
By Karen Harutyunyan This article was published in the book Defeat: The 2020 Karabakh War—Realities and Lessons, released by the Armenian Research Center in Humanities with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Why did Armenia suffer such a devastating defeat in the 2020 Karabakh war, and how did the subsequent domestic, regional, and geopolitical developments ultimately lead to the blockade, loss, and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh? To answer this critical question and explain the catastrophic failures of the Armenian side, it is necessary to address numerous factors—ranging from internal politics, geopolitics, and economics to military, societal, and structural issues. […]