Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh Լեռնային Ղարաբաղ , Leṙnayin Ġarabaġ (Armenian) Dağlıq Qarabağ / Yuxarı Qarabağ (Azerbaijani) Нагорный Карабах, Nagornyi Karabakh (Russian)
Location of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Area
-	Total	8,223 km2  3,175 sq mi
-	Water (%)	negligible
Population
-	2006 estimate	138,000
-	Density	29/km2  43/sq mi
Time zone		(UTC+4)
-	Summer (DST)	+5 (UTC)
Drives on the		right

Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is mostly mountainous and forested and has an area of 8,223 square kilometres (3,175 sq mi).

Most of the region is governed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, an unrecognized, de facto independent state established on the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR of the Soviet Union. The territory however is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, which has not exercised power over most of the region since 1991. Since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, representatives of the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group on the region's status.

Name

Mamkan, Queen of Khachen and Princess of Baghk. Bas-relief, Gandzasar monastery, 13th century

Nagorno, Nagornyy or Nagornyi (Нагорный) is a Russian word meaning "highland". The word is not used in Armenian or Azerbaijani, but was used in the official name of the region under the Soviet Union as Nagorno-Karabakhskaya Avtonomnaya Oblast. Other languages apply their own word for mountainous, upper, or highland; for example, the official name used by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in France is Haut-Karabakh, meaning "Upper Karabakh".

The word Karabakh is generally held to originate from Turkic and Persian, and literally means "black garden".^[1][2] The name first appears in Georgian and Persian sources of the 13th and 14th centuries.^[2] Karabagh is an acceptable alternate spelling of Karabakh, and also denotes a kind of patterned rug originally produced in the area.^[3]

In an alternative theory proposed by Bagrat Ulubabyan the name Karabakh has a Turkic-Armenian origin, meaning "Greater Baghk" (Armenian: Մեծ Բաղք), a reference to Ktish-Baghk (later: Dizak), one of the principalities of Artsakh under the rule of the Aranshahik dynasty, which held the throne of the Kingdom of Syunik in the 11th–13th centuries and called itself the "Kingdom of Baghk".^[4]

The names for the region in the various local languages all translate to "mountainous Karabakh", or "mountainous black garden":

• Armenian: Լեռնային Ղարաբաղ, transliterated Leṙnayin Ġarabaġ
• Azerbaijani: Dağlıq Qarabağ (mountainous Karabakh) or Yuxarı Qarabağ (upper Karabakh)
• Russian: Нагорный Карабах, transliterated Nagornyy Karabakh or Nagornyi Karabah

It is often referred to by the Armenians living in the area as Artsakh (Armenian: Արցախ), designating the 10th province of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. In Urartian inscriptions (9th–7th centuries BC), the name Urtekhini is used for the region.^[5] Ancient Greek sources called the area Orkhistene.^[6]

History

Early history

The Amaras Monastery in Nagorno Karabakh was founded in the 4th century by St. Gregory the Illuminator. In the 5th century, Mesrob Mashtots, inventor of the Armenian alphabet, established at Amaras the first school to use his script.^[7]

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 original population of the region consisted of various autochthonous and migrant tribes.^[8] According to the American scholar Robert H. Hewsen, these primordial tribes were "certainly not of Armenian origin", and "although certain Iranian peoples must have settled here during the long period of Persian and Median rule, most of the natives were not even Indo-Europeans".^[8] These peoples, Hewsen contends, were conquered by the Kingdom of Armenia in the 2nd century BC.^[8]

However, relying on information provided by the 5th century Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi, other Western authors argued—and Hewsen himself indicated later—that these peoples could have been conquered by the Kingdom of Armenia much earlier, in the 4th century BC.^[9]

Overall, from around 180 BC and up until the 4th century AD—before becoming part of the Armenian Kingdom again, in 855—the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh remained part of the united Armenian Kingdom as the province of Artsakh.^[10][11]

After the partition of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia, in 387 AD, Artsakh became part of Caucasian Albania, which, in turn, came under strong Armenian religious and cultural influence.^{[12][13][14][15][16]} Furthermore, Armenian historians Movses Khorenatsi and Movses Kaghankatvatsi both link the name for the Kingdom of Aghvank (Armenian term for Caucasian Albania - Աղվանից Թագավորություն) to the nickname given to the legendary local ruler Aran (Aghu, Աղու, Armenian for “kind” or “gentle”). In the works of Movses Kaghankatvatsi, Aran gets appointed to rule Aghvank by Vagharshak, King of Armenia.^[17]

An extensive description of Artsakh and its 12 counties are part of the 7th-century Armenian geographical atlas Ashkharatsuyts (English: Geography) compiled by the scholar Anania Shirakatsi.^[18]

From a 5th-century Armenian Military Register (Armenian: Զորանամակ, Zoranamak) it is known that in the early Middle Ages Artsakh was expected to supply the Armenian army with no less than one thousand soldiers.^[19]

Armenians have lived in the Karabakh region since Roman times: Strabo states that, by the second or first century BC, the entire population of Greater Armenia—Artsakh and Utik included—spoke Armenian,^[20][21] though this does not mean that its population consisted exclusively of ethnic Armenians.^[22] In his work, Strabo depicted Artsakh as a province of Armenia “... which furnishes the most cavalry.” ^[23] Tigran the Great, King of Armenia (ruled 95–55 BC) founded in Artsakh was one of four cities named “Tigranakert” after himself.^[24] The ruins of the ancient Tigranakert, located 30 miles north-east of Stepanakert, are being studied by a group of international scholars.

The monastery at Gandzasar was commissioned by the House of Khachen and completed in 1238

By the early Middle Ages, the non-Armenian elements of Albanian population of upper Karabakh had completed their merger into the Armenian population, and forever disappeared as identifiable groups.^[25][26]

Armenian culture and civilization flourished in the early medieval Nagorno Karabakh— in Artsakh and Utik. In the 5th century, the first-ever Armenian school was opened on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh—at the Amaras Monastery—by the efforts of St. Mesrob Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian Alphabet.^[27] St. Mesrob was very active in preaching Gospel in Artsakh and Utik. Four chapters of Movses Kaghankatvatsi’s “History...” amply describe St. Mesrob’s mission, referring to him as “enlightener,” “evangelizer” and “saint.” ^[28] Overall, Mesrob Mashtots made three trips to Artsakh and Utik, ultimately reaching pagan territories at the foothills of the Greater Caucasus.^[29]

It was at that time when the foremost Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi confirmed that the Kura River formed "the boundary of Armenian speech."^[30] 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.^[31] In the same 7th century, Armenian poet Davtak Kertogh writes his Elegy on the Death of Grand Prince Juansher, where each passage begins with a letter of Armenian script in alphabetical order.^[32][33] The only comprehensive history of the Kingdom of Aghvank was written in Armenian, by the historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi.^[33][34]

In the 7th and 8th centuries, the region was ruled by Caliphate-appointed local governors. 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.^[35] The name “Khachen” originated from Armenian word “khach,” which means “cross” ^[36]. By 1000 the House of Khachen proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh with John Senecherib as its first ruler.^[37] Initially Dizak, in southern Artsakh, formed also a kingdom ruled by the ancient House of Aranshahik, descended of the earliest Kings of Caucasian Albania. In 1261, after the daughter of the last king of Dizak married to the king of Artsakh, the two states merged into one.^[35] Subsequently Artsakh continued to exist as a principality.

In the 15th century, the territory of Karabakh was part of the states ruled by Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu tribal confederations. The Turkoman lord Jahan Shah (1437–67) assigned the governship 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.^[35] These dynasties represented the branches of the earlier House of Khachen and were the descendants of the medieval kings of Artsakh. Their lands were often referred to as the Country of Khamsa (five in Arabic). The Russian Empire recognized the sovereign status of the five princes in their domains by a charter of the Emperor Paul I dated 2 June 1799.^[38]

In the early 16th century, after the fall of the Ak Koyunlu state, control of the region passed to the Safavid dynasty, which created the Karabakh Beylerbeylik. Despite these conquests, the population of Upper Karabakh remained largely Armenian.^[39] Initially under the control of the Ganja Khanate of the Persian Empire, the local Armenian princes were granted a wide degree of autonomy by the Safavid Empire over the modern territory of Nagorno Karabakh and adjacent lands.

The Armenian meliks maintained full control over the region until the mid-18th century.^[39] In the early 18th century, Persia'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^[40][41] At the same time, the Armenian meliks were granted supreme command over neighboring Armenian principalities and Muslim khans in the Caucasus, in return for the meliks' victories over the invading Ottoman Turks in the 1720s.^[42] In the mid-18th century, as internal conflicts between the meliks led to their weakening,^[39] the Karabakh khanate was formed.^[43]

Karabakh became a protectorate of the Imperial Russia 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.^[44][45][46] Its new status was confirmed under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan (1823), when Persia formally ceded Karabakh to the Russian Empire,^{[47][48][49][50]} before the rest of Transcaucasia was incorporated into the Empire in 1828 by the Treaty of Turkmenchay.

In 1822, the Karabakh khanate was dissolved, and the area became part of the Elisabethpol Governorate within the Russian Empire. After the transfer of the Karabakh khanate to Russia, many Muslim families emigrated to Persia, while many Armenians were induced by the Russian government to emigrate from Persia to Karabakh.^[51]

Soviet era

Soviet-era buildings in the town of Stepanakert.

The present-day conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has its roots in the decisions made by Joseph Stalin and the Caucasian Bureau (Kavburo) during the Sovietization of Transcaucasia. Stalin was the acting Commissar of Nationalities for the Soviet Union during the early 1920s, the branch of the government under which the Kavburo was created. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, 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 (1918–20), there were a series of short wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over several regions, including Karabakh. In July 1918, the First Armenian Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh declared the region self-governing and created a National Council and government.^[52] Later, Ottoman troops entered Karabakh, meeting armed resistance by Armenians.

After the defeat of Ottoman Empire in World War I, British troops occupied Karabakh.^[39] The British command provisionally affirmed Khosrov bey Sultanov (appointed by the Azerbaijani government) as the governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur, pending final decision by the Paris Peace Conference.^[53] 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.^[39][52] The agreement itself was soon annulled by the Ninth Karabagh Assembly, which declared union with Armenia in April.^[39][52][54]

In April 1920, while the Azerbaijani army was locked in Karabakh fighting local Armenian forces, Azerbaijan was taken over by Bolsheviks.^[39] Subsequently, the disputed areas of Karabakh, Zangezur, and Nakhchivan came under the control of Armenia. During July and August, however, the Red Army occupied Karabakh, Zangezur, and part of Nakhchivan. On August 10, 1920, Armenia signed a preliminary agreement with the Bolsheviks, agreeing to a temporary Bolshevik occupation of these areas until final settlement would be reached.^[55] In 1921, Armenia and Georgia were also taken over by the Bolsheviks who, in order to attract public support, promised they would allot Karabakh to Armenia, along with Nakhchivan and Zangezur (the strip of land separating Nakhchivan from Azerbaijan proper). However, the Soviet Union also had far-reaching plans concerning Turkey, hoping that it would, with a little help from them, develop along Communist lines. Needing to placate Turkey, the Soviet Union agreed to a division under which Zangezur would fall under the control of Armenia, while Karabakh and Nakhchivan would be under the control of Azerbaijan. Had Turkey not been an issue, Stalin would likely have left Karabakh under Armenian control.^[56] As a result, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was established within the Azerbaijan SSR on July 7, 1923.

With the Soviet Union firmly in control of the region, the conflict over the region died down for several decades. With the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, 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.

War and independence

A restored Armenian T-72, knocked out of commission while attacking Azeri positions in Askeran, serves as a war memorial on the outskirts of Stepanakert.

On February 22, 1988, the first direct confrontation of the conflict occurred as a large group of Azeris marched from Agdam against the Armenian populated town of Askeran, "wreaking destruction en route." The confrontation between the Azeris and the police near Askeran degenerated into the Askeran clash, which left two Azeris dead, one of them reportedly killed by an Azeri police officer, as well as 50 Armenian villagers, and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis and police, injured.^[57][58] Large numbers of refugees left Armenia and Azerbaijan as violence began against the minority populations of the respective countries.^[59] In the fall of 1989, intensified inter-ethnic conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh led the Soviet Union to grant Azerbaijani authorities greater leeway in controlling the region. On November 29, 1989 direct rule in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and the region was returned to Azerbaijani administration.^[60] 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.

A sign reading Free Artsakh Welcomes You on the main road leading to Stepanakert

On December 10, 1991 in a referendum boycotted by local Azerbaijanis,^[58] Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh approved the creation of an independent state. A Soviet proposal for enhanced autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan satisfied neither side, and a full-scale war subsequently erupted between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, the latter receiving support from Armenia.^{[61][62][63][64]}

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 Azerbajani military employed a large number of mercenaries from Ukraine and Russia.^[65] As many as one thousand Afghan mujahideen participated in the fighting on Azerbaijan's side.^[58] There were also fighters from Chechnya fighting on the side of Azerbaijan.^[58] Many survivors from Azerbaijani side found shelters in 12 emergency camps set up in other parts of Azerbaijan to cope with the growing number of internally displaced people due to Nagorno-Karabakh war.^[66]

The final borders of the conflict after the 1994 ceasefire was signed. Armenian forces of Nagorno-Karabakh currently control almost 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.[58] And Azerbaijani forces control Shahumian and the eastern parts of Martakert and Martuni.

By the end of 1993, the conflict had caused thousands of 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, the Azerbaijani government for the first time during the conflict recognised Nagorno-Karabakh as a third party in the war, and started direct negotiations with the Karabakh authorities.^[39] As a result, a cease fire was reached on May 12, 1994 through Russian negotiation.

Continued violence, 1994–present

Dmitry Medvedev with Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian in Moscow on 2 November 2008

Despite the ceasefire, fatalities due to armed conflicts between Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers continued.^[67] As of August, 2008, the United States, France, and Russia (the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group) are mediating efforts to negotiate a full settlement of the conflict, proposing a "a referendum or a plebiscite, at a time to be determined later," to determine the final status of the area, return of some territories under Karabakh's control, and security guarantees.^[68] Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian traveled to Moscow for talks with Dmitry Medvedev on 2 November 2008. The talks ended in the three Presidents signing a declaration confirming their commitment to continue talks.^[69] The two presidents have met again since then, most recently in Saint Petersburg.^[70]

Geography

A view of the forested mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh has a total area of 4,400 square kilometers (1,699 sq mi) and is an enclave surrounded entirely by Azerbaijan; its nearest point to Armenia is across the Lachin corridor, roughly 4 kilometers across.^[71] In 1989, it had a population of 192,000.^[72] The population at that time was 76% Armenian and 23% Azerbaijanis, with Russian and Kurdish minorities.^[72] The capital is Stepanakert (known in Azerbaijan as Xankəndi, Khankendi). Its other major city, today lying partially in ruins, is Shushi (known in Azerbaijan as Shusha).

The village of Vank as seen from the Gandzasar monastery.

The borders of Nagorno-Karabakh resemble a kidney bean with the indentation on the east side. It has tall mountain ridges along the northern edge and along the west and a mountainous south. The part near the indentation of the kidney bean itself is a relatively flat valley, with the two edges of the bean, the provinces of Martakert and Martuni, having flat lands as well. Other flatter valleys exist around the Sarsang reservoir, Hadrut, and the south. Much of Nagorno-Karabakh is forested, especially the mountains.^[73]

The territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh forms a portion of the historic region of Karabakh, which lies between the rivers Kura and Araxes, and the modern Armenia-Azerbaijan border. In the ancient and medieval times, this larger region consisted of the historic provinces of Artsakh and Utik, which at various times alternated between the kingdoms of Armenia and Caucasian Albania. Beginning with the 13th and 14th centuries, the Artsakh-Utik area received the name Karabakh. The eastern portion of Karabakh (roughly corresponding to Utik) lies on a lower and flatter surface, and has traditionally been called Lower Karabakh, while the western, mountainous portion (roughly corresponding to Artsakh) has been referred to as Mountainous, Upper, or High Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh in its modern borders is part of the larger region of Upper Karabakh.

Demographics

Concrete numbers about the demographic situation in Nagorno Karabakh appear since the 18th century. Archimandrite Minas Tigranian, after completing his secret mission to Persian Armenia ordered by the Russian Tsar Peter the Great stated in a report dated March 14, 1717 that the patriarch of the Gandzasar Monastery, in Nagorno Karabakh, had under his authority 900 Armenian villages.^[74]

When discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevskiy (Russian: С. М. Броневский) indicated in his Historical Notes that Karabakh, which he said "is located in Greater Armenia" had as many as 30–40,000 armed Armenian men in 1796.^[75]

A survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823, several years before the 1828 Armenian migration from Persia to the newly established Armenian Province, shows that all Armenians of Karabakh compactly resided in its highland portion, i.e. on the territory of the five traditional Armenian principalities in Nagorno Karabakh, and constituted an absolute demographic majority on those lands. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the district of Khachen had twelve Armenian villages and no Tatar (Muslim) villages; Jalapert (Jraberd) had eight Armenian villages and no Tatar villages; Dizak had fourteen Armenian villages and one Tatar village; Gulistan had twelve Armenian and five Tatar villages; and Varanda had twenty-three Armenian villages and one Tatar village.^[76][77]

Nearing the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast boasted a population of 145,593 Armenians (76.4%), 42,871 Azerbaijanis (22.4%),^[65] and several thousand Kurds, Russians, Greeks, and Assyrians. Most of the Azerbaijani and Kurdish populations fled the region during the heaviest years of fighting in the war from 1992 to 1993. The main language spoken in Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenian; however, Karabakh Armenians speak a dialect of Armenian which is considerably different from that which is spoken in Armenia as it is layered with Russian, Turkish and Persian words.^[58]

In 2001, the NKR's reported population was 95% Armenian, with the remaining total including Assyrians, Greeks, and Kurds.^[78] In March 2007, the local government announced that its population had grown to 138,000. The annual birth rate was recorded at 2,200-2,300 per year, an increase from nearly 1,500 in 1999. Until 2000, the country's net migration was at a negative.^[79] For the first half of 2007, 1,010 births and 659 deaths were reported, with a net emigration of 27.^[80]

Most of the Armenian population is Christian and belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Certain Orthodox Christian and Evangelical Christian denominations also exist; other religions include Judaism.^[78]

See also

• Artsakh
• Commonwealth of Unrecognized States
• Index of Nagorno-Karabakh-related articles
• Janapar - the hiking trail across Nagorno-Karabakh
• Landmine situation in Nagorno Karabakh

References

External links

• All UN Security Council resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh, courtesy U.S. State department
• Nagorno-Karabakh Agreement of 2 November 2008 and country profile from BBC News Online
• Article on the Dec. 10 Referendum from Russia Profile
• The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference — Report by rapporteur David Atkinson presented to Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
• Conciliation Resources - Accord issue: The limits of leadership - Elites and societies in the Nagorny Karabakh peace process also key texts & agreements and chronology (in English & Russian)
• Independence of Kosovo and the Nagorno-Karabakh Issue
• Interview with Thomas De Waal
• Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Nagorno-Karabakh: Timeline Of The Long Road To Peace
• Resolution #1416 from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
• USIP — Nagorno-Karabakh Searching for a Solution: Key points, by Patricia Carley, Publication of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
• USIP — Sovereignty after Empire Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union. Case Studies: Nagorno-Karabakh. by Galina Starovoitova, Publication of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
• photostory Nagorno Karabakh - 15 years after the cease fire agreement
• photostory Inside Warren of Karabakh Frontline