Historiographical frameworks of Azerbaijanian scholarship of the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict (1918–1991) and the post-Soviet evolution (comparative perspectives and the post-2020 discourse)

Анотація

This article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the historiographic approaches that shaped the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict from 1918 to 1991 and to examine the development of Azerbaijani historical scholarship in the post-Soviet era. The study demonstrates that the origins of the conflict lie in the region's geopolitical context, the imperial legacy, and Armenia's expansionist policies. The events of 1918–1920, the military-political clashes around Zangezur and Karabakh, and the ideological and institutional perpetuation of separatism during the Soviet period constitute the key stages of this process.

Methods and Methodologies. This study is based on a combined historiographic and comparative approach and is supported by empirical document analysis. The methodological foundation of the study is based on historical-analytical interpretation, which allows for a systematic reading of Azerbaijani, Soviet, Western, and Armenian historiography within the context of the same set of events and processes. The study draws on diplomatic materials, state archival collections, official statistics, and contemporary scholarly literature to reconstruct shifting narratives and identify key explanatory models used across various academic traditions.

Novelty. The article offers a comprehensive systematization of the historiography of the conflict within the Azerbaijani, Soviet, Western, and Armenian traditions by comparing interpretations of the 1918–1991 period with the post-Soviet scholarly trajectory. Unlike approaches that distinguish distinct stages, the study demonstrates continuity between the events of the early 20th century, the institutional and ideological mechanisms of the Soviet era, and the resurgence of separatism in the late 1980s, presenting the conflict as a historically evolving process rather than a collection of disparate episodes.

Results. The study demonstrates that the genesis of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is closely linked to regional geopolitics, imperial legacies, and expansionist policies, and that the conflict's historical trajectory can be traced through several interrelated stages. The first stage is represented by the period 1918–1920, during which major territorial and political disputes arose; the second stage reflects institutionalization and ideological formation during the Soviet era, during which key contradictions were often concealed or reinterpreted in official narratives; the third stage emerges with the resurgence of separatism in 1988, which transformed accumulated contradictions into open confrontation.