Unfreezing the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict? Evaluating Peacemaking Efforts under the Obama Administration

Barack Obama came into office identifying a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a priority of his presidency. Since the mid-1990s, international mediation had not yielded any substantive progress on bringing Armenia and Azerbaijan closer to a deal. It was hoped that the new administration would change this dynamic. However, with the passage of 2 years, the pattern that has emerged is one of continuity with previous approaches. Despite the brief opening with the proposed rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia, American policy is unlikely to produce a breakthrough to ‘unfreeze’ this ‘frozen’ conflict.