Reddit reviews Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War
We found 5 Reddit comments about Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
This is interesting http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0814760325
Some good answers here. If you were really interested in learning a lot about the subject Black Garden by de Waal is the definitive book.
That said, I'll explain my comment since others have explained the overall conflict.
In Armenia, Karabakh holds an important, almost mythical sway on the consciousness. Pretty much every Armenia I have ever met has asked me "have you been to Karabakh?" They see the land as theirs, wrongfully stolen from them when the Soviets drew the borders, putting this area they see as part of ancient Armenia (and, to be fair, had a lot of ethnic Armenians in it) in to Soviet Azerbaijan.
The Armenians have been screwed by border drawing by foreign powers before--their holy Mountain, the Mountain that Noah's Ark landed on, the Mountain that adorns their coat of arms and every Armenian home--was drawn on the other side of the border with Turkey at the close of WW1. Of course, WW1 also had the Turks carrying out a massive genocide of the Armenian people, and so this literally added insult to massive injury. But there's nothing to be done about Mount Ararat; Turkey is far too powerful. Karabakh, on the other hand, can be held and there are many Armenians living there. As a people who have suffered so much holding on to that land is important.
The sons of Armenia (and Azerbaijan, to be fair) die all the time on the front line of this Cold War. Territory doesn't change hands, but snipers fire over the border, sometimes hitting civilians. Armenians see themselves as having given so much to protect this land they will not give it up--and they also fear not having Karabakh as a buffer between their main state and Azerbaijan. I don't know any Azeris so I can't speak to their feelings, but the impression I get is that they believe they should hold the territory that was in their borders during Soviet times. However--and I admit I am biased when making this statement--I don't think that's realistic. This area of the world has a strong ethnic association with territory (Azeris in Azerbaijan, Armenians in Armenia, etc.) that I don't see how it could end well for the ethnic Armenians in Karabakh if the Azeris got that territory back.
This is one of the most complicated situations in the world right now, and very few people know about it.
Thomas de Waal wrote a book about the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It was published in 2003 and updated in 2011.
The book is called a Black Garden.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0814760325/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_m3BWCbBY67YYB
not on your list of conflicts but still a current war that had a recent flair up.https://www.amazon.com/Black-Garden-Armenia-Azerbaijan-Anniversary/dp/0814760325 It's a good objective account of the conflict that i'd recommend to anyone.
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0814760325
That is the best book on the subject.
The idea is to have an honest, simple, accessible, easy to understand, few minutes short content showing the Karabakh Armenian side based on facts and recent history.