Nagorno-Karabakh

**Nagorno-Karabakh** is a region in the South Caucasus. It is recognized by other countries as part of Azerbaijan, but from 1994 until the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, most of it was militarily controlled by Armenians as the Republic of Artsakh, which was not officially recognized by any other country, including Armenia which supported it.

In September of 2023, Azerbaijan invaded the Artsakh Republic after a long siege. Within a few days, Artsakh surrendered and came under the control of Azerbaijan. Nearly all of Artsakh's population fled to Armenia as refugees.

## Demographics

|rowspan="2"|Year|colspan="2"|Armenians|colspan="2"|Azerbaijanis|colspan="2"|Others|rowspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1921|122,426|94.73%|6,550|5.07%|267|0.21%|**129,243**|||
|1923|149,600|94.8%|7,700|4.9%|500|0.3%|**157,800**|||
|1925|142,470|90.28%|15,261|9.67%|76|0.05%|**157,807**|||

|rowspan="2"|Ethnic group|colspan="2"|1926|colspan="2"|1939|colspan="2"|1959|colspan="2"|1970|colspan="2"|1979|colspan="2"|1989||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Armenians|align="right"|111,694|align="right"|89.24|align="right"|132,800|align="right"|88.04|align="right"|110,053|align="right"|84.39|align="right"|121,068|align="right"|80.54|align="right"|123,076|align="right"|75.89|align="right"|145,450|align="right"|76.92|
|Azerbaijanis|align="right"|12,592|align="right"|10.06|align="right"|14,053|align="right"|9.32|align="right"|17,995|align="right"|13.80|align="right"|27,179|align="right"|18.08|align="right"|37,264|align="right"|22.98|align="right"|40,688|align="right"|21.52|
|Russians|align="right"|596|align="right"|0.48|align="right"|3,174|align="right"|2.10|align="right"|1,790|align="right"|1.37|align="right"|1,310|align="right"|0.87|align="right"|1,265|align="right"|0.78|align="right"|1,922|align="right"|1.02|
|Ukrainians|align="right"|35|align="right"|0.03|align="right"|436|align="right"|0.29|align="right"|238|align="right"|0.18|align="right"|193|align="right"|0.13|align="right"|140|align="right"|0.09|align="right"|416|align="right"|0.22|
|Belarusians|align="right"|12|align="right"|0.01|align="right"|11|align="right"|0.01|align="right"|32|align="right"|0.02|align="right"|35|align="right"|0.02|align="right"|37|align="right"|0.02|align="right"|79|align="right"|0.04|
|Greeks|align="right"|68|align="right"|0.05|align="right"|74|align="right"|0.05|align="right"|67|align="right"|0.05|align="right"|33|align="right"|0.02|align="right"|56|align="right"|0.03|align="right"|72|align="right"|0.04|
|Tatars|align="right"|6|align="right"|0.00|align="right"|29|align="right"|0.02|align="right"|36|align="right"|0.03|align="right"|25|align="right"|0.02|align="right"|41|align="right"|0.03|align="right"|64|align="right"|0.03|
|Georgians|align="right"|5|align="right"|0.00|align="right"|25|align="right"|0.02|align="right"|16|align="right"|0.01|align="right"|22|align="right"|0.01|align="right"|17|align="right"|0.01|align="right"|57|align="right"|0.03|
|Others|align="right"|151|align="right"|0.12|align="right"|235|align="right"|0.16|align="right"|179|align="right"|0.14|align="right"|448|align="right"|0.30|align="right"|285|align="right"|0.18|align="right"|337|align="right"|0.18|

## Etymology

The names for the region in the different local languages all translate to "mountainous Karabakh", or "mountainous black garden". The word "nagorno" is Russian for "mountainous/on the mountain", "kara" is Turkish for "black", and "bakh" means "garden" in Azerbaijani.
- Armenian: , transliterated _Lernayin Gharabagh_
- Azerbaijani: **Dağlıq Qarabağ**, or **Yuxarı Qarabağ** (meaning "upper Karabakh" or "mountainous Karabakh")
- Russian: **Нагорный Карабах**, transliterated _Nagornyj Karabakh_

## History

Around 180 BC, Artsakh became one of the 15 provinces of the Armenian Kingdom and remained so until the 4th century.  Then it became part of the Sasanian Empire. In the 7th century, the region was conquered by the invading Muslim Arabs.  The House of Khachen, then ruled Artsakh until the early 19th century.   Persia formally ceded the whole of  Karabakh to the Russian Empire by the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813. In April 1920  Azerbaijan was taken over by the Bolsheviks.  It was in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.  In the 1980s there was a movement to have the autonomous oblast transferred to the Armenian SSR.  When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in Moscow and started campaigns of publicity and democratic reforms at the end of the 20th century, Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh sent letters to Gorbachev demanding him to move the autonomous oblast to the control of Armenia. When it was declined, the Armenians started an independence movement.

In November 1991, seeking to stop this movement, the Parliament of Azerbaijan abolished the autonomous status of the region. In response, the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians held a referendum on December 10, 1991,  which was boycotted by Azerbaijanis living in Nagorno-Karabakh and none of them participated in it, therefore the overwhelming majority of the population voted for independence.

## Other websites

- Karabakh documents
- Artsakh from ancient time till 1918
- Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) - France 24 Report