Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) is an Armenian-populated democratic region that has been claimed by Azerbaijan since the break-up of the Soviet Union. As part of the USSR, NKAO (Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast) was an Armenian-majority autonomous area inside Azerbaijan. At the time of the break-up of the union, all Soviet satellite states began to declare independence, and NKAO was no different. 

Nagorno-Karabakh announced its independence through the same legal basis as did Azerbaijan, Armenia, Latvia, and all other former USSR countries. In the late 1980s, disagreeing with this position, Azerbaijan attempted to secure control of the Karabakh population, which fought this successfully and declared independence.

During the last thirty years, Azerbaijan’s regime successfully formed strategic alliances with Turkey and Israel and in 2020 began a successful full-scale war on Artsakh, claiming its people were Azerbaijani citizens. Beginning in December 2022, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh were subjected to a blockade that international experts called a genocide by starvation and violence, making any possibility of integration into Azerbaijan a non-starter. 

In September 2023, intermittent violent acts culminated in the full ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population from their ancestral homes in Karabakh. Today, roughly 150,000 Karabakh residents reside in Armenia, while Azerbaijan attempts to legitimize its actions in the international arena. 

Links to related topics:

The Passion of Artsakh by Sohrab Ahmari

We Cannot Forget Azerbaijan's Ethnic Cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh

The world must compel Azerbaijan to release its Armenian hostages