Karabakh movement - Misplaced Pages

1988–1991 mass movement in Armenia

Karabakh movement

Part of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union

The first major demonstration in Stepanakert, February 13, 1988

Date

13 February 1988 — 30 April 1991

Location

Armenia (mainly Yerevan)
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

Goals

Unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia

Methods

Demonstrations, sit-ins, strikes, hunger strike, student protest, civil disobedience

Resulted in

Establishment of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Escalation of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War

Parties

Karabakh Committee (1988–1989)
Pan-Armenian National Movement (1989–1991)

Armenia

Soviet Union

Azerbaijan SSR

Lead figures

Levon Ter-Petrosyan
Vazgen Manukyan
Movses Gorgisyan
Babken Ararktsyan
Igor Muradyan

Mikhail Gorbachev
Kamran Baghirov
Abdurrahman Vazirov
Ayaz Mutallibov

Number

Yerevan:
200,000 (24-25 February 1988)
1 million (26 February 1988)
300,000 (May 1988)
400,000 (January 1990)
Stepanakert:

100,000 (25 February 1988)
120,000 (26 February 1988)

The Karabakh movement (Armenian: Ղարաբաղյան շարժում), also known as the Artsakh movement (Armenian: Արցախյան շարժում), was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of neighboring Azerbaijan to the jurisdiction of Armenia.

Initially, the movement was entirely devoid of any anti-Soviet sentiment and did not call for independence of Armenia. The Karabakh Committee, a group of intellectuals, led the movement from 1988 to 1989. It transformed into the Pan-Armenian National Movement (HHSh) by 1989 and won majority in the 1990 parliamentary election. In 1991, both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from the Soviet Union. The intense fighting known as the first Nagorno-Karabakh War turned into a full-scale war by 1992.

Background

1987

September: the Union for National Self-Determination, the first non-Communist party, established in Armenia by Paruyr Hayrikyan
October 17: the first protests concerning ecological issues held in Yerevan
October 18: a minor rally on Freedom Square, Yerevan for the unification of Karabakh with Armenia

1988

February 13: First demonstration in Stepanakert. Traditionally considered the start of the movement.
February 18–26: Major demonstrations held in Yerevan for the unification of Karabakh with Armenia.
February 20: the NKAO Supreme Council issued a request to transfer the region to Soviet Armenia
February 22–23: Local Armenians and Azerbaijanis clash in Askeran, resulting in several deaths
February 26: Demonstrations paused after Mikhail Gorbachev's asked for time to develop a position.
February 27–29: Sumgait pogrom starts, Armenians of Azerbaijan start to leave in large numbers
March 9: Gorbachev meets with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan Karen Demirchyan and Kamran Baghirov in Moscow to discuss the public demands of unification of Armenia and Karabakh.
March 22: Over 100,000 people discontented with the tendencies demonstrate in Yerevan.
March 23: The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union rejects the demand of NKAO Regional Party.
March 25: Gorbachev rejects Armenian claims, forbade demonstrations in Yerevan.
March 26: Despite not being authorized by the Moscow government, tens of thousands demonstrate in Yerevan.
March 30: NKAO Communist Party adopts a resolution demanding unification.
April 24: Hundreds of thousands of Armenians march to the genocide memorial in Yerevan.
May 21: Karen Demirchyan resigns.
May 28: Flag of Armenia first raised in front of Matenadaran.
June 15: Soviet Armenian Supreme Council votes in favor of the unification of NKAO.
June 17: Soviet Azerbaijani Supreme Council opposes the transfer of NKAO to Armenia.
June 28–29: Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union disapproves Armenian claims to NKAO.
July 5: Zvartnots Airport clash, the Soviet troops confronted by protesters in Zvartnots Airport, one man left dead, tens injured.
July 12: NKAO Soviet Council votes in favor of unification with Armenia.
July 18: Soviet Supreme Council refuses Armenian claims.
July 21: Paruyr Hayrikyan deported to Ethiopia.
Autumn: Around 150,000 Azerbaijanis of Armenia start to leave in large numbers.
September: State of emergency declared in Stepanakert after Armenian and Azerbaijanis clash.
November: Kirovabad pogrom
November 7: Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Yerevan to support the Karabakh Committee.
November 22: Soviet Armenian Supreme Council recognizes the Armenian Genocide.
November 24: State of emergency declared in Yerevan.
December 7: Armenian earthquake.
December 10: Karabakh Committee members arrested, sent to Moscow.

1989

March 16: Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant shut down.
May 31: Karabakh Committee members freed.
December 1: Soviet Armenian Supreme Council and NKAO Supreme Council declare the unification of the two entities

1990

January 13–19: Pogrom of Armenians in Baku.
May 20: 1990 Armenian parliamentary election, pro-independence members form majority.
August 4: Levon Ter-Petrosyan elected chairman of the Supreme Council, de facto leader of Armenia.
August 23: Soviet Armenian Supreme Council declared independence.

1991

April 30 – May 15: First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Soviet and Azeri forces deport thousands of Armenians from Shahumyan during Operation Ring.
August 19–21: 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt
September 2: Nagorno-Karabakh Republic proclaimed in Stepanakert.

Miatsum

Miatsum (Armenian: Միացում, romanized: Unification) was a concept and a slogan used during the Karabakh movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which led to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1992–1994.

The idea originated in an era of realignment among the Armenians who were unhappy that the area inhabited predominantly by an Armenian population has remained under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan. From the 1970s, with the support of the first secretary of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Azerbaijan SSR, Heydar Aliyev, a policy of settling NKAO by Azerbaijanis was being implemented. The Armenian pogroms in Sumgait and Baku only exacerbated these trends, which led to military clashes between troops of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army (Artsakh).

References

Flag of Armenia was adopted on August 24, 1990.
"Soviet Armenia erupts in protests". The Daily News. 24 February 1988. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
^ Armenians protest USSR’s refusal to honor Nagomo-Karabakh annexation referendum, 1988 Archived 2022-09-17 at the Wayback Machine Matthew Heck, Global Nonviolent Action Database, December 5, 2010
"Pravda Talks of Ethnic Woes". New York Times. 19 April 1988. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2013. As many as one million people demonstrated in the Armenian capital of Yerevan in February to demand that Nagorno-Karabakh be made part of Armenia
"Mass Protests Said to Flare In Soviet Armenian Capital". New York Times. 31 May 1988. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
"The Press-Courier - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-19. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
"An event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Artsakh Movement taken place at the US Congress". Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. 13 February 2012. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
"The Artsakh Movement started on this day 25 years ago". Public Radio of Armenia. 20 February 2013. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
Panossian, Razmik (2006). The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 385. ISBN 9780231139267. The Gharabagh movement in Armenia—as mobilised for and through the issue of the enclave's unification to the republic—is a prime example of a mass national movement.
^ "Reports of demonstrations in Yerevan and Clashes in Mountainous Karabagh". Asbarez. 24 October 1987. Archived from the original on September 14, 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
de Waal 2003, p. 11.
"Karabakh Armenians mark 25th anniversary of liberation movement". ArmeniaNow. 14 February 2013. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
Verluise 1995, p. 86.
^ Verluise 1995, p. 87.
Verluise 1995, p. 89.
^ Verluise 1995, p. 90.
^ Verluise 1995, p. 91.
^ Verluise 1995, p. 92.
^ Verluise 1995, p. 93.
^ Verluise 1995, p. 97.
Verluise 1995, p. 99.
Zürcher, Christoph (2007). The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus (. ed.). New York: New York University Press. p. 168. ISBN 9780814797099.
Nodia, Ghia (Winter 1997–1998). "Causes and Visions of Conflict in Abkhazia". University of California, Berkeley. p. 15. Mountainous Karabakh should not be part of Azerbaijan not because Artsakh (the Armenian name for Karabakh) is an ancient Armenian land and Miatsum (unification) is a legitimate Armenian project, but because Azerbaijan allegedly mistreats its minorities.
"Nagorno-Karabakh: Viewing the Conflict from the Ground". International Crisis Group. 14 September 2005. p. 4. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. The 1988 Karabakh movement started with the slogan "Miatsum" ("Unification" in Armenian).
Toal, Gerard; O'Loughlin, John (1 April 2013). "Land for Peace in Nagorny Karabakh? Political Geographies and Public Attitudes Inside a Contested De Facto State". Territory, Politics, Governance. 1 (2): 158–182. doi:10.1080/21622671.2013.842184. S2CID 54576963. Unity with Armenia, after all, had been the proclaimed goal previous to this (the slogan of the early phases of the Karabakh movement was miatsum, 'unification'), and an annexationist policy endorsed by the Soviet Armenian parliament.
"Miatsum (From 1987 to 1989) - History of Armenia". www.hayastan.com. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
"Aliyev admits Azerbaijan worked to boost number of Azeris in Artsakh". horizonweekly.ca. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2023.

Bibliography

Verluise, Pierre (1995). Armenia in Crisis: The 1988 Earthquake. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814325278.
de Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 9780814719459.

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v t e Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Background	Nagorno-Karabakh History Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920) Deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia Dissolution of the Soviet Union Karabakh movement Miatsum Armenians in Azerbaijan Armenians in Baku Azerbaijanis in Armenia Anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan Armenia–Azerbaijan relations
First war (1988–1994)	Çardaqlı clash Askeran clash Sumgait pogrom Gugark pogrom Zvartnots Airport clash Shusha and Stepanakert pogroms Kirovabad pogrom Il-76 crash near Leninakan (1988) Baku pogrom Bağanis Ayrum 1990 Tbilisi–Agdam bus bombing Operation Ring Voskepar massacre Battle of Togh 1991 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdown Law on Abolishment of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Siege of Stepanakert Operation Dashalty 1992 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdown Capture of Gushchular and Malibeyli Capture of Garadaghly Khojaly massacre Maraga massacre Capture of Shusha Capture of Artsvashen Operation Goranboy Mardakert and Martuni Offensives Operation Həsənqaya Battle of Lachin Operation Qazançı 1993 Azerbaijani coup d'état Battle of Kalbajar Battle of Aghdam 1993 Summer Offensives Operation Geghamasar Operation Horadiz Operation Kalbajar 1994 Baku Metro bombings 1994 Iranian Air Force C-130 shootdown 1994 Bagratashen bombing Refugees in Azerbaijan
Interwar clashes	2008 Mardakert clashes January 2009 Agdam military incident September 2009 Agdam military incident 2010 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes 2010 Mardakert clashes 2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes 2014 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes 2014 Armenian Mil Mi-24 shootdown 2016 Odundağ clashes 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict 2017 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Shelling of Alxanlı 2018 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes 2019 clash near Chinari July 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes Incidents Protests in Azerbaijan Reactions
Second war (2020)	Timeline Casualties International reactions Allegations of third-party involvement Madagiz offensive Aras Valley campaign Bombardments (Barda, Ganja, Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, Martuni, Stepanakert, Tartar) Battle of Hadrut Lachin offensive Battle of Shusha Russian Mil Mi-24 shootdown War crimes Treatment of Armenian POWs
Post-ceasefire events	Azerbaijan's construction in gained areas 2020–2021 Armenian protests Chaylaggala and Hin Tagher Border crisis September 2022 escalation Susuzluq Shusha Farukh 2022 Armenian protests Blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh 2023 Azerbaijani offensive Protests in Armenia Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians Berkadzor fuel depot explosion
Main locations	Administrative divisions of the Republic of Artsakh Stepanakert Askeran Province Hadrut Province Kashatagh Province Martakert Province Martuni Province Shahumyan Province Shushi Province Armenian-occupied territories Aghdam District Fuzuli District Jabrayil District Kalbajar District Lachin District Lachin corridor Qubadli District Zangilan District
Political leaders	Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan Robert Kocharyan Serzh Sargsyan Nikol Pashinyan Republic of Artsakh Artur Mkrtchyan Robert Kocharyan Leonard Petrosyan Arkadi Ghukasyan Bako Sahakyan Arayik Harutyunyan Samvel Shahramanyan Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutallibov Abulfaz Elchibey Heydar Aliyev Ilham Aliyev Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh Bayram Safarov Nizami Bahmanov Tural Ganjaliyev Russia Mikhail Gorbachev Boris Yeltsin Vladimir Putin Turkey Turgut Özal Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Military leaders	Armenia Vazgen Sargsyan Gurgen Dalibaltayan Norat Ter-Grigoryants Jirair Sefilian Tiran Khachatryan Seyran Ohanyan Republic of Artsakh Samvel Babayan Kristapor Ivanyan Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan Monte Melkonian Jalal Harutyunyan Mikael Arzumanyan Azerbaijan Isgandar Hamidov Rahim Gaziyev Surat Huseynov Valeh Barshadly Mais Barkhudarov Hikmat Mirzayev Hikmat Hasanov Russia Viktor Polyanichko Pavel Grachev Rustam Muradov Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Shamil Basayev Afghanistan Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Peace process	Baker rules Bishkek Protocol Tehran Communiqué Zheleznovodsk Communiqué OSCE Minsk Group Prague Process Madrid Principles 2020 ceasefire agreement 2020–2024 monitoring and peacekeeping Russia OSCE EU EUMCAP Oct–Dec 2022 EUPAT Dec 2022–Jan 2023 EUMA Feb 2023–present 2023 ceasefire agreement
International documents	Astrakhan Declaration Nagorno-Karabakh Declaration NATO Lisbon Summit Declaration OIC Resolution 10/11 OIC Resolution 10/37 PACE Resolution 1416 PACE Resolution 2085 UNGA Resolution 48/114 UNGA Resolution 60/285 UNGA Resolution 62/243 UNSC resolutions 822 853 874 884

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