Artsakh: Armenia Or Azerbaijan? Understanding The Complex History

The status of Artsakh, also known as the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, is a highly contested issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The region has been a source of tension between the two countries for decades, with both sides claiming it as their own. While Artsakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, the region has a predominantly Armenian population and has historically been tied to Armenia. The dispute over Artsakh has resulted in multiple wars and conflicts, with the most recent outbreak of violence occurring in September 2023, leading to the displacement of over 100,000 people and the dissolution of the region on January 1, 2024.

Artsakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus

In 1923, the Soviet Union established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, which was home to a 95% ethnically Armenian population, within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. However, the region was arbitrarily carved out of Armenia by Joseph Stalin and placed under Soviet Azerbaijani administration, with autonomous status. This was part of a "divide-and-conquer" strategy in the Caucasus.

Throughout the Soviet period, Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast were heavily discriminated against. Soviet Azerbaijani authorities worked to suppress Armenian culture and identity, pressured Armenians to leave the region, and encouraged Azerbaijanis to settle within it. Despite this, Armenians remained the majority population.

As the Soviet Union began to dissolve in the late 1980s, the region re-emerged as a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 1988, the Nagorno-Karabakh legislative body peacefully demanded to reunite the region with Armenia. In response, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic cleansing campaign against individuals of Armenian descent, including pogroms against civilians in several towns.

In 1991, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from the Soviet Union and became the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. They held a referendum on independence in which 99% of voters participated, with 99% voting in favour of independence. This led to a full-scale war between the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, backed by Armenia, and Azerbaijan, which resulted in around 30,000 casualties and the displacement of over a million people.

A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in 1994, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh de facto independent, with a self-proclaimed government in Stepanakert, but still heavily reliant on close economic, political, and military ties with Armenia. This stalemate continued until 2020, when Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, launched a military operation that became the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Azerbaijan won a resounding victory, taking back parts of Karabakh.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched another offensive and rapidly overwhelmed defending troops, seizing the region. The majority of ethnic Armenians fled to Armenia, and on 1 January 2024, Nagorno-Karabakh was formally dissolved.

The territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but its inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh by Armenians, is a landlocked mountainous area in the South Caucasus. It has been a point of tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917. Both countries claimed the region, and the dispute has resulted in two wars and several violent clashes.

While the territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, the inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians. Armenians, who are Christians, claim a long historical dominance in the area, dating back to several centuries before Christ. The region's name, Artsakh, is an ancient Armenian name.

In the early 20th century, after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the new Soviet rulers established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, with an ethnic Armenian majority, within the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. This was part of their divide-and-rule policy in the region.

During seven decades of Soviet Azerbaijani rule, the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh faced discriminatory policies aimed at its destruction. Even so, Nagorno-Karabakh’s pre-war population in 1988 was over 80% Armenian. In 1988, the region's legislative body peacefully demanded to reunite the region with Armenia, to which Azerbaijan responded with an ethnic cleansing campaign against individuals of Armenian descent.

In 1991, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from the Soviet Union and became the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. In December 1991, Nagorno Karabakh held an independence referendum in which 99% voted for independence. In response, Azerbaijan launched a war against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, targeting civilians and recruiting Islamic extremist mujahideen.

The first Karabakh war, from 1988 to 1994, resulted in roughly thirty thousand casualties and over a million displaced people. By 1993, Armenia had gained control of Nagorno-Karabakh and occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s geographic area. In 1994, Russia brokered a ceasefire, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh de facto independent, with a self-proclaimed government in Stepanakert, but still heavily reliant on close economic, political, and military ties with Armenia.

In 2020, Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, launched an offensive that became the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Azerbaijan won a resounding victory, taking back parts of Karabakh. Several thousand people were killed.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched another offensive, and within two days, it claimed to have regained full control over the region. The majority of ethnic Armenians fled, and on 1 January 2024, Nagorno-Karabakh was formally dissolved.

The region has been contested for decades, with two wars fought over it in the last thirty years

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh by Armenians, has been a point of tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia for decades. The region is landlocked and mountainous in the South Caucasus. It was claimed by both Azerbaijan and Armenia after the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917 and has been a source of conflict ever since.

The territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but its inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians, and they have their own government, which has enjoyed close links to the government in neighbouring Armenia. Armenians, who are Christians, claim a long historical dominance in the area, dating back to several centuries before Christ. Azerbaijan, whose inhabitants are mostly Muslim, also links its historical identity to the territory. It accuses Armenians of driving out Azeris who lived nearby in the 1990s and wants ethnic Armenians to take Azeri passports or leave.

During the Soviet era, Nagorno-Karabakh became an autonomous region within the republic of Azerbaijan. However, as the Soviet Union crumbled in the late 1980s, tensions between Armenians and Azeris escalated, leading to what is known as the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994). This conflict resulted in approximately 30,000 casualties and the displacement of over a million people. Armenians gained control of most of Karabakh and extra territory around its perimeter, creating a buffer zone.

In 2020, Azerbaijan launched a military operation, backed by Turkey, which became the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. This 44-day war ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire, and Azerbaijan regained control of the territories surrounding Karabakh, leaving ethnic Armenians with a much smaller territory.

Despite the ceasefire, tensions continued to escalate, and in September 2023, Azerbaijani forces launched an offensive that overwhelmed the territory's defenders. The majority of ethnic Armenians fled, and on January 1, 2024, Nagorno-Karabakh was formally dissolved.

The dispute was largely shelved after the Soviet Union established control over the area in 1923, creating the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, now known as Artsakh, has been a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan for over a century. The conflict dates back to the fall of the Russian Empire in 1918, when both countries claimed the region as their own. A brief war over the region was fought in 1920, but the dispute was largely put on hold after the Soviet Union established control over the area in 1923, creating the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR.

During Soviet rule, Armenians in the NKAO faced heavy discrimination. Soviet Azerbaijani authorities suppressed Armenian culture and identity, pressured Armenians to leave, and encouraged Azerbaijanis to settle in the region. Despite these efforts, Armenians remained the majority population in the NKAO.

In the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union began to dissolve, the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh re-emerged. In 1988, the region's legislative body peacefully demanded reunification with Armenia, but this was met with a series of pogroms against Armenians across Azerbaijan. In 1991, a referendum in the NKAO and the neighbouring Shahumyan Province resulted in a declaration of independence, leading to a full-scale war in 1992.

The conflict has resulted in significant casualties and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Despite numerous ceasefire agreements and international mediation efforts, the dispute remains unresolved, and the region's political status is still contested.

The conflict escalated into a full-out war in 1992, resulting in a ceasefire in 1994, with Armenian forces controlling most of the region

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s. This war, known as the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, took place between ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The war progressed into protracted, undeclared mountain warfare in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict escalated into a full-out war in 1992, with the enclave's parliament voting in favour of uniting with Armenia. This led to a series of pogroms against Armenians across Azerbaijan, and violence committed against both Armenians and Azerbaijanis. International mediation attempts failed to bring about a resolution, and in early 1993, Armenian forces captured seven Azerbaijani-majority districts outside the enclave, threatening the involvement of other countries in the region.

By the end of the war in 1994, Armenian forces were in full control of the enclave and approximately 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the enclave, most notably the Lachin corridor, a mountain pass that links Nagorno-Karabakh with mainland Armenia. A ceasefire was signed in May 1994, bringing an end to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The war resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and left the Nagorno-Karabakh area in a state of legal limbo, with the Republic of Artsakh remaining de facto independent but internationally unrecognized.

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