Nagorno-Karabakh

This page is about the region in the Caucasus. For the unrecognized country in Nagorno-Karabakh, see Republic of Artsakh.

See also: First Nagorno-Karabakh War and 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war

Map of Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in the South Caucasus. It is recognized by other countries as part of Azerbaijan, but from 1994 until the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, most of it was militarily controlled by Armenians as the Republic of Artsakh, which was not officially recognized by any other country, including Armenia which supported it.

In September of 2023, Azerbaijan invaded the Artsakh Republic after a long siege. Within a few days, Artsakh surrendered and came under the control of Azerbaijan. Nearly all of Artsakh's population fled to Armenia as refugees.

Demographics

Year	Armenians		Azerbaijanis		Others		Total
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
1921	122,426	94.73%	6,550	5.07%	267	0.21%	129,243
1923	149,600	94.8%	7,700	4.9%	500	0.3%	157,800
1925	142,470	90.28%	15,261	9.67%	76	0.05%	157,807

Historical ethnic composition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in 1921–1989

Ethnic group	1926		1939		1959		1970		1979		1989
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Armenians	111,694	89.24	132,800	88.04	110,053	84.39	121,068	80.54	123,076	75.89	145,450	76.92
Azerbaijanis	12,592	10.06	14,053	9.32	17,995	13.80	27,179	18.08	37,264	22.98	40,688	21.52
Russians	596	0.48	3,174	2.10	1,790	1.37	1,310	0.87	1,265	0.78	1,922	1.02
Ukrainians	35	0.03	436	0.29	238	0.18	193	0.13	140	0.09	416	0.22
Belarusians	12	0.01	11	0.01	32	0.02	35	0.02	37	0.02	79	0.04
Greeks	68	0.05	74	0.05	67	0.05	33	0.02	56	0.03	72	0.04
Tatars	6	0.00	29	0.02	36	0.03	25	0.02	41	0.03	64	0.03
Georgians	5	0.00	25	0.02	16	0.01	22	0.01	17	0.01	57	0.03
Others	151	0.12	235	0.16	179	0.14	448	0.30	285	0.18	337	0.18
Total	125,159	100.00	150,837	100.00	130,406	100.00	150,313	100.00	162,181	100.00	189,085	100.00

Etymology

The names for the region in the different local languages all translate to "mountainous Karabakh", or "mountainous black garden". The word "nagorno" is Russian for "mountainous/on the mountain", "kara" is Turkish for "black", and "bakh" means "garden" in Azerbaijani.

• Armenian: Լեռնային Ղարաբաղ, transliterated Lernayin Gharabagh
• Azerbaijani: Dağlıq Qarabağ, or Yuxarı Qarabağ (meaning "upper Karabakh" or "mountainous Karabakh")
• Russian: Нагорный Карабах, transliterated Nagornyj Karabakh

History

Around 180 BC, Artsakh became one of the 15 provinces of the Armenian Kingdom and remained so until the 4th century. Then it became part of the Sasanian Empire. In the 7th century, the region was conquered by the invading Muslim Arabs. The House of Khachen, then ruled Artsakh until the early 19th century. Persia formally ceded the whole of Karabakh to the Russian Empire by the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813. In April 1920 Azerbaijan was taken over by the Bolsheviks. It was in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In the 1980s there was a movement to have the autonomous oblast transferred to the Armenian SSR. When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in Moscow and started campaigns of publicity and democratic reforms at the end of the 20th century, Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh sent letters to Gorbachev demanding him to move the autonomous oblast to the control of Armenia. When it was declined, the Armenians started an independence movement.

In November 1991, seeking to stop this movement, the Parliament of Azerbaijan abolished the autonomous status of the region. In response, the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians held a referendum on December 10, 1991, which was boycotted by Azerbaijanis living in Nagorno-Karabakh and none of them participated in it, therefore the overwhelming majority of the population voted for independence.

Gallery

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  In the 1500s

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  In 1930

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  In 2006

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  In 2006

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  Nearby countries

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  Map of the war in 2020

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  The Gandzasar monastery, built in the 1200s

Nagorno-Karabakh Media

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  June 2001 NASA photograph of the snow-covered Lesser Caucasus in the south of the Greater Caucasus. Around the year 1800, the Karabakh Khanate was based in the southeast corner of the Lesser Caucasus. It extended east into the lowlands, hence the name Nagorno- or "Highland-" Karabagh for the western part.

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  The Amaras Monastery, founded in the 4th century by St Gregory the Illuminator. In the 5th century, Mesrop Mashtots, inventor of the Armenian alphabet, established at Amaras the first school to use his script.

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  The monastery at Gandzasar was commissioned by the House of Khachen and completed in 1238

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  The Shusha fortress, built by the Karabakh Khanate ruler Panah Ali Khan in the 18th century

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  Palace of the former ruler (khan) of Shusha. Taken from a postcard from the late 19th–early 20th century.

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  Aftermath of the Shusha massacre: Armenian half of Shusha destroyed by Azerbaijani armed forces in 1920, with the defiled Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Savior in the background.

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  Ethnic make-up of Nagorno-Karabakh in the late Soviet era.

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  A restored Armenian T-72, knocked out of commission while attacking Azeri positions in Askeran District, serves as a war memorial on the outskirts of Stepanakert.

Other websites

• Karabakh documents Archived 2006-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Artsakh from ancient time till 1918 Archived 2009-08-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) - France 24 Report