Robert Sedraki Kocharyan is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1992 to 1994. He served as the second President of Armenia between 1998 and 2008 and as Prime Minister of Armenia from 1997 to 1998.
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 five kilometres (3.1 mi)–wide Lachin corridor, which was placed under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is 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 was 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.
Seyran Musheghi Ohanyan is an Armenian military officer and politician currently serving as a deputy in the National Assembly of Armenia. He served as Defence Minister of Armenia from 14 April 2008 until 3 October 2016. A native of Nagorno-Karabakh, he participated in both the first and second Karabakh wars, and from 2000 to 2007 served as defence minister of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh.
Jirair Simoni Sefilian is a Lebanese-born Armenian military commander and political activist. During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, he commanded the Shushi special military battalion, playing a significant role during the Battle of Shusha. From 1997 to 1998 Sefilian was a Brigade Commander in the Artsakh Defence Army.
Martakert or Aghdara is a town in the Tartar District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, as the centre of its Martakert Province. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population until the exodus of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. The town underwent heavy destruction by Azerbaijani forces while under their control during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Parukh or Farukh, is an Armenian-populated village located in the Khojaly District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population until the exodus of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The political status of Nagorno-Karabakh remained unresolved from its declaration of independence 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.
General elections were held in the Republic of Artsakh on 31 March 2020, with a second round of the presidential election on 14 April. Voters elected the President and 33 members of the National Assembly. It was the first time the President and National Assembly were elected at the same time.
Lieutenant General Manvel Sektori Grigoryan was an Armenian military leader and a member of the National Assembly of Armenia.
Masis Samveli Mayilyan is a politician, diplomat and former presidential candidate who previously worked in the Republic of Artsakh. From September 2017 until January 2021, he served as the Foreign Minister of Artsakh.
The casualties of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, fought between Armenia, the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh internationally recognized as the territory of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan, officially number in the low thousands. According to official figures released by the belligerents, Armenia and Artsakh lost 3,825 troops, with 187 servicemen missing in action, while Azerbaijan lost 2,906 troops, with 6 missing in action. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the deaths of 541 Syrian fighters or mercenaries fighting for Azerbaijan. However, it is believed that the sides downplayed the number of their own casualties and exaggerated the numbers of enemy casualties and injuries.
The 2021 Armenian political crisis was an alleged military coup attempt by the Armed Forces of Armenia led by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Onik Gasparyan against the government of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Pashinyan accused Gasparyan and 40 other high-ranking military officers of attempting a coup after they published a statement calling for Pashinyan's resignation on 25 February 2021.
The military forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a border conflict since 12 May 2021, when Azerbaijani soldiers crossed several kilometers into Armenia in the provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik. Despite international calls for withdrawal from the European Parliament, the United States, and France, Azerbaijan has maintained its presence on Armenian soil, occupying at least 215 square kilometres (83 sq mi) of internationally recognized Armenian territory. This occupation follows a pattern of Azerbaijan provoking cross-border fights and instigating ceasefire violations when its government is unhappy with the pace of negotiations with Armenia.
The Zangezur corridor is a concept for a transport corridor which, if implemented, would give Azerbaijan unimpeded access to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic without Armenian checkpoints via Armenia's Syunik Province and, in a broad sense, for the geopolitical corridor that would connect Turkey to the rest of the Turkic world thereby "uniting it". The concept was not part of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement but was introduced to geopolitical lexicon later by Ilham Aliyev. It has since been promoted by Azerbaijan and Turkey, while Armenia has steadily objected to it, asserting that "corridor logic" deviates from the ceasefire statement, and that it is a form of propaganda.
The bombardment of Martuni was the bombardment of the cities, towns, and villages in the Martuni Province of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, which is de jure a part of Azerbaijan. It was carried out by Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. The city Martuni, along with the de facto capital Stepanakert, were badly damaged as a result of shelling. The shelling resulted in the deaths of five civilians. 1,203 buildings were damaged in the province as a result of the bombardment, according to Artsakh Urban Development Ministry. Victoria Gevorgyan, a resident of the Martuni Province of Nagorno-Karabakh, became the first child killed on the first day of the war.
Events of the year 2023 in Armenia.
The blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh was an event in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The region was disputed between Azerbaijan and the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, which had an ethnic Armenian population and was supported by neighbouring Armenia, until the dissolution of Republic of Artsakh on 28 September 2023.
Between 19 and 20 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against the self-declared breakaway state of Artsakh, a move seen as a violation of the ceasefire agreement signed in the aftermath of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. The offensive took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is de jure a part of Azerbaijan, and was a de facto independent republic. The stated goal of the offensive was the complete disarmament and unconditional surrender of Artsakh, as well as the withdrawal of all ethnic Armenian soldiers present in the region. The offensive occurred in the midst of an escalating crisis caused by Azerbaijan blockading Artsakh, which has resulted in significant scarcities of essential supplies such as food, medicine, and other goods in the affected region.
On 19–20 September 2023 Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region which ended with the surrender of the self-declared Republic of Artsakh and the disbandment of its armed forces. Up until the military assault, the region was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but governed and populated by ethnic Armenians.
