Clockwise from top: the remnants of Azeri transports, internally displaced Azerbaijanis from the Armenian-controlled areas, an Armenian T-72 tank memorial in Askeran, NKR troops climbing out of a trench during training exercises near Agdam.
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| Conflict | Nagorno-Karabakh War | | Date | 20 February 1988 � 16 May 1994 | | Location | Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan | | Result | Armenian military victory
Ceasefire treaty (Bishkek Protocol, still in effect); ongoing peace talks to determine the future of the disputed territory | Territorial
changes | Establishment of the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, remaining a de jure part of Azerbaijan
| Armenia
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Supported by:
Russia's 366th Motor Rifle Regiment, Stepanakert
CIS mercenaries | Azerbaijan
Supported by:
Afghanistan Afghan mujahideen
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Chechen fighters and mercenaries led by Shamil Basayev
CIS mercenaries | Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Babayan
Nagorno-Karabakh Monte Melkonian
Armenia Hamayak Haroyan
Armenia Vazgen Sargsyan
Nagorno-Karabakh Arkady Ter-Tatevosyan
Nagorno-Karabakh Anatoly Zinevich | Azerbaijan Isgandar Hamidov
Azerbaijan Surat Huseynov
Azerbaijan Rahim Gaziyev
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Shamil Basayev
Afghanistan Gulbuddin Hekmatyar | | 20,000 (NKR forces) 20,000 (Armenian forces) | | 74,000
2,000-3,000 Mujahideen | Dead:
4,592
Wounded: 25,000
Missing
196 | Dead:
25,000-30,000
Wounded:
60,000
Missing:
4,210 | | Civilian deaths:
* 1264 Armenian civilians (including citizens of Armenia)
* The exact number of the Azerbaijani civilian deaths is unknown as it has never been made official and is, probably, included in the overall death-toll and/or the number of missing civilians
Civilians missing:
*400 according to Karabakh State Commission
*749 according to Azerbaijani State Commission |
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The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, entangled themselves in a protracted, undeclared war in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of uniting itself with Armenia and a referendum, boycotted by the Azerbaijanian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, was held, whereby the vast majority of the voters voted in favor of independence. The demand to unify with Armenia, which proliferated in the late 1980s, began in a relatively peaceful manner; however, in the following months, as the Soviet Union's disintegration neared, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis, resulting in claims of ethnic cleansing by all sides.
Inter-ethnic fighting between the two broke out shortly after the parliament of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) in Azerbaijan, voted to unify the region with Armenia on February 20, 1988. The circumstances of the dissolution of the Soviet Union facilitated an Armenian separatist movement in Azerbaijan. The declaration of secession from Azerbaijan was the final result of a territorial conflict regarding the land. As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Full-scale fighting erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself, threatening the involvement of other countries in the region. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control approximately 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the enclave. As many as 230,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan and 800,000 Azeris from Armenia and Karabakh have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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