Abstract This article critically interrogates peace processes in the aftermath of the First Nagorno‐Karabakh War by centering the lived experiences and political voices of Armenian and Azerbaijani internally displaced and refugee women, based on ethnographic fieldwork and in‐depth interviews conducted in 2019. Through a decolonial feminist framework, the study reveals how dominant peace initiatives, shaped by geopolitical actors, have reproduced imperial logics while systematically marginalizing gendered perspectives. These peace processes not only failed to prevent the eruption of the Second Nagorno‐Karabakh War in 2020 but also entrenched structures of colonial governance and patriarchal exclusion. By foregrounding voices silenced in official diplomacy, this retrospective analysis demonstrates how gender‐blind and externally driven peace paradigms foreclose sustainable resolution. The article calls for a fundamental rethinking of peacebuilding rooted in decolonial feminist praxis: one that confronts imperial entanglements and centers the epistemologies of those most affected by protracted violence. In doing so, it offers a framework for more just and enduring peace futures in the South Caucasus and beyond.
Ramil Zamanov (Thu,) studied this question.