Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:History of Nagorno-Karabakh

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{Short description|none}}
{{About|the history of [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] only|the history of Karabakh as a whole|Karabakh#History}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{History of the Republic of Artsakh}}
[[Nagorno-Karabakh]] is located in the southern part of the [[Lesser Caucasus]] range, at the eastern edge of the [[Armenian Highlands]], encompassing the highland part of the wider geographical region known as [[Karabakh]].<ref>''Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies'': ''JSAS''., Volume 8. [[University of Michigan]], 1997, p 54.</ref> Under [[Russian Empire|Russian]] and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] rule, the region came to be known as ''Nagorno-Karabakh'', meaning "Mountainous Karabakh" in [[Russian language|Russian]]. The name Karabakh itself (derived from [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], and meaning "black vineyard") was first encountered in [[Georgian language|Georgian]] and Persian sources from the 13th and 14th centuries to refer to [[lowlands]] between the [[Kura (Caspian Sea)|Kura]] and [[Aras (river)|Aras]] rivers and the adjacent mountainous territory.

Following the collapse of Soviet Union, most of this area came under the control of the {{lang|la|de facto}} [[Artsakh Republic]], which had economic, political, and military support from Armenia but has been internationally recognized as a {{lang|la|de jure}} part of Azerbaijan. As a result of the 2020 war, all surrounding territories and some areas within Nagorno-Karabakh were taken back by Azerbaijan. On 1 January 2024, the Republic of Artsakh was dissolved.<ref name="inter_2024">{{cite news|title=The Nagorno–Karabakh Republic Ceased to Exist|url=https://www.interfax.ru/world/938736|date=1 January 2024}}</ref>

== Ancient history ==
The region of [[Nagorno-Karabakh]], located between the Kura and Araxes rivers, was once occupied by the people known to modern archaeologists as the [[Kura-Araxes culture|Kura-Araxes]]. Little is known about the ancient history of the region, primarily because of a scarcity of historical sources. Jewelry has been found within the present confines of Nagorno-Karabakh inscribed with the [[cuneiform]] name of [[Adad-nirari III|Adad-Nirari]], King of [[Assyria]] ({{Circa|800 BCE}}). {{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

The first mention of the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh is in the inscriptions of [[Sardur II]], King of [[Urartu]] (763–734&nbsp;BC), found in the village of [[Tsovk]] in [[Armenia]], where the region is referred to as Urtekhini. There are no additional documents until the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] epoch.

By the beginning of the [[Hellenistic period]] the population of Nagorno-Karabakh was neither Armenian nor even [[Indo-European]], and it was Armenized only in the aftermath of Armenian conquest.<ref>
Robert H. Hewsen, "Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians", in Thomas J. Samuelian, ed., ''Classical Armenian Culture: Influences and Creativity''. 
Pennsylvania: Scholars Press, 1982. "What do we know of the native population of these regions — Arc'ax and Utik — prior to the Armenian conquest? Unfortunately, not very much. Greek, Roman, and Armenian authors together provide us with the names of several peoples living there, however — Utians, in Otene, Mycians, Caspians, Gargarians, Sakasenians, Gelians, Sodians, Lupenians, Balas[ak]anians, Parsians and Parrasians — and these names are sufficient to tell us that, whatever their origin, they were certainly not Armenian. Moreover, although certain Iranian peoples must have settled here during the long period of Persian and Median rule, most of the natives were not even Indo-Europeans."</ref> [[Robert Hewsen]] does not exclude the possibility of the Armenian [[Orontid dynasty]] exercising control over Nagorno-Karabakh in the 4th century BC, however, this hypothesis is disputed by many other scholars, who believe the extent of Orontid Armenia was limited to the vicinity of [[Lake Sevan]].<ref>
Susan M. Sherwin-White, Amalie Kuhrt. ''From Samarkhand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire'', p. 16. 
"There are many problems over the boundaries of Seleucid Armenia, which have not be studied, but could be illuminated by the accounts of the expansion of the Armenian Kingdom beyond the limits of “Armenia” after [[Antiochus III the Great|Antiochus III]]'s defeat by the Romans in 189. The frontiers on the south and south-west are roughly: the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] [[satrap]]ies of Seleucid [[Cappadocia]], [[Mesopotamia]] and Syria, and of [[Kingdom of Commagene|Commagene]]; in the north, Iberia in the Lower [[Caucasus]], north of the river Araxes and Lake Sevan, and western [[Atropatene|Media Atropatene]] — roughly equivalent to modern [[Azerbaijan]]; in the north-west, separating Armenia from the [[Black Sea]], were independent tribes"</ref><ref>
George A. Bournoutian. ''A Concise History of the Armenian People: (from Ancient Times to the Present)'', p. 33. 
"After the death of Alexander, the Armenians maintained this stance towards the governors imposed by the Seleucids. The [[Orontid dynasty|Yervandunis]] gained control of the [[Aras (river)|Arax Valley]], reached Lake Sevan, and constructed a new capital at [[Yervandashat, Armenia|Yervandashat]]."
</ref><ref>
Elisabeth Bauer-Manndorff. ''Armenia: Past and Present'', p. 54.
"Armenia Major, under the rule of the Ervantids consisted of the central area east of the upper Euphrates, around Lake Van and the Araxes as far as Lake Sevan."</ref>

Similarly, [[Robert H. Hewsen|Robert Hewsen]] in his earlier work<ref>
Robert H. Hewsen, "Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians", in Thomas J. Samuelian, ed., ''Classical Armenian Culture: Influences and Creativity''. 
Pennsylvania: Scholars Press, 1982. "From Strabo we learn that under King [[Artaxias I|Artashes]] (188-ca. 161 B. C.), the Armenians expanded in all directions at the expense of their neighbors. Specifically, at this time they acquired [[Caspiane]] and 'Phaunitis', the second of which can only be a copyist's error for Saunitis, {{nowrap|i.e.}} the principality of [[Syunik Province|Siwnik]]. Thus, it was only under Artashes, in the second century B. C., that the Armenians conquered Siwnik' and Caspiane and, obviously, the lands of Arc'ax and Utik', which lay between them. These lands, we are told, were taken from the Medes. Mnac'akanyan's notion that these lands were already Armenian and were re-conquered by the Armenians at this time thus rests on no evidence at all and indeed contradicts what little we do know of Armenian expansion to the east."</ref> and Soviet [[historiography]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Trever|first=Kamilla|title=Очерки по истории и культуре Кавказской Албании IV в. до н. э.- VII в. н. э.|year=1959|trans-title=Essays on the History and Culture of Caucasian Albania, IV BC-VII AD.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Новосельцев|first=А. П.|title=К вопросу о политической границе Армении и Кавказской Албании в античный период|trans-title=On the Political Border of Armenia and Caucasian Albania in Antique Period|url=http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/kagantv/novoseltsev.html|journal=Кавказ и Византия [Caucasus and Byzantium]|issue=1|pages=10–18|access-date=October 21, 2020|archive-date=February 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226040646/http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/kagantv/novoseltsev.html|url-status=live}}</ref> date the inclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia to the 2nd century BC.

== Legend of Aran ==
According to local traditions held by many people in the area, the two river valleys in Nagorno-Karabakh were among the first lands to be settled by [[Noah]]'s descendants.<ref name="samuelian2004">Thomas J. Samuelian. [http://www.arak29.am/PDF_PPT/origins_2004.pdf "Armenian Origins: An Overview of Ancient and Modern Sources and Theories"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117165534/http://www.arak29.am/PDF_PPT/origins_2004.pdf |date=January 17, 2017 }} (PDF).</ref> According to a 5th-century CE Armenian tradition, a local chieftain named Aran ({{lang|hy|Առան}}) was appointed by the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] King [[Vologases III of Parthia|{{nowrap|Vologases I}}]] (Vagharsh I) as the first governor of this province. Ancient Armenian authors [[Movses Khorenatsi]] and [[Movses Kaghankatvatsi]] name Aran as the ancestor of the inhabitants of [[Republic of Artsakh|Artsakh]] and the neighboring province of [[Utik]], the descendant of Sisak (the ancestor and eponym of the neighboring province of [[Sisian|Sisakan]], also transliterated [[Siunik]]).<ref>Movses Khorenatsi. [http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/khorenaci/index.html "History of Armenia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012045408/http://vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/khorenaci/index.html |date=October 12, 2019 }}. I.12, II.8.</ref><ref>Movses Kaghankatvatsi, [http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/kagantv/aluank1.html "History of Aluank"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925104051/http://vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/kagantv/aluank1.html |date=September 25, 2019 }}. I.4.</ref> Through Sisak, Aran descended from [[Hayk|Haik]], the ancestor and eponym of all [[Armenians]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/khorenaci/01.html |title=Movses Khorenatsi, "History of Armenia," I.12 |access-date=March 26, 2008 |archive-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916212708/http://vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/khorenaci/01.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Movses Kaghankatvatsi, [http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/kagantv/aluank1.html "History of Aluank"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925104051/http://vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/kagantv/aluank1.html |date=September 25, 2019 }}. I.15.</ref>

==Artsakh as province of the Kingdom of Armenia==
[[File:Armenian Flag Khachen.gif|thumb|200px|left|Royal Standard of the [[Principality of Khachen]] ([[Kingdom of Artsakh]]) during the reign of Grand Prince [[Hasan Jalal]] Vahtangyan (1214–1261)]]

[[Strabo]] characterizes "Orchistenê" (Artsakh) as "the area of Armenia with the greatest number of horsemen".<ref name="Strabo">Strabo, "Geography", [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+11.14.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 11.14.4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207093623/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+11.14.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 |date=December 7, 2020 }}</ref> It is unclear when Orchistenê became part of Armenia. Strabo, carefully listing all territorial gains of Armenian kings since 189&nbsp;BC, does not mention Orchistenê, which indirectly shows that it probably was transferred to the Armenian empire from the Persian [[satrapy]] of [[Eastern Armenia]]. Ruins of the city of [[Tigranakert of Artsakh|Tigranakert]] lie near the modern city of [[Aghdam]]. It is one of four cities with this name{{clarify|seems odd|date=February 2022}} built in the beginning of 1&nbsp;BC by the king of Armenia, [[Tigranes the Great]]. Recently Armenian archaeologists have conducted excavations at the site of this city. Fragments of a fortress, and also hundreds of artifacts, similar to those found in excavations in Armenia proper, have been unearthed. The outlines of a citadel and a [[basilica]] dating to the 5th–6th centuries AD have been revealed. Excavations have shown that the city existed from the 1st century BC to the 13th or 14th century AD.<ref name="Tigranakert2">{{Cite web |url=http://www.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/news/id/1045432.html |title=Кавказ Мемо.Ру :: kavkaz-uzel.ru :: Армения, Нагорный Карабах {{!}} На территории Нагорного Карабаха обнаружены руины древнего армянского города |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-date=September 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912063258/http://www.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/news/id/1045432.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ancient inhabitants of Artsakh spoke a dialect of the [[Armenian language]]; this is attested by the author of an Armenian grammar, [[Stepanos Siunetsi]], who lived around AD 700.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.karabagh.am/GlavTem/19Ist-PolAspekti.htm |title=Историко-политические аспекты карабахского конфликта |access-date=October 1, 2006 |archive-date=May 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506003512/http://www.karabagh.am/GlavTem/19Ist-PolAspekti.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=The Caucasian Knot: The History & Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh: Politics in contemporary Asia |author1=[[Levon Chorbajian]] | author2=[[Patrick Donabédian]] |author3= [[Claude Mutafian]] | pages=198 | publisher=Zed Books |year=1994 |isbn=1856492885}} 9781856492881</ref>

Strabo, [[Pliny the Elder]], and [[Claudius Ptolemaeus]] all state that the border between [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Greater Armenia]] and [[Caucasian Albania]] was the river Cyrus ([[Kura (Caspian Sea)|Kura]]).<ref name="Ptolemaeus">Claudius Ptolemaeus. Geography, 5, 12</ref><ref name="Plinius">Pliny the Elder, ''Naturalis Historia'', 6, 39</ref> Authoritative encyclopedias on antiquity also name Kura as the southern border of Albania.<ref name="Paulys">{{lang|de|Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft}}. Volume I. Stuttgart 1894". p. 1303</ref> Artsakh lies significantly to the south of this river. No contemporary evidence of its inclusion into [[Caucasian Albania]] or any other country exists until at least the end of the 4th century.<ref name="Cilicia">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cilicia.com/History.htm |title=Nagorno Karabakh: History |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-date=October 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018202100/http://www.cilicia.com/History.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Armenian historian [[Faustus of Byzantium]] wrote that during the epoch of upheaval that followed the Persian invasion of Armenia around 370AD, Artsakh was one of the provinces that rose in revolt, while [[Utik]] was seized by the Caucasus Albanians. Armenian military commander [[Mushegh I Mamikonian|Mushegh Mamikonian]] defeated Artsakh in a massive battle, took many prisoners and hostages, and imposed a tribute on the remaining population. In 372, Mushegh defeated the Caucasus Albanians, took Utik from them, and restored the border along the Kura, "as was earlier".<ref name="Favstos2">{{Cite web |url=http://vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/buzand/05.html |title=Faustus of Byzantium, IV, 50; V,12 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-date=September 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925103827/http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/buzand/05.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to the ''Geography'' ({{lang|hy|Ashkharatsuyts}}) of 7th-century Armenian geographer [[Anania Shirakatsi]], Artsakh was the 10th of 15 provinces (''{{lang|hy|nahangs}}'') of Armenia, and consisted of 12 districts (''{{lang|hy|gavars}}''): 
*[[Myus Haband]] (Second Haband, as opposed to Haband of [[Siunik]]),
*[[Vaykunik]] ([[Zar, Azerbaijan|Zar]]),
*Berdadzor, 
*Mets Arank, 
*Mets Kvenk, 
*Harjlank, Mukhank, 
*Piank, 
*Parsakank (Parzvank), 
*Kusti, 
*Parnes and 
*Koght.

However Anania predicted that even during his time, Artsakh and the neighboring regions would “tear away from Armenia". This happened in 387, when Armenia was [[Peace of Acilisene|divided]] between the [[Roman Empire]] and [[Persia]], and Artsakh and the Armenian provinces of Utik and [[Paytakaran]] were attached to Caucasian Albania.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} However Azerbaijani historian I. Aliev asserted that by 66 BC Armenian king [[Tigranes the Great|Tigray II]] had relinquished most of greater Armenia, and by the end of the first century AD Utik and Artsakh were part of the [[History of Albania#Antiquity|Kingdom of Albania]], whose southern border shifted to the Arax River.<ref>{{cite journal
 |title        = The case of the Caucasian Albanians: Ethnohistory and ethnic politics
 |author       = Nora Dudwick
 |journal      = Cahiers du Monde Russe
 |language     = English
 |year         = 1990
 |volume       = 31
 |issue        = 2
 |page         = 379
 |via          = persée.fr
 |publisher    = École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
 |doi          = 10.3406/cmr.1990.2237
 |url          = https://www.persee.fr/doc/cmr_0008-0160_1990_num_31_2_2237
 |access-date  = February 10, 2022
 |archive-date = February 6, 2021
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20210206125727/https://www.persee.fr/doc/cmr_0008-0160_1990_num_31_2_2237
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

==Mashtots and Aranshakhik period==
[[File:Amaras.jpg|thumb|Amaras Monastery (4th century), the 19th-century Church of Saint Grigoris replacing destroyed older building]]{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}

In the early 4th century [[Christianity]] spread in Artsakh. In 469 the [[Caucasian Albania (Sasanian province)|Kingdom of Albania]] was transformed into a [[Sassanid Persia]]n [[marzpan]]ate (frontier province).

In the early 5th century [[Mesrop Mashtots]] created the [[Armenian alphabet]] and founded one of the first schools in Armenia at the [[Amaras Monastery]] in Artsakh, sparking a flourishing culture and national identity.<ref>Viviano, Frank. "The Rebirth of Armenia", ''[[National Geographic Magazine]]'', March 2004</ref><ref>John Noble, Michael Kohn, Danielle Systermans. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Lonely Planet; 3 edition (May 1, 2008), p. 307</ref>
In the 5th century the eastern part of Armenia — including Artsakh — remained under Persian rule. But in 451 the Armenians rebelled against the Persians’ policy of compelling the practice of the [[Zoroastrian]] religion. Artsakh took part in this revolt, known as the [[Battle of Avarayr|Vardan war]]. Its cavalry particularly distinguished itself. After the Persians put the rebellion down, many Armenians took shelter in the impregnable fortresses and thick woods of Artsakh to continue the fight,<ref name="Elishe">{{Cite web |url=http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/egishe/EGISHE.html |title=Elishe. History, 276–277 |access-date=September 11, 2006 |archive-date=March 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328025414/http://vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/egishe/EGISHE.html |url-status=live }}</ref> leading to the [[Treaty of Nvarsak]] in 484 affirming Armenia's right to freely practise Christianity.<ref name="Hewsen">{{cite web|last1=Hewsen|first1=Robert H.|author-link1=Robert H. Hewsen|title=AVARAYR|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avarayr-a-village-in-armenia-in-the-principality-of-artaz-southeast-of-the-iranian-town-of-maku|website=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|date=August 17, 2011|quote=So spirited was the Armenian defence, however, that the Persians suffered enormous losses as well. Their victory was pyrrhic and the king, faced with troubles elsewhere, was forced, at least for the time being, to allow the Armenians to worship as they chose.|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=November 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117005213/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avarayr-a-village-in-armenia-in-the-principality-of-artaz-southeast-of-the-iranian-town-of-maku|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Pattie">{{cite book|author=Susan Paul Pattie|title=Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding Community |publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press |year= 1997 |page= 40 |isbn = 1560986298|quote=The Armenian defeat in the Battle of Avarayr in 451 proved a pyrrhic victory for the Persians. Though the Armenians lost their commander, Vartan Mamikonian, and most of their soldiers, Persian losses were proportionately heavy, and Armenia was allowed to remain Christian.}}</ref>
 
At the end of the 5th century, Artsakh and neighboring [[Utik]] united under the rule of the [[Albania (satrapy)|Aranshakhiks]] headed by [[Vachagan III]] (487–510s),<ref>Some sources give his name as Vachagan II</ref> also known as Vachagan the Pious. During his reign culture and science continued to blossom in Artsakh.<ref>Mkrtchian, Shahen. Historical and Architectural Monuments of Nagorno Karabakh. Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing House, 1988, pp. 117-121</ref> According to a contemporary, as many churches and monasteries were built in the land in those years as there are days in a year. At the turn of the 7th century the Albanian marzpanate broke up into several smaller principalities. In the south, Artsakh and Utik formed an Armenian principality under the Aranshakhiks. In the 7th century the Migranians or [[Mihranids]] replaced the Aranshakhiks. A dynasty of Persian origin, they became associated with the Aranshakhiks, turned to Christianity and Armenicized.

In the 7th and 8th centuries a distinctive Christian culture took shape.  The monasteries at [[Amaras Monastery|Amaras]],<ref>[https://www.amaras.org/history-and-architecture/#_edn1 History and Architecture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211035641/https://www.amaras.org/history-and-architecture/#_edn1 |date=February 11, 2022 }}, Armenian Apostolic Church Monastery</ref> Orek, [[Katarovank]], [[Yeghish Arakyal Monastery|Djrvshtik]] and others acquired a significance that transcended the local area and spread across Armenia.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

==Armenian princedoms of Dizak and Khachen==
[[File:Gandzasar closeup.jpg|thumb|[[Gandzasar Monastery]] (13th century), northern side of the church]]
From the beginning of the 9th century, the Armenian<ref name="Abū-Dulaf">
Abū-Dulaf Misʻar Ibn Muhalhil's ''Travels in Iran'' (circa A.D. 950) / Ed. and trans. by [[Vladimir Minorsky]]. — Cairo University Press, 1955. — p. 74:
Khajin (Armenian Khachen) was an Armenian principality immediately south of Barda'a.
</ref><ref>
Howorth, Henry Hoyle (1876). ''History of the Mongols: From the 9th to the 19th Century'' Longmans, Green, and Co. p. 14
</ref><ref>
{{cite web 
|title=Russian scholar V. Shnirelman: Khachen was a medieval Armenian feudal principality in the territory of modern Karabakh, which played a significant role in the political history of Armenia and the region in the 10th–16th centuries}}
</ref><ref>url=http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/albanskymif.html#_ftn3 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404083031/http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/albanskymif.html#_ftn3 |date=April 4, 2013 }} В.А. Шнирельман, Албанский миф, 2006, Библиотека «Вeхи»</ref> princely houses of [[Khachen]] and [[Dizak]] were storing up strength.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Armenia/Administration-and-social-conditions "Armenia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428164747/https://www.britannica.com/place/Armenia |date=April 28, 2019 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
"A few native Armenian rulers survived for a time in the [[Kiurikian dynasty|Kiurikian]] kingdom of Lori, the Siuniqian kingdom of Baghq or Kapan, and the principates of Khachen (Artzakh) and Sasun."</ref> In 821, Amaras was plundered by Arab invaders, then restored by an opponent of the Caliphate—Yesai Arranshahik (Armenian: {{lang|hy|Եսայի Առանշահիկ}}, Yesai Abu-Muse in Arabic sources), ruler of Dizak, whose battle against invaders and restoration of Amaras are told in [[Tovma Artsruni]]'s 9th century ‘’History of the House of Artzrunik.’’ The prince of Khachen, [[Sahl Smbatean]], clashed with Arab invaders beginning in 822, when they invaded Amaras.<ref>Movses Kaghankatvatsi. History of Aghuank. Critical text and introduction by Varag Arakelyan. Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts after Mesrop Mashtots. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1983, 2.17, 3.19-22</ref>

In the medieval period architecture flourished, particularly religious buildings such as the [[Saint John the Baptist Church, Martakert|Church of Hovanes Mkrtich]] ([[John the Baptist]]) and its [[Gavit|vestibule]] at the [[Gandzasar Monastery]], built 1216–1260; the ancient residence of the [[Catholicos]] of Albania, best known among scholars for its richly decorated dome,<ref>{{cite journal
|last1=Якобсон
|first1=А.
|date=1991
|title=Из истории армянского средневекового зодчества (Гандзасарский монастырь XIII в.)
|url=http://armenianhouse.org/caucasian-albania/433-456.html
|journal=К освещению проблем истории и культуры Кавказской Албании и восточных провинций Армении
|volume=
|issue=
|pages=447
|access-date=September 19, 2009
|archive-date=August 28, 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828155950/http://www.armenianhouse.org/caucasian-albania/433-456.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|last1=Анохин
|first1=Г.
|date=1981
|title=Малый Кавказ
|url=http://www.veskavkaz.narod.ru/lib/malkavkaz/index11.html
|journal=Физкультура испорт
|access-date=February 13, 2022
|archive-date=January 23, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123235803/http://veskavkaz.narod.ru/lib/malkavkaz/index11.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> the [[Dadivank]] Monastery Cathedral Church (1214), and the [[Gtichavank]] cathedral (1241–1248). These churches are considered masterpieces of Armenian architecture.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://armenianhouse.org/caucasian-albania/433-456.html |title=А. Л. Якобсон, Из истории армянского средневекового зодчества (Гандзасарский монастырь) |access-date=September 19, 2009 |archive-date=August 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828155950/http://www.armenianhouse.org/caucasian-albania/433-456.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|last1=Якобсон
|first1=А.
|date=1991
|title=Из истории армянского средневекового зодчества (Гандзасарский монастырь XIII в.)
|url=http://armenianhouse.org/caucasian-albania/433-456.html
|journal=К освещению проблем истории и культуры Кавказской Албании и восточных провинций Армении
|pages=447
|access-date=September 19, 2009
|archive-date=August 28, 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828155950/http://www.armenianhouse.org/caucasian-albania/433-456.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|last1=Анохин
|first1=Г.
|date=1981
|title=Малый Кавказ
|url=http://www.veskavkaz.narod.ru/lib/malkavkaz/index11.html
|journal=Физкультура и спорт
|access-date=February 13, 2022
|archive-date=January 23, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123235803/http://veskavkaz.narod.ru/lib/malkavkaz/index11.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

== Seljuks, Mongols and Safavids ==
In the 11th century the [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk invasion]] swept the Middle East, including [[South Caucasus|Transcaucasia]]. Nomadic [[Oghuz Turks|Oghuz]] [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk]] tribes that came with this invasion became a dominant constituent of the ancestry of modern Azerbaijanis.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Azerbaijan|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Azerbaijan/People#ref340270|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=October 22, 2020|archive-date=November 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115115001/https://www.britannica.com/place/Azerbaijan/People#ref340270|url-status=live}}</ref> From then until the beginning of the 20th century these tribes used mountainous Karabakh as their summer pastures, where they stayed for four or five of the warmer months of the year, and in fact owned the region.<ref name="Olcott 1998">{{Cite book
|last1=Olcott
|first1=M.
|url=https://www.academia.edu/2857517
|title=Фактор этноконфессиональной самобытности в постсоветском обществе
|last2=Malashenko
|first2=M.
|publisher=Московский Центр Карнеги (The Moscow Center of Carnegie)
|year=1998
|isbn=0-87003-140-6
|pages=179–180
|trans-title=The Factor of Ethno-confessional Identity in the Post-Soviet Society
|script-chapter=ru:Традиционное землепользование кочевников исторического Карабаха и современный армяно-азербайджанский этнотерриториальный конфликт (Анатолий Ямсков)
|trans-chapter=The Traditional Land-use of the Nomads of Historical Karabakh and the Modern Armenian-Azerbaijani Ethno-territorial Conflict (by Anatoly N. Yamskov)
|quote=This seasonal coexistence in the mountains of historical Karabakh with a sedentary Armenian population and a nomadic Turkic one, as well as some Kurdish, completely assimilated by Azerbaijanis in the 19th–20th centuries, arose a long time ago, simultaneously with the great movement of nomadic pastoralists into the plains of Azerbaijan.”<p>Указанная ситуация сезонного сосуществования в горах исторического Карабаха оседлого армянского и кочевого тюркского населения, а также частично и курдского, полностью ассимилированного азербайджанцами в XIX—XX вв., возникла очень давно, одновременно с массовым проникновением кочевых скотоводов на равнины Азербайджана.</p>
|access-date=October 22, 2020
|archive-date=January 13, 2023
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113133929/https://www.academia.edu/2857517
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>
{{Cite journal
|last=Yamskov
|first=A. N.
|date=June 22, 2014
|title=Ethnic Conflict in the Transcausasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh
|journal=Theory and Society
|publication-date=October 1991
|volume=20
|issue= 5, Special Issue on Ethnic Conflict in the Soviet Union
|page=650
|quote=The Azeri conception of Karabakh as an inseparable part of Azerbaijan is based on other considerations than the oblast's ethnic composition. The Armenians have resided in Karabakh for a long time, and they represented an absolute majority of its population at the time that the autonomous oblast was formed. However, for centuries the entire high mountain zone of this region belonged to the nomadic Turkic herdsmen, from whom the Khans of Karabakh were descended. Traditionally, these direct ancestors of the Azeris of the Agdamskii raion (and of the other raions between the mountains of Karabakh and the Kura and Araks Rivers) lived in Karabakh for the four or five warm months of the year, and spent the winter in the Mil'sko-Karabakh plains. The descendants of this nomadic herding population therefore claim a historic right to Karabakh and consider it as much their native land as that of the settled agricultural population that lived there year-round.
|via=JSTOR
}}
</ref>

In the 12th and 13th century the Armenian [[Zakarids–Mkhargrdzeli|Zakarian dynasty]] took control over the Khachen, but its sovereignty was brief.<ref>
{{Cite book
|last=Еремян
|first=С. Т.
|title=Атлас Армянской ССР
|year=1961
|location=Yerevan
|pages=102–106
|trans-title=The Atlas of Armenian SSR
|chapter=Армения накануне монгольского завоевания
|trans-chapter=Armenia on the Eve of the Mongol Conquest
}}
</ref>

For 30–40 years of the 13th century the [[Tatar]] and [[Mongols]] conquered Transcaucasia. The efforts of the Artsakh-[[Principality of Khachen|Khachen]] prince [[House of Hasan-Jalalyan|Hasan-Jalal]] succeeded in partially saving the land from destruction. However after his death in 1261, Khachen did become subject to Tatars and Mongols. The situation became still worse in the 14th century when the subsequent [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] federations, the [[Qara Koyunlu]] and [[Aq Qoyunlu]], replaced the [[Tatars]] and [[Mongols]].

Nomadic presence in Artsakh and the plains to the east of it continued in this period as well.<ref name="Olcott 1998" /> The vast area between the rivers of [[Kura (Caspian Sea)|Kura]] and [[Aras (river)|Araxes]] received its Turkic name Karabakh (combination of "black" (Kara) in [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] and "garden" (bakh) in [[Persian language|Persian]]) with Artsakh corresponding to its mountains (Mountainous Karabakh or Nagorno-Karabakh in the Soviet tradition).

The name is first mentioned in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in ''[[The Georgian Chronicles]]'' ({{lang-ka|ქართლის ცხოვრება}} "Life of Kartli"),<ref name="asev7">{{in lang|hy}} Ulubabyan, Bagrat. ''«Ղարաբաղ»'' [Gharabagh]. [[Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia]]. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1981, vol. 7, p. 26.</ref> and in the geographical work of [[Hamdallah Mustawfi]] [[Nuzhat al-Qulub]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Minorsky|first=Vladimir|title=Tadhkirt Al-muluk|year=1943|pages=174}}</ref> The name became common after the 1230s when the region was conquered by the [[Mongols]].<ref>Great Soviet Encyclopedia, "NKAO, Historical Survey", 3rd edition, translated into English, New York: Macmillan Inc., 1973.</ref>

In the beginning of the 16th century Karabakh was conquered by the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]], which created [[Safavid Karabakh]] there, with some additional nearby territory, and centered it in the city of [[Ganja, Azerbaijan|Ganja]]. In this period Karabakh nomads coalesced in the ''igirmi-dörd'' (literally, 'twenty-four' in Azerbaijani) and ''otuz-iki'' ('thirty-two') confederations that were among the key allies of the Safavids in this part of their empire. Christian Armenian denizens of Karabakh paid higher taxes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ghereghlou|first=Kioumars|title=Cashing in on land and privilege for the welfare of the shah: monetisation of tiyul in early Safavid Iran and Eastern Anatolia|journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung|volume=68|issue=1|page=110}}</ref>

The centuries-long subjection of the local Armenians to Muslim leaders, their relations with Turkic tribal elders and frequent Turkic-Armenian-Iranian intermarriage resulted in Armenians adopting elements of Perso-Turkic Muslim culture, such as language, personal names, music, an increasingly humble position for women and, in some cases, even [[polygamy]].<ref>Stepan Lisitsian. ''Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh''; p. 44</ref>

==Armenian melikdoms==
[[File:Five principalities of karabakh.png|thumb|250px|right|Five principalities of Karabakh (Gyulistan, Jaraberd, Khachen, Varand, Dizaq), the last relict of Armenian statehood (16th century)]]
[[File:Nagorno-Karabakh People 15.jpg|thumb|150px|Early 20th-century Armenian family in Karabakh]]
The princedom of Khachen existed until the 16th–17th century then broke up into five small principalities ("[[melik]]doms"):

# Giulistan or Talish melikdom included the territory from [[Ganja, Azerbaijan|Ganja]] to the River [[Tartar (river)|Tartar]].
# Dzraberd or Charaberd melikdom stretched from the River Tartar to the River Khachenaget.
# [[Khachen]] melikdom went from the River Khachenaget to the River [[Karkar River|Karkar]].
# Varanda melikdom included the territory from the Karkar to the south side of [[Mount Kirs]].
# [[Dizak]] melikdom stretched from the southern slope of [[Mount Kirs]] to the River [[Arax]].

These melikdoms were referred to as khamsa, which means "five" in Arabic.<ref name="meliki">{{Cite web |url=http://www.armenianhouse.org/raffi/also-ru/ulubabyan.html |title=Raffi. Melikdoms of Khamsa |access-date=September 11, 2006 |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927114320/http://armenianhouse.org/raffi/also-ru/ulubabyan.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
While subordinate to Safavid Persia's [[Safavid Karabakh|Karabakh beylerbeylik]], ruled by [[Shahverdi Sultan|Ziyad-oglu Qajars]], the Armenian meliks were granted a wide autonomy over Upper Karabakh, maintaining quasi-autonomous control over the region for four centuries,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/35178/Armenia/44272/Ottomans-and-Safavids Britannica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503165551/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/35178/Armenia/44272/Ottomans-and-Safavids |date=May 3, 2015 }}:
“In Mountainous Karabakh a group of five Armenian maliks (princes) succeeded in conserving their autonomy and maintained a short period of independence (1722–30) during the struggle between Persia and Turkey at the beginning of the 18th century; despite the heroic resistance of the Armenian leader David Beg, the Turks occupied the region but were driven out by the Persians under the general Nādr Qolī Beg (from 1736–47, Nādir Shah) in 1735.”</ref><ref>
''Encyclopaedia of Islam''. Leiden: BRILL, 1986. vol. 1. p. 639-640:
"The wars between the Ottomans and the Safawids were still to be fought on Armenian soil, and part of the Armenians of Adharbaydjan were later deported as a military security measure to Isfahan and elsewhere. Semi-autonomous seigniories survived, with varying fortunes, in the mountains of Karabagh, to the north of Adharbaydjan, but came to an end in the 18th century."</ref><ref>
Cornell, Svante E. [http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/inside/publications/1999_NK_Book.pdf ''The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict'', Uppsala: Department of East European Studies, April 1999, pp. 3–4] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418105149/http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/inside/publications/1999_NK_Book.pdf |date=2013-04-18 
}}
</ref> while still remaining under Persian domination. In the early 18th century, Persia's military genius and new ruler, [[Nadir Shah]], took Karabakh away from the [[Ganja Khanate]] to retaliate for their support of the Safavids, and placed the region directly under his own control. At the same time, the Armenian meliks were granted command over neighboring Armenian principalities and Muslim khans in the Caucasus, in return for the meliks' victories over the invading Ottoman Turks in the 1720s.<ref>
C. J. Walker, ''Armenia: Survival of a Nation'', London 1990, p. 40.
</ref><ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://vostlit.info/Texts/rus2/Bakihanov/frametext5.htm Abbas-gulu Aga Bakikhanov. Golestan-i Iram] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220125707/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus2/Bakihanov/frametext5.htm |date=February 20, 2007 }}.</ref><ref name="Adigezal">{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus14/Karabag_name/text1.phtml?id=945 Mirza Adigezal bey. Karabakh-name, p. 48] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821124203/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus14/Karabag_name/text1.phtml?id=945 |date=August 21, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="Mirza Jamal"/>

According to some historiographers of the 18th century, of those five [[melik]]s, only melik-[[House of Hasan-Jalalyan|Hasan-Jalalyans]], the rulers of Khachen, were residents of Karabakh. The melik-Beglaryans of Gulistan were native [[Utik|Utis]] from the village of [[Nij, Azerbaijan|Nij]] in [[Shirvan]]; melik-Israelyans of [[Jraberd, Martakert|Jraberd]] were descendants of the melik of [[Siunik]] to the south-east and hailed from the village of Magavuz in [[Syunik Province|Zangezur]]; melik Shahnazars of Varanda hailed from the region of Armenian [[Gegharkunik Province|Gegharkunik]] to the east and received the title of meliks from [[Shah Abbas I]] in reward for their services; Melik-Avanyans of [[Dizak]] were descendants of the meliks of [[Lori Province|Lori]], an Armenian princedom to the north-west.<ref name="meliki"/><ref name="Adigezal"/><ref name="Mirza Jamal">{{in lang|ru}} [http://zerrspiegel.orientphil.uni-halle.de/t1154.html Mirza Jamal Javanshir Karabagi. The History of Karabakh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127171633/http://zerrspiegel.orientphil.uni-halle.de/t1154.html |date=January 27, 2007 }}.</ref> Modern western scholar [[Robert Hewsen]] and [[Cyril Toumanoff]] have demonstrated that all of these meliks were descendants of the House of Khachen.<ref>[[Cyril Toumanoff|Toumanoff, Cyril]]. "{{lang|fr|Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour l'histoire de la Caucasie Chrétienne (Arménie-Géorgie-Albanie}})." ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies''. London: University of London, Vol. 41, No. 2</ref>

The idea of Armenian independence in Karabakh from Persia first arose at the end of the 17th century thanks to the meliks. Parallel with the armed struggle, Armenians of that period made diplomatic efforts, at first turning to Europe, then to Russia. Such political and war leaders as [[Israel Ori]], [[archimandrite]] Minas, the [[Catholicos]] of Gandsasar [[Yesai Jalalian]], the [[iuzbashi]]s (commanders of hundred; the ''capitans'') [[Avan Yuzbashi]] and Tarkhan became leaders of the people.

The political instability in Persia in the 18th century created a threat to its integrity. Both [[Turkey]] and [[Russia]] expected to get a share from the possible breakup of Persia, Turkey for this purpose enlisting the support of the [[Dagestan]] mountain people, Russia seeking support among Armenians and [[Georgian people|Georgian]]s.

In 1722, [[Peter the Great]]'s [[Russo-Persian War (1722–23)]] began. At the very beginning, Russian forces succeeded in occupying [[Derbent]] and [[Baku]]. Armenians, encouraged by the Russians, united with [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]] and gathered an army in the Karabakh.<ref name="Hasan">{{Cite web |url=http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus/Esai/frametext.htm |title=Yesai Hasan Jalalyan. History |access-date=September 11, 2006 |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012195442/http://vostlit.info/Texts/rus/Esai/frametext.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> However their hopes were deceived. Instead of the promised help, Peter the Great advised the Armenians of Karabakh to leave their homes and move to [[Derbent]], Baku, [[Gilan]], or  [[Mazandaran]], where Russian power had recently been established in the war. Khanates attached to Caspia, Russia signed a treaty with Turkey on July 12, 1724, giving the latter a free hand in the whole Transcaucasus as far as [[Shamakhi|Shamakha]].

That year Ottoman troops invaded. Their main victims were the Karabakh Armenian population, who, headed by meliks, rose to struggle for their independence, never having received the promised support from the Russian side. Yet, Peter the Great's march gave a new impulse to the struggle of the Armenians.

In the 1720s the host formed in Karabakh concentrated in three military camps or Skhnakhs (fortified place). The first of these, called the Great Skhnakh, was in the [[Murovdağ|Mrav Mountains]] near the [[Tartar (river)|Tartar River]]. The second, Pokr (Minor) Skhnakh, was on the slope of Mount Kirs in the province of Varanda, and the third, in the province of [[Kapan]]. Shkhnakhs, i.e. the Armenian host, possessed absolute power. They were a people's army with the council of military leaders and the Catholicos of Gandsasar also entering it and having a great influence. Proceeding from the demands of wartime, meliks shared their power with ''iuzbashis'', all of them having equal rights and obligations at the military councils. The Armenian host headed by Catholicos Yesai and the iuzbashis Avan and Tarkhan resisted the Ottoman regular army for a long time.

In 1733, the Armenians, encouraged [[Nadir Shah]] of Persia, on one special appointed day massacred all Ottoman army troops in their winter quarters in Khamsa. After that the former status of the area was restored.<ref name="Medieval_Artsach">[http://nkr.am/eng/history/drevnost.htm Artsakh from Ancient Time] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823040048/http://www.nkr.am/eng/history/drevnost.htm
|date=2006-08-23
}}
</ref><ref name="Raffi5">{{Cite web |url=http://www.armenianhouse.org/raffi/novels-ru/khamsa/meliks1_14.html |title=Raffi, VII-VIII |access-date=September 10, 2006 |archive-date=November 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125213914/http://www.armenianhouse.org/raffi/novels-ru/khamsa/meliks1_14.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In gratitude for services rendered, Nadir Shah freed the Khamsa meliks from the Ganja khans and appointed over them as ruler Avan, melik Dizak, a primary leader of the conspiracy of 1733, giving him the title of khan. However, Avan Khan soon died.<ref name="meliki"/>

==Karabakh khanate==
{{Main|Karabakh Khanate}}
[[File:Askeran fort (brighter).jpg|thumb|[[Askeran Fortress]], built by [[Panah Ali Khan]], 18th century]]
[[File:Khans Palace010.JPG|thumb|Remnants of the [[Palace of Karabakh Khans|Palace of Shusha Khans]], 18th–19th centuries]]

In 1747, [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] ruler [[Panah Ali Khan]] [[Javanshir clan|Javanshir]] from the Azeri [[Javanshir clan]], by then already a successful ''[[naib]]'' and royal {{lang|fr|gérant de maison}}, found himself displeased with [[Nader Shah]]'s attitude towards him during the latter's later years of rule, and having gathered many of those deported from Karabakh in 1736 returned to his homeland. Due to his reputation as a skillful warrior and his wealthy ancestor's legacy in Karabakh, Panah Ali proclaimed himself and was soon recognized throughout most of the region as a ruler ([[Khan (title)|khan]]). The Shah sent troops to bring back the runaways, however the order was never fulfilled: Nader Shah himself was killed in [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] in June of the same year. The new ruler of Persia, [[Adil Shah]] issued a ''[[firman]]'' (decree) recognizing Panah Ali as the Khan of Karabakh.<ref name="Adigezal"/>

Melik of [[Martuni Province|Varanda]] [[Melik Shahnazar II|Shahnazar II]], who was at odds with other meliks, was the first to accept the [[suzerainty]] of Panakh Khan. Panakh Khan founded the fortress of [[Shusha]] at a location recommended by Melik Shahnazar and made it the capital of [[Karabakh khanate]].

[[Agha Mohammad Khan]] of the [[Qajar dynasty]] reasserted firm Iranian suzerainty in the region and all of the wider [[Caucasus]] region. However, he was assassinated some years afterwards, increasing political unrest in the region.

The meliks did not wish to reconcile themselves to the new situation. They desperately hoped for the aid of the Russians and sent letters to [[Catherine II of Russia]] and her favorite, [[Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin|Grigori Potyomkin]]. Potyomkin gave orders, that "at an opportunity its (Ibrahim-khans of Shusha) area which is made of people Armenian to give in board national and thus to renew in Asia the Christian state".<ref name="Potiomkin">ЦГВИА, ф.52, оп. 2, д. 32, л.1, об. Подлинник</ref>{{clarify|reason=badly garbled translation|date=February 2022}} But khan [[Ibrahim Khalil Khan]], the son of Panakh-khan, learned of this. In 1785 he arrested the Dzraberd, Gulistan and Dizak meliks, plundered Gandzasar monastery, and imprisoned and poisoned its [[Catholicos]]. As a result of this the Khamsa melikdoms finally broke down.<ref name="meliki"/><ref name="Khamsa">[http://nkr.am/eng/history/melik.htm Artsakh's Principalities] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821195626/http://www.nkr.am/eng/history/melik.htm |date=2006-08-21 }}</ref>

[[Ibrahim Khalil Khan]], the son of Panah Ali Khan, made the Karabakh khanate a semi-independent princedom, which only nominally recognized Persian rule.<ref name="Adigezal"/>

In 1797, Karabakh suffered the invasion of armies of Persian shah [[Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar]], who had just recently dealt with his Georgian subjects in the [[Battle of Krtsanisi]]. [[Shusha]] was besieged, but Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar was killed in his tent by his own servants. In 1805 Ibrahim-khan signed the [[The Treaty of Kurakchay|Treaty of Kurakchay]] with Imperial Russia, represented by the Russian commander-in-chief in the war against [[Pavel Tsitsianov]], under which Karabakh Khanate became a [[protectorate]] of Russia and the latter undertook to maintain Ibrahim-Khalil Khan and his descendants as the ruling dynasty of Karabakh. However the following year Ibrahim-Khalil was killed by the Russian commandant of Shusha, who suspected that the khan was trying to flee to Persia. Russia appointed Ibrahim-Khalil's son Mekhti-Gulu as his successor.

In 1813, the Karabakh Khanate, Georgia, and Dagestan became possessions of [[Imperial Russia]] by the [[Treaty of Gulistan]] in 1813, then the rest of [[Transcaucasia]] became part of the Empire in 1828 under the [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]], following two [[Russo-Persian Wars]] in the 19th century. In 1822, Mekhti-khan escaped to Persia, and returned in 1826 with Persian armies to invade Karabakh. But they could not take Shusha, fiercely defended by Russians and Armenians, and were expulsed by the Russian general [[Valerian Madatov]], himself an Armenian from Karabakh by origin. The Karabakh Khanate was dissolved, and the area became part of the Caspian oblast, and then of the [[Elisabethpol Governorate|Elizavetpol governorate]] within the [[Russian Empire]].

==Russian rule==
[[File:Ghazanchetsots Double Rainbow.jpg|thumb|290px|Construction of the [[Ghazanchetsots Cathedral]] in Shushi was completed in 1887.]]

The [[Russian Empire]] annexed the Karabakh Khanate in 1806 and consolidated its power over the area following the [[Treaty of Gulistan]] in 1813 and [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]] of 1828. Following two [[Russo-Persian Wars|Russo-Persian wars]], Persia recognized the Karabakh Khanate and many other khanates as part of the [[Russian Empire]].

Russia dissolved the Karabakh khanate in 1822. A survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823, a year later, and several years before the 1828 Armenian migration from Persia to the newly established Armenian Province, shows that all Armenians of Karabakh compactly resided in its highland portion, i.e. on the territory of the five traditional Armenian principalities, and constituted an absolute demographic majority on those lands. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the district of [[Khachen]] had twelve Armenian villages and no Tatar (Muslim) villages; Jalapert ([[Jraberd, Martakert|Jraberd]]) had eight Armenian villages and no Tatar villages; [[Dizak]] had fourteen Armenian villages and one Tatar village; [[Gülüstan, Goranboy|Gulistan]] had two Armenian and five Tatar villages; and [[Martuni Province|Varanda]] had twenty-three Armenian villages and one Tatar village.<ref>"Description of the Karabakh province prepared in 1823 according to the order of the governor in Georgia Yermolov by state advisor Mogilevsky and colonel Yermolov 2nd" (''"Opisaniye Karabakhskoy provincii sostavlennoye v 1823 g po rasporyazheniyu glavnoupravlyayushego v Gruzii Yermolova deystvitelnim statskim sovetnikom Mogilevskim i polkovnikom Yermolovim 2-m"'' in Russian), Tbilisi, 1866.</ref><ref>Bournoutian, George A. ''A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-E Qarabagh''. Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1994, page 18</ref> Only 222 Armenians migrated to lands that were part of the Karabakh province in 1840.<ref name="migration">Исмаил-заде, Деляра Ибрагим-кызы. Население городов Закавказского края в XIX – первой половине ХХ века. М., «Наука», 1991</ref>

During the 19th century, [[Shusha]] became one of the most significant cities of Transcaucasia. By 1900 Susha was the fifth city by size of Transcaucasia; it had a theatre, printing houses, etc.; manufacture of carpets and trade were especially developed, having been there for a long time. According to the first Russian-held census of 1823, conducted by Russian officials Yermolov and Mogilevsky, Shusha had 1,111 (72.5%) Azerbaijani families and 421 (27.5%) Armenian families. The census of 1897 showed 25,656 inhabitants, 56.5% of them Armenian and 43.2% Azerbaijani.<ref name="Susha">[http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/007/117/117444.htm "Shusha"]. ''Brokhaus and Efron Ecyclopaedia'', 1899.{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

During the first Russian revolution in 1905, bloody armed clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis took place in the fields.

==October Revolution, 1917==
[[File:Azerbaijani woman from Shusha in silk national garments.jpg|thumb|150px|Azeri woman from Shusha in traditional garments.]]
The [[Russian Provisional Government]] established after the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]] lasted only until the Bolshevik revolution but [[Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929)|Grand Duke Nicholas]] and the [[Special Transcaucasian Committee]] ({{lang|ru|особый Закавказский Комитет (ОЗАКОМ)}}, ''osobyy Zakavkazskiy Komitet'' (OZAKOM)) established the [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic]], of which Karabakh became a part.

Following the [[October Revolution]], a government of the local [[Soviet (council)|Soviet]], led by ethnic Armenian [[Stepan Shaumyan]], was established in [[Baku]]: the [[26 Baku Commissars|National Council of Baku]] (November 1917 – July 31, 1918).

The Armenians, under Russian control, held a national congress in October 1917. The convention in [[Tiflis]], with delegates from the former [[House of Romanov]], ended in September 1917. The Muslim [[Azerbaijani National Council|National Councils]] (MNC) passed a law to organize defense and devised a local control and administrative structure for Transcaucasia. The Council also selected a 15-member permanent executive committee, known as the [[Azerbaijani National Council]].

==1918-1921 Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute==
Through 1918-1919, [[Nagorno-Karabakh|Mountainous Karabakh]] was under the de facto administration of the local Armenian [[Karabakh Council]], supported by the region's overwhelmingly Armenian population. Azerbaijan tried several times to assert authority over the region. The British governor of [[Baku]], [[William Montgomerie Thomson|Lieutenant General Thomson]], appointed [[Khosrov bey Sultanov|Dr. Khosrov bey Sultanov]] governor-general of Karabakh and [[Zangezur Uyezd|Zangezur]], intending to annex Karabakh into Azerbaijan.<ref>
{{Cite book
|last=Swietochowski
|first=Tadeusz
|title=Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition
|year=1995
|location=New York
|pages=76
}}
</ref> In 1919, under threat of extermination (demonstrated by the [[Khaibalikend massacre]]), the Karabakh Council agreed under duress to provisionally recognize and submit to Azerbaijani jurisdiction until its status could be decided at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919.<ref>
{{Cite book
|last=Sbornik dokumentov i materialov
|title=Nagorny Karabakh 1918—1923
|year=1992
|location=Yerevan
|pages=323–326
}}
</ref>

===Independent states, May 1918===
In May 1918 the Transcaucasian Republuc dissolved into separate states:
*[[Democratic Republic of Armenia]]
*[[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] 
*[[Georgian Democratic Republic]]

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan claimed Mountainous Karabakh and had strong rationales for doing so.

Armenia regarded Mountainous Karabakh as its natural frontier, the easternmost part of the [[Armenian highlands|Armenian Plateau]], sharply contrasted with the Azerbaijani steppes to the east, so losing Karabakh would destroy the physical unity of Armenia. Armenia also appealed to the historical ties of Karabakh to Armenia as the last stronghold of Armenian statehood and the cradle of Armenian nationalism in the modern era. Armenians constituted a majority in the mountainous parts of Karabakh. Strategically Armenia considered Karabakh a barrier between Azerbaijan and Turkey.<ref>Richard G. Hovannisian. The Republic of Armenia, Volume I: 1918-1919. — London: University of California Press, 1971, pp. 80-81</ref>

Similarly, Azerbaijan appealed to history, as despite having had some degree of autonomy, Mountainous Karabakh had been part of the Muslim khanates of [[Ganja Khanate|Ganja]] and Karabakh. Demographically Azeri constituted a majority in seven of eight [[uyezd]]s of Elisabethpol guberniia and even in the heart of Mountainous Karabakh, Muslim Azeris and Kurds formed a considerable minority. Thus, carving out pockets of Christians and adding them to Armenia seemed unjust to Azerbaijan, illogical and deleterious to the welfare of all concerned. Azerbaijan did not see the steppes and mountains of Karabakh as separate, since tens of thousands of Azeri nomads circulated between them and if Highland and Lowland Karabakh were separated, these nomads would face certain ruin. Though never counted in the census, these nomads regarded Karabakh as their homeland.<ref>
Yamskov, A. N. "Ethnic Conflict in the Transcausasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh," Special Issue on Ethnic Conflict in the Soviet Union for the Theory and Society 20 (October 1991), pp. 649-650.
</ref> Strategically Mountainous Karabakh was important to Azerbaijan as well, since control of any other power over it would leave Azerbaijan very vulnerable. Economically Karabakh was tied to Azerbaijan, with almost every major road going eastward to Baku, not westward to [[Yerevan]].<ref>
Richard G. Hovannisian. The Republic of Armenia, Volume I: 1918-1919. — London: University of California Press, 1971, pp. 81-82
</ref>

===Ethnic and religious tension, March 1918===
{{See also|March Days}}
In March 1918, ethnic and religious tension grew and Armenian-Azeri conflict began in [[Baku]]. The [[Bolsheviks]] and their allies accused the [[Musavat]] and [[Ittihad]] parties of [[Pan-Turkism]]. Armenian and Muslim militia engaged in armed confrontation, with the formally neutral Bolsheviks tacitly supporting the Armenians. As a result, between 3,000 and 12,000 Azerbaijanis and other Muslims were killed in what became known as the [[March Days]].<ref name="Transcaucasia">
[[Firuz Kazemzadeh]], Ph. D. ''The Struggle For Transcaucasia: 1917–1921''. {{ISBN|0-8305-0076-6}}
</ref><ref name="Smith">
{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_004.htm Michael Smith. Azerbaijan and Russia: Society and State: Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani National Memory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310011358/http://www.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_004.htm |date=2011-03-10 }}
</ref><ref name="hrw">[http://hrw.org/reports/1995/communal/ "Playing the 'Communal Card': Communal Violence and Human Rights"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011042435/http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/communal/ |date=October 11, 2012 }}. Human Rights Watch.</ref> Muslims were expelled from Baku, or went underground. At the same time the [[26 Baku Commissars|Baku Commune]] engaged in heavy fighting with the advancing Ottoman Caucasian [[Ottoman Army of Islam|Army of Islam]] in and around Ganja. Major battles occurred in [[Yevlakh]] and [[Agdash, Azerbaijan|Agdash]], where the Turks routed and defeated [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Dashnak]] and Russian Bolshevik forces.

The government of Azerbaijan declared the annexation of Karabakh into the newly established [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] of Baku and Yelizavetpol Gubernias. However, Nagorno-Karabakh and [[Zangezur]] refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the Azerbaijani Republic. The two Armenian [[uyezd]] (district) councils took power, organised and headed the struggle against Azerbaijan.

===Armenian "People's Government", July 1918===
{{See also|Armenian National Council of Karabagh}}
On July 22, 1918, the First Congress of the Armenians of Karabakh convened and declared the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nkr.am/en/azerbaijan-karabakh-conflict-history |title=Karabakh: 1918-1921 |author=Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Artsakh |access-date=February 13, 2022 |archive-date=February 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213073154/http://www.nkr.am/en/azerbaijan-karabakh-conflict-history |url-status=live }}</ref> elected the [[Armenian National Council of Karabagh|National Council]] and the people's government.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} The People's Government of Karabakh had five administrators:
* Foreign and internal affairs – [[Yeghishe Ishkhanian]]
* Military affairs – Harutiun Toumanian
* Communications – Martiros Aivazian
* Finances – Movses Ter-Astvatsatrian
* Agronomy and justice – Arshavir Kamalyan
The prime minister of the government was Yeghishe Ishkhanian, the secretary, Melikset Yesayan. The government published the newspaper "Westnik Karabakha".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.karabagh.am/Glossari/31glossa13N.htm |title=глоссарий Н |access-date=October 1, 2006 |archive-date=March 7, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307132027/http://www.karabagh.am/Glossari/31glossa13N.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In September, at the 2nd Congress of the Armenians of Karabakh, the People's Government was renamed the Armenian National Council of Karabakh.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} In essence, however, its structure remained the same:

# Justice Department – Commissar [[Arso Hovhannisian]], Levon Vardapetian
# Military Department – Harutiun Tumian (Tumanian)
# Department of Education – Rouben Shahnazarian
# Refugees Department – Moushegh Zakharian
# Control Department – Anoush Ter-Mikaelian
# Department of Foreign Affairs – Ashot Melik-Hovsepian.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.karabagh.am/eng/Glossari/31glossa1A.htm |title=In Alphabetic Order A |access-date=October 1, 2006 |archive-date=August 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140807220031/http://www.karabagh.am/eng/Glossari/31glossa1A.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.karabagh.am/eng/Glossari/31glossa16R.htm |title=In Alphabetic Order P |access-date=October 1, 2006 |archive-date=November 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103235307/http://www.karabagh.am/eng/Glossari/31glossa16R.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On July 24, the Declaration of the People's government of Karabakh was adopted, which set forth the objectives of the newly established state power.<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p. 13, Document №8.</ref>

===Armistice of Mudros, October 1918===
{{See also|Armistice of Mudros}}
On October 31, 1918, the Ottoman Empire admitted defeat in World War I, and its troops retreated from Transcaucasia. British forces replaced them in December and took the area under their control.

===British mission===
The government of Azerbaijan tried to capture Nagorno-Karabakh with the help of the British. The new borders of Transcaucasia could not be defined without the agreement of Great Britain. Stating that the fate of the disputed territories must be solved at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference of 1919]], the British command in reality did everything to incorporate Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan long before that. Establishing full control over the export of Baku oil, the British sought the secession of Transcaucasia from Russia; Azerbaijan, it was supposed, was to play a role of an advance post of the West in the South Caucasus and to create a barrier to the sovietization of the region.

The policy of the Allied powers on Transcaucasia had a pro-Azerbaijani bent. The Karabakhian problem was dragged out, on the calculation that the military-political situation would become favourable to Azerbaijan, with a change in the ethnic structure of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On January 15, 1919, the Azerbaijani government, with "the knowledge of the British command" appointed [[Khosrov bey Sultanov]] governor-general of Nagorno-Karabakh, simultaneously giving an ultimatum to the Karabakhian National Council to recognize the power of Azerbaijan. On February 19, 1919, the 4th Congress of the Armenian population of Karabakh convened in Shushi, and decisively rejected this ultimatum and protested the appointment of Sultanov as governor-general. The resolution adopted by the congress said: "Insisting on the principle of the self-determination of a people, the Armenian population of Karabakh respects the right of the neighbouring Turkish people to self-determination and, together with this, decisively protests against the attempts of the Azerbaijani government to eliminate this principle in relation to Nagorno-Karabakh, which never will concede to Azerbaijani power over it".<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p.79, Document №49.</ref>

In the connection with the appointment of Sultanov the British mission came out with an official notification, which stated, that "by the British command's consent Dr. Khosrov Bek Sultanov is appointed provisional governor of Zangezur, Shusha, Jivanshir and Jebrail useds [sic]. The British Mission finds it necessary to confirm that belonging of the mentioned districts to one or another unit must be solved at a Peace Conference".<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p. 62, Document №38.</ref>{{clarify|reason=appears to have been translated from Rnglush to Russian then from Russian to English; since this would originally have been an English-language document, we should quote the original, which will definitely be less stilted|date=February 2022}}

The National Council of Karabakh answered: {{blockquote|The National Council of the Armenians of Karabakh with its full complement, in common with the commanders of all the districts of Karabakh, having discussed the appointment of a general-governor by the government of Azerbaijan, came to the conclusion that Armenian Karabakh cannot accept this, as the Armenian people of Karabakh consider dependence on the government of Azerbaijan, in whatever form it might be, unacceptable due to the violence and violations of rights which the Armenian people has been systematically subjected to by the Azerbaijani government until recently ... Armenian Karabakh showed the whole world that it in fact did not recognize and does not recognize within its borders the power of the Azerbaijani government ... Since the British command recognizes Armenian Karabakh as a territory that is not subordinated to any state prior to the solution of the Peace Conference, therefore and in particular with respect to Azerbaijan, the National Council considers the appointment of a British general-governor the only acceptable form for the government of the Armenian Karabakh, and it asks the mission to solicit the Supreme English Command".<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p. 73 Document №46.</ref> }}

However in spite of the Karabakhi protests the British continued to assist and support the Azerbaijani government to incorporate Armenian Karabakh into Azerbaijan. The British troops' commander in Baku, Colonel [[Digby Shuttleworth]] stated to the Karabakhian people: {{blockquote|I warn that any excesses against Azerbaijan and its general-governor are carried out against England. We are strong enough to force you to obey".<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p.137 Document №84.</ref>{{clarify|reason=determine who said this and the exact words used|date=February 2022}}}}

===Shusha, April 1919===
Unable to force Nagorno-Karabakh to its knees by threats or force, Schatelwort personally arrived in Shusha late in April 1919 to compel the National Council of Karabakh to recognize the power of Azerbaijan. On April 23 in Shusha, the Fifth Congress convened, and rejected Schatelwort's demands. The congress declared that {{blockquote|"Azerbaijan has always acted as the helper and the accomplice in the atrocities carried out by Turkey concerning Armenians in general and Karabakhs of Armenians in particular."}}

It accused Azerbaijan of robbery, murder and hunting down Armenians on the roads, and said that it "aspire(d) to destroy Armenians as a unique cultural element, gravitating not to the East, but to Europe". Therefore, the resolution declared, any program having any attachment to Azerbaijan was unacceptable to Armenians.<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, pp.162–164 Document №105.</ref>

Rejected by the Fifth Congress, Sultanov decided to subordinate Nagorno-Karabakh by force. Almost the entire army of Azerbaijan gathered at the Nagorno-Karabakh borders. At the beginning of June Sultanov tried to blockade the Armenian quarters of Shusha, attacked Armenian positions, and organized pogroms in order Armenian villages. Nomads under the leadership of Sultanov's brother completely massacred the villagers of Gayballu, 580 Armenians total.<ref>"Кавказское слово", 17.06.1919</ref><ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, рр. 259, 273, Documents №№172, 180</ref> English troops withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh to give the Azerbaijani troops a free hand.

The Sixth Congress of Karbaghi Armenians, which representatives of the English Mission and Azerbaijani government attended, was to discuss relations between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan prior to the Peace Conference in Paris. However the English mission and the government of Azerbaijan arrived at the Congress after it had finished its work and negotiations did not take place. To find out whether Nagorno-Karabgh would be able to defend its independence in case of war, the Congress established a commission which came to the conclusion that the Karabakhians could not. Therefore the Congress, under the threat of armed assault from Azerbaijan, felt compelled to start negotiations.

===Peace conference, August 1919===
{{See also|Paris Peace Conference, 1919}}
Eager to gain time to gather its forces, the Congress convened on August 13, 1919 and concluded an agreement on August 22, under which Nagorno-Karabgh considered itself within the borders of the Azerbaijani Republic pending the solution of the problem at the Peace Conference in Paris. However the Azerbaijani armies were in peacetime status. Azerbaijan cannot enter into area of an army without the permission of National Council. Disarmament of the population stopped until the  peace conference.<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, pp.323–326 Document №214.</ref>

In February, Azerbaijan started to focus around Karabakh military and irregular groups. The Karabakh Armenians declared that Sultanov had “organized large gangs of Tatars, Kurds, prepare(d) grandiose massacre of Armenians (…) On roads kill travellers, rape women, steal the cattle. Proclaimed the economic blockade of Karabakh. Sultanov had demanded the entry of garrisons into the heart of Armenian Karabakh: Varanda, Dzraberd, and broken the agreement of VII Congress".<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p.256 Document №376.</ref>

===1920–1921===
{{cleanup section|reason=very poor language|date=November 2012}}
On February 19, 1920, Sultanov demanded that the National Council of the Karabakhi Armenians "urgently ... solve the question of the final incorporation of Karabakh into Azerbaijan".<ref name=autogenerated2>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p.257 Document №378.</ref>

The Eighth Congress of Karabakhi Armenians from February 23 to March 4, 1920 rejected Sultanov's demand. The Congress accused Sultanov of numerous infringements of the peace agreement, entry of armies into Karabakh without the permission of the National Council and  organizing murders of Armenians, in particular the massacre on February 22 in [[Stepanakert|Khankendy]], Askeran and on the Shusha-Evlakh road.<ref>Нагорный Карабах в 1918–1923 гг.: сборник документов и материалов. Ереван, 1992, p.257 Document №380.</ref>

However, in all these events, the aspirations and wishes of the Azerbaijani population of Karabakh were continuously violated by Armenian inhabitants "who had no right to represent in its Congress the will of the entire population of the region"<ref name=autogenerated2 />

In accordance with the decision of the Congress the diplomatic and military representatives of the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]], or Entente states, three Transcaucasian republics and the provisional governor-general were informed that "the repetition of these events will compel the Armenians of Nagorno- Karabakh to turn to the appropriate means for defense."<ref name=autogenerated3>{{Cite web |url=http://www.armenian-history.com/Karabakh/Karabakh-Artsakh-in-1918-1920.htm |title=Artsakh in 1918–1920 |access-date=May 24, 2014 |archive-date=May 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525200952/http://www.armenian-history.com/Karabakh/Karabakh-Artsakh-in-1918-1920.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nesl.edu/center/pubs/nagorno.pdf |title="Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis", Public International Law and Policy Group and the New England Center for International Law and Policy |access-date=July 19, 2006 |archive-date=September 2, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000902231650/http://www.nesl.edu/center/pubs/nagorno.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>
Tim Potier. ''Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia: A Legal Appraisal'' {{ISBN|90-411-1477-7}}
</ref><ref>
Cornell, Svante E. [http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/inside/publications/1999_NK_Book.pdf "The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, Uppsala": Department of East European Studies, April 1999] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418105149/http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/inside/publications/1999_NK_Book.pdf |date=2013-04-18 
}}
</ref>

===Nagorno-Karabakh war 1920===
{{Rough translation|3=section|date=August 2022}}
[[File:Shusha.jpg|299px|thumb|Ruins of the Armenian quarters of [[Shusha]] after being burned down by Tatars in March 1920]]

In March–April 1920 there was a short war between Azerbaijan and Armenia for Nagorno-Karabakh. It began on March 22 ([[Nowruz]]), when Armenian forces broke the armistice and unexpectedly attacked Atskeran and [[Khankendi]]. The Armenians assumed that the Azerbaijanians would be celebrating Nowruz and therefore would not be prepared to defend themselves, but their attack on the Azerbaijan garrison in [[Shusha]] failed because of poor coordination.

In response Azerbaijanis burned down the Armenian part of Shusha and massacred its population.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chorbajian|first=Levon|title=The Caucasian Knot: The History & Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh|year=1994|publisher=Zed Books|location=London|isbn=9781856492881|page=141|quote=The city of Shushi, formerly the third largest city in Transcaucasia, saw its Armenian population decimated by the massacre of March 1920.}}</ref><ref>{{in lang|ru}} 
A. Zubov, 
[http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2000/4/zubov.html Политическое будущее Кавказа: опыт ретроспективно-сравнительного анализа (Political future of the Caucasus)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325165846/http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2000/4/zubov.html |date=March 25, 2019 }},
"Znamiya" journal, 2000, #4 
"Британская администрация почему-то передала населенные армянами уезды Елизаветпольской губернии под юрисдикцию Азербайджана. Британский администратор Карабаха полковник Шательворт не препятствовал притеснениям армян, чинимым татарской администрацией губернатора Салтанова. Межнациональные трения завершились страшной резней, в которой погибла большая часть армян города Шуши. Бакинский парламент отказался даже осудить свершителей Шушинской резни, и в Карабахе вспыхнула война." 
<br /> 
"The British administrator of Karabakh, Colonel D.I. Shuttleworth, did not interfere with the discrimination against Armenians by [[Tatar]]ian administration of governor Saltanov. The national clashes ended by the terrible massacres in which the most of Armenians in Shusha town perished. The Parliament in [[Baku]] refused to even condemn those who carried out the massacres in Shusha and the war began in Karabakh."</ref> "The most beautiful Armenian city has been destroyed, crushed to its foundations; we have seen corpses of women and children in wells", recollected Soviet communist leader [[Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze]].<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.nkr.am/rus/mid/bull/text1_00.htm Бюллетень МИД НКР] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051027061822/http://www.nkr.am/rus/mid/bull/text1_00.htm |date=2005-10-27 }}</ref>

[[File:Armenian boroughs of city of Shusha destroyed by Azerbaijani armed forces in 1920 with defiled cathedral of Holy Savior on background.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Aftermath of the [[Shusha massacre]] of the city's Armenian population: Armenian half of Shusha destroyed by Azerbaijani armed forces in 1920, with the defiled [[Ghazanchetsots Cathedral|Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Savior]] on the background.]]

The [[Shusha massacre|massacre and expulsion]] of [[Shusha|Shushi]]'s majority Armenian population was the largest escalation of the conflict to date.<ref>"The British administrator of Karabakh Col. Chatelword did not prevent discrimination against Armenians by the Tatar administration of Gov. Saltanov. The ethnic clashes ended with terrible massacres in which most Armenians in Shusha town perished. The Parliament in Baku refused to even condemn those responsible for the massacres in Shusha and war began in Karabakh.” A. Zubov (in Russian) А.Зубов Политическое будущее Кавказа: опыт ретроспективно-сравнительного анализа, журнал "Знамья", 2000, #4, http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2000/4/zubov.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325165846/http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2000/4/zubov.html |date=March 25, 2019 }}</ref><ref>
"massacre of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh's capital, Shushi (called Shusha by the Azerbaijanis)", Kalli Raptis, "Nagorno-Karabakh and the Eurasian Transport Corridor", https://web.archive.org/web/20110716225801/http://www.eliamep.gr/eliamep/files/op9803.PDF
</ref><ref>"A month ago after the massacres of Shushi, on 19 April 1920, prime-ministers of England, France and Italy with participation of the representatives of Japan and USA collected in San-Remo..." [[Giovanni Guaita]] (in Russian) Джованни ГУАЙТА, Армения между кемалистским молотом и большевистской наковальней // «ГРАЖДАНИН», M., # 4, 2004 http://www.grazhdanin.com/grazhdanin.phtml?var=Vipuski/2004/4/statya17&number=%B94 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006191602/http://www.grazhdanin.com/grazhdanin.phtml?var=Vipuski%2F2004%2F4%2Fstatya17&number=%B94|date=October 6, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{citation
|last=Verluise
|first=Pierre
|title=Armenia in Crisis: The 1988 Earthquake
|date=April 1991
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4kQUU_bpOsC
|page=6
|publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]]
|isbn=0814325270
|author-link=Pierre Verluise
|access-date=February 13, 2022
|archive-date=January 13, 2023
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113133929/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4kQUU_bpOsC
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Armenian sources give different numbers for Armenian casualties, from 500 persons in R. Hovannisian
<ref>Richard G. Hovannisian. ''The Republic of Armenia'', Vol. III: ''From London to Sèvres, February–August 1920''
</ref> to 35,000; most say 20–30 thousand. Estimates for the number of the burned homes ranged  from R. Hovannisian's two thousand to the more usual figure of seven thousand.<ref>[http://www.arikah.net/encyclopedia/Shusha Shusha – Encyclopedia, History, Geography and Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20071010050312/http://www.arikah.net/encyclopedia/Shusha |date=2007-10-10 }}
</ref> According to the Greater Soviet Encyclopedia, 20% of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh was lost in the fighting. That amounts to 30,000, mostly Armenians, who were 94% of the population of the area.<ref>Большая Советская Энциклопедия. изд.1. т.41 М., 1939, стр. 191, ст. "Нагорно-Карабахская Автономная Область"
</ref><ref>
De Waal, Thomas. Black Garden: ''Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War''. New York: New York University Press, 2003. p. 130. {{ISBN|0-8147-1945-7}}
</ref>

The Paris Peace Conference did not resolve the Transcaucasian territorial disputes, so Armenia decided to liberate Karabakh from Azerbaijan. An uprising in Karabakh, timed to coincide with Azerbaijani [[Nowruz|Novruz]] celebrations, failed due to poor coordination. Azerbaijani garrisons remained in Shushi and neighboring [[Stepanakert|Khankend]], and a pogrom followed in Shusha. Azerbaijani soldiers and residents burned and looted half of the city, murdering, raping and expelling its Armenian inhabitants.

After the uprising, the Armenian government ordered its forces under [[Garegin Nzhdeh]] and [[Drastamat Kanayan|Dro Kanayan]] to help the Karabakh rebels, and Azerbaijan moved its army west to crush the Armenian resistance and cut off any reinforcements, despite the threat of the approaching [[11th Army (RSFSR)|11th Red Army]] of [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Bolshevik Russia]] from the north.<ref>{{Cite book
|last=Leeuw
|first=Charles van der
|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39538940
|title=Azerbaijan: a quest for identity, a short history
|date=2000
|publisher=St. Martin's Press
|isbn=0-312-21903-2
|location=New York
|pages=120
|oclc=39538940
|access-date=February 13, 2022
|archive-date=January 13, 2023
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113131931/https://www.worldcat.org/title/39538940
|url-status=live
}}</ref> By [[Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan's Sovietization]] barely a month after the uprising began, Azerbaijani forces were able to maintain control over the central cities of Karabakh, Shusha and Khankend, whilst its immediate surroundings were in the control of local partisans and Armenian army reinforcements.<ref>{{Cite book
|last=Kazemzadeh
|first=Firuz
|url=https://www.world-cat.org/oclc/303046844
|title=The struggle for Transcaucasia (1917-1921)
|date=2008
|publisher=Anglo Caspian Press
|isbn=978-0-9560004-0-8
|edition=[New ed.]
|location=London
|pages=274
|oclc=303046844
}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Since the Armenian government had explicitly ordered Dro not to engage the Red Army, he was unable to capture Shusha, where the Red Army had replaced its Azerbaijani defenders. Eventually the Bolshevik army overwhelmed the Armenian army detachments and drove them from the region. The fears of the Armenians of Karabakh were alleviated by virtue of returning to the stability of Russian control.<ref>
{{Cite book
|last=Kadishev
|first=A.B.
|title=Interventsia I Grazhdanskaja Vojna v Zakavkazje
|year=1961
|location=Moscow
|pages=196–200
}}
</ref>

===Armenian declaration, April 1920===
In April 1920, the Ninth Congress of the Karabakhi Armenians was held and proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh part of Armenia. The concluding document reads:

# "To consider the agreement, which was concluded with the government of Azerbaijan on behalf of the Seventh Congress of Karabakh, violated by the latter, in view of the organized attack of Azerbaijani troops on the civilian Armenian population in Shusha and villages.
# To proclaim the joining of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia as an essential part of Armenia".<ref name=autogenerated3 />

But, with the direct intervention of Russian troops, Azerbaijan regained control of the area.

==Soviet era, 1921–1991==
{{POV|date=October 2014}}
[[File:Nagorno Karabakh03.png|thumb|right|299px|Map of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast with main cities shown]]
[[File:Red kurdistan 1923 1929.png|thumb|right|299px|Map of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and Kurdistani District in 1930]]

On July 4, 1921, the Plenum of the Caucasian Bureau of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] voted to integrate Karabakh into Armenia. However, the next day, July 5, 1921, [[Joseph Stalin]] intervened to keep Karabakh in Soviet Azerbaijan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/21502327/armenia-azerbaijan-nagorno-karabakh-war-explained |title=The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, explained: Turkey is making the deadly situation much worse. Alex Ward, October 7, 2020. Vox. |date=October 7, 2020 |access-date=February 14, 2022 |archive-date=October 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012014552/https://www.vox.com/21502327/armenia-azerbaijan-nagorno-karabakh-war-explained |url-status=live }}</ref> This decision was taken without local deliberation or plebiscite.<ref>{{cite book|first=Charlotte Mathilde Louise|last=Hille|title=State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxFP6K8iZzQC&pg=PA168|year=2010|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17901-1|page=168|access-date=August 26, 2016|archive-date=January 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113133930/https://books.google.com/books?id=yxFP6K8iZzQC&pg=PA168|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://poli.vub.ac.be/publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0102.htm |title=Contested Borders in the Caucasus : Chapter I (2/4) |publisher=Poli.vub.ac.be |access-date=2017-11-16 |archive-date=March 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314211252/http://poli.vub.ac.be/publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0102.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[[Robert Service (historian)|Service, Robert]]. ''Stalin: A Biography''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006 p. 204 {{ISBN|0-674-02258-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Тарасов |first1=Станислав |title=Станислав Тарасов: Как Сталин "сдал" Карабах Азербайджану |url=https://regnum.ru/news/polit/1432940.html |access-date=October 6, 2020 |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507124857/https://regnum.ru/news/polit/1432940.html |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, the [[Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast]] (NKAO) was established within the [[Azerbaijan SSR]] in 1923. Most of the decisions on the transfer of the territories, and the establishment of new autonomous entities, were made under pressure from Stalin. Armenians still blame him for this decision, made against their national interests.

{{Blockquote|"The Soviet Union created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region within Azerbaijan in 1924 when over 94 percent of the region's population was Armenian. (The term Nagorno-Karabakh originates from the Russian for "mountainous Karabakh.") As the Azerbaijani population grew, the Karabakh Armenians chafed under the discriminatory rule, and by 1960 hostilities had begun between the two populations of the region."|Azerbaijan, A Country Study. {{ISBN|1-4191-0862-X}}|''[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/aztoc.html US Library of Congress Federal Research Division]''}}

For 65 years of the NKAO's existence, the Karabakh Armenians felt they were restricted by Azerbaijan. Armenian discontent stemmed from Azerbaijan severing ties between the oblast and Armenia and pursuing a policy of cultural de-Armenization, planned Azeri settlement, squeezing the Armenian population out of the NKAO and neglecting its economic needs.<ref name="zverev">Alexei Zverev. [http://poli.vub.ac.be/publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0102.htm "Contested borders in the Caucasus"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314211252/http://poli.vub.ac.be/publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0102.htm |date=March 14, 2011 }}</ref> The census of 1979 showed 162,200 inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, of whom 123,100 Armenians (75.9%) and 37,300 Azerbaijani (22.9%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.starovoitova.ru/rus/texts/06/books/nas_samoopr/04.htm |title=starovoitova.ru/rus/texts/06/books/nas_samoopr |access-date=October 1, 2006 |archive-date=October 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005232929/http://www.starovoitova.ru/rus/texts/06/books/nas_samoopr/04.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Armenians compared this to the data from 1923 — 94% Armenian. In addition they noted that "as of 1980 in Nagorno-Karabakh 85 Armenian villages (30%) have been liquidated and no Azerbaijani villages at all."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.utro.ru/articles/2006/07/04/562296.shtml |title=ПОЛИТИКА: Нагорный Карабах готов к диалогу |date=July 4, 2006 |access-date=March 31, 2016 |archive-date=April 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414154143/http://www.utro.ru/articles/2006/07/04/562296.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Armenians also accused the government of Azerbaijan of a “purposeful policy of discrimination and replacement". They believed that Baku's plan was to supersede absolutely all Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.
    
Azerbaijani residents of the NKAO, meanwhile, complained of discrimination by the Armenian majority of the autonomous oblast and of economic marginalization.<ref>De Waal, Thomas. Black garden: ''Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War''. New York: New York University Press, 2003. p. 141. {{ISBN|0-8147-1945-7}}</ref> Thomas De Waal in his ‘’Black Garden’’ points out that NKAO was economically worse off than Armenia SSR. However, he noted elsewhere, economically Azerbaijan SSR overall had the most poverty in the South Caucasus. Nevertheless, NKAO's economic indicators were better than Azerbaijan's as a whole, a possible motivation for Karabakh Armenians to join Armenia SSR.<ref>De Waal, Thomas. Black Garden: ''Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War''. New York: New York University Press, 2003. p. 139. {{ISBN|0-8147-1945-7}}</ref>
When the dissolution of the Soviet Union began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the question of Nagorno-Karabakh re-emerged. On February 20, 1988, the Oblast Soviet of the NKAO weighed up the results of an unofficial referendum on the reattachment of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, held in the form of a petition signed by 80,000 people. On the basis of that referendum, the Oblast Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh adopted appeals to the Supreme Soviets of the USSR, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, asking them to authorize the secession of Karabakh from Azerbaijan and its attachment to Armenia.<ref name="zverev" />

It caused indignation among the neighboring Azerbaijan population, which began to gather in crowds to go and "put things in order" in Nagorno-Karabakh. On February 24, 1988, a direct confrontation occurred on the border of Nagorno-Karabakh near [[Askeran]], on the road between [[Khankendi|Stepanakert]] and [[Aghdam]]. It degenerated into a skirmish. These clashes left about 50 Armenians wounded, and a local policeman, according to information from International Historical-enlightenment Human rights Society – Memorial,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/karabah/getashen/chapter1.htm |title=Хронология конфликта |access-date=June 9, 2006 |archive-date=March 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305185925/http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/karabah/getashen/chapter1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> an Azeri, shot and killed two Azerbaijanis – Bakhtiyar Guliyev, 16, and Ali Hajiyev, 23. On February 27, 1988, while speaking on Central [[TV]], the USSR Deputy Prosecutor General A. Katusev mentioned the nationality of those killed. Within hours, a [[pogrom]] against Armenian residents began in the city of [[Sumgait]], 25&nbsp;km north of Baku, where many Azerbaijani refugees resided. The pogrom lasted for three days. The exact mortality is disputed. The official investigation reported 32 deaths – six Azerbaijanis and 26 Armenians,<ref name="coereport">[http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc04/EDOC10364APPENDIX.PDF The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623092802/http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc04/EDOC10364APPENDIX.pdf |date=2006-06-23 }}</ref> while the US [[Library of Congress]] put the number of Armenian victims at over 100.<ref name="loc_nk">{{Cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/azerbaijan/13.htm |title=United States Library of Congress Country Report on Azerbaijan, "The Issue of Nagorno-Karabakh" |access-date=June 9, 2006 |archive-date=September 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927122946/http://countrystudies.us/azerbaijan/13.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

A similar attack on Azerbaijanis occurred in the Armenian towns of [[Spitak]],<ref name="loc_nk" /> and [[Gugark (village)|Gugark]], during the [[Gugark pogrom]]<ref name="trud">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060219065610/http://www.trud.ru/Arhiv/2001/02/01/200102010200801.htm Trud. 10 points at Politburo scale] February 1, 2001 (in [[Russian language|Russian]])</ref> and others. Azerbaijani sources put the number of Azerbaijanis killed in clashes in Armenia at 216 total, including 57 women, five infants and 18 children of different ages.<ref name="zverev" /> The KGB of Armenia, however, said that it had tracked the people from the Azerbaijani list-of-dead and that the majority of them had previously died, were living in other regions of the USSR, or died in the earthquake of 1988 in Spitak; the Armenian KGB said 25 had been killed – an initially unchallenged figure.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sumgait.info/press/express-chronicle/express-chronicle-910416.htm |title=Погромы в Армении: суждения, домыслы и факты. "Экспресс-Хроника", 16.04.1991 г |access-date=October 5, 2006 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721234219/http://www.sumgait.info/press/express-chronicle/express-chronicle-910416.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sumgait.info/press/pro-armenia-magazine/pro-armenia-9301.htm |title=Исход азербайджанцев из Армении: миф и реальность. Константин Воеводский |access-date=October 5, 2006 |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513184139/http://www.sumgait.info/press/pro-armenia-magazine/pro-armenia-9301.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Large numbers of refugees left Armenia and Azerbaijan as pogroms began against the minority populations of each of the two countries. In the fall of 1989, intensified inter-ethnic conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh led Moscow to grant Azerbaijani authorities greater leeway in controlling that region. The Soviet policy backfired, however, when a joint session of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic]] and the National Council, the legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh, proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. In mid-January 1990, Azerbaijani [[Baku pogrom|protesters in Baku went on a rampage against the remaining Armenians]] there. Moscow intervened only after almost no Armenian population remained in Baku. It sent army troops, who violently suppressed the [[Azerbaijan Popular Front|Azerbaijan Popular Front (APF)]] and installed [[Ayaz Mutallibov]] as president. The troops reportedly killed 122 Azerbaijanis in quelling the uprisining, in what became known as [[Black January]], and Gorbachev denounced the APF for striving to establish an [[Islamic Republic]].

In a December 1991 referendum, boycotted by most of the local Azerbaijanis, the Armenian population, still a majority in Nagorno-Karabakh, approved the creation of an independent state. However, the Constitution of the USSR was the instrument in accordance with which only the fifteen Soviet Republics could vote for independence and Nagorno-Karabakh was not one of the Soviet Republics. A Soviet proposal for enhanced autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan satisfied neither side and subsequently led to the eruption of war between Armenia-backed Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

==First Nagorno-Karabakh War==
{{Main|First Nagorno-Karabakh War}}
[[File:Karabakh ethnic map.png|frame|right|Ethnic groups of the region ([[CIA]], 1995). <small>([http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/ethnocaucasus.jpg See entire map])</small>]]
[[File:Republic of Artsakh map.png|thumb|right|250px|Map of the Republic of Artsakh in 1994-2020]]

The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In the post-Soviet power vacuum, military action between Azerbaijan and Armenia was heavily influenced by the [[Russian Federation|Russian]] military. Extensive Russian military support was exposed by the Head of the Standing Commission of the Russian [[Duma]], General [[Lev Rokhlin]]. He claimed that munitions worth one billion US dollars had been illegally transferred to Armenia between 1992 and 1996.<ref name="nisat-1">[http://www.nisat.org/blackmarket/europe/Central%20&%20Eastern%20Europe%20and%20Russia/russia/97.08.21-Rokhlin%20Details%20Arms%20Supplied%20to%20Armenia.html NISAT. Rokhlin Details Arms Supplied to Armenia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211451/http://www.nisat.org/blackmarket/europe/Central%20%26%20Eastern%20Europe%20and%20Russia/russia/97.08.21-Rokhlin%20Details%20Arms%20Supplied%20to%20Armenia.html |date=2007-09-27 }}</ref> According to Armenian news agency ''[[Noyan Tapan]]'', Rokhlin openly lobbied for the interests of Azerbaijan.<ref>http://www.noev-kovcheg.ru/article.asp?n=45&a=12{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> According to ''[[The Washington Times]]'',{{unreliable source?|date=February 2022}} Western intelligence sources said that the weapons played a crucial role in Armenia's seizure of large areas of Azerbaijan. Other Western sources disputed that assessment, because Russia continued to provide military support to Azerbaijan as well throughout the military conflict.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news8.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/newsid_4682000/4682089.stm|title=Chapter 13. June 1992 – September 1993 he was the escalation of the conflict|last=de Waal|first=Tom|date=July 14, 2005|work=BBC Russian|language=ru|access-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060305120537/http://news8.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/newsid_4682000/4682089.stm|archive-date=March 5, 2006}}</ref> Russian Minister of Defense [[Igor Rodionov]] in his letter to [[Aman Tuleyev]], Minister of cooperation with [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] countries, said that a Defense Ministry commission had determined that a large quantity of Russian weapons, including 84 [[T-72]] tanks and 50 [[armored personnel carrier]]s, were illegally transferred to Armenia between 1994 and 96, after the ceasefire, for free and without authorization by the Russian government.<ref name="nisat-2">[http://www.nisat.org/blackmarket/Caucasus/Armenia/Defense%20ministry%20confirms%20illegal%20arms%20transfer%20to%20Armenia.html "Defense ministry confirms illegal arms transfer to Armenia"]. NISAT. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060309210737/http://www.nisat.org/blackmarket/Caucasus/Armenia/Defense%20ministry%20confirms%20illegal%20arms%20transfer%20to%20Armenia.html |date=2006-03-09 }}</ref> ''The Washington Times'' article suggested that Russia's military support for Armenia was intended to force "pro-Western Azerbaijan and its strategic oil reserves into Russia's orbit".<ref name="washtimes">[http://www.washtimes.com/ "Armenia armed by Russia for battles with Azerbaijan".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830144324/http://www.washtimes.com/ |date=August 30, 2009 }} ''The Washington Times'' April 10, 1997.</ref> Armenia officially denied any such weapons delivery.<ref name="nisat-1" />

Both sides used [[mercenaries]]. Mercenaries from Russia and other [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] countries fought on the Armenian side,<ref name="boston">[http://www.boston.com/ "In Armenian unit, Russian is spoken"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917192213/http://www.boston.com/ |date=September 17, 2009 }}. ''The Boston Globe''. March 16, 1992.</ref> and some of them were killed or captured by the Azerbaijan army.<ref name="UN general assembly">[https://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/50/plenary/a50-390add1.htm<!--

This is bollixed. The title goes here, and the publisher goes outside the link.

-->UN General Assembly]</ref> According to ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', Azerbaijani President [[Heydər Əliyev]] recruited thousands of [[mujahedeen]] fighters from [[Afghanistan]] and mercenaries from Iran and elsewhere, and brought in even more Turkish officers to organize his army.<ref name="walljournal">[https://www.wsj.com "The Forgotten War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031162950/https://www.wsj.com/ |date=October 31, 2020 }}. ''The Wall Street Journal''. March 3, 1994.</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' discovered that Azerbaijan hired more than 1,000 guerrilla fighters from Afghanistan's radical prime minister [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]]. Meanwhile, Turkey and Iran supplied trainers, and the republic also was aided by 200 Russian officers who taught basic tactics to Azerbaijani soldiers in the northwest city of [[Barda, Azerbaijan|Barda]].<ref name="washpost">"Azerbaijan Throws Raw Recruits Into Battle". ''The Washington Post''. April 21, 1994.</ref> Chechen warlord [[Shamil Basayev]], generally considered a notorious terrorist,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tkb.org/KeyLeader.jsp?memID=4157 |title=Biography: Shamil Basayev|date=September 10, 2007|publisher=Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism|access-date=February 12, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035626/http://www.tkb.org/KeyLeader.jsp?memID=4157 |archive-date = September 30, 2007}}</ref> personally engaged Armenian forces in [[NKR]].{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} According to [[EurasiaNet]], unidentified sources have stated that Arab guerrilla [[Ibn al-Khattab]] joined Basayev in Azerbaijan between 1992 and 1993, although that is dismissed by the Azerbaijani [[Ministry of Defence (Azerbaijan)|Ministry of Defense]].<ref name="eurasia">[http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051402.shtml <!--

This is bollixed. The title goes here, and the publisher goes outside the link.

-->EurasiaNet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180427/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051402.shtml |date=2016-03-03 }} Chechen fighter's death reveals conflicted feelings in Azerbaijan. May 14, 2002</ref> In addition, officers from the [[4th Army (Soviet Union)|Russian 4th Army]] participated in combat missions for Azerbaijan on a mercenary basis.<ref name="contested">Alexey Zverev. [http://poli.vub.ac.be/publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0102.htm Contested borders in the Caucasus]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314211252/http://poli.vub.ac.be/publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0102.htm |date=March 14, 2011 }}</ref>

According to [[Human Rights Watch]], {{blockquote|"from the beginning of the Karabakh conflict, Armenia provided aid, weapons, and volunteers from Russia. In February 1992, 161 ethnic Azerbaijani civilians were murdered by ethnic Armenian armed forces in what is known as the [[Khojaly Massacre]]. Armenian involvement in Karabakh escalated after a December 1993 Azerbaijani offensive. The Republic of Armenia began sending conscripts and regular Army and Interior Ministry troops to fight in Karabakh. In January 1994, several active-duty Armenian Army soldiers were captured near the village of [[Çəpli|Chaply]], Azerbaijan. To bolster the ranks of its army, the Armenian government resorted to [[press-gang]] raids to enlist recruits. Draft raids intensified in early spring, after Decree no. 129 was issued, instituting a three-month call-up for men up to age 45. [[Military police]] would seal off public areas, such as squares, and round up anyone who looked the right age".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/WR95/HELSINKI-01.htm |title=Human Rights Watch World Report 1995 |access-date=December 4, 2016 |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805104222/http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/WR95/HELSINKI-01.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

By the end of 1993, the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh had caused thousands of casualties and created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. In a national address in November 1993, Əliyev stated that 16,000 Azerbaijani troops had died and 22,000 had been injured in nearly six years of fighting. The UN estimated that just under one million [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]]<ref name="aug">[http://www.azerbaijan-un-geneva.az/unicef.php "Permanent mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations – UNICEF Statistics"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513184912/http://www.azerbaijan-un-geneva.az/unicef.php |date=2006-05-13 }}</ref> refugees and [[internally displaced person]] were in Azerbaijan at the end of 1993. Mediation was attempted by officials from Russia, [[Kazakhstan]], and Iran, among other countries, and by organizations, including the UN and the [[Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe]], which began sponsoring peace talks in mid-1992. All negotiations met with little success, and several [[cease-fire]]s broke down. In mid-1993, Əliyev launched efforts to negotiate a solution directly with the Karabakh Armenians, a step which [[Abulfaz Elchibey]] had refused to take. Əliyev's efforts achieved several relatively long cease-fires in Nagorno-Karabakh, but outside the region Armenians occupied large sections of southwestern Azerbaijan near the Iranian border during offensives in August and October 1993. Iran and Turkey warned the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to cease the offensive operations that threatened to spill over into foreign territory. The Armenians responded by claiming that they were driving back Azerbaijani forces to protect Nagorno-Karabakh from shelling.

In 1993, the [[United Nations Security Council|UN Security Council]] called for Armenian forces to cease their attacks on and occupation of a number of Azerbaijani regions. In September 1993, Turkey strengthened its forces along its border with Armenia and issued a warning to Armenia to withdraw its troops from Azerbaijan immediately and unconditionally. At the same time, Iran was conducting military maneuvers near the [[Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic]] in a move widely regarded as a warning to Armenia.<ref name="salinas">Maria Salinas. [http://www.reliefweb.int/library/RSC_Oxford/data/FMO%20Research%20Guides%5CAzerbaijan.pdf FMO Country Guide: Azerbaijan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060625170404/http://www.reliefweb.int/library/RSC_Oxford/data/FMO%20Research%20Guides%5CAzerbaijan.pdf |date=June 25, 2006 }}. ''ReliefWeb'' (PDF).</ref> Iran proposed creation of a twenty-kilometer security zone along the Iranian-Azerbaijani border, where Azerbaijanis would be protected by Iranian firepower. Iran also contributed to the upkeep of camps in southwestern Azerbaijan to house and feed up to 200,000 Azerbaijanis fleeing the fighting.

Fighting continued into early 1994, with Azerbaijani forces reportedly winning some engagements and regaining some territory lost in previous months. In January 1994, Əliyev pledged that in the coming year occupied territory would be liberated and Azerbaijani refugees would return to their homes. At that point, Armenian forces held an estimated 14 percent of the area recognized as Azerbaijan, with Nagorno-Karabakh proper comprising 5 percent.<ref name="groong">[http://www.groong.org/ro/ro-19970917.html "Conflict Mythology and Azerbaijan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060420025606/http://www.groong.org/ro/ro-19970917.html |date=April 20, 2006 }}. Groong.</ref>

However, during the first three months of 1994 the [[Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army]] started a new offensive campaign and captured some areas, creating a wider safety and [[Security belt of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic|buffer zone around Nagorno-Karabakh]]. By May 1994 the Armenians were in control of 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan. At that stage the Government of Azerbaijan for the first time during the conflict recognised Nagorno-Karabakh as a third party of the war and started direct negotiations with the Karabakhi authorities. As a result a [[Bishkek Protocol|cease-fire]] was reached on May 12, 1994, through Russian negotiations, which ended entirely with the outbreak of the [[2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war]].

As a result of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, Azerbaijanis were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh and territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh.  With the support of Soviet/Russian military forces, Azerbaijanis forced tens of thousands of Armenians out of [[Shahumyan Province|Shahumyan]] region. Armenians remained in control of the Soviet-era autonomous region, and a strip of land called the [[Lachin corridor]] linking it with the Republic of Armenia, as well as [[Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh|seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan]]. The [[Shahumyan Province|Shahumyan region]] remained under the control of Azerbaijan.

== 2010s ==
On May 23, 2010, people in the territory [[2010 Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary election|went to polling stations]] to elect the [[National Assembly (Artsakh)|state's parliament]]; more than 70 international observers were reported as attending.<ref>{{cite web |date=22 May 2010 |title=Rebel Nagorno Karabakh holds parliamentary vote |website=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/22/azerbaijan-karabakh-election-idUSANT24066320100522?type=marketsNews |accessdate=14 January 2015}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

== 2023 ==
Three [[Armenia]]n police officers and two [[Azerbaijani soldier]]s are killed on 5 March during [[Armenia–Azerbaijan border|border]] clashes near the [[Lachin Corridor]]. Both nations accuse each other of opening fire first.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Armenian and Azerbaijani border clash leaves five dead – DW – 03/05/2023 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/armenian-and-azerbaijani-border-clash-leaves-five-dead/a-64891575 |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> On 25 March, the [[Ministry of Defence (Russia)|Ministry of Defence]] in [[Russia]] accuses Azerbaijan of violating the [[2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement|2020 ceasefire agreement]] after a unit of the [[Azerbaijani Armed Forces]] crosses the [[Line of Contact (Nagorno-Karabakh)|Line of Contact]] in [[Shushi Province]], [[Republic of Artsakh|Artsakh]], and seizes control of dirt roads near the [[Lachin corridor]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-25 |title=Russia accuses Azerbaijan of violating ceasefire agreement with Armenia |url=https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20230325-russia-accuses-azerbaijan-of-violating-ceasefire-agreement-with-armenia |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref>

On 11 July, [[Azerbaijan]]'s [[State Border Service of Azerbaijan|State Border Service]] temporarily shuts down the [[Lachin corridor]], the only road between [[Armenia]] and the disputed [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] region, alleging [[smuggling]] by the [[Armenian Red Cross Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-11 |title=Azerbaijan halts transport passage between Armenia, Karabakh: Border guards |url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/07/11/Azerbaijan-halts-transport-passage-between-Armenia-Karabakh-Border-guards- |access-date=2023-07-11 |website=Al Arabiya English |language=en}}</ref> The corridor is reopened on 17 July to allow the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross]] to conduct [[medical evacuation]]s from [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] to [[Armenia]] amid protests over the corridor's closure on July 11 and humanitarian concerns.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2023-07-14 |title=Red Cross restarts Karabakh evacuations after protests over blockade |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230714-red-cross-restarts-karabakh-evacuations-after-protests-over-blockade |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref>

On 9 September, [[Samvel Shahramanyan]], the sole candidate, is elected in the [[2023 Artsakhian presidential election|territory's presidential elections]] in a 22–1 vote out of 23 deputies present.<ref>{{cite news |date=9 September 2023 |title=Artsakh parliament elects Samvel Shahramanyan as president |work=Arka |url=https://arka.am/en/news/politics/artsakh_parliament_elects_samvel_shahramanyan_as_president/ |url-status=live |access-date=9 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909172042/https://arka.am/en/news/politics/artsakh_parliament_elects_samvel_shahramanyan_as_president/ |archive-date=9 September 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=9 September 2023 |title=Սամվել Շահրամանյանն ընտրվել է ԱՀ նախագահ |language=hy |work=Arka |url=https://arka.am/am/news/politics/Samvel_Shahramanyann_yntrvel_e/ |url-status=live |access-date=9 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909172043/https://arka.am/am/news/politics/Samvel_Shahramanyann_yntrvel_e/ |archive-date=9 September 2023}}</ref>

On 19 September, Azerbaijan launches an offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh after blaming Armenian [[sabotage]] groups for an incident in which four [[Azerbaijanis|Azerbaijani]] police officers and two [[civilian]]s were killed by separate [[Land mine|mine]] [[explosion]]s in the region.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-19 |title=Six killed in Karabakh mine blasts, Azerbaijan says |url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/09/19/Six-killed-in-Karabakh-mine-blasts-Azerbaijan-says |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=Al Arabiya English |language=en}}</ref> As a result of the offensive, Azerbaijan demands the withdrawal of ethnic Armenian forces from the region,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marsi |first=Federica |title=Azerbaijan launches military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, urges surrender |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/9/19/nagorno-karabakh-live-azerbaijan-launches-new-anti-terror-operation |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref> with the [[Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan]] announcing that Armenia must hand over all weapons present in the territory in order to stop "anti-terrorism" activities.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-19 |title=In order to stop anti-terrorist activities, illegal Armenian armed formations must hand over all weapons - Administration of Azerbaijani President |url=https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/3799571.html |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=Trend.Az |language=en}}</ref>

Azerbaijan claims its forces broke through the [[Line of Contact (Nagorno-Karabakh)|contact line]] and captured over 60 military posts in Nagorno-Karabakh. Artsakh forces, however, deny this.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-09-19 |title=Azerbaijani forces strike Armenian-controlled Karabakh, raising risk of new Caucasus war |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/azerbaijan-says-six-its-citizens-were-killed-by-land-mines-karabakh-2023-09-19/ |access-date=2023-09-19}}</ref> According to [[Republic of Artsakh]] government officials, 25 people, including a child, are killed due to the fighting, and 138 others are injured. Azerbaijan claims that one civilian was killed by shelling in [[Shusha]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-19 |title=Fighting flares again in a breakaway region in the Caucasus Mountains |url=https://apnews.com/article/nagorno-karabakh-armenia-azerbaijan-mines-deaths-477fd82368be90f88163e50a5fcb6353 |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> It is also reported that [[Azerbaijani Armed Forces|Azerbaijani forces]] struck [[Stepanakert]], the ''de facto'' capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, with [[artillery]], damaging several residential buildings.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Roth |first=Andrew |date=2023-09-19 |title=Azerbaijan launches 'anti-terrorist' attack in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/19/azerbaijan-launches-anti-terrorist-campaign-in-disputed-nagorno-karabakh-region |access-date=2023-09-20 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

On the next day, 20 September, Armenian separatist forces in [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] surrender and agree to a Russian proposal for a ceasefire with [[Azerbaijan]] effective from 1 pm on Wednesday.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces reach Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire deal |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/20/azerbaijan-and-ethnic-armenian-forces-reach-nagorno-karabakh-ceasefire-deal |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref> In response, [[Azerbaijan]] calls for the "total surrender" of [[Artsakh Defence Army|ethnic Armenian forces]] in [[Nagorno-Karabakh]], and orders the [[Republic of Artsakh]] government to dissolve itself, saying its military offensive will continue until the region is under its full control.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Vasilyeva |first1=Nataliya |last2=Smith |first2=Benedict |date=2023-09-19 |title=Azerbaijan-Armenia: Azerbaijan demands 'total surrender' of 'illegal regime' |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/19/azerbaijan-anti-terrorist-operations-nagorno-karabakh-live/ |access-date=2023-09-20 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

Peace talks between Azerbaijan and the separatists are set for the following day in [[Yevlakh]]. [[Peacekeeping operations in Nagorno-Karabakh|Russia's peacekeeping contingent]] are reported to have an assisting role in coordinating the ceasefire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan's Aliyev says operation over – DW – 09/20/2023 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/nagorno-karabakh-azerbaijan-aliyev-declares-operation-over/live-66870362 |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> As a result of the surrender, thousands of [[Republic of Artsakh|Artsakh]] residents gather at [[Stepanakert Airport]], where some [[Peacekeeping operations in Nagorno-Karabakh|Russian peacekeepers]] are stationed, seeking evacuation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-20 |title=Thousands of Armenians in Karabakh mass at airport after ceasefire deal |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/thousands-of-armenians-in-karabakh-mass-at-airport-after-ceasefire-deal-1.6569557 |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=CTVNews |language=en}}</ref>

On 21 September, delegates of Azerbaijan and [[Republic of Artsakh|Artsakh]] meet in the Azeri city of [[Yevlakh]]. No formal agreement is adopted after two hours of talks.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Agencies |first=Daily Sabah with |date=2023-09-21 |title=No deal yet as Azerbaijan hosts meeting with Karabakh separatists |url=https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/no-deal-yet-as-azerbaijan-hosts-meeting-with-karabakh-separatists/news |access-date=2023-09-21 |website=Daily Sabah |language=en-US}}</ref>

The government of Artsakh announced on 24 September that most of its population will leave following Azerbaijan's takeover of the territory with Armenia confirming that 1,050 [[refugee]]s from Artsakh have arrived in the country.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-09-25 |title=Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians start to leave en masse for Armenia |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/armenia-calls-un-mission-monitor-rights-nagorno-karabakh-2023-09-24/ |access-date=2023-09-25}}</ref> The number of refugees [[Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians|fleeing]] to Armenia from Artsakh increases to 6,500 by the next day.

By 27 September, the number of refugees fleeing Artsakh to Armenia increased to 50,243, comprising more than a third of the region's population.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-27 |title=More than 50,000 refugees have fled Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia says |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230927-tens-of-thousands-of-refugees-flee-nagorno-karabakh-for-armenia |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref> [[Azerbaijan]] also reports that day that 192 of [[Azerbaijani Armed Forces|its troops]] were killed and more than 500 others were injured during last week's [[Offensive (military)|offensive]] on [[Nagorno-Karabakh]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Demourian |first=Avet |date=27 September 2023 |title=Azerbaijan arrests the former head of separatist government after recapturing Nagorno-Karabakh |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/azerbaijan-192-troops-killed-weeks-offensive-nagorno-karabakh-103519537 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928145203/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/azerbaijan-192-troops-killed-weeks-offensive-nagorno-karabakh-103519537 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> Former [[State Minister of Artsakh]] [[Ruben Vardanyan (politician)|Ruben Vardanyan]] is arrested by Azerbaijan after attempting to cross the border into Armenia.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-09-27 |title=Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan arrests former Karabakh leader |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66934776 |access-date=2023-09-27}}</ref>

On 29 September, [[Samvel Shahramanyan]], [[President of Artsakh|president]] of the breakaway [[Republic of Artsakh]], signs a decree to dissolve all state [[Government of Artsakh|institutions of Artsakh]] beginning at the start of 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Christian |date=2023-09-28 |title=Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist from next year. How did this happen? |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/28/europe/nagorno-karabakh-officially-dissolve-intl/index.html |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

On 3 October, the number of refugees fleeing Artsakh to Armenia reached 100,617, which is the majority of the region's population.<ref name="RFERL">{{cite web |date=2023-09-30 |title=As Ethnic Armenian Exodus Tops 100,000, UN Readies For Nagorno-Karabakh Visit |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/karabakh-armenian-exodis-100000-un-visit-azerbaijan/32616962.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930173653/https://www.rferl.org/a/karabakh-armenian-exodis-100000-un-visit-azerbaijan/32616962.html |archive-date=30 September 2023 |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |language=en}}</ref> [[Davit Ishkhanyan]] and three former presidents of Artsakh, [[Arkadi Ghukasyan]], [[Bako Sahakyan]] and [[Arayik Harutyunyan]], were detained by the [[State Security Service (Azerbaijan)|State Security Service]] of [[Azerbaijan]] and brought to [[Baku]].<ref>{{cite news |date=3 October 2023 |title=Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Gukasyan, David Ishkhanyan were detained and brought to Baku |work=Azeri Press Agency |url=https://en.apa.az/incident/bako-sahakyan-arkady-gukasyan-david-ishkhanyan-were-detained-and-brought-to-baku-413356 |access-date=3 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=3 October 2023 |title=Azerbaijan detains Arayik Harutyunyan - so-called former "leader" of separatists in Garabagh |work=Azeri Press Agency |url=https://en.apa.az/incident/azerbaijan-detains-arayik-harutyunyan-so-called-former-leader-of-separatists-in-garabagh-413357 |access-date=3 October 2023}}</ref>

==Timeline ==
{{Main|Timeline of Artsakh history}}
{{cleanup section|reason=YYYY-MM-DD date formats need to be converted|date=February 2022}}
{|class="wikitable"
|+ Timeline of Artsakh history
|-
!scope="col" style="width: 10%;"|Starting Date
!scope="col" style="width: 30%;”|Sovereign
!scope="col" style="width: 30%;”|State/Region
!scope="col" style="width: 30%;”|Artsakh Proper
|-
|592 BC <ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The kingdom of Armenia: a history|last=Chahin|first=M.|date=2001|publisher=Curzon|isbn=0700714529|edition=2nd, rev.|location=Richmond, Surrey|pages=107|oclc=46908690|quote=This shows that Urartu was very much in existence [...] down to 594 BC, [...]. It is possible that the last king of Urartu's reigh ended at about the same time or a little earlier. [...] in 590 BC, the Medes marched westwards [towards western Anatolia and Lydia].}}</ref>
| colspan="2" | [[Iran]] <small>([[Medes]])</small>
| rowspan="3" |Unknown (Urtekhini?<ref>{{cite web|title=ԴՄԻՏՐԻ ՍԱՐԳՍԵԱՆ |author=Dmitri Sargsyan (arm) Արցախը Ուրարտական դարաշրջանում: Artsakh in the Urartian Era |work=Bazmavep |year=2010 |volume= 1 |issue= 2 | page= 151 | publisher=Mekhitar| url=https://mechitar.org/en/articles/138}} English-language abstract (article in Armenian?)</ref>)
|-
|549 BC
| colspan="2" | {{flagicon image|Standard_of_Cyrus_the_Great_(Achaemenid_Empire).svg}} [[Iran]] <small>([[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid dynasty]])<ref>{{cite web|date=September 30, 2019 | title=Persian Empire: Cyrus the Great |publisher=History.com |url= https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/persian-empire}}</ref></small>
|-
|321 BC
| colspan="2" style="background: #ECECEC;"|
|-
|rowspan="1"|189 BC <ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Caucasian knot: the history & geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh|last=Levon.|first=Chorbajian|date=1994|publisher=Atlantic Highlands, NJ|others=Donabédian, Patrick., Mutafian, Claude.|isbn=1856492877|location=London|pages=53|oclc=31970952|quote=Certain authors estimate that when King Artashes (189–160 BC) brought about the unification of the Kingdom of Great Armenia, Caucasian tribes, probably Albanians, living in Artsakh and Utik were brought in by force. This thesis is said to be based on Strabo, but, in reality, when he describes the conquests Artashes carried out at the expense of the Medes and Iberians – and not the Albanians – he says nothing of Artsakh and Utik, since these provinces were certainly already a part of Armenia.}}</ref>
|
|-
|189 |{{flagicon image|Standard_of_the_Artaxiad_dynasty.svg}} [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] <small>([[Artaxiad dynasty]])<ref>{{cite book|via=Google Books|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zNamDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT242 
|title=A Military History of the Western World, Vol. I:: From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Lepanto: Volume 1 of A Military History of the Western World
|author=J. F. C. Fuller
|publisher=Valmy Publishing
|year=2018
|isbn=978-1789127485 
|pages=613 pages}}isbn 9781789127485</ref></small>
| rowspan="19" |[[Artsakh (historic province)|Province of Artsakh]] of the Kingdom of Armenia  189 BC to 387 AD <ref group="note">The exact date of the establishment of the Province of Artsakh is not known, but is believed to be sometime before 189 BC.</ref>
|-
|90 BC | [[Sophene]] and Kingdom of Commagene - [[Tigranes the Great]] conquered these territories 
|-
|65 BC <ref>{{cite journal|via=JSTOR|author1=Lee E. Patterson |author2=Eastern Illinois University | journal=TAPA|title=Anthony and Armenia |date=December 26, 2023 |publisher=Society for Classical Studies, Johns Hopkins University Press |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43830371 | volume =145 |issue=77 |page=105|jstor=43830371 }}</ref>
| Rome
| {{flagicon image|Standard_of_the_Artaxiad_dynasty.svg}} <small>([[Artaxiad dynasty]]) [[Tigranes II]] of Armenia becomes a client king of Rome</small>
|-
|53 BC <ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=The kingdom of Armenia: a history|last=Chahin|first=M.|date=2001|publisher=Curzon|isbn=0700714529|edition=2nd, rev.|location=Richmond, Surrey|pages=212|oclc=46908690|quote=The Armenian king, Parthia's ally since the year 53 BC, appeared to submit.}}</ref>
| [[Persia]] <small>([[Parthian Empire|Arsacid dynasty]]) defeats Rome at the [[Battle of Carrhae]]</small>
| {{flagicon image|Standard_of_the_Artaxiad_dynasty.svg}} [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] <small>([[Artaxiad dynasty]]) - [[Artavasdes II of Armenia|Artavasdes II]] becomes king of Armenia.</small>
|-
|36 BC
| Rome
|[[Mark Antony]] begins [[Antony's Atropatene campaign|Parthian campaign]]<ref>Bivar, A.D.H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–99. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.</ref> [[Roman influence in Caucasian Albania|Rebellion]] of King Zober of Albania defeated.
|-
|33 BC
| Rome
| {{flagicon image|Standard_of_the_Artaxiad_dynasty.svg}} [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] <small>([[Artaxiad dynasty]])</small>
|-
|36
| [[Iran]] <small>([[Parthian Empire|Arsacid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|47
| 
|-
|51 <ref name=":4">Suny (1994), p. 14.</ref>
| [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Iberia]] <small>([[Pharnavazid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|58
| rowspan="4" | {{flagicon image|True flag of the Arshakuni Arsacid dynasty.png}} [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] <small>([[Arsacid dynasty of Armenia|Arsacid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|62
| [[Iran]] <small>([[Parthian Empire|Arsacid dynasty]])</small> Parthians under [[Vologases I]] invade Armenia, unsuccessfully besiege Romans in [[Tigranocerta]]. 
|-
|63 
| Rome: [[Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo]] invades Armenia and defeats [[Tiridates I of Armenia|Tiridates I]], who accepts Roman sovereignty. Parthia withdraws.
|-
|64
| [[Iran]] <small>([[Parthian Empire|Arsacid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|114 <ref name=":5">Theodore Mommsen. ''The Provinces of the Roman Empire''. Chapter IX, p. 68</ref>
| Rome
| [[Roman Armenia]] Emperor [[Trajan]] defeats the Parthians and overruns Armenia
|-
|118
| colspan="2" | <small>{{flagicon image|True flag of the Arshakuni Arsacid dynasty.png}} [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] ([[Arsacid dynasty of Armenia|Arsacid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|252
| {{flagicon image|Derafsh_Kaviani_flag_of_the_late_Sassanid_Empire.svg}} [[Iran]] <small>([[Sasanian Empire|Sassanian dynasty]])</small>
| rowspan="2|{{flagicon image|True flag of the Arshakuni Arsacid dynasty.png}} [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] <small>([[Arsacid dynasty of Armenia|Arsacid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|287
| Rome: [[Diocletian]] signs peace treaty with King [[Bahram II]] of Persia, installs the pro-Roman Arsacid [[Tiridates III of Armenia|Tiridates III]] as king in western Armenia.
|-
|rowspan="2"|363
| {{flagicon image|Derafsh_Kaviani_flag_of_the_late_Sassanid_Empire.svg}} <small>[[Persia]]([[Sasanian Empire|Sassanian dynasty]]: [[Jovian (emperor)|Jovian]] cedes [[Corduene]] and [[Arzanene]] to Sassanids.</small>
|[[Corduene]] and [[Arzanene]]
|-
|[[Albania (satrapy)|Albania]] <small>([[Mihranids|Mihranid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|376
| colspan="2" | {{flagicon image|True flag of the Arshakuni Arsacid dynasty.png}} [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] <small>([[Arsacid dynasty of Armenia|Arsacid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|rowspan="3"|387
| {{flagicon image|Derafsh_Kaviani_flag_of_the_late_Sassanid_Empire.svg}} [[Iran]] ([[Sasanian Empire|Sassanian dynasty]])  
|-
| [[Albania (satrapy)|Albania]] <small>([[Mihranids|Mihranid dynasty]])</small> ||  with Sasanian help seizes from Armenia the entire right bank of the river Kura up to the river [[Aras (river)|Araxes]]
|includes Artsakh and Utik.<ref>Chaumont, M. L. (1985). "Albania". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 8. pp. 806–810</ref>
|- 
| colspan="3"|<small>[[Peace of Acilisene|Division]] of [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Greater Armenia]] between Persia and [[Byzantium]]</small>
|-
|654
| [[Caliphate|Arab Caliphate]]
| colspan="2"| [[Albania (satrapy)|Albania]] <small>([[Mihranids|Mihranid dynasty]])</small>,
[[Arminiya|al-Arminiya]]
|-
|850
| colspan="3" | {{flagicon image|Armenian_Flag_Khachen.png}} [[Kingdom of Artsakh|Artsakh]]
|-
|884
| colspan="2"| {{flagicon image|Bagratuni flag.svg}} [[Bagratid Armenia|Armenia]] <small>([[Bagratuni dynasty|Bagratid dynasty]])</small>
| {{flagicon image|Armenian_Flag_Khachen.png}} [[Kingdom of Artsakh|Artsakh]]
|-
|1045
| colspan="3" | {{flagicon image|Armenian_Flag_Khachen.png}} [[Kingdom of Artsakh|Artsakh]]
|-
|1063
| colspan="2"| {{flagicon image|Flag of the Seljuk.png}} [[Seljuk Empire]]
| rowspan="4"| {{flagicon image|Armenian_Flag_Khachen.png}} [[Kingdom of Artsakh|Artsakh]]
|-
|1092
| colspan="2" |[[Eldiguzids]]
|-
|1124
| rowspan="3"| '''{{flagicon image|Sakartvelo_-_drosha.svg}}''' [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]] <small>([[Bagrationi dynasty|Bagratid dynasty]])</small>
| [[Eldiguzids]]
|-
|1201
| rowspan="5" | [[Zakarid Armenia|Armenia]] <small>([[Zakarids–Mkhargrdzeli|Zakarid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1214 <ref name=":6">Hewsen, Robert H. "The Meliks of Eastern Armenia: A Preliminary Study." ''[[Revue des Études Arméniennes]]''. NS: IX, 1972, pp. 255-329.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Black garden : Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war|last=Thomas.|first=De Waal|date=2013|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=9780814770825|edition=10th-year anniversary ed., rev. and updated|location=New York|pages=329–335|oclc=843880838}}</ref>
| rowspan="3"| {{flag|Principality of Khachen|name=Artsakh}} <small>([[House of Hasan-Jalalyan|Hasan-Jalalyan dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1236
| [[Mongol Empire]]
|-
|1256
| rowspan="3"| [[Ilkhanate]]
|-
|1261
| rowspan="8"| {{flag|Principality of Khachen|name=Khachen}} <small>([[House of Hasan-Jalalyan|Hasan-Jalalyan dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1360
| rowspan="7" | [[Karabakh]]
|-
|1337
| [[Chobanids]]
|-
|1357
| [[Jalairid Sultanate|Jalayirids]]
|-
|1375
| [[Kara Koyunlu]]
|-
|1387
| [[Timurid Empire]]
|-
|1409
| [[Kara Koyunlu]]
|-
|1468
| [[Aq Qoyunlu|Ak Koyunlu]]
|-
|1501
| {{flag|Iran|1576}} <small>([[Safavid dynasty]])</small>
| rowspan="5" | [[Province of Karabakh]]
| rowspan="9" | [[Melikdoms of Karabakh|Melikdoms of Karabakh (Khamsa)]]<ref group="note">The [[House of Hasan-Jalalyan|Hasan-Jalalyan dynasty]] branches out sometime in the 16th century.</ref>
|-
|1583
| '''{{flagicon image|Zulfikar flag.svg|border=}}''' [[Ottoman Empire]]
|-
|1603
| {{flag|Iran|1576}} <small>([[Safavid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1725
|style="background: #ECECEC;"|
|-
|1736
| {{flag|Iran|1736}} <small>([[Afsharid dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1747 <ref name=":1" />
|style="background: #ECECEC;"|
| rowspan="4" | [[Karabakh Khanate]]
|-
|1751
| {{flag|Iran|1760}} <small>([[Afsharid dynasty|Zand dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1797
| {{flagicon image|Flag_of_Agha_Mohammad_Khan.svg}} [[Iran]] <small>([[Qajar dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1805-05 <ref name=":1" /><ref group="note">The [[Russian Empire]] occupies the lands, but they're formally annexed only in 1813 by the [[Treaty of Gulistan]].</ref>
| rowspan="4" | {{flag|Russian Empire|name=Russia}} <small>([[House of Romanov|Romanov dynasty]])</small>
|-
|1822 <ref name=":1" />
| colspan="2" style="background: #ECECEC;" |
|-
|1846
| colspan="2" |[[Baku Governorate|Shemakha Governorate]]<ref group="note">Shemakha Governorate was renamed to [[Baku Governorate]] in 1859.</ref>
|-
|1868 <ref name=":1" />
| colspan="2" rowspan="3" |[[Elisabethpol Governorate]]
|-
|1917-11-11
| {{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1696-1917).svg}} [[Transcaucasian Commissariat]]
|-
|1918-04-22
|[[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic|Transcaucasia]]<ref group="note">The [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic|Transcaucasian Democratic Federal Republic]] was a multi-national entity established by [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Azerbaijanis|Azerbaijani]] and [[Georgians|Georgian]] leaders.</ref>
|-
|28 May 1918 <ref name=":1" />
| colspan="2" | <small>[[First Republic of Armenia]]: Declaration of independence</small> 
| rowspan="2" | {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_First_Republic_of_Armenia.svg}} Armenian rebels
|-
|1918-06-04 <ref group="note">[[Treaty of Batum]]</ref>
|-
|1918-07-27
| | {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_First_Republic_of_Armenia.svg}} People's Government of Karabakh
|-
|1918-09
| {{flag|Ottoman Empire}}
| rowspan="4" |
|
* {{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|1918|name=Azerbaijan}} ([[Shusha]])
* {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_First_Republic_of_Armenia.svg}} Armenian rebels (other areas)
|-
|1918-10-30 <ref group="note">[[Armistice of Mudros]]</ref>
| rowspan="2" |{{flag|British Empire}}
| rowspan="3" | [[Nagorno-Karabakh|Mountainous Karabakh]] was placed under the jurisdiction of {{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|1918|name=Azerbaijan}} until the final delimitation agreement would be reached at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]].
|-
|1919-08-22 <ref group="note">Seventh Assembly of Mountainous Karabakh</ref>
|-
|1919-08-23 <ref group="note">British withdrawal.</ref>
| style="background: #ECECEC;" |
|-
|1920-03-04 <ref group="note">Eighth Assembly of Mountainous Karabakh</ref>
| colspan="2" rowspan="5"|{{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|1918|name=Azerbaijan}}
|
* {{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|1918|name=Azerbaijan}} ([[Shusha]])
* {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_First_Republic_of_Armenia.svg}} Armenian rebels (other areas)
|-
|1920-04-09
|rowspan="4"|
* {{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|1918|name=Azerbaijan}} ([[Shusha]], [[Stepanakert|Khankendi]], [[Askeran Province|Askeran]])
* {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_First_Republic_of_Armenia.svg}} Armenian rebels (other areas)
|-
|1920-04-13 <ref group="note">General Dro ([[Drastamat Kanayan]]) takes parts of [[Nagorno-Karabakh|Mountainous Karabakh]] on behalf of the [[First Republic of Armenia|Republic of Armenia]].</ref>
|-
|1920-04-22 <ref group="note">Ninth Assembly of Mountainous Karabakh</ref>
|-
|1920-04-28 <ref group="note">[[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic|Azerbaijan]] is invaded by the [[Red Army]].</ref>
|-
|1920-05-12 <ref name=":1" />
| rowspan="5" | {{flagicon image|Communist_star.svg|border=}} [[Red Army]] 11th Red Army advances into Armenia on 29 November 1920; transfer of power on 2 December in [[Yerevan]].

| rowspan="4" | {{flag|Azerbaijan SSR|1920}}
|
* {{flag|Azerbaijan SSR|1920}} ([[Shusha]], [[Stepanakert|Khankendi]], [[Askeran (town)|Askeran]])
* {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_First_Republic_of_Armenia.svg}} Armenian rebels (other areas)
|-
|1920-05-26
| rowspan="4" | The final status of [[Nagorno-Karabakh|Mountainous Karabakh]] was still being debated.
|-
|Dec. 1, 1920 <ref group="note">{{flag|Azerbaijan SSR|1920}}'s [[Revolutionary committee (Soviet Union)|revolutionary committee]] declares Mountainous Karabakh to be transferred to {{flag|Armenian SSR|1922}}.</ref> 
|-
|1921-07-04 <ref name=":1" /><ref group="note">[[Kavbiuro]] decides to leave Mountainous-Karabakh within {{flag|Azerbaijan SSR|1920}}.</ref>
|-
|1922-03-12
| rowspan="3" | {{flag|Azerbaijan SSR|1920}},
{{flag|Transcaucasian SFSR}}
|-
|1922-12-30 <ref name=":1" />
| rowspan="3" | {{flag|USSR}}
|-
|1923-07-07 <ref name=":1" /><ref group="note">Declared, and then implemented in November of 1924.</ref>
| rowspan="2" | [[Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast]]
|-
|1936-12-05
| {{flag|Azerbaijan SSR}}
|-
|1991
| colspan="3" rowspan="4" |'''[[First Nagorno-Karabakh War]]'''
* {{flag|Republic of Artsakh|name=Artsakh}} and {{flag|Armenia}}
* {{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|name=Azerbaijan}}
|-
|1991-04-30 <ref group="note">[[Operation Ring]]</ref>
|-
|1991-09-02 <ref group="note">The Armenians of the [[Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast]] declare their independence.</ref>
|-
|1991-11-26 <ref name=":1" /><ref group="note">[[Azerbaijan]] abolishes the [[Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast]].</ref>
|-
|1994-05-12 <ref group="note">[[Bishkek Protocol]] ceasefire.</ref>
| colspan="3" | De facto {{flag|Republic of Artsakh|name=Artsakh}}, de jure {{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|name=Azerbaijan}}
|-
|2020-09-27
| colspan="3" |'''[[Second Nagorno-Karabakh War]]'''
* {{flag|Republic of Artsakh|name=Artsakh}} {{flag|Armenia}}
* {{flag|Republic of Azerbaijan|name=Azerbaijan}} {{flag|Turkey}}<ref>{{cite web|title=F-16s Reveal Turkey's Drive to Expand Its Role in the Southern Caucasus|url=https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/f-16s-reveal-turkeys-drive-expand-its-role-southern-caucasus|publisher=Stratfor|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201010133045/https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/f-16s-reveal-turkeys-drive-expand-its-role-southern-caucasus|archive-date=10 October 2020 |date=8 October 2020|quote=The presence of the Turkish fighter aircraft ... demonstrate[s] direct military involvement by Turkey that goes far beyond already-established support, such as its provision of Syrian fighters and military equipment to Azerbaijani forces.|access-date=11 October 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Is peace possible between Armenia and Azerbaijan? — RealnoeVremya.com|url=https://realnoevremya.com/articles/4836-is-peace-possible-between-armenia-and-azerbaijan|access-date=2021-01-19|website=realnoevremya.com|language=en|quote=... we, the Turks, are present in Syria, Libya, we scare America, bargain with Russia, and now we are in Karabakh ...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Azerbaijan|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/azerbaijan/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407114128/https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/azerbaijan/|archive-date=2021-04-07|access-date=2021-04-10|website=United States Department of State|language=en-US|quote=After Azerbaijan, with Turkish support, reestablished control over four surrounding territories controlled by separatists since 1994, …}}</ref>
|-
| 2020-11-10<ref group="note">[[2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement]].</ref>
| colspan="3" |
Control over [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] is divided between {{flag|Azerbaijan}} and {{flag|Republic of Artsakh|name=Artsakh}} with {{flagdeco|Russia}} [[15th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade|Russian peacekeeping forces]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-01-18|title=Moscow Says Karabakh Status 'Intentionally' Left Out at Talks, Wants to 'Close POW Issue'|url=http://asbarez.com/199921/moscow-says-karabakh-status-intentionally-left-out-at-talks-wants-to-close-pow-issue/|access-date=2021-01-19 |website=Asbarez.com|language=en-US}}</ref>
|}
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|History}}
*[[Demographics of the Republic of Artsakh]]
*[[List of massacres in Azerbaijan]]
*[[Republic of Artsakh]]
*[[Timeline of Artsakh history]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==

{{Commons category}}

* [http://www.artsakh.org.uk/ Articles and Photography on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) from UK Photojournalist Russell Pollard]
* [http://www.mountainous-karabakh.org Mountainous-Karabakh.org: History, maps, images and information]
* [http://www.gandzasar.com/ Gandzasar.com: Gandzasar Monastery and History of Nagorno Karabakh]

{{Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict}}
{{History of Europe}}
{{History of Asia}}
{{European history by country}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Nagorno-Karabakh}}
[[Category:History of the Republic of Artsakh| ]]
[[Category:Geographic history of Armenia]]
[[Category:Geographic history of Azerbaijan]]
{{Навигационная таблица/Портал/Английская Википедия}}
[[Категория:Английская Википедия]]
[[Категория:Википедия]]
[[Категория:Статья из Википедии]]
[[Категория:Статья из Английской Википедии]]