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For the republic, see Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Nagorno-Karabakh
Լեռնային Ղարաբաղ, Leṙnayin Ġarabaġ Template:Hy icon
Dağlıq Qarabağ / Yuxarı Qarabağ Template:Az icon
Нагорный Карабах, Nagorny Karabakh Template:Ru icon
The borders of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
The borders of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Area
• Total
4,400 km2 (1,700 sq mi)
• Water (%)
negligible
Population
• 2006 estimate
138,000
• Density
29/km2 (75.1/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+4[1]
Drives onright

Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains, which corresponds to the eastern part of the Armenian Highland.[2] The region is mostly mountainous and forested.

Most of the region is governed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent, but unrecognized state established on the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR of the Soviet Union. The territory is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan,[3][4] although the latter has not exercised power over most of the region since 1991. Since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, representatives of the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been holding peace talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group on the region's disputed status.

The region is usually equated with the administrative borders of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR comprising an area of 4,400 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi). The historical area of the region, however, encompasses approximately 8,223 square kilometres (3,175 sq mi).[5][6]

Etymology

The word Nagorno- is a Russian attributive adjective, derived from the adjective nagorny (нагорный), which means "highland". The Azerbaijani name of the region includes similar adjectives "dağlıq" (mountainous) or "yuxarı" (upper). Such words are not used in Armenian name, but appeared in the official name of the region during the Soviet era as Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. Other languages apply their own wording for mountainous, upper, or highland; for example, the official name used by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in France is Haut-Karabakh, meaning "Upper Karabakh".

The word Karabakh is generally held to originate from Turkic and Persian, and literally means "black garden".[7][8] The name first appears in Georgian and Persian sources of the 13th and 14th centuries.[8] Karabagh is an acceptable alternate spelling of Karabakh, and also denotes a kind of patterned rug originally produced in the area.[9]

In an alternative theory proposed by Bagrat Ulubabyan the name Karabakh has a Turkic-Armenian origin, meaning "Greater Baghk" (Template:Lang-hy), a reference to Ktish-Baghk (later: Dizak), one of the principalities of Artsakh under the rule of the Aranshahik dynasty, which held the throne of the Kingdom of Syunik in the 11th–13th centuries and called itself the "Kingdom of Baghk".[10]

The names for the region in the various local languages all translate to "mountainous Karabakh", or "mountainous black garden":

Nagorno-Karabakh is often referred to by the Armenians living in the area as Artsakh (Armenian: Արցախ), designating the 10th province of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. In Urartian inscriptions (9th–7th centuries BC), the name Urtekhini is used for the region.[11] Ancient Greek sources called the area Orkhistene.[12]

Other names used to denote Nagorno Karabakh in history include: Lesser Armenia,[13][14][15][16] Lesser Syunik,[17] and Armenia Interior.[18]

History

Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

Main article: History of Nagorno-Karabakh
The Amaras Monastery, founded in the 4th century by St. Gregory the Illuminator. In the 5th century, Mesrob Mashtots, inventor of the Armenian alphabet, established at Amaras the first school to use his script.[19][20]
The monastery at Gandzasar was commissioned by the House of Khachen and completed in 1238
Constitution of Aghven (Սահմանք Կանոնական) written in Nagorno Karabakh in the 5th century laid out a blueprint of constitutional texts in medieval Armenia.[21][22][23]

Nagorno-Karabakh falls within the lands occupied by peoples known to modern archaeologists as the Kura-Araxes culture, who lived between the two rivers Kura and Araxes.

The ancient population of the region consisted of various pre-Armenian autochthonous local and migrant tribes who were mostly non-Indo-Europeans (as the rest of the Armenian Plateau).[24]

According to the prevailing western theory, these natives intermarried with the so called proto-Armenians who came to the region after its inclusion into Armenia in the 2nd or, possibly earlier, in 4th century BC.[25] Other scholars suggest that the proto-Armenians settled in the region as early as in the 7th century BC.[26] The ancient Greek historian Strabo testifies that by the 1st or 2nd century BC population on the entire territory of Armenia, including the area of modern Nagorno-Karabakh, spoke Armenian,[27] though this certainly does not mean that its population consisted exclusively of ethnic Armenians.[28]

In around 180 BC the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh was conquered by Armenians from Medes[29] and formed the central part of Artsakh - one of the 15 provinces of the Armenian Kingdom, and remained so until the 4th century AD.[30] While formally having the status of a province (nahang), Artsakh possibly formed a principality on its own, much like Armenia's neighboring province of Syunik. Other theories suggest that Artsakh was a royal land, belonging to the King of Armenia directly.[31] Tigran the Great, King of Armenia, (ruled from 95–55 BC), founded in Artsakh one of four cities named “Tigranakert” after himself.[32] The ruins of the ancient Tigranakert, located 30 miles north-east of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's capital of Stepanakert, are being studied by a group of international scholars. The ruins of the second Tigranakert have yet to be uncovered, although it is believed to have been located in the district of Gardman.

In 387 AD, after the partition of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia, two Armenian provinces Artsakh and Utik passed to Caucasian Albania, which, in turn, came under strong Armenian religious and cultural influence.[33][34] By that time the diverse tribes of Artsakh and Utik must have been subjected to a great deal of Armenicization, but most of them were still being cited as distinct ethnic entities. Thus, the population of these provinces consisted of Armenians and Armenized tribes when it was ceded to Caucasian Albania. [24]

The Armenian medieval atlas Ashkharatsuits (Աշխարացույց), compiled in the 7th century by Anania Shirakatsi (Անանիա Շիրակացի, but sometimes attributed to Movses Khorenatsi as well), categorizes Artsakh and Utik as provinces of Armenia despite their presumed detachment from the Armenian Kingdom and their political association with Caucasian Albania and Persia at the time of his writing.[35] Shirakatsi specifies that Artsakh and Utik are “now detached” from Armenia and included in “Aghvank,” and he takes care to distinguish this new entity from the old “Aghvank strictly speaking” (Բուն Աղվանք) situated north of the river Kura.[36] Because the Armenian element was more homogeneous and more developed than the tribes living to the north of the Kura River, Armenians took over Caucasian Albania’s political life and were progressively able to impose their language and culture.[37][38]

Whatever little is known about Nagorno-Karabakh and other eastern Armenian-peopled territories in the early Middle Ages comes from the text History of the Land of Aghvank (Պատմություն Աղվանից Աշխարհի) attributed to two Armenian authors: Movses Kaghankatvatsi and Movses Daskhurantsi.[39][40] This text, written in Old Armenian, in essence represents the history of Armenia’s provinces of Artsakh and Utik.[37] Kaghankatvatsi, repeating Movses Khorenatsi, mentions that the very name “Aghvank”/“Albania” is of Armenian origin, and relates it to the Armenian word “aghu” (աղու, meaning “kind,” “benevolent”.[41] Khorenatsi states that aghu was a nickname given to Prince Arran, whom the Armenian king Vagharshak I appointed as governor of northeastern provinces bordering on Armenia. According to a legendary tradition reported by Khorenatsi, Arran was a descendant of Sisak, the ancestor of the Siunid dynasty that ruled Armenia's province of Syunik, and thus a great-grandson of the ancestral eponym of the Armenians, the Forefather Hayk.[42][43] Kaghankatvatsi and another Armenian author, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, confirm Arran’s belonging to Hayk’s blood line by calling Arranshahiks “a Haykazian dynasty.”[44][45]

In the 5th century’s Nagorno Karabakh, King Vachagan II the Pious, ruler of the Kingdom of Aghvank, adopted the so-called Constitution of Aghven (Սահմանք Կանոնական) — a code of civil regulations consisting of 21 articles and composed after a series of talks with leading clerical and civil figures of Armenia and Aghvank (e.g. Bishop of Syunik).[46][47] In the 8th century, the Constitution of Aghven was included in the Armenian Book of Laws (Կանոնագիրք Հայոց) by the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Hovhan III Odznetsi (Catholicos from 717-728), thus laying out a blueprint for later-era Armenian legal texts, such as the Lawcode written in the 12th century by Mkhitar Gosh.[48][49][50] The Constitution of Aghven usually features as an inclusion in Movses Kaghankatvatsi’s History of the Land of Aghvank.[51]

Armenian culture and civilization flourished in the early medieval Nagorno Karabakh. In the 5th century, the first-ever Armenian school was opened on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh—at the Amaras Monastery—by the efforts of St. Mesrob Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet.[52][53] St. Mesrob was very active in preaching Gospel in Artsakh and Utik. Overall, Mesrob Mashtots made three trips to Artsakh and Utik, ultimately reaching pagan territories at the foothills of the Greater Caucasus. [54][55] The 7th-century Armenian linguist and grammarian Stephanos Syunetsi stated in his work that Armenians of Artsakh had their own dialect, and encouraged his readers to learn it.[56] In the same 7th century, Armenian poet Davtak Kertogh writes his Elegy on the Death of Grand Prince Juansher, where each passage begins with a letter of Armenian script in alphabetical order.[57][40]

High Middle Ages

Main article: Artsakh
Consecratory text in Armenian ordered by Grand Prince Hasan Jalal Vahtangian inside Gandzasar Monastery (1216-1238).
Scholar Mkhitar Gosh (1130–1213), author of the Lawcode. Statute (center) in front of the Matenadaran institute in Yerevan, Armenia.[58]

In the 7th and 8th centuries, during the Arab conquest of the Caucasus, the region was ruled by Caliphate-appointed governors selected among local dynasts. In 821, the Armenian prince Sahl Smbatian revolted in Artsakh and established the House of Khachen, which ruled parts of Artsakh as a principality until the early 19th century.[59] The name “Khachen” originated from Armenian word “khach,” which means “cross”.[60]

In 1000, the House of Khachen proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh with Hovhannes (John) Senecherib as its first ruler.[61] Initially, the province of Dizak, in southern part of modern Nagorno-Karabakh, also formed a kingdom that was ruled by the ancient House of Aranshahik, which descended from the region's earliest monarchs.

During the invasion of the Caucasus and Asia Minor by Seljuk Turks in the 11th century, many Armenian noble families from Artsakh, such as Esayi Abu-Muse Aranshahik, Prince of Dizak,[62] offered stiff resistance to the occupation, while others chose to flee westward to the province of Cilicia on the Mediterranean Sea, joining their fellow countrymen from other provinces of Armenia.[63] Among them was Oshin of Lampron, Lord of Parisos, who left Artsakh in 1071 and established the Hethumian dynasty that ruled the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in the 13th and 14th centuries.[64]

In 1216, when the daughter of Dizak's last king, Mamkan, married Hasan Jalal Dola, the king of Artsakh, Dizak and Khachen merged to form one state, which expanded of the territory of the Kingdom of Artsakh further still.[59] After the death of Hasan Jalal Dola, Artsakh continued to exist as a principality.

The strengthening of the Kingdom of Artsakh brought about an unprecedented surge of Armenian cultural and political activity in medieval Nagorno Karabakh and neighboring territories that were under the influence of the kingdom. All major ecclesiastical monuments in the region were constructed or rebuilt in that timeframe, including the Gandzasar Monastery, Gtichavank Monastery, and Dadivank Monastery.[65] The scholar, poet and hymnologist Hovhannes Imastaser (c. 1047-1129), a native of the northern district of Gardman of medieval Nagorno Karabakh, wrote his main works on philosophy, science and literature and composed sharakans and taghs (hymns), such as Ode of the Resurrection [7].[66] Historian and geographer Vardan Areveltsi (c. 1198–1271) completed his Historical Compilation Template:Hy icon Հաւաքումն պատմութեան), the first history of the world in Armenian.[67] The legal scholar Mkhitar Gosh (1130–1213) wrote his Law Code Template:Hy icon Կանոնագիրք), under the patronage of Prince Hasan the Monk of Haterk, who also sponsored the construction of the monastery at Nor Getik (which received the name Goshavank in Gosh's memory).[58][68] The major historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi (c. 1200–1271), wrote his History of Armenia.[69]

Nagorno Karabakh’s Gandzasar Monastery during the reign of Grand Prince Hasan Jalal Vahtangian (1214–1238) became home to Armenia's first completed Haysmavurk (Synaxarion in Greek; Template:Hy icon: Հայսմավուրկ; also known as the “Book of Saints”), a calendar collection of short lives of saints and accounts of important religious events. The idea to have a new, better organized Haysmavurk came from Hasan Jalal himself, who then placed his request with Father Israel (Ter-Israel; Template:Hy icon Տեր-Իսրաել), a disciple of an important Armenian medieval philosopher and Artsakh native known as Vanakan Vardapet. The Haysmavurk was further developed by the historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi. Ever since, the Haysmavurk ordered by Hasan Jalal became known as "Synaxarion of Ter-Israel;" it was mass printed in Constantinople in 1834.[70] The Gandzasar Monastery as well as Dadivank also hosted several scriptoria, which produced important illuminated manuscripts, such as the world-renowned Red Gospel of Gandzasar (1232). The Red Gospel is on display at the University of Chicago’s library (USA) and belongs to the Goodspeed Manuscript Collection.[65]

Five principalities of Karabakh (Gyulistan, Jaraberd, Khachen, Varanda, Dizak), the last relic of Armenian statehood (1750s)

High Middle Ages: Media

Spiritual Music of Medieval Nagorno Karabakh Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end

Late Middle Ages

Main article: Melikdoms of Karabakh
Armenian melik (prince) David Melik-Shahnazarian of Nagorno Karabakh, Napoléon Bonaparte's envoy to Persia.[71][72]
Armenian melik (prince) Israel Ori (1658-1711), a prominent leader of the Armenian national liberation movement that tried to restore Armenian independence in Nagorno Karabakh and Syunik with the help of European powers, Russia and Georgia.
Askeran fortress, built by the Karabakh khanate ruler Panah Ali Khan.

In the 15th century, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent lands were part of the area ruled or influenced by Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu tribal confederations. The Turkoman lord Jahan Shah (1437–67) confirmed the governorship over upper Karabakh to local Armenian princes - five noble families who held the title of meliks.[59] These dynasties represented the branches of the earlier House of Khachen and were the descendants of the medieval kings of Artsakh. The Hasan-Jalalyan family of landed princes and clergymen who manned the throne of Catholicos of Aghvank at the Holy See of Gandzasar of the Armenian Apostolic Church was especially important. In 1441, a top military commander from the Hasan-Jalalyan family in the service of the Kara Koyunlu orchestrated the return of the Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic Church from the Mediterranean town of Sis in Cilicia to its traditional location at Etchmadzin in Armenia.[73] Shortly after the event, Grigor X Jalalbegiants (1443–1465), representing the clerical branch of the Hasan-Jalalyans, was enthroned as the Catholicos of All Armenians at Etchmadzin.[74]

The lands of the five Armenian meliks were often referred to as the Country of Khamsa (five in Arabic). The Russian Empire recognized the sovereign status of the five Armenian princes in their domains by a charter of the Emperor Paul I dated 2 June 1799.[75]

These five Armenian principalities (melikdoms) in Karabakh [76] were as following:

  • Principality of Gulistan - under the leadership of the Melik-Beglarian family
  • Principality of Jraberd - under the leadership of the Melik-Israelian family
  • Principality of Khachen - under the leadership of the Hasan-Jalalian family
  • Principality of Varanda - under the leadership of the Melik-Shahnazarian family
  • Principality of Dizak - under the leadership of the Melik-Avanian family.

Other Armenian principalities in the adjacent highlands of historical Artsakh included: [77]

  • Principality of Getashen - under the leadership of the Melik-Mnatsakanian family
  • Principality of Voskanapat - under the leadership of the northern branch of Melik-Shahnazarian family
  • Principality of Qashatagh - under the leadership of Melik-Haikazian family

The principalities of Nagorno Karabakh considered themselves direct descendants of the Kingdom of Armenia, and were recognized as such by foreign powers[78]

In the early 16th century, after the fall of the Ak Koyunlu state, control of the region passed to the Safavid dynasty, which created the Karabakh Beylerbeylik. Despite these conquests, the population of Upper Karabakh remained largely Armenian.[79] Initially under the control of the Ganja Khanate of the Persian Empire, wide autonomy of local Armenian princes over the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent lands was re-confirmed by Iran's Safavid rulers.

The Armenian meliks maintained full control over the region until the mid-18th century.[79] In the early 18th century, Persia's Nader Shah took Karabakh out of control of the Ganja khans in punishment for their support of the Safavids, and placed it under his own control.[80][81] At the same time, the Armenian meliks were granted supreme 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.[82]

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Nagorno Karabakh became an epicenter of the idea of re-creating an independent Armenian state.[83][84] This state, centered on semi-independent Armenian principalities of Artsakh and Syunik, would be allied with Georgia and protected by Russia and European powers.[83] Armenian melik Israel Ori, who served in the armies of Louis XIV of France, was trying to convince Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (1658–1716), Pope Innocent XII and Emperor of Austria to liberate Armenia from foreign yoke and sent large amounts of money to the armed forces of Karabakh Armenians.[85] Another prominent native figure from Nagorno Karabakh who worked to establish an independent Armenian entity in his homeland was Movses Baghramian.[86] Baghramian accompanied the Armenian patriot Joseph Emin (1726–1809), and tried to secure the help of Karabakh's Armenian meliks.[87]

In the mid-18th century, as internal conflicts between the meliks led to their weakening,[79] the Karabakh khanate was formed. Karabakh became a protectorate of the Imperial Russia by the Kurekchay Treaty, signed between Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh and general Pavel Tsitsianov on behalf of Tsar Alexander I in 1805, according to which the Russian monarch recognized Ibrahim Khalil Khan and his descendants as the sole hereditary rulers of the region.[88][89][90] Its new status was confirmed under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan (1823), when Persia formally ceded Karabakh to the Russian Empire,[91][92][93][94] before the rest of Transcaucasia was incorporated into the Empire in 1828 by the Treaty of Turkmenchay.

In 1822, the Karabakh khanate was dissolved, and the area became part of the Elisabethpol Governorate within the Russian Empire. After the transfer of the Karabakh khanate to Russia, many Muslim families emigrated to Persia, while many Armenians were induced by the Russian government to emigrate from Persia to Karabakh.[95]

Modern era

Karabakh became a protectorate of the Imperial Russia by the Kurekchay Treaty, signed between Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh and general Pavel Tsitsianov on behalf of Tsar Alexander I in 1805, according to which the Russian monarch recognized Ibrahim Khalil Khan and his descendants as the sole hereditary rulers of the region.[96][97][98] Its new status was confirmed under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan (1823), when Persia formally ceded Karabakh to the Russian Empire,[99][100][101][102] before the rest of Transcaucasia was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1828 by the Treaty of Turkmenchay.

In 1822, the Karabakh Khanate was dissolved, and the area became part of the Elisabethpol Governorate within the Russian Empire. After the transfer of the Karabakh Khanate to Russia, many Azerbaijani Muslim families emigrated to Persia, while many Armenians were induced by the Russian government to emigrate from Persia to Karabakh.[103]

Soviet era

Main article: Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

The present-day conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has its roots in the decisions made by Joseph Stalin and the Caucasian Bureau (Kavburo) during the Sovietization of Transcaucasia. Stalin was the acting Commissar of Nationalities for the Soviet Union during the early 1920s, the branch of the government under which the Kavburo was created. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Karabakh became part of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, but this soon dissolved into separate Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian states. Over the next two years (1918–20), there were a series of short wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over several regions, including Karabakh. In July 1918, the First Armenian Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh declared the region self-governing and created a National Council and government.[104] Later, Ottoman troops entered Karabakh, meeting armed resistance by Armenians.

After the defeat of Ottoman Empire in World War I, British troops occupied Karabakh.[79] The British command provisionally affirmed Khosrov bey Sultanov (appointed by the Azerbaijani government) as the governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur, pending final decision by the Paris Peace Conference.[105] The decision was opposed by Karabakh Armenians. In February 1920, the Karabakh National Council preliminarily agreed to Azerbaijani jurisdiction, while Armenians elsewhere in Karabakh continued guerrilla fighting, never accepting the agreement.[79][104] The agreement itself was soon annulled by the Ninth Karabagh Assembly, which declared union with Armenia in April.[79][104][106]

In April 1920, while the Azerbaijani army was locked in Karabakh fighting local Armenian forces, Azerbaijan was taken over by Bolsheviks.[79] On August 10, 1920, Armenia signed a preliminary agreement with the Bolsheviks, agreeing to a temporary Bolshevik occupation of these areas until final settlement would be reached.[107] In 1921, Armenia and Georgia were also taken over by the Bolsheviks who, in order to attract public support, promised they would allot Karabakh to Armenia, along with Nakhchivan and Zangezur (the strip of land separating Nakhchivan from Azerbaijan proper). However, the Soviet Union also had far-reaching plans concerning Turkey, hoping that it would, with a little help from them, develop along Communist lines. Needing to placate Turkey, the Soviet Union agreed to a division under which Zangezur would fall under the control of Armenia, while Karabakh and Nakhchivan would be under the control of Azerbaijan. Had Turkey not been an issue, Stalin would likely have left Karabakh under Armenian control.[108] As a result, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was established within the Azerbaijan SSR on July 7, 1923.

With the Soviet Union firmly in control of the region, the conflict over the region died down for several decades. With the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the question of Nagorno-Karabakh re-emerged. Accusing the Azerbaijani SSR government of conducting forced azerification of the region, the majority Armenian population, with ideological and material support from the Armenian SSR, started a movement to have the autonomous oblast transferred to the Armenian SSR. The oblast's borders were drawn by Soviet Azerbaijani government. The July 7, 1923 decree of Soviet Azerbaijani government referred to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as "an Armenian part of Nagorno-Karabakh". The decree of Central Executive Committee of Soviet Azerbaijan literally stated the following: "to form an autonomous district on the Armenian part of Nagorno Karabakh" "[109]. However, numerous Armenian populated residences, like Shahumyan rayon or Armenian populated villages of Khanlar were left outside of Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region. Despite this, some sources claim, that Soviet Azerbaijan's government included Armenian villages and excluded as much as possible Azerbaijani villages.In August 1987 Karabakh Armenians sent petition for union with Armenia tens of thousands of signatures to Moscow[110].

War and secession

Main article: Nagorno-Karabakh War
A restored Armenian T-72, knocked out of commission while attacking Azeri positions in Askeran, serves as a war memorial on the outskirts of Stepanakert.

On February 13, 1988, Karabakh Armenians began demonstrating in their capital, Stepanakert, in favour of unification with the Armenian republic. Six days later they were joined by mass marches in Yerevan. On February 20 the Soviet of People's Deputies in Karabakh voted 110 to 17 to request the transfer of the region to Armenia. This unprecedented action by a regional soviet brought out tens of thousands of demonstrations both in Stepanakert and Yerevan, but Moscow rejected the Armenians' demands. On February 22, 1988, the first direct confrontation of the conflict occurred as a large group of Azeris marched from Agdam against the Armenian populated town of Askeran, "wreaking destruction en route". The confrontation between the Azeris and the police near Askeran degenerated into the Askeran clash, which left two Azeris dead, one of them reportedly killed by an Azeri police officer, as well as 50 Armenian villagers, and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis and police, injured.[111]Large numbers of refugees left Armenia and Azerbaijan as violence began against the minority populations of the respective countries.[112] In the fall of 1989, intensified inter-ethnic conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh led the Soviet Union to grant Azerbaijani authorities greater leeway in controlling the region.[citation needed] On November 29, 1989 direct rule in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and the region was returned to Azerbaijani administration.[113] The Soviet policy backfired, however, when a joint session of the Armenian Supreme Soviet and the National Council, the legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh, proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.[citation needed] In 1989, Nagorno-Karabakh had a population of 192,000.[114] The population at that time was 76% Armenian and 23% Azerbaijanis, with Russian and Kurdish minorities.[114] On November 26, 1991 Azerbaijan abolished the status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, rearranging the administrative division and bringing the territory under direct control of Azerbaijan.[115]

On December 10, 1991 in a referendum boycotted by local Azerbaijania [116]Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh approved the creation of an independent state. A Soviet proposal for enhanced autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan satisfied neither side, and a full-scale war subsequently erupted between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, the latter receiving support from Armenia.[117][118] The former Soviet Union. Human Rights Developments]: "In 1992 the conflict grew far more lethal as both sides—the Azerbaijani National Army and free-lance militias fighting along with it, and ethnic Armenians and mercenaries fighting in the Popular Liberation Army of Artsakh—began."</ref>[119][120] According to Armenia's former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, the Karabakh leadership approach was maximalist and “they thought they could get more.”[121][122][123]

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 military. Furthermore, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani military employed a large number of mercenaries from Ukraine and Russia.[124] As many as one thousand Afghan mujahideen participated in the fighting on Azerbaijan's side. [125]There were also fighters from Chechnya headed by Shamil Basaev fighting on the side of Azerbaijan. [126] Many survivors from the Azerbaijani side found shelter in 12 emergency camps set up in other parts of Azerbaijan to cope with the growing number of internally displaced people due to the Nagorno-Karabakh war.[127]

By the end of 1993, the conflict had caused thousands of casualties and created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides.[citation needed] By May 1994, the Armenians were in control of 14% of the territory of Azerbaijan. At that stage, for the first time during the conflict, the Azerbaijani government recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a third party in the war, and started direct negotiations with the Karabakh authorities.[79] As a result, a cease-fire was reached on May 12, 1994 through Russian negotiation signed by representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.

Contemporary situation (since 1994)

Further information: Madrid Principles, Prague Process (Armenian–Azerbaijani), Nagorno-Karabakh Declaration, Astrakhan Declaration, and Land mine situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
The final borders of the conflict after the Bishkek Protocol. Armenian forces of Nagorno-Karabakh currently control almost 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast [128]while Azerbaijani forces control Shahumian and the eastern parts of Martakert and Martuni.
Dmitry Medvedev with Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian in Moscow on 2 November 2008

Despite the ceasefire, fatalities due to armed conflicts between Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers continued.[129] On January 25, 2005 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution 1416, which condemns the use of ethnic cleansing against the Azerbaijani population, and supporting the occupation of Azerbaijani territory.[130][131] On 15–17 May 2007 the 34th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Conference adopted resolution № 7/34-P, considering the occupation of Azerbaijani territory as the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and recognizing the actions against Azerbaijani civilians as a crime against humanity, and condemns the destruction of archaeological, cultural and religious monuments in the occupied territories.[132]

At the 11th session of the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference held on March 13–14, 2008 in Dakar, resolution № 10/11-P (IS) was adopted. According to the resolution, OIC member states condemned the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenian forces and Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, alleged ethnic cleansing against the Azeri population, and charged Armenia with the "destruction of cultural monuments in the occupied Azerbaijani territories."[133] On March 14 of the same year the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution № 62/243 which "demands the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan".[134] As of August 2008, the United States, France, and Russia (the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group) are mediating efforts to negotiate a full settlement of the conflict, proposing a "a referendum or a plebiscite, at a time to be determined later," to determine the final status of the area, return for some territories under Karabakh's control, and security guarantees.[135] Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian traveled to Moscow for talks with Dmitry Medvedev on 2 November 2008. The talks ended in the three Presidents signing a declaration confirming their commitment to continue talks.[136] The two presidents have met again since then, most recently in Saint Petersburg.[137]

On November 22, 2009, several world leaders, among them the heads of state from Azerbaijan and Armenia, met in Munich in the hopes of renewing efforts to reach a peaceful settlement on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Prior to the meeting, President Aliyev once more threatened to resort to military force to reestablish control over the region if the two sides did not reach an agreeable settlement at the summit.[138]

The ceasefire agreement is being breached on a regular basis by both sides. Some major incidents and skirmishes include the killing of three Azerbaijani soldiers and wounding one as a result of the ceasefire violation on February 18, 2010.[139] On November 20 of the same year an Armenian sniper opened fire on Azerbaijani positions in Khojavend Rayon, killing one Azerbaijani soldier.[140] This incident brought the number of soldiers killed from both sides in August—November, 2010 to twelve.[140] On September 25, 2010 the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon supported the withdrawal of snipers from the contact line.[141] The spokesman of Azerbaijani Defence Ministry Lt-Col Eldar Sabiroglu, however, commented that Armenian servicemen used to fire on opposite positions across the contact line from machine- and submachine guns, as well as from grenade launchers, and that these weapons have even been used against civilians.[141] On March 8, 2011, an Armenian Armed Forces sniper positioned in the occupied Azerbaijani territories targeted and killed 9-year-old Fariz Badalov.[142] Badalov's death was condemned by a PACE declaration 12591. On May 18–20, 2010 at the 37th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Conference in Dushanbe, another resolution condemning the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, recognizing the actions against Azerbaijani civilians as a crime against humanity and condemning the destruction of archaeological, cultural and religious monuments in occupied territories was adopted.[143] On May 20 of the same year the European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted the resolution on "The need for an EU Strategy for the South Caucasus" on the basis of the report by Evgeni Kirilov, Bulgarian member of the Parliament.[144][145] The resolution states in particular that "the occupied Azerbaijani regions around Nagorno-Karabakh must be cleared as soon as possible".[146]

On September 12, 2011, a UAV was reportedly shot down over the airspace of the secessionist Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (near the village of Gülablı in the district of Khojavend.[147] According to the Armenian side the UAV was shot down by air defense arm of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army. However according to Israeli sources this was accomplished with the aid of Russian antiaircraft officers who entered the region from neighboring Armenia.[148]

Geography

A view of the forested mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh has a total area of 4,400 square kilometers (1,699 sq mi) and is an enclave surrounded entirely by Azerbaijan; its nearest point to Armenia is across the Lachin corridor, roughly 4 kilometers across.[149] Approximately half of Nagorno-Karabakh terrain is over 950 m above sea level.[150] The borders of Nagorno-Karabakh resemble a kidney bean with the indentation on the east side. It has tall mountain ridges along the northern edge and along the west and a mountainous south. The part near the indentation of the kidney bean itself is a relatively flat valley, with the two edges of the bean, the provinces of Martakert and Martuni, having flat lands as well. Other flatter valleys exist around the Sarsang reservoir, Hadrut, and the south. The entire region lies, on average, 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) above sea level.[150] Notable peaks include the border mountain Murovdag and the Great Kirs mountain chain in the junction of Shusha Rayon and Hadrut. The territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh forms a portion of the historic region of Karabakh, which lies between the rivers Kura and Araxes, and the modern Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Nagorno-Karabakh in its modern borders is part of the larger region of Upper Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s environment vary from steppe on the Kura lowland through dense forests of oak, hornbeam and beech on the lower mountain slopes to birchwood and alpine meadows higher up. The region possesses numerous mineral springs and deposits of zinc, coal, lead, gold, marble and limestone.[151] The major cities of the region are Stepanakert, which serves as the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and Shusha, which lies partially in ruins. Vineyards, orchards and mulberry groves for silkworms are developed in the valleys.[152]

Culture of Nagorno-Karabakh

Main article: Culture of Nagorno-Karabakh

Language

The majority of the population in Nagorno-Karabakh speaks an ancient Artsakh dialect of Eastern Armenian, which was first described in the 7th century by the grammarian and philosopher Stephanos Syunetsi. [153]The continued existence of this dialect was noted in the writings of Yessai Nchetsi, a 14th century author and founder of Armenia’s University of Gladzor. [154]The Artsakh dialect is also spoken in the provinces of Tavush and Syunik of the Republic of Armenia.[155] Due to its unique phonetics and archaic syntax developed in relative isolation from other Armenian vernaculars, the Artsakh dialect is not entirely intelligible by other Armenian speakers.[156]Among other unique elements, the Artsakh dialect features umlauts, such as æ (ä), ö, and ü.

Demographics and ethnic composition

Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Zoranamak: military register of the Kingdom of Armenia codifying military draft obligations of Armenian nakharar dynasties before the King. According to Zoranamak, provinces of Artsakh and Utik were responsible for providing 3000 soldiers.[157]

Armenians have lived in the Karabakh region since Roman times: Strabo states that, by the second or first century BC, the entire population of Greater Armenia—Artsakh and Utik included—spoke Armenian. [158] Some indirect demographic data on early medieval Artsakh are mentioned by Anania Shirakatsi in Armenia's military register known as Zoranamak (List of Armies), which required nakharar houses of Gardmanetsi, Uteatsi and Tzavdeatsi in the provinces of Artsakh and Utik to supply Armenia's royal army with no less than 3000 foot soldiers combined.[159]

The Armenian population of Artsakh and Utik remained in place after the partition of the Kingdom of Armenia in 387, as did the entire political, social, cultural and military structure of the provinces. [160]In the 5th century, Armenia’s foremost early medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi (Մովսես Խորենացի) testifies that the population of Artsakh and Utik spoke Armenian, with the River Kura, in his words, marking the “boundary of Armenian speech” (… զեզերս հայկական խօսիցս). [161]

The population of Nagorno Karabakh was Armenian throughout the Middle Ages.[162] In his description about the Caucasus and neighboring regions, Iranian geographer Abu Ishaq al Istakhri noted in his 10th century work Book of Climates that the road from Bardaa to Dabil lies through the lands of Armenians that belong to Sunbat, son of Ashut, i.e. to Sahl Smbatian, Prince of Khachen, and that "population of Khachen is Armenian."[162][163]

Johann Schiltberger (1380–c. 1440), a German traveler and writer, observed in the beginning of the 15th century that Karabakh's lowlands divided by the Kura River are populated by Armenians and mentioned Karabakh as part of Armenia.[164][165]

1700s

Concrete numbers about the demographic situation in Nagorno-Karabakh appear since the 18th century. Archimandrite Minas Tigranian, after completing his secret mission to Persian Armenia ordered by the Russian Tsar Peter the Great stated in a report dated March 14, 1717 that the patriarch of the Gandzasar Monastery, in Nagorno-Karabakh, had under his authority 900 Armenian villages.[166] Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian military commander Tarkhan, brother of Nagorno Karabakh's commander-in-chief Avan Yuzbashi, suggests in his letter to Russia's Collegium of Foreign Affairs dated October 1729 that the four military districts of his land - the seghnakhs - had 30,000 Armenian soldiers, in addition to merchants and other civilians.[167]

In his letter of 1769 to Russia’s Count P. Panin, the Georgian king Erekle II, in his description of Nagorno-Karabakh, suggests: "Seven families rule the region of Khamse. Its population is totally Armenian."[168][169]

When discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevskiy (Russian: С. М. Броневский) indicated in his Historical Notes that Karabakh, which he said "is located in Greater Armenia" had as many as 30–40,000 armed Armenian men in 1796.[170]

Close to 30,000 Armenians left Nagorno-Karabakh in the late 18th century as a result of famine and persecution of Armenian nobility by the Karabakh khan.[171] In 1797, Russian Tsar Paul I of Russia in his letter to General Ivan Gudovich mentioned that the number of Armenians who had to flee Nagorno-Karabakh for Georgia was close to 11,000 families.[172][173]

Russian Rule (1805-1918)

A survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823, several years before the 1828 Armenian migration from Persia to the newly established Armenian Province, shows that all Armenians of Karabakh (5107 boroughs) compactly resided in its highland portion, i.e. on the territory of the five traditional Armenian principalities in Nagorno-Karabakh, 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) had eight Armenian villages and no Tatar villages; Dizak had fourteen Armenian villages and one Tatar village; Gulistan had twelve Armenian and five Tatar villages; and Varanda had twenty-three Armenian villages and one Tatar village.[174][175]

According to a Russian census, in 1897 there were 106,363 Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh, and they made up 94 percent of the rural population within the boundaries of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.[173] In 1914, the Karabakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, whose jurisdiction covered Nagorno Karabakh and all adjacent Armenian-populated territories, had 206,768 parishioners living in 224 Armenian villages, with 222 functioning Armenian churches and monasteries, and 188 priests.[173][176]

Ethno-demographic balance in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in 1921-1989, and 2007[177]

Soviet Era

In the Soviet times, Azerbaijan tried to change demographic balance in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO) in favor of Azerbaijanis and to the detriment of its Armenian majority by sending Azerbaijanis from other parts of Azerbaijani SSR to NKAO. In 2002, Azerbaijan’s President Heydar Aliyev made a public confession that he personally conceived and directed a policy of squeezing out Armenians from the province and replacing them with Azerbaijanis.[178] Adding an Azerbaijani sector to a local university and sending Azerbaijani workers to a newly-commissioned shoe factory were mentioned by Heydar Aliyev among the tools of his demographic policy.

Heydar Aliyev: By doing this, I tried to increase the number of Azerbaijanis and to reduce the number of Armenians.[178][179]

Heydar Aliyev's commentary was supported by his colleagues and subordinates, such as Ramil Usubov - Azerbaijan's long-served Minister of the Interior.[180]

Nearing the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast boasted a population of 145,593 Armenians (76.4%), 42,871 Azerbaijanis (22.4%),[124] and several thousand Kurds, Russians, Greeks, and Assyrians. Most of the Azerbaijani and Kurdish populations fled the region during the heaviest years of fighting in the war from 1992 to 1993.

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

In 2001, the NKR's reported population was 95% Armenian, with the remaining total including Assyrians, Greeks, and Kurds.[181] In March 2007, the local government announced that its population had grown to 138,000. The annual birth rate was recorded at 2,200-2,300 per year, an increase from nearly 1,500 in 1999. Until 2000, the country's net migration was at a negative.[182] For the first half of 2007, 1,010 births and 659 deaths were reported, with a net emigration of 27.[183]

The OSCE report, released in March 2011, estimates the population of territories controlled by ethnic Armenians "adjacent to the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh" to be 14,000, and states "there has been no significant growth in the population since 2005."[184]

Most of the Armenian population is Christian and belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Certain Orthodox Christian and Evangelical Christian denominations also exist; other religions include Judaism.[181]

See also

References

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  117. ^ Human Rights Watch. Playing the "Communal Card". Communal Violence and Human Rights: "By early 1992 full-scale fighting broke out between Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijani authorities." / "...Karabakh Armenian forces—often with the support of forces from the Republic of Armenia—conducted large-scale operations..." / "Because 1993 witnessed unrelenting Karabakh Armenian offensives against the Azerbaijani provinces surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh..." / "Since late 1993, the conflict has also clearly become internationalized: in addition to Azerbaijani and Karabakh Armenian forces, troops from the Republic of Armenia participate on the Karabakh side in fighting inside Azerbaijan and in Nagorno-Karabakh."
  118. ^ Human Rights Watch. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hsw-07.htm
  119. ^ United States Institute of Peace. Nagorno-Karabakh Searching for a Solution. Foreword: "Nagorno-Karabakh’s armed forces have not only fortified their region, but have also occupied a large swath of surrounding Azeri territory in the hopes of linking the enclave to Armenia."
  120. ^ United States Institute of Peace. Sovereignty after Empire. Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union. Hopes and Disappointments: Case Studies "Meanwhile, the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh was gradually transforming into a full-scale war between Azeri and Karabakh irregulars, the latter receiving support from Armenia." / "Azerbaijan's objective advantage in terms of human and economic potential has so far been offset by the superior fighting skills and discipline of Nagorno-Karabakh's forces. After a series of offensives, retreats, and counteroffensives, Nagorno-Karabakh now controls a sizable portion of Azerbaijan proper ... including the Lachin corridor."
  121. ^ "By Giving Karabakh Lands to Azerbaijan, Conflict Would Have Ended in '97, Says Ter-Petrosian". Asbarez. Asbarez. April 19, 2011.
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  123. ^ "Первый президент Армении о распаде СССР и Карабахе". BBC. BBC. April 18, 2011.
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  125. ^ de Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7.
  126. ^ de Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7.
  127. ^ [5] Azerbaijan closes last of emergency camps], UNHCR
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  129. ^ No End in Sight to Fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh by Ivan Watson/National Public Radio. Weekend Edition Sunday, April 23, 2006.
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  131. ^ Резолюция ПАСЕ по Карабаху: что дальше?. BBC Russian.
  132. ^ Resolutions on Political Affairs. The Thirty-Fourth Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers.
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  142. ^ "Murder of 9-year-old Azerbaijani civilian, Fariz Badalov". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  143. ^ RESOLUTIONS ON POLITICAL ISSUES ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS (SESSION OF SHARED VISION OF A MORE SECURE AND PROSPEROUS ISLAMIC WORLD) DUSHANBE, REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN 4-6 JAMADUL THANI 1431H(18-20 MAY 2010
  144. ^ "FM: Azerbaijan welcomes resolution 'Need for EU Strategy for South Caucasus' adopted by European Parliament." Trend.az. May 21, 2010.
  145. ^ "EU's Ashton Says Nagorno-Karabakh Elections Illegal." RFE/RL. May 21, 2010.
  146. ^ Bulgarian MEPs Urge EU to Be Proactive in South Caucasus.
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  153. ^ Н.Адонц. «Дионисий Фракийский и армянские толкователи», Пг., 1915, 181—219
  154. ^ Christophe J. Walker. Armenia and Karabagh: the Struggle for Unity. Minority Right Publications, 1991, p. 76
  155. ^ Bert Vaux. The Phonology of Armenian (Phonology of the World's Languages), Oxford University Press, USA (June 4, 1998)
  156. ^ Thomas de Waal. The Caucasus: An Introduction. Oxford University Press, USA (September 9, 2010), p. 102
  157. ^ Anania Shirakatsi, Chronicles. As described in: Hovhannes Shahatuniants. Description of the Cathedral of Echmiadzin and the ancient Ayrarat districts. Echmiadzin, 1842 , volume 2, p. 58
  158. ^ Svante E. Cornell. Small Nations and Great Powers. 2001, p. 64
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  160. ^ Walker, Christopher J. Armenia and Karabagh: The Struggle for Unity. Minority Rights Group Publications, 1991, p. 10
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  163. ^ КАРАУЛОВ Н. А. Сведения арабских писателей X и XI веков по Р. Хр. о Кавказе, Армении и Адербейджане.
  164. ^ Путешествие Ивана Шильтбергера по Европе, Азии и Африке с 1394 по 1427 г. Перевел с немецкого и снабдил примечаниями Ф. Брун, Одесса, 1866, p. 110
  165. ^ The Bondage And Travels Of Johann Schiltberger, A Native Of Bavaria, In Europe, Asia And Africa, 1396-1427. J. Buchan Telfer (Translator), Kessinger Publishing, LLC (September 10, 2010), p. 86
  166. ^ Bournoutian, George A. Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796: A Documentary Record. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2001, p. 120–21
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  168. ^ Цагарели А. А. Грамота и гругие исторические документы XVIII столетия, относяшиеся к Грузии, Том 1. СПб 1891, ц. 434-435. This book is available online from Google Books
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  171. ^ Bournoutian, George A. Russia and the Armenians of Transcaucasia, 1797-1889: A Documentary Record. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers. 1998, p. 20 and ref. 6
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  174. ^ 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 (Template:Lang-ru), Tbilisi, 1866.
  175. ^ Bournoutian, George A. A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-E Qarabagh. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 1994, page 18
  176. ^ Ararat magazine, 1914, Vagharshapat, p. 637
  177. ^ Сельскохозяйственная перепись Азербайджана 1921 г. in: "Известия Аз. ЦСУ", 1923, № 1 (7), с. 106-111), and М. Авдеева. "Численность и племенной состав сельского населения Азербайджана по данным переписи 1921 г.; Население СССР: По данным Всесоюз. переписей населения в 1926-89 гг., М.: Политиздат, январь 1991; NKR Census, 2005 as seen on http://census.stat-nkr.am
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  180. ^ Usubov, Ramil. Nagorniy Karabakh: the Mission of Salvation Began the in the 70s, Panorama, May 12, 1999 (in Russian).
  181. ^ a b Ethnic composition of the region as provided by the government
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  183. ^ Евразийская панорама
  184. ^ "Azerbaijani Party Appeals To OSCE About Armenian Resettlement". RFERL. 2011-05-13. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
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