Exploring The Location Of The Beautiful Karabakh

Karabakh is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia. It is divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh, Lowland Karabakh, and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains. The name Karabakh is a combination of the words gara (black, or large) and bagh (garden, or land). The word first appeared in primary sources in the 7th century.

The region has been the subject of a long-standing territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and its ethnic Armenian majority, backed by neighbouring Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within Karabakh, is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but was, until recently, largely governed by the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (also known as the Republic of Artsakh).

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan

Nagorno-Karabakh is part of the greater region of Karabakh, which is a geographic region in south-western Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia. Karabakh is divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh, Lowland Karabakh, and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains. The name Karabakh is a combination of the words “gara” (black or big) and “bagh” (garden or land).

Nagorno-Karabakh has a total area of 4,400 square kilometres and is approximately 8,223 square kilometres if historical extents are included. The region is mostly mountainous, with peaks including Mount Gyamysh, and its environments vary from steppe on the Kura lowland to dense forests of oak, hornbeam, and beech on the lower slopes, and birchwood and alpine meadows higher up. The Sarsang Reservoir is the largest water body in the region.

The region has a long history, with ancient Greek and Roman sources confirming its Armenian inhabitants long before the modern era. In the 15th century, German traveller Johann Schiltberger stated that "although the Muslims had taken possession of Karabagh, there were still Armenian villages in the region". The region became part of the Russian Empire in 1813, and in 1923 the Soviet government established Nagorno-Karabakh as an Armenian-majority autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been the subject of a long-standing territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and its ethnic Armenian majority, backed by neighbouring Armenia. The region's status has been a source of conflict since the breakup of the Soviet Union, with a war breaking out in 1991 and further conflicts in 2020 and 2023. The region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but until recently, much of it was governed by the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, also known as the Republic of Artsakh.

It is a landlocked mountainous region

Karabakh is a landlocked mountainous region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia. It is a geographic region covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. The name Karabakh is a combination of the words "gara" (black or big) and "bagh" (garden or land). The word "Karabakh" first appeared in primary sources in the 7th century.

Karabakh is divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh, Lowland Karabakh, and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains. Highland Karabakh is a mountainous region with peaks that include Mount Gyamysh, which reaches 12,218 feet (3,724 meters). Lowland Karabakh is the steppes between the Kura and Aras rivers, and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains roughly correspond to the modern-day provinces of Syunik and Kalbajar-Lachin.

Karabakh's environments vary from steppe on the Kura lowland through dense forests of oak, hornbeam, and beech on the lower mountain slopes to birchwood and alpine meadows higher up. The region has numerous mineral springs and deposits of zinc, coal, lead, gold, marble, and limestone. It is known for its vineyards, orchards, and mulberry groves for silkworms, as well as cereal grains, cattle, sheep, and pigs.

The Karabakh Range is part of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range, which extends from the highlands of Karabakh down to the lowlands between the Kura and Aras rivers. The region is landlocked, with no direct border with Armenia, but it is connected to Armenia through the Lachin corridor, a mountain pass under the control of Russian peacekeeping forces.

It is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan

Karabakh is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia. The name Karabakh is a combination of the Azerbaijani words "gara" (black or big) and "bagh" (garden or land). The name first appeared in primary sources in the 7th century.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. It is part of the greater region of Karabakh and is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and is one of the territories to which Armenians were moved on a mass scale from 1820.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was established on the territory of the Azerbaijan Republic in July 1923, under Soviet rule. The region was 4,400 sq. km in area, or 5.1% of the total area of the Azerbaijan Republic. It included the districts of Shusha, Askeran, Hadrut, Mardakert and Martuni, and the city of Stepanakert (which was called Khankendi until the early years of Soviet rule).

The Nagorno-Karabakh problem is rooted in the 18th century, when Armenians were moved from the Iranian Plateau and Anatolia and relocated to Karabakh, a determined policy of the Iranian political elite. The Armenians gradually increased in number and began making territorial claims on Azerbaijan. They continued their separatist activities during the Karabakh Khanate and organised campaigns by external forces against it.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armenians in Karabakh had already armed themselves and began operations in 1988. Large-scale military operations were halted with the signing of a ceasefire in 1994, and Nagorno-Karabakh, along with seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan, was occupied by Armenia. The separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh declared its "independence" in 1991, which does not comply with international law and has rightly not been recognised by any country.

In 2020, a new war broke out in the region, with Azerbaijan achieving victory and regaining all the surrounding occupied districts and a significant portion of Nagorno-Karabakh's claimed territory. In 2023, Azerbaijan launched another military offensive, resulting in the exodus of ethnic Armenians from the region and the dissolution of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is also known as the Republic of Artsakh

Karabakh is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia. It is divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh, Lowland Karabakh, and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains. The name Karabakh is believed to derive from the Azerbaijani word "Qarabağ", which means "black garden".

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which means "mountainous Karabakh", is part of the greater region of Karabakh. It is a disputed region in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia, recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan. From 1991 to 2023, Nagorno-Karabakh was governed by the unrecognised Republic of Artsakh, also known as the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The region is usually equated with the administrative borders of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, comprising 4,400 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi). However, its historical extent covers a larger area of approximately 8,223 square kilometres (3,175 sq mi).

The predominantly Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh was claimed by both the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia when both countries became independent in 1918 after the fall of the Russian Empire. A brief war over the region broke out in 1920, but the dispute was largely shelved after the Soviet Union gained control of the area. The Soviets established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923.

In the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union began to dissolve, the region re-emerged as a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 1991, a referendum in the NKAO and the neighbouring Shahumyan Province resulted in a declaration of independence. This sparked a full-scale war in 1992, which was won by Artsakh with support from Armenia. A ceasefire agreement was signed in 1994, leaving the region de facto independent, with a self-proclaimed government in its capital, Stepanakert.

In 2020, a new war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region, resulting in Azerbaijan regaining control of the surrounding districts and a significant portion of Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2023, Azerbaijan launched another military offensive, causing the collapse of the Artsakh forces and the exodus of ethnic Armenians from the region. On 1 January 2024, the Republic of Artsakh was formally dissolved.

It is a source of dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia

Karabakh is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia. It is divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh, Lowland Karabakh, and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains. The region is a source of dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh being the subject of an unresolved dispute between the two countries.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of the greater region of Karabakh and is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan. However, until recently, much of it was governed by the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, also known as the Republic of Artsakh, which was backed by neighbouring Armenia. The region has a majority ethnic Armenian population, who have long sought independence or integration with Armenia. On the other hand, Azerbaijan has sought to maintain control over the region and suppress Armenian culture and identity.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has a long history, dating back to the competition between Christian Armenian and Muslim Turkic and Persian influences. The region became a part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century and later became a part of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet period, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh faced heavy discrimination and were pressured to leave the region. In the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union began to dissolve, tensions between ethnic Armenians and Azeris escalated, leading to a full-scale war in the early 1990s known as the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The war resulted in a ceasefire in 1994, with Armenian forces gaining control of the region and occupying Azerbaijani territory outside of Karabakh.

Despite the ceasefire, tensions and border clashes continued, with both sides accusing each other of violating the agreement. In 2020, the conflict escalated once again with the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which resulted in a significant Azerbaijani victory and the capture of a large portion of Nagorno-Karabakh. A trilateral ceasefire agreement was signed between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia, leading to a formal dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh in 2024. Most ethnic Armenians fled the region, and Azerbaijan re-established control.

The dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh remains unresolved, with complex geopolitical implications involving Russia, Europe, Turkey, Iran, and the United States. The future of Armenians in Karabakh and the prospects of a peace agreement are uncertain.

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