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Template:TotallyDisputed

Nagorno-Karabakh / Template:Hayeren / Dağlıq Qarabağ

File:NKR Coat of Arms.gif Flag Coat of Arms
Anthem: Azat U Ankakh Artsakh
Map of the region
Map of the region. (Orange area indicates Armenian-controlled territory)
Political status	Unrecognized
Languages	Armenian
Capital	Stepanakert (Xankəndi)
President	Arkady Ghoukasyan
Prime Minister	Anushavan Danielyan
Independence  – Voted Upon  – Approved  – Recognition	From Azerbaijan  December 10, 1991  January 6, 1992   none
Area	4,400 km²
Population Ethnic Composition	145,000 (est. 2002) Over 95% Armenian 5% minorities
Currency	Dram (AMD) (Armenian)
Time zone	UTC +4 (DST +5)
Internet TLD	.nkr.am
Calling Code	374 ???
nkrusa.org

Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed region, officially an autonomous Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan and de facto independent, in the South Caucasus, located about 270 km (about 170 mi.) west of the Azerbaijan's capital of Baku. The region is predominantly ethnic Armenian and is under military control of Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army. The local Armenian population declared independence from Azerbaijan on December 10th, 1991 and declared the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). The NKR's sovereign status, which is one of the key points in negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is not recognized by any country or international organization in the world.

Name

In Armenian it is called Template:Hayeren, (translit. Lernayin Gharabagh). In Azerbaijani, Dağlıq Qarabağ or Yuxarı Qarabağ, literally "mountainous black garden" or "upper black garden". In Russian: Нагорный Карабах, translit. Nagornyy Karabakh). It is often referred to by Armenians as Artsakh (Armenian: Template:Hayeren). In Persian: قره باغ . The word "Karabakh" originated from Turkic "kara" (meaning "black") and Persian "bagh (باغ)" (meaning "garden"), literally meaning "black garden." The name first appears in Georgian and Persian sources in 13 - 14th centuries . The related term Karabagh is described by the Oxford English Dictionary as being used to denote a kind of patterned rug originally produced in the area.

Geography

The region has a total area of 4,400 km², and in 1989, it had a population of 192,000. The population at that time was mainly Armenian (76%) and Azerbaijanis (23%), with Russian and Kurdish minorities. The capital is Stepanakert (Azerbaijani: Xankəndi). Its other major city, today lying partially in ruins, is Shusha (Armenian: Shushi).

The current borders of Nagorno-Karabakh, established in Soviet times, resemble a kidney bean. The bean, whose indentation is on the right side, has very tall mountain ridges along the northern edge, along the west, and the south is just plain mountainous. 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 (corresponding to parts of the Azerbaijani rayons of Kalbacar, Tartar and Xocavand), having flat lands as well. Other flatter valleys exist around the Sarsang reservoir, Hadrut, and the south. Much of Nagorno-Karabakh is forested, especially the mountains.

Regions

Comparative table of current de facto regions within Nagorno-Karabakh and correspondences with regions during Azerbaijani control of the region.

International status

The sovereign status of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) is not recognized by any state, including Armenia. Three United Nations Security Council Resolutions (853, 874, and 884) refer to Nagorno-Karabakh as a region of Azerbaijan. According to a report prepared by British parlamentarian and rapporteur D. Atkinson, presented to Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), "the borders of Azerbaijan were internationally recognised at the time of the country being recognised as independent state in 1991," and "the territory of Azerbaijan included the Nagorno-Karabakh region."

The latest resolution # 1416 adopted by PACE (), does not refer to Nagorno-Karabakh as "part of Azerbaijan." On the other hand, it states that "Considerable parts of the territory of Azerbaijan are still occupied by Armenian forces, and separatist forces are still in control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region."

The resolution further stated:

The Assembly reiterates that the occupation of foreign territory by a member state constitutes a grave violation of that state’s obligations as a member of the Council of Europe".

Recalling Resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993) of the UN Security Council, PACE urged “the parties concerned to comply with them, in particular by refraining from any armed hostilities and by withdrawing military forces from any occupied territories”.

Council of Europe called on the Nagorno-Karabakh de facto authorities to refrain from staging one-sided "local self-government elections" in Nagorno-Karabakh. "These so-called 'elections' cannot be legitimate," stressed Council of Europe Committee of Ministers' Chairman and Liechtenstein Foreign Minister Ernst Walch, Parliamentary Assembly President Lord Russell-Johnston and Secretary General Walter Schwimmer. They recalled that following the 1991-1994 armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a substantial part of the region's population was forced to flee their homes and are still living as displaced persons in those countries or as refugees abroad. This position was reiterated by Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the 4th August 2004 with regard to the next elections, staged in the province.

According to a legal analysis by New England School of Law's Center for International Law & Policy, as well as Public International Law and Policy Group, "Nagorno Karabagh has a right of self-determination, including the attendant right to independence, according to the criteria recognized under international law."

The analysis further notes that NKR's

independence was declared not from the Soviet Union but from Azerbaijan. This act fully complied with existing law. Indeed, the 1990 Soviet law titled 'Law of the USSR Concerning the Procedure of Secession of a Soviet Republic from the USSR," provides that the secession of a Soviet republic from the body of the USSR allows an autonomous region and compactly settled minority regions in the same republic's territory also to trigger its own process of independence.'

The Background Paper on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict prepared by Directorate General of Political Affairs of the Council of Europe, on the other hand, states:

The Armenian side maintains that the N-K independence referendum was conducted in accordance with the USSR law on the "Procedure for Solving Issues of Secession of a Soviet Republic from the USSR" of 3 April 1990. Article 3 of this law provided autonomous regions within the Soviet republics with the right to determine independently, by referendum, whether they wished to remain within the USSR or join the republic seceding from the USSR. It would however seem that according to this law N-K would have the choice of two options – to remain within the USSR or to join independent Azerbaijan; N-K independence does not seem possible.

History

From origins to 1917

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh falls within the lands occupied by peoples known to modern archaeologists as the Kura-Araxes culture, who lived between the two rivers bearing those names. Little is known of the ancient history of the region, primarily because of the scarcity of historical sources. Local traditions are held by many peoples in the area that those two river valleys were among the first ever to be settled by Noah's descendants . A son of Japheth named Aran is credited with being the first to establish a nation here. Zoroastrian traditions also point to this region as being the earliest sacred homeland of the Medes, their ancestors.

Jewelry has been found within the present confines of Nagorno-Karabakh inscribed with the cuneiform name of Adad-Nirari, King of Assyria (c. 800 BC). This is an indicator that these mountains may have been within the Assyrian sphere of influence at this time, or at least on a trade route . Also, near the village of Tsovk, an inscription of Sardur II, King of Urartu (763-734 BC), was found, proving that his troops penetrated as far as that land, that the inscription referred to as "Urtekhini".

It seems that the state of Mannae, based in the Urmia region, expanded as far as the Kura, and contested the region with Urartu beginning around 800 BC, until they were destroyed by the Medes in 616 BC. It is uncertain whether the Mannaeans ever penetrated as far as present-day Nagorno-Karabakh.

At various times in antiquity that are difficult to establish with precision at this time, this area was part of Aghbania, or Caucasian Albania, and at others, of Greater Armenia. It was also part of a province of Parthia (ca. 250 BC), called Ardan, and another ancient name is Artsakh. In 95 BC, it was conquered by Tigranes II, ruler of the Kingdom of Armenia.

Following the defeat of Tigranes II at the hands of the Romans in 66 BC, Albanians regained Artsakh. Ancient Albanians and Armenians alternated control over the territory until the early 4th century, when the Albanians managed to reclaim Artsakh; eventually, in 387, it became a part of Aghbania again.

Christianity first came to Aghbania with the mission of St Eliseus in the 1st century. Christianity was widely accepted in the 5th century, after Saint Gregory the Illuminator converted and baptized Albanian king Urnayr. In 488, following a church assembly near Aluan (situated in present-day Karabakh), Christianity become the official religion in Aghbania.

In the 7th and 8th centuries, the region was invaded by Arabs, who pillaged it and converted a portion of the population to Islam. Under the Arabs, the Albanian church was subordinated to the Armenian Church, resulting in the local Albanian population gradually becoming more like Armenians in terms of religion, culture, and language. After the 8th century, Albania diminished in size, and came to exist only as the Khachin principality in Artsakh.

In the 15th century, the territory of Karabakh was part of the states of Kara Koyunlu and then Ak Koyunlu. In the early 16th century, after the fall of the Ak-Koyunlu state, control of the region passed to the Safavid dynasty of Iran, that created a Ganje-Karabakh province (beglarbekdom, bəylərbəyliyi); and in the mid-18th century, the Karabakh khanate was formed. Karabakh passed to Imperial Russia by the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, 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 Elizavetpol governorate within the Russian Empire.

Soviet era

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Karabakh became part of the Transcaucasian Federation, but this soon dissolved into separate Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian states. Azerbaijan claimed sovereignty over the province, and sought to secure its claims with the help of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the fact that the Ottomans were defeated in the course of World War I, Karabakh's de facto ownership by Azerbaijan was provisionally recognized in 1919 by the Allies, who recognized Khosrov-bey Sultanov (appointed by the Azerbaijan government) as general-governor of Karabakh. The Allies decided that the ultimate status of Karabakh was not determined, and it was pending final decision in Paris Peace Conference. Whereas Azerbaijan commended this decision as a recognition of its rights to the territory, the Armenian side criticized it, arguing that this decision was made because of the Allies' economic interests in the oil fields near Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.

In 1920, Transcaucasia was taken over by the Bolsheviks who, in order to attract public support, promised they would allot Karabakh to Armenia, along with Nakhchivan and Zangezur (a strip separating Nakhichevan from Azerbaijan proper). However, Moscow also had far-reaching plans concerning Turkey -- hoping that it would, with a little help from Russia, develop along Communist lines. Needing to appease Turkey, Moscow agreed to a division that left Zangezur to Armenia, while leaving Karabakh and Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan. As a result, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region 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, who is still blamed by both Azerbaijanis and Armenians for arbitrary decisions made against their national interests.

With the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980's and early 1990's, the question of Nagorno-Karabakh reemerged. Complaining about "forced Azerification" of the region, the majority Armenian population, with ideological and material support from Armenia, started a movement to transfer it to Armenia.

On February 20, 1988, Armenian deputies to the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to unify that region with Armenia. On 24 February 1988, a direct confrontation between Azerbaijanis and Armenians near Askeran (in Nagorno-Karabakh, on the road Stepanakert - Agdam) degenerated into a skirmish. During the clashes, which left about 50 Armenians wounded, a local policeman, reportedly an Armenian, shot dead two Azerbaijanis – Bakhtiyar Guliyev, 16 and Ali Hajiyev, 23. On 27 February 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 km north of Baku, where many Azerbaijani refugees resided. The pogrom lasted for three days. The exact figures for the dead are disputed. The official investigation reported 32 deaths - 6 Azerbaijanis and 26 Armenians, while the US Library of Congress places the number of Armenian victims at over 100.

A similar attack on Azerbaijanis occurred in the Armenian towns of Spitak, Gugark and others. Azerbaijani sources put the number of Azerbaijanis killed in pogroms in Armenia at 216, including 57 women, 5 infants and 18 children of different ages. Armenians dispute these figures. Large numbers of refugees left Armenia and Azerbaijan as pogroms began against the minority populations of the respective countries. In the fall of 1989, intensified interethnic 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 Armenian Supreme Soviet and the National Council, the legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh, proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. In mid-January 1990, Azerbaijani protesters in Baku went on a rampage against remaining Armenians. Moscow intervened, sending army troops, who violently suppressed the APF and installed Mutalibov as president. The troops reportedly killed 122 Azerbaijanis in quelling the uprising, and Gorbachev denounced the APF for striving to establish an Islamic republic. These events further alienated the Azerbaijani population from Moscow and ACP rule. In a December 1991 referendum boycotted by local Azerbaijanis, 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 land war subsequently erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The war for Nagorno-Karabakh

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. Head of the Standing Commission of the Russian Duma General Lev Rokhlin claimed that weapons (costing $1 bil., including transportation and other expenses) had been illegally transferred to Armenia during 1993 - 1996 . Most of the weaponry, according to Rokhlin, was delivered after the war, in 1995-96. Rokhlin presented the issue to the Russian Duma, which refused to investigate the issue. According to Armenian news agency Noyan Tapan, Rokhlin openly lobbied for the interests of Azerbaijan. According to The Washington Times, Western intelligence sources said the weapons played a crucial role in Armenia's seizure of large areas of Azerbaijan. Other Western sources dispute this assessment, due to the fact that Russia continued to provide military support to Azerbaijan as well throughout the military conflict. The The Washington Times article suggested that Russia's military support for Armenia was aimed to force "pro-Western Azerbaijan and its strategic oil reserves into Russia's orbit" . Armenia has officially denied any such weapons delivery.

Both sides used mercenaries. Mercenaries from Russia and other CIS countries fought on Armenian side, and some of them were killed or captured by Azerbaijan army. According to The Wall Street Journal, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliev recruited thousands of mujahedeen fighters from Afghanistan (as well as mercenaries from Iran and elsewhere) and brought in even more Turkish officers to organize his army . 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 . Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, generally considered a notorious terrorist , personaly engaged Armenian forces in NKR. According to EurasiaNet, unidentified sources have stated that Arab guerrilla Ibn al-Khattab joined Basayev in Azerbaijan between 1992-1993, although this is dismissed by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense . In addition officers from the Russian 4th Army participated on combat missions for Azerbaijan on a mercenary basis .

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, Aliyev 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 1 million Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons were in Azerbaijan at the end of 1993. Mediation was attempted by officials from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Iran, among other countries, as well as 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-fires broke down. In mid-1993 Aliyev launched efforts to negotiate a solution directly with the Karabakh Armenians, a step Elchibey had refused to take. Aliyev's efforts achieved several relatively long cease-fires within 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 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 . 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, Aliyev 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%.

As a result of the war against Nagorno-Karabakh independence, Azerbaijanis were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh; and these are still under control of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian military. With the alleged support of Soviet/Russian military forces, Azerbaijanis forced out tens of thousand Armenians from Shahumyan region (a region adjacent to Soviet-era Nagorno-Karabakh, that joined the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic in 1991) . An unofficial cease-fire was reached on May 12 1994 through Russian negotiation, and continues today. Armenians remain 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 the so-called 'security zone' — strips of territory along the region's borders that had been used by Azerbaijani artillery during the war. The Shahumyan region remains under the control of Azerbaijan.

Current situation

Today, Nagorno-Karabakh is a de facto independent state, calling itself the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic . It is closely tied to the Republic of Armenia and uses its currency, the dram. Successive Armenian governments have resisted internal pressure to unite the two, fearing reprisals from Azerbaijan and from the international community, that still considers Nagorno-Karabakh part of Azerbaijan. The politics of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are so intermingled that a former president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Robert Kocharian, became first the prime minister (1997) and then the president of Armenia (1998 to the present).

At present, the mediation process is at a standstill, with the most recent discussions in Rambouillet, France yielding no agreement. Azerbaijan's position has been that Armenian troops withdraw from all areas of Azerbaijan outside Nagorno-Karabakh, and that all displaced persons be allowed to return to their homes before the status of Karabakh can be discussed. Armenia does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as being legally part of Azerbaijan, arguing that because the region declared independence at the same time that Azerbaijan became an independent state, both of them are equally successor states of the Soviet Union. The Armenian government insists that the government of Nagorno-Karabakh be part of any discussions on the region's future, and rejects ceding occupied territory or allowing refugees to return prior to talks on the region's status.

Representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, Russia and the United States met in Paris and Key West, Florida in the Spring of 2001 . The details of the talks have remained largely secret, but the parties are reported to have discussed non-hierarchical relationships between the central Azerbaijani government and the Karabakh Armenian authorities. Despite rumours that the parties were close to a solution, the Azerbaijani authorities -- both during Heydar Aliyev's period of office, and after the accession of his son Ilham Aliyev in the October 2003 elections -- have firmly denied that any agreement was reached in Paris or Key West.

Further talks between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian, were held in September 2004 in Astana, Kazakhstan, on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit. Reportedly, one of the suggestions put forward was the withdrawal of the occupying forces from the Azeri territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, and holding referenda (plebiscites) in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan proper regarding the future status of the region. On February 10-11, 2006, Kocharian and Aliev met in Rambouillet, France to discuss the fundamental principles of a settlement to the conflict, including the withdrawal of troops, formation of international peace keeping troops, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. During the weeks and days before the talks in France, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen expressed cautious optimism that some form of an agreement was possible. French President Jacques Chirac met with both leaders separately and expressed hope that the talks would be fruitful. Contrary to the initial optimism, the Rambouillet talks did not produce any agreement, with key issues such as the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and whether Armenian troops would withdraw from Kelbajar still being conentious. The next session of the talks is scheduled for March in Washington, D.C..

Human rights

Displaced people

280,000 persons—virtually all ethnic Armenians who fled Azerbaijan during the 1988-1993 war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh—were living in refugee-like circumstances in Armenia. Some left the country, principally to Russia. Their children born in Armenia acquire citizenship automatically. Their numbers are thus subject to constant decline due to death, departure, and de-registration required for naturalization. Of these, about 250,000 fled Azerbaijan-proper (areas outside Nagorno-Karabakh); approximately 30,000 came from Nagorno-Karabakh, which is located in Azerbaijan but controlled by Armenians. All were registered with the government as refugees at year’s end.

The Nagorno Karabakh conflict also has resulted in the displacement of 528,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenian controlled territories including Nagorno Karabakh, and 186 000 Azeris, 18 000 Kurds and 3500 Russians fled from Armenia to Azerbaijan in 1988 – 1989. The Azerbaijani government has estimated that 63 percent of IDPs lived below the poverty line as compared to 49 percent of the total population. About 154,000 lived in the capital, Baku. According to the International Organization for Migration, 40,000 IDPs lived in camps, 60,000 in underground dugout shelters, and 20,000 in railway cars. Forty-thousand IDPs lived in EU-funded settlements and UNHCR provided housing for another 40,000. Another 5,000 IDPs lived in schools. Others lived in trains, on roadsides in half-constructed buildings, or in public buildings such as tourist and health facilities. Tens of thousands lived in seven tent camps where poor water supply and sanitation caused gastro-intestinal infections, tuberculosis, and malaria.

The Azerbaijani government has been reluctant to integrate the IDP's into the rest of the population lest others interpret it as acceptance of the permanent loss of Nagorno-Karabakh. The government required IDPs to register their place of residence in a vestige of the Soviet-era propiska system and only allowed them to live in approved areas. IDPs could only receive assistance in the camps or settlements where the Government initially assigned them, limiting their ability to look for work. Many were from rural areas and found it difficult to integrate into the urban labor market. A 2002 Law on Grants hindered humanitarian access by imposing a 27 percent tax on the wages of NGO employees and requiring notice of all grants. Many international humanitarian agencies reduced or ceased assistance for IDPs..The infant mortality among displaced children is 3-4 times higher than that in the rest of the population. The rate of stillbirths was 88.2 per 1,000 live born babies among the internally displaced people. The majority of the displaced continue to live in difficult conditions for more than 12 years. .

References

Footnotes

1. Council on Foreign Relations - Nagorno-Karabakh: The Crisis in the Caucasus
2. BBC News - Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh
3. Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia, v. 7, p. 26, Yerevan 1981
4. Azerb.com - Regions
5. Armenian Origins: An Overview of Ancient and Modern Sources and Theories by Thomas J. Samuelian (as a PDF file)
6. The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference
7. United States Library of Congress Country Report on Azerbaijan, "The Issue of Nagorno-Karabakh"
8. Trud. 10 points at Politburo scale. February 1, 2001 (in Russian)
9. Alexei Zverev. Contested borders in the Caucasus
10. NISAT. Rokhlin Details Arms Supplied to Armenia.
11. NISAT. Defense ministry confirms illegal arms transfer to Armenia
12. The Washington Times. Armenia armed by Russia for battles with Azerbaijan. April 10, 1997.
13. The Boston Globe In Armenian unit, Russian is spoken. March 16, 1992
14. UN Commission on Human Rights Report.
15. ReliefWeb - FMO Country Guide: Azerbaijan by Maria Salinas (as a PDF file)
16. Permenant mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations - UNICEF Statistics
17. BBC News - Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh
18. U.S. Department of State - Armenia and Azerbaijan: Key West Peace Talks
19. The Wall Street Journal The Forgotten War. March 3, 1994.
20. The Washington Post Azerbaijan Throws Raw Recruits Into Battle. April 21, 1994.
21. EurasiaNet Chechen fighter's death reveals conflicted feelings in Azerbaijan. May 14, 2002
22. Contested borders in the Caucasus, Alexey Zverev.
23. US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. World Refugee Survey; Azerbaijan Country Report. 2000.
24. Global IDP Project: Proifle of Internal Displacement: Azerbaijan. May 2003 (as a PDF file)
25. US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. World Refugee Survey; Armenia Country Report. 2001.
26. World Refugee Survey: Azerbaijan report 2005
27. Groong: Conflict Mythology and Azerbaijan
28. The Wall Street Journal Little Progress For Armenia and Karabakh. February 11, 2006. Link To Article
29. ^iht1 International Herald Tribune Armenia and Azerbaijan seek solution. February 11, 2006. Link To Article
30. ^xinhuanet1 China View Armenian-Azerbaijani talks on Nagorny-Karabach fail in France Link To Article
31. ^bbc_dewaal Chapters from the Russian version of the book "Black Garden" (In Russian)

General

1. This article incorporates public domain text from the Library of Congress Country Studies. - Azerbaijan

See also

• Nagorno-Karabakh_Defense_Army
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
• Geostrategy in Central Asia
• Nakhichevan
• Treaty of Kars
• Treaty of Sevres

External links

Non partisan sites

• Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh from the BBC
• COE - "The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference" Report by rapporteur D. Atkinson presented to Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
• USIP - Sovereignty after Empire Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union. Case Studies: Nagorno-Karabakh. by Galina Starovoytova, Publication of the USIP
• USIP - Nagorno-Karabakh Searching for a Solution: Key points, by Patricia Carley, Publication of the United States Intitute of Peace (USIP)

UN Security Council Resolutions

Resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council relating to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

• UN Security Council Resolution # 822, adopted on 30 April 1993
• UN Security Council Resolution # 853, adopted on 29 July 1993
• UN Security Council Resolution # 874, adopted on 14 October 1993
• UN Security Council Resolution # 884, adopted on 12 November 1993
• All UN Security Council resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh from US State department

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Resolutions

Resolutions passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe relating to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

• PACE Resolution # 1416

From an Armenian perspective

• Official site of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• "Azat Artsakh" Daily Newspaper in Nagorno-Karabakh
• De Facto News Agency

From an Azerbaijani perspective

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan republic
• Artsakh.com
• Karabakh.org

• Caucasus
• Disputed territories
• Nagorno Karabakh
• Foreign relations of Armenia
• Subdivisions of Azerbaijan