Kingdom of Artsakh The House of
Khachen ruled the medieval
Kingdom of Artsakh in the 11th century as an independent kingdom under the protectorate of the
Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia.
Soviet era unification proposals Under the Soviet Union, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was an autonomous oblast within the
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, whose population was mostly ethnic Armenians. On this basis, there were many calls for internal unification with the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1985,
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power as the new general secretary of the Soviet Union and began implementing plans to reform the Soviet Union, encapsulated in two policies:
perestroika and
glasnost. While
perestroika had to do with structural and economic reform,
glasnost or "openness" granted limited freedom to Soviet citizens to express grievances about the Soviet system and leaders. Capitalizing on this, the leaders of the Regional Soviet of Karabakh decided to vote in favor of unifying the autonomous region with Armenia on 20 February 1988. Karabakh Armenian leaders complained that the region had neither Armenian language textbooks in schools nor in television broadcasting, and that Azerbaijan's Communist Party General Secretary
Heydar Aliyev had attempted to extensively "Azerify" the region, increasing the influence and number of Azerbaijanis living in Nagorno-Karabakh, while at the same time reducing its Armenian population. Aliyev stepped down as General Secretary of Azerbaijan's
Politburo, in 1987. The Armenian population of Karabakh had dwindled to nearly three-quarters of the total population by the late 1980s. The movement was spearheaded by popular Armenian figures. In February 1988, Armenians began protesting and staging workers' strikes in Yerevan, demanding unification with the enclave. On 20 February 1988, the leaders of the regional Soviet of Karabakh voted in favour of unifying the autonomous region with Armenia Gorbachev said that several other regions in the Soviet Union were yearning for territorial changes and redrawing the boundaries in Karabakh would thus set a dangerous precedent. The Armenians viewed the 1921 Kavburo decision with disdain and felt they were correcting a historical error through the principle of
self-determination (a right also granted in the constitution). by the late 1980s, its Armenian population was virtually non-existent.
Post-Soviet era First Nagorno-Karabakh War After independence from the Soviet Union, the newly created
Republic of Armenia publicly denied any involvement in providing any weapons, fuel, food, or other logistics to secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh. President
Levon Ter-Petrosyan later admitted to supplying them with logistical supplies and paying the salaries of the separatists, but denied sending any of its own men into combat. The only land connection Armenia had with Karabakh was through the narrow, mountainous
Lachin corridor which could only be reached by helicopters.
Post-War Since
1998, Armenian politics had been dominated by the "Karabakh clan" led by
Robert Kocharyan and
Serzh Sargsyan both of whom originating from
Nagorno-Karabakh until they were ousted in the
Velvet Revolution in 2018.
Bako Sahakyan, who had been President of Artsakh since
2007, had been seen as their staunch ally. While
Masis Mayilyan had been noted to be closer to
Nikol Pashinyan ideologically, Harutyunyan (who had been close to Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan) came out to publicly endorse the Velvet Revolution and observers noted that Pashinyan "to lean too publicly in favor of one candidate over another" and he stated that he does "not want to see a revolution or a counter-revolution in Artsakh."
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and peace negotiations In 2020, the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict boiled over into a war. Armenia once again supported Artsakh during the conflict against
Azerbaijan. At the end of the conflict, a peace deal was signed which served as a victory for Azerbaijan. Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinyan called it "incredibly painful both for me and both for our people". In April 2022, during peace negotiations with Azerbaijan, Armenia signaled willingness to hand control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region over to Azerbaijan. Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinyan stated that the international community had pressured Armenia to "lower the bar a bit" on Artsakh's status. This drew immediate criticism from Artsakh officials. Artsakh's Foreign Minister
David Babayan stated that "Any attempt to incorporate Artsakh into Azerbaijan would lead to bloodshed and the destruction of Artsakh". In a unanimous resolution, the parliament of Artsakh demanded that Armenia "abandon their current disastrous position." A politician from the Askeran district of Artsakh floated the idea of a referendum to join
Russia, saying that this would "avoid physical annihilation" and "save the remains of the shattered Artsakh". After the
collapse of Artsakh, Armenia announced that it does not have any intention to start a counter-offensive. On 1 January 2024, the Republic of Artsakh was dissolved. Shortly after, the
government of Artsakh established a
government-in-exile based in
Yerevan, Armenia. Pashinyan rejected the GiE. == Resident diplomatic missions ==