During its existence, the Republic of Artsakh and the United States did not have official diplomatic relations as the United States was among the vast majority of countries that did not recognize Artsakh as a sovereign nation and instead recognized the region of Artsakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, as part of Azerbaijan. Despite no formal relations, the Republic of Artsakh had a representative office in Washington, D.C. since November 1997.[1] It is not known whether the office still functions after the apparent dissolution of Artsakh.
From 1991 to 1994 land mines that were placed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region from the first Nagorno-Karabakh War have been part of an ongoing demining operation largely funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The USAID has been working closely with the HALO Trust, a UK-based demining NGO, is the only international organization conducting demining in Nagorno Karabakh.[2] They have destroyed 180,858 small arms ammunition, 48,572 units of "other explosive items", 12,423 cluster bombs, 8,733 anti-personnel landmines, and 2,584 anti-tank landmines between 2000 and 2016.[3] By 2018, they had cleared 88% of the territory's minefields, with a target to clear the rest by 2020. The main cities of Stepanakert and Shusha, as well as the main north–south highway, have been cleared and are safe for travel.
In April 2001, representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, Russia and the United States met in Paris and in Key West, Florida to resolve the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.[4] Despite rumors that the parties were close to a solution, the Azerbaijani authorities – both during Heydar Aliyev's tenure as President of Azerbaijan and after the accession of his son Ilham Aliyev in the October 2003 elections, have firmly denied that any agreement was reached in Paris or Key West.
In June 2006, talks were held at the Polish embassy in Bucharest attended by American, Russian, and French diplomats. The talks lasted over 40 minutes. Earlier, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan announced that he was ready to "continue dialogue with Azerbaijan for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and with Turkey on establishing relations without any preconditions". According to the Armenian foreign minister, Vartan Oskanian, no progress was made at this latest meeting. Both presidents failed to reach a consensus on the issues from the earlier Rambouillet conference. He noted that the Kocharyan-Aliyev meeting was held in a normal atmosphere. "Nevertheless," he added, "the foreign ministers of the two countries are commissioned to continue talks over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and try to find common points before the next meeting of the presidents." The major disagreement between both sides at the Bucharest conference was the status of Artsakh. Azerbaijan's preferred solution would be to give Artsakh the "highest status of autonomy adopted in the world". Armenia, on the other hand, endorsed a popular vote by the inhabitants of Artsakh to decide their future, a position that was also taken by the international mediators. On June 27, the Armenian foreign minister said both parties agreed to allow the residents of Artsakh to vote regarding the future status of the region. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially refuted that statement. According to Azeri opposition leader Isa Gambar, however, Azerbaijan did indeed agree to the referendum. Although no official agreement came from the meeting.[5]
The "Prague Process" overseen by the OSCE Minsk Group was brought into sharp relief in the summer of 2006 with a series of rare public revelations seemingly designed to jump-start the stalled negotiations. After the release in June of a paper outlining its position, which had until then been carefully guarded, U.S. State Department official Matthew Bryza told Radio Free Europe that the Minsk Group favored a referendum in Karabakh that would determine its final status. The referendum, in the view of the OSCE, should take place not in Azerbaijan as a whole, but in Artsakh only. This was a blow to Azerbaijan, and despite talk that their government might eventually seek a more sympathetic forum for future negotiations, this hasn't happened.[6]
In an annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from 2006, released on March 6, 2007, by the United States State Department stated "Armenia continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. During the year incidents along the militarized line of contact separating the sides again resulted in numerous casualties on both sides".[7]
After the 2015 Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary election the United States refused to recognize the legitimacy of the results. Jeff Rathke, the then-State Department acting spokesman stated, "The United States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent sovereign state, and accordingly, we will not accept the results of the elections on 3 May."[8]
Artsakh government officials regularly maintain contact with members of the United States Congress. On March 14, 2018, the then-President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan visited Washington, D.C., and met with Congressmen and Senators, including members of the foreign relations committee, to discuss the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. A reception was organized celebrating the thirtyth anniversary of the Artsakh Movement. President Sahakyan awarded a group of Congressmen and Senators with state honors for contributing to the development of Artsakh-American relations and for supporting Artsakh.[9]
In October 2019, the Foreign Minister of Artsakh noted that the authorities of the Republic attach great importance to the relations between Artsakh and the United States at various levels. The Minister also stated his appreciation of the United States for financial aid and support for the peaceful resolution of the conflict and hoped for further developing cooperation during a meeting with US Congress members.[10][11]
Three resolutions have been introduced in the United States House of Representatives, one in 2018,[12] one in 2019,[13] and one in 2020, affirming support for supporting visits and communication on all levels of government in the United States between officials of Artsakh and the executive and legislative branches of the United States, representatives of state and local governments, and representatives of American civil society. The resolutions also call for the full and direct participation of the Republic of Artsakh in negotiations regarding its future.[14] However, no action has been taken on these resolutions.
In response to the 2023 Artsakhian presidential election the United States refused to recognize the legitimacy of the results. Spokesperson for the State DepartmentMatthew Miller stated, "As we have said in the past, we do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state and therefore we do not recognize the results of those so-called presidential elections that were announced over the last few days".[15]
Recognition
U.S. states that recognized Artsakh highlighted in dark green as of October 2017.
At the federal level of the U.S. government, there is no recognition of Artsakh, but recognition exists at the state and local levels. Ten states, ten cities, three California counties, one Nevada county, and four New Jersey boroughs have recognized Artsakh as an independent nation as of 2021.
On April 10, 2013, the Maine House of Representatives and Senate passed a resolution accepting Artsakh's independence and urging President Barack Obama to also accept Artsakh's independence.[18] But on April 30, the motion was receded.[19]
In May 2013, the Louisiana State Senate passed a resolution accepting Artsakh's independence and expressed support for the Republic of Artsakh's efforts to develop as a free and independent nation.[20]
In May 2014, the California State Assembly passed a measure recognizing Artsakh's independence with a 70–2 vote. The measure also called for President Barack Obama, and the U.S. Congress to recognize the Republic of Artsakh.[21] In August 2014, the California State Senate, passed a unanimous measure in a 23–0 vote to recognize Artsakh's independence.[22]
In September 2017, the Michigan Senate passed a resolution to recognize Artsakh while encouraging the American federal government to do so along with expanding economic and cultural ties.[25]
On April 24, 2019, the Colorado Senate passed a bill recognizing Artsakh, the Armenian genocide, and the destruction of Armenia culture heritage in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic while declaring April 24 as "Colorado Day of the Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide".[26]
In June 2021, the New Jersey Senate passed a resolution recognizing Artsakh while reaffirming the state's commitment to recognizing the Armenian genocide.[28]
Counties and Boroughs
Counties
On April 23, 2013, Fresno County, California recognized Artsakh's independence which called upon the state legislature to follow suit.[29]
On November 26, 2013, Highland, California recognized Artsakh, calling on President Obama and the U.S. Congress to follow suit and became a sister city with Berdzor.[38]
On April 20, 2016, Honolulu recognized Artsakh.[40]
On September 21, 2016, Denver, Colorado recognized the independence of Artsakh and officially declaring September 21, 2016, as "Armenian Independence Day for the Armenian homeland of Armenia and Artsakh".[41]
In October 2020, the following cities recognized Artsakh:
Glendale, California (October 27)[44] On September 13, 2018, California State Senator, Anthony Portantino, then-Mayor of Glendale, Zareh Sinanyan, and Glendale city clerk Ardashes Kassakhian, met with the Artsakh State Minister, Grigory Martirosyan, discussing economic relations and the opening of an Artsakh street in Glendale for the following October. A plan which was backed by the Glendale City Council.[45] The following October, a street was renamed Artsakh Avenue.[46]
Rancho Cordova, California on April 19.[51] On January 28, the mayor of Racho Cordova, Garrett Gatewood, issued a proclamation recognizing Artsakh as a free and independent nation.
Refusal of recognition
In April 2014, the Vermont Senate rebuffed a resolution recognizing Artsakh as which would have called on President Obama and the U.S. Congress to follow suit. Azeri representatives met with senators stating that passing the resolution "would jeopardize the partnership between Azerbaijan and the United States, which share interests in oil and the war in Afghanistan." According to State Senator, Jeanette White, the State Department urged senators not to pass the resolution.[52]
Refusal of recognizing Artsakh as Azerbaijani territorial integrity
The following States refused to recognize Artsakh as the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but haven't recognized Artsakh.
In April 2014, the Mississippi State Senate rejected a motion to recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan which would have called upon President Obama and the U.S. Congress to do the same.[56]
In March 2016, the Kentucky Senate withdrew a resolution recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.[57]
Recognition of Artsakh as Azerbaijani territorial integrity
Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik. Its terrain mostly consists of mountains and forestland.
Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh controlled parts of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, including its capital Stepanakert. It had been an enclave within Azerbaijan from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war until the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive, when the Azerbaijani military took control over the remaining territory controlled by Artsakh. Its only overland access route to Armenia after the 2020 war was via the 5 km (3.1 mi) wide Lachin corridor, which was placed under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces.
Politics of Artsakh takes place within the constraints of a written constitution, approved by a popular vote, that recognises three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch of government is exercised within a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Artsakh is both the head of state and the head of government. The legislative branch of government is composed of both the Government and the National Assembly. Elections to the National Assembly are on the basis of a multi-party system. As of 2009, the American-based non-governmental organisation, Freedom House, ranks Artsakh above both Armenia and Azerbaijan in terms of political and civil rights. The republic is de facto independent and de jure a part of Azerbaijan. None of the elections in Artsakh are recognised by international bodies such as the OSCE Minsk Group, the European Union or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Both Azerbaijan and Turkey have condemned the elections and called them a source of increased tensions.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion during the 1990s. The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been entirely claimed by and partially controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, but was recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan gradually re-established control over Nagorno-Karabakh region and the seven surrounding districts.
The Republic of Artsakh was a republic with limited recognition in the South Caucasus region. The Republic of Artsakh controlled most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. It was recognized only by three other non-UN member states, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. The rest of the international community recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. In November 2012, a member of Uruguay's foreign relations committee stated that his country could recognize Nagorno-Karabakh's independence. In 2012, Armenia and Tuvalu established diplomatic relations, which led to speculation of possible recognition of Artsakh by Tuvalu. In October 2012, the Australian state of New South Wales recognized Nagorno-Karabakh. In September 2014, the Basque Parliament in Spain adopted a motion supporting Artsakh's right to self-determination and in November 2014, the Parliament of Navarre, also in Spain, issued a statement supporting Artsakh's inclusion in taking part in settlement negotiations.
Anti-Armenian sentiment, also known as anti-Armenianism and Armenophobia, is a diverse spectrum of negative feelings, dislikes, fears, aversion, racism, derision and/or prejudice towards Armenians, Armenia, and Armenian culture.
There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two neighboring states had formal governmental relations between 1918 and 1921, during their brief independence from the collapsed Russian Empire, as the First Republic of Armenia and the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan; these relations existed from the period after the Russian Revolution until they were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union, becoming the constituent republics of Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. Due to the five wars waged by the countries in the past century—one from 1918 to 1921, another from 1988 to 1994, and the most recent in 2016, 2020 and 2023 —the two have had strained relations. In the wake of hostilities, social memory of Soviet-era cohabitation is widely repressed.
Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan is an Armenian politician who served as the fourth president of the Republic of Artsakh from May 2020 to September 2023. Under his predecessor Bako Sahakyan, he served as the sixth and last Prime Minister from 2007 until the abolishment of that position in 2017 and as the first State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh from 2017 until his resignation in 2018. Harutyunyan led Artsakh through the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War with Azerbaijan, during which the republic lost most of the territory under its control. He resigned on 1 September 2023 in the midst of the Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide of the Republic of Artsakh and Nagorno-Karabakh region:
Kalbajar is a city and the capital of the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan. Located on the Tartar river valley, it is 458 kilometres (285 mi) away from the capital Baku.
This page lists in alphabetical order articles related to the Republic of Artsakh and Nagorno-Karabakh region. For a topically arranged list of articles, please see Outline of the Republic of Artsakh.
The Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have never had formal diplomatic relations. Pakistan is the only country in the world that does not recognize Armenia as a sovereign state. It has maintained this position due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in spite of the fact that Armenia and Azerbaijan have always recognized each other as sovereign states ever since they both gained independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Pakistan, which recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty in 1991, has declared that any Pakistani recognition of Armenia will be contingent on the Armenians relinquishing their claim to Nagorno-Karabakh as well as an end to the Armenian presence in that disputed territory. Likewise, Pakistan openly supported Azerbaijan during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War; it has strongly advocated full Azerbaijani control over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has historically had an Armenian-majority population, though it is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan.
The political status of Nagorno-Karabakh remained unresolved from its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union on 10 December 1991, to its September 2023 collapse. During Soviet times, it had been an ethnic Armenian autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a conflict arose between local Armenians who sought to have Nagorno-Karabakh join Armenia and local Azerbaijanis who opposed this.
Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte is an Armenian-American writer, lecturer, philanthropist and human rights advocate. She wrote Nowhere, a Story of Exile (2012). She has lectured extensively about the plight of Armenians in Azerbaijan in the context of human rights and international law, as well as defending the political rights of Armenians to establish autonomy in Nagorno-Karabakh. She was instrumental in gaining passage by the legislature of the State of Maine of a 2013 resolution recognizing the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In 2015, she was elected member of the Westbrook, Maine City Council. She was elected President of the Council in 2021 and reelected as President in 2022, becoming Westbrook’s first immigrant and first female president of the City Council.
The 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, also known as the Four-Day War, April War, or April clashes, began along the former Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact on 1 April 2016 with the Artsakh Defence Army, backed by the Armenian Armed Forces, on one side and the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the other.
Varuzhan Nersesyan is an Armenian diplomat who is currently the ambassador of Armenia to the United Kingdom. Prior to this, he has served as the ambassador to the United States from November 2018 to July 2021. He was appointed an ambassador to United Kingdom on 16 July 2021.
The following is list of the official reactions to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
The Congressional Armenian Caucus (CAC) is an organization of over 100 members of the United States Congress. The Caucus is dedicated to keeping members of Congress engaged on Armenia-related issues as well as strengthening and maintaining the US-Armenia relationship. In particular, the Congressional Armenian Caucus aims to increase US aid to Armenia and Artsakh, recognise the Armenian genocide and to recognise the independence of Artsakh. The CAC was founded in 1995. Although the majority of the members are from the Democratic Party, there are also members from the Republican party including Co-Chairs Gus Bilirakis and David Valadao.
Armenia–Artsakh relations are the foreign relations between the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh and Armenia. The Republic of Artsakh controls most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. Artsakh has very close relations with Armenia. It functions as a de facto part of Armenia. A representative office of Nagorno-Karabakh exists in Yerevan.
From the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, the city of Stepanakert was the capital of the unrecognized breakaway Republic of Artsakh, while being internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
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