Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War

Thomas de Waal launched the tenth anniversary edition of his book Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. Richard Kauzlarich, former United States ambassador to Azerbaijan, offered comments. Copies of the book were available for purchase.

Ten years after its initial release, Black Garden remains the definitive account of war and peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh. De Waal reveals a fascinating historical context for the conflict, including how it precipitated the end of the Soviet Union and thrust an entire region into disarray. Now nearly 20 years since the 1994 ceasefire, Yerevan and Baku have still failed to resolve the dispute and normalize relations. In the tenth anniversary edition of Black Garden, de Waal offers explanations for the intractability of the conflict and details political developments leading up to the present.

James F. Collins

Ambassador James F. Collins was appointed director of the Russia and Eurasia Program in January 2007. He is an expert on the former Soviet Union, its successor states, and the Middle East. Ambassador Collins was the U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation from 1997 to 2001.

Thomas de Waal

Thomas de Waal is a senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment, specializing primarily in the South Caucasus region comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and their breakaway territories, as well as the wider Black Sea region. In addition to Black Garden, he is the author of The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Richard Kauzlarich

Ambassador Richard Kauzlarich is a career foreign service officer who served as ambassador to Azerbaijan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was senior deputy to the secretary of state and the president’s special representative to the Newly Independent States. Ambassador Kauzlarich is a nonresident senior fellow of foreign policy at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.