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Freedom in Eurasia experienced a stunning decline in 2023, largely due to the Azerbaijani regime's military conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh and the expulsion of its ethnic Armenian population, according to a report by Freedom House.

The report "Freedom in the World 2024" says global freedom declined for the 18th consecutive year in 2023. The breadth and depth of the deterioration were extensive. Political rights and civil liberties were diminished in 52 countries, while only 21 countries made improvements. 

Armed conflicts and threats of authoritarian aggression made the world less safe and less democratic. Around the world, violent conflict—often driven by authoritarian aggression—caused death and destruction and imperiled freedom.

Nagorno-Karabakh experienced the most precipitous score decline of the year, losing 40 points after nearly its entire population of 120,000 ethnic Armenians was forced to flee the region under intense pressure from Azerbaijan’s military.

"Baku’s military assault came after a nine-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor—the only remaining land route linking the territory to the outside world—which left residents of Nagorno-Karabakh struggling to access basic necessities such as food, medical supplies, and fuel... In the end, there was little standing in the way of the Azerbaijani regime’s ambition to settle the decades-long dispute through a unilateral application of force," Freedom House says.

"The attack coincided with a deepening of authoritarian repression within Azerbaijan. Since the 1990s, the government has implemented policies that discriminate against ethnic Armenians, and Armenian citizens as well as their descendants are banned from, or face restrictions on, entering the country. Religious discrimination and crackdowns on independent media and civil society have intensified in recent years. The seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh boosted the domestic popularity of President Ilham Aliyev, who has ruled Azerbaijan since inheriting the post from his father in 2003, and raised fears that an emboldened Azerbaijani leadership could launch a full-scale invasion of the Republic of Armenia, the borders of which have already been violated," reads the report.