Antiquity and Early Middle Ages , founded in the 4th century by St
Gregory the Illuminator. In the 5th century,
Mesrop Mashtots, inventor of the
Armenian alphabet, established at Amaras the first school to use his script. was commissioned by the
House of Khachen and completed in 1238 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. According to the prevailing western theory, these natives intermarried with Armenians who came to the region after its inclusion into Armenia in the 2nd (or possibly earlier, the 4th) century BC. Other scholars suggest that the Armenians settled in the region as early as the 7th century BC. Around 180 BC, Artsakh became one of the 15 provinces of the
Armenian Kingdom and remained so until the 4th century. While formally having the status of a province (), Artsakh possibly formed a
principality on its own – like Armenia's province of Syunik. Other theories suggest that Artsakh was a
royal land, belonging directly to the king of Armenia. King
Tigran the Great of Armenia (who ruled from 95 to 55 BC) founded in Artsakh one of four cities named Tigranakert after himself. The ruins of the ancient
Tigranakert, located north-east of
Stepanakert, are being studied by a group of international scholars. In 387 AD, after the partition of Armenia between the
Roman Empire and
Sassanid Persia, two Armenian provinces – Artsakh and
Utik – became part of the Sassanid
satrapy of Caucasian Albania, which in turn came under strong Armenian religious and cultural influence. At the time the population of Artsakh and Utik consisted of Armenians and several Armenized tribes. St. Mesrop was very active in
preaching the Gospel in Artsakh and Utik. Overall, Mesrop Mashtots made three trips to Artsakh and Utik, ultimately reaching pagan territories at the foothills of the
Greater Caucasus. The 7th-century Armenian linguist and grammarian Stephanos Syunetsi stated in his work that Armenians of Artsakh had their own dialect, and encouraged his readers to learn it.
High Middle Ages Around the mid 7th century, the region was conquered by the invading Muslim Arabs through the
Muslim conquest of Persia. Subsequently, it was ruled by local governors endorsed by the
Caliphate. According to some sources, in 821 the Armenian prince
Sahl Smbatian revolted in Artsakh and established the
House of Khachen, which ruled Artsakh as a
principality until the early 19th century. According to other sources, Sahl Smbatian "was of the Zamirhakan family of kings", and in the year 837–838 he acquired sovereignty over Armenia, Georgia, and Albania. The name "Khachen" originated from Armenian word , which means "cross". By 1000 the House of Khachen proclaimed the
Kingdom of Artsakh with
John Senecherib as its first ruler. Initially
Dizak in southern Artsakh also formed a kingdom ruled by the ancient
House of Aranshahik, descended from the earliest Kings of Caucasian Albania. In 1261, after the daughter of the last king of Dizak married the king of Artsakh, Armenian prince
Hasan Jalal Dola, the two states merged into one
Principality of Khachen. Subsequently, Artsakh continued to exist as a de facto independent principality.
Late Middle Ages , built by the
Karabakh Khanate ruler
Panah Ali Khan in the 18th century () of Karabakh (Gyulistan, Jraberd, Khachen, Varanda, and Dizak), widely considered to be the last relic of Armenian statehood (15th–19th century). In the 15th century, the territory of Karabakh was part of the states ruled subsequently by the
Kara Koyunlu and
Ak Koyunlu Turkic tribal confederations. According to
Abu Bakr Tihrani, during the period of
Jahan Shah (1438–1468), the ruler of Kara Koyunlu, Piri bey Karamanli held the governorship of Karabakh. However, according to
Robert H. Hewsen, the
Turkoman lord Jahan Shah (1437–1467) assigned the governorship of upper Karabakh to local Armenian princes, allowing a native Armenian leadership to emerge consisting of five noble families led by princes who held the titles of
meliks. However, according to Robert Hewsen, the
Russian Empire recognised the
sovereign status of the five princes in their domains by the charter of Emperor Paul I dated 2 June 1799. The Armenian meliks were granted supreme command over neighbouring Armenian principalities and Muslim khans in the Caucasus by the Iranian king
Nader Shah, in return for the meliks' victories over the invading
Ottoman Turks in the 1720s. These five principalities in Karabakh were ruled by Armenian families who had received the title Melik (prince) and were the following: • '
Principality of Gulistan''''' – under the leadership of the Melik-Beglarian family • '
Principality of Jraberd''''' – under the leadership of the Melik-Israelian family • '
Principality of Khachen''''' – under the leadership of the
Hasan-Jalalian family • '
Principality of Varanda''''' – under the leadership of the Melik-Shahnazarian family • '
Principality of Dizak''''' – under the leadership of the Melik-Avanian family From 1501 to 1736, during the existence of the
Safavid Empire, the province of Karabakh was governed by the
Ziyadoghlu Qajar dynasty, until
Nader Shah took over Karabakh from their rule. The Armenian meliks maintained full control over the region until the mid-18th century. In the early 18th century, Iran's Nader Shah took Karabakh out of control of the Ganja khans in punishment for their support of the
Safavids, and placed it under his own control In the mid-18th century, as internal conflicts between the meliks led to their weakening, the Karabakh Khanate was formed. The
Karabakh khanate, one of the largest
khanates under
Iranian suzerainty, was headed by
Panah-Ali khan Javanshir. For the reinforcement of the power of Karabakh khanate, Khan of Karabakh, Panah-Ali khan Javanshir, built up "
the fortress of Panahabad (today Shusha)" in 1751. During that time, Otuziki,
Javanshir, Kebirli, and other Turkic tribes constituted the majority of the overall population.
Modern era of the former ruler (khan) of
Shusha. Taken from a postcard from the late 19th–early 20th century. : Armenian half of Shusha destroyed by Azerbaijani armed forces in 1920, with the defiled
Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Savior in the background.
Karabakh (including modern-day Nagorno-Karabakh), became a
protectorate of the
Russian Empire by the
Kurekchay Treaty, signed between
Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh and general
Pavel Tsitsianov on behalf of Tsar
Alexander I in 1805, according to which the Russian monarch recognized Ibrahim Khalil Khan and his descendants as the sole hereditary rulers of the region. However, its new status was only confirmed following the outcome of the
Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), when through the loss in the war, Persia formally ceded Karabakh to the Russian Empire per the
Treaty of Gulistan (1813), before the rest of
Transcaucasia was incorporated into the Empire in 1828 by the
Treaty of Turkmenchay, which came as an outcome of the
Russo-Persian War (1826-1828). In 1822, 9 years after it passed from Iranian to Russian control, the Karabakh Khanate was dissolved and the area became part of the
Elizavetpol Governorate within the Russian Empire. In 1823 the five districts corresponding roughly to modern-day Nagorno-Karabakh were 90.8% Armenian-populated.
Soviet era After the
October Revolution, Karabakh became part of the
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, but this soon dissolved into separate
Armenian,
Azerbaijani, and
Georgian states. Over the next two years (1918–1920), there were a series of
short wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over several regions, including Nagorno-Karabakh. Between 1918 and 1920, Nagorno-Karabakh's
de jure affiliation with Armenia or Azerbaijan was disputed and not adjudicated by the
League of Nations. In July 1918, the First Armenian Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh declared the region self-governing and created a National Council and government. Later,
Ottoman Army troops entered Karabakh, meeting armed resistance by Armenians. After the defeat of the
Ottoman Empire in World War I,
British Army troops occupied Karabakh. The British command provisionally affirmed
Khosrov bey Sultanov (appointed by the Azerbaijani government) as the governor-general of Karabakh and
Zangezur, pending a final decision by the
Paris Peace Conference. The decision was opposed by Karabakh Armenians. In February 1920, the Karabakh National Council preliminarily agreed to Azerbaijani jurisdiction, while Armenians elsewhere in Karabakh continued guerrilla fighting, never accepting the agreement. In April 1920, while the Azerbaijani army was locked in Karabakh fighting local Armenian forces, Azerbaijan was
taken over by
Bolsheviks. On 10 August 1920, Armenia signed a preliminary agreement with the Bolsheviks, agreeing to a temporary Bolshevik occupation of these areas until final settlement would be reached. In 1921,
Armenia and
Georgia were also taken over by the Bolsheviks. After the
Sovietization of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the
Kavbiuro (Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the
Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik)) decided that Karabakh would remain within
Azerbaijan SSR with broad regional autonomy, with the administrative centre in the city of
Shusha (the administrative center was later moved to
Stepanakert). The oblast's borders were drawn to include Armenian villages and to exclude as much as possible Azerbaijani villages. The resulting district ensured an Armenian majority. With the Soviet Union firmly in control of the region, the
conflict over the region died down for several decades until the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the question of Nagorno-Karabakh re-emerged. Accusing the Azerbaijani SSR government of conducting forced Azerification of the region, the majority Armenian population, with ideological and material support from the
Armenian SSR, started a movement to have the autonomous oblast transferred to the Armenian SSR. In August 1987, Karabakh Armenians sent a petition for union with Armenia with tens of thousands of signatures to Moscow.
War and secession , knocked out of commission while attacking Azeri positions in
Askeran District, serves as a war memorial on the outskirts of Stepanakert. On 13 February 1988, Karabakh Armenians began demonstrating in
Stepanakert, in favour of unification with the Armenian republic. Six days later they were joined by mass marches in
Yerevan. On 20 February, the Soviet of People's Deputies in Karabakh voted 110 to 17 to request the transfer of the region to Armenia. This unprecedented action by a regional Soviet brought out tens of thousands of demonstrations both in Stepanakert and Yerevan, but Moscow rejected the Armenians' demands. The confrontation between the Azeris and the police near Askeran degenerated into the
Askeran clash, which left two Azeris dead, one of them allegedly killed by an Azeri police officer. Fifty Armenian villagers and an unknown number of Azeris and police officers were injured. Large numbers of refugees left Armenia and Azerbaijan as violence began against the minority populations of the respective republics. On 7 July 1988, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemned the violence employed against Armenian demonstrators in Azerbaijan, and supported the demand of the Armenians for reunification with the Soviet Republic of Armenia. On 29 November 1989, direct rule in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and the region was returned to Azerbaijani administration. The Soviet policy backfired, however, when a joint session of the Armenian
Supreme Soviet and the National Council, the legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh, proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. On 26 November 1991 Azerbaijan
abolished the status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, rearranging the
administrative division and bringing the territory under direct control of Azerbaijan. On 10 December 1991, in a referendum boycotted by local Azerbaijanis, According to Armenia's former president,
Levon Ter-Petrossian, the Karabakh leadership approach was maximalist and "they thought they could get more." The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In the post-Soviet
power vacuum, military action between Azerbaijan and Armenia was heavily influenced by the
Russian military. Furthermore, both the
Armenian and
Azerbaijani military employed a large number of mercenaries from
Ukraine and Russia. Between fifteen and twenty-five hundred
Afghan mujahideen, along with fighters from
Chechnya, participated in the fighting on Azerbaijan's side. By the end of 1993, the conflict had caused about 30,000 casualties and created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. By May 1994, the Armenians were in control of 14% of the territory of Azerbaijan. At that stage, for the first time during the conflict, the Azerbaijani government recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a third party in the war and started direct negotiations with the Karabakh authorities. As a result, a
ceasefire was reached on 12 May 1994 through Russian mediation.
Post-1994 ceasefire . Armenian forces of Nagorno-Karabakh controlled almost 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, On 25 January 2005, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted
PACE Resolution 1416, which condemned ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis. On 15–17 May 2007 the 34th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the
Organization of Islamic Conference adopted resolution No. 7/34-P, considering the occupation of Azerbaijani territory as the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and recognizing the actions against Azerbaijani civilians as a
crime against humanity, and condemning the destruction of archaeological, cultural and religious monuments in the occupied territories. The 11th session of the summit of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference held on 13–14 March 2008 in
Dakar adopted resolution No. 10/11-P (IS). In the resolution, OIC member states condemned the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenian forces and Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, ethnic cleansing against the Azeri population, and charged Armenia with the "destruction of cultural monuments in the occupied Azerbaijani territories". On 14 March of the same year the
UN General Assembly adopted
Resolution No. 62/243 which "demands the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan". On 18–20 May 2010, the 37th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Conference in
Dushanbe adopted another resolution condemning the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, recognizing the actions against Azerbaijani civilians as a crime against humanity and condemning the destruction of archaeological, cultural, and religious monuments in occupied territories. On 20 May of the same year, the
European Parliament in
Strasbourg adopted the resolution on "The need for an EU Strategy for the South Caucasus" on the basis of the report by
Evgeni Kirilov, the Bulgarian member of the Parliament. The resolution states in particular that "the occupied Azerbaijani regions around Nagorno-Karabakh must be cleared as soon as possible". On 26 January 2016, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted
Resolution 2085, which deplored the fact that the occupation by Armenia of Nagorno-Karabakh and other adjacent areas of Azerbaijan creates humanitarian and environmental problems for the citizens of Azerbaijan, condemned ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis and Assembly requested immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the region concerned. Several world
leaders have met with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the years, but efforts to maintain the ceasefire have failed. On 2 April 2016 Azerbaijani and Armenian forces again clashed in the region. The
Armenian Defense Ministry alleged that Azerbaijan launched an offensive to seize territory in the region. At least 30 soldiers were killed during the fighting and a
Mil Mi-24 helicopter and tank were also destroyed, with 12 of the fallen soldiers belonging to the Azerbaijani forces and the other 18 belonging to the Armenian forces, as well as an additional 35 Armenian soldiers reportedly wounded.
2020 war and ceasefire agreement On 27 September 2020, a
new war erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories. The war ended on 10 November 2020, when
a trilateral ceasefire agreement was signed among Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia. According to the ceasefire agreement, Azerbaijan regained all of the
occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and capturing one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh proper, including
Shusha and
Hadrut.
Blockade (2022–2023) In December 2022, Azerbaijanis claiming to be environmental activists blocked the
Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world. On 23 April 2023, Azerbaijani forces installed a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor. The blockade led to a humanitarian crisis for the population in Artsakh and imports of essential goods were blocked, as well as humanitarian convoys of the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeepers, trapping the 120,000 residents of the region. Limited traffic had been conducted by Russian peacekeepers and the
International Committee of the Red Cross to transport patients in need of medical care and provide humanitarian supplies. However, starting on 15 June 2023, Azerbaijan intensified the blockade, blocking all passage of food, fuel, and medicine from the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeepers through the Lachin corridor. On 19 September, Azerbaijan
launched a military operation.
Azerbaijani offensive (2023) On 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan
launched a military offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan held a meeting with representatives of the Artsakh Armenian community on 21 September in
Yevlakh to start the process of re-integrating the region into Azerbaijan. Ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan were nonetheless reported by both Artsakh and local residents in
Stepanakert on 21 September. In the aftermath of the offensive, an
exodus of Armenians from the region started. == Geography ==