 2022. The protests continued into June 2022, and many protesters were detained by police in Yerevan. Protestors demanded Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan resign over his handling of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. On 14 June 2022, the opposition announced their decision to terminate daily demonstrations aimed at toppling Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after failing to achieve popular support.
On 12 September 2022, a series of clashes erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, marking a major escalation in the current border crisis between Armenia–Azerbaijan and resulting in nearly 300 deaths and dozens of injuries on both sides by 14 September. At least 204 Armenian servicemen were killed or went missing, according to a report by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Azerbaijan acknowledged 80 fatalities among its forces, bringing the total number of killed to at least 284. A number of English-language sources refer to the episode as the 'Two-Day War,' to distinguish it from the wider crisis, while journalist Gabriel Gavin writing in The Spectator described the conflict as "Europe's newest war."
The European Union Monitoring Capacity to Armenia (EUMCAP) was a European Union civilian deployment in the territory of the Republic of Armenia that was agreed on 6 October 2022 and officially became operational on 20 October 2022. The EUMCAP completed its mandate on 19 December 2022 at which point it was superseded by a European Union Planning Assistance Team in Armenia in preparation of a possible longer-term mission in the country.
The European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) is a European Union Common Security and Defence Policy civilian deployment on the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
An OSCE Needs Assessment Team in Armenia was deployed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the territory of the Republic of Armenia between 21 and 27 October 2022 following the Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis.
The blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh is an ongoing event in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The region was disputed between Azerbaijan and the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, which has an ethnic Armenian population and was supported by neighbouring Armenia, until the dissolution of Republic of Artsakh on 28 September 2023.
Armenia–OSCE relations began when Armenia joined the OSCE's predecessor, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), on 30 January 1992. The CSCE transformed into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) shortly afterwards in 1995.
The European Union Partnership Mission in the Republic of Moldova, is a European Union (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civilian mission in Moldova that was established on 24 April 2023.
