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Nagorno-Karabakh (Russian form of Azeri name Dağlıq Qarabağ; in Armenian sometimes also called Artsakh; in English the name means "Mountainous Black Garden") is an autonomous enclave of Azerbaijan, occupied by Armenia. The majority of the population is ethnically Armenian.

The region's area is 4 400 km&sup2, and as of 1990 it had a population of 192,000. The population is currently mainly Armenian (76%) and Azeri (23%), with Russian and Kurdish minorities. The capital is Stepanakert (in Armenian, in Azeri called Xankendi), and the only other major city is Shusha (in Armenian, in Azeri called Shushi).

Nagorno-Karabakh comprises one of the historical parts of Alwania, or Caucasian Albania. In 95 BC it was conquered by Tigranes II, the king Armenia. In the early 4th century AD Alwanians managed to regain Artsakh, and eventually in 387 AD it became a part of Alwania again. In the 5th century many Alwanians adopted Christianity from the Armenian Church and established close cultural ties.

In the 7th and 8th century the region was invaded by Arabs, who pillaged it and converted a small portion of the population to Islam. Since the 8th century Alwania diminished in size and came to exist only as a principality of Khachen in Artsakh. In the 11th century Turks destroyed the kingdom of Armenia, but the mountainous regions remained relatively unharmed.

In the early 17th century, control of the district passed to Persia, which allowed local autonomy; and in the mid-18th century the Karabakh khanate was formed. Karabakh passed to the Imperial Russia by the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, before the rest Russian controlled Armenian territories in 1828. In 1822 the Karabakh khanate was dissolved and the area became part of a Russian province which later formed Azerbaijan.

After the Russian Revolution in 1917 Karabagh became part of the Transcaucasian Federation, which soon dissolved into separate Armenian, Azeri and Georgian states. Azerbaijan claimed sovereignty over the province and sought to conquer it with help from the Young Turks. Despite the fact that Turkey was defeated in the course of World War I, Karabakh was subdued by Azerbaijan, with approval from the Allies interested in the oilfields of Baku.

In 1920 Transcaucasia was taken over by the bolsheviks who made promises they will return Karabkh to Armenia, however had no intention to do so as they needed Azerian support in order to spread communism to Turkey. The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was established as part of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923 on most of the territory and the rest was directly incorporated.

With the upcoming fall of the Soviet Empire the question of Artsakh reemerged. In November 1991, seeking to squelch the independence movement, the Parliament of Azerbaijan abolished the autonomous status of the region, and in response on December 10, 1991 the government of the (abolished) autonomous region held a referendum in which the overwhelming majority of the population voted for independence.

In the early 1990s, the region became the center of a war between Armenians and Azerbaijan. An unofficial cease-fire was reached on May 12th, 1994, through Russian negotiation, when Armenians have regained control of almost all the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region the Lachin corridor linking it with the Republic of Armenia and a security zone. Today the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is de-facto an independent state, with a market economy, democraticly elected, government, and all necessary attributes, although this status is not recognized by any country in the world.

External links

• http://et.wikipedia.org/upload/9/98/Az-qa_kaart.jpg
• The official site of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States

• karabakh.org A site presenting Azeri claims towards Karabakh