Table of Contents
How did the war in Armenia start?
Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, but its population is majority Armenian. As the Soviet Union saw increasing tensions in its constituent republics in the 1980s, Nagorno-Karabakh voted to become part of Armenia – sparking a war that stopped with a ceasefire in 1994.
Who lived in Karabakh?
Nagorno-Karabakh falls within the lands occupied by peoples known to modern archaeologists as the Kura-Araxes culture, who lived between the two rivers Kura and Araxes. The ancient population of the region consisted of various autochthonous local and migrant tribes who were mostly non-Indo-Europeans.
What happened in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place in the late 1980s to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Why is there fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
The fighting appears to be driven by an attempt by Azerbaijani forces to recapture swathes of territories occupied by Armenian forces in the Karabakh war after the Soviet Union collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris were displaced from these areas in 1992-4.
Did Armenia and Azerbaijan use cluster bombs in the Nagorno-Karabakh War?
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan used cluster munitions against civilian areas outside of the conflict zone. A series of missile attacks on Ganja, Azerbaijan inflicted mass civilian casualties, as did artillery strikes on Stepanakert, Artsakh’s capital. Much of Stepanakert’s population fled during the course of the fighting.
What is the conflict between Azerbaijan and Artsakh all about?
It was the latest escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but partially governed by Artsakh, a breakaway state with an Armenian ethnic majority.