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Demographic features of the population of Artsakh include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects.
In the census of 2015, the population of Artsakh had a population of 145,053, consisting of 144,683 Armenians and 238 Russians, and others. Following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive and the subsequent flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, a UN mission estimated that only 50 to 1000 Armenians remained in the region. [1]
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. [2]
Concrete numbers about the demographic situation in Artsakh 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 Artsakh, had under his authority 900 Armenian villages. [3]
In his letter of 1769 to Russia's Count P. Panin, the Georgian king Erekle II, in his description of Artsakh wrote : [4] [5]
Seven families rule the region of Khamse. Its population is totally Armenian.
When discussing Karabakh and Shushi 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 30,000–40,000 armed Armenian men in 1796. [6]
Ottoman land surveys in 1593 and 1727 recorded several Turkic/Azerbaijani nomadic tribes in the historical Highland Karabakh (Khachen, Dizak, Varanda, Gülüstan) and dozens in Lowland Karabakh. [7] [8] [9] Russian ethnologist Anatoly N. Yamskov points out that the latter tribes practiced summer migrations from the pastures of the Karabakh lowlands to the pastures of the mountainous part of Karabakh and stayed there during the summer season. [10] This tradition lasted from the very beginning of penetration of nomadic herdsmen in the region till the beginning of the 20th century. [11] Additionally, several sedentary Muslim villages were listed in the 1727 Ottoman census in the historical Nagorno-Karabakh, such as Qarğabazar in Dizak (currently in Fuzuli District). [9] [lower-alpha 1]
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 Artsakh, and constituted an absolute demographic majority on those lands (NKAO). The survey's more than 260 pages recorded not the exact population, but the number of villages, as such: [14] [15]
District | Armenian | Tatar 1 | Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Villages | % | Villages | % | ||
Khachen | 12 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 12 |
Jraberd | 8 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 8 |
Dizak | 14 | 93.3% | 1 | 6.7% | 15 |
Gulistan | 12 | 70.6% | 5 | 29.4% | 17 |
Varanda | 23 | 95.8% | 1 | 4.2% | 24 |
Total | 69 | 90.8% | 7 | 9.2% | 76 |
1Tatar is the Russian word for Turkic people., referring in this case to modern-day Azerbaijanis |
However, Russian and subsequently Soviet censuses and surveys were conducted during the winter and thus considered only the sedentary, predominantly Armenian population, and not the Azeri nomadic population, which stayed in the lowlands during the cold months of year. According to A. N. Yamskov, during the summer months, the demographics of the mountainous part of Karabakh changed drastically, as in the late 1890s, almost 97% of the tens of thousands of Azeris in the lowlands moved to one of the several mountainous pastures, predominantly in Nagorno-Karabakh. [16] [11]
In 1918, the population of Mountainous Karabakh consisted of 165 thousand Armenians (71.4%), 59 thousand Muslims (25.5%), of whom 20 thousand resided in the city of Shushi, main city of Karabakh, and 7 thousand Russians (3.1%). [17] Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, which was established in 1923, did not correspond to the borders of Mountainous Karabakh, as one of its historical districts Gulistan [17] was excluded, and in the rest only Armenian-dominated parts were included, thus leaving as many as possible Azeri villages of Mountainous Karabakh out of autonomous oblast. [18]
According to 1926 All-Union census of Soviet Union, 125,159 people inhabited NKAO, of whom 111,694 (89,2%) were Armenians and 12,592 (10%) were Azeris, indicated as Turks. [19]
During the Soviet times, the leaders of the Azerbaijan SSR tried to change the demographic balance of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region by increasing the number of Azeri residents through opening a university with Azeri, Russian and Armenian sectors and a shoe factory, sending Azerbaijanis from other parts of Azerbaijan SSR to the NKAO. Heydar Aliyev said in an interview in 2002, "By doing this, I tried to increase the number of Azeris and to reduce the number of Armenians." [20] [21] However, A. N. Yamskov argues that these were Azeris familiar with Nagorno-Karabakh, including the descendants of Azeri nomads that were forced to stop nomadic migrations in 1930s. [22]
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 Azeris (22.4%), [23] and several thousand Kurds, Russians, Greeks, and Assyrians. The entire Azeri and Kurdish population were expelled from the region following the heaviest years of fighting in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, from 1992 to 1993.
According to an Azerbaijani state report from 2014, 597,429 Azerbaijanis were registered as internally displaced persons, the vast majority of which are ethnic Azerbaijanis, as well as some Kurds, Russians, and others. The figure includes 230,000 children born to IDPs, around 54,000 IDPs who had been able to return to their homes, and non-displaced persons at risk of becoming IDPs due to living in proximity to the conflict. The figure does not include those displaced due to natural disasters. The vast majority were displaced from the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, rather than the enclave itself. The inclusion of children of IDPs, former IDPs, and exclusion of persons displaced due to natural disasters is not in line with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement set forth by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, nor Azerbaijan's 1999 law on internal displacement, and the IDMC attributes an "artificial inflation of the overall number" to this. [24]
Conversely, in 2001, 280,000 persons — virtually all ethnic Armenians who fled Azerbaijan during the 1988–1993 war were living in refugee-like circumstances in Armenia. Most of these displaced Armenians came from Azerbaijan proper; only 30,000 of them came from Nagorno-Karabakh. [25]
The main language spoken in Artsakh 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. [26] Most of the older generation also speaks Azerbaijani.
The official languages of the Republic of Artsakh were Armenian and, since 2021, Russian. [27] Ethnic Armenians made up roughly 95% of the population. There were also minority groups of Russians, Assyrians, Kurds, Jews and Greeks. [28] Prior to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War the former ethnic Azeri population was much higher, with many people being displaced from the area during and after the war thus reducing the percentage of Azeri language speakers in Artsakh.
Until 2000, the country's net migration was at a negative. [29]
In 2001, the Artsakh's reported population was 95% Armenian, with the remaining total including Assyrians, Greeks, and Kurds. [2]
For the first half of 2007, 1,010 births and 659 deaths were reported, with a net emigration of 27. [30]
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.
In 2011, officials from YAP submitted a letter to OSCE which stated, "The OSCE fact-finding mission report released last year also found that some 15,000 Armenians have been illegally settled on Azerbaijan's occupied territories." [31]
However, the OSCE report, released in March 2011, estimates the population of territories controlled by ethnic Armenians "adjacent to the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh]" to be 14,000, and states "there has been no significant growth in the population since 2005." [32]
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. [2]
With the turmoil caused by the Syrian Civil War, several hundred Syrian-Armenian citizens have moved from Syria to the Republic of Artsakh. Many of these refugees are being offered assistance by the government in the form of land, housing, extra educational assistance, and other such basics that will help them quickly assimilate and start their new lives.
5 districts of Azerbaijan (Kalbajar, Lachin, Gubadly, Zangilan, Jabrail) are fully occupied by the Republic of Artsakh. [33] Artsakh also occupied 2 other districts (Fuzuli and Aghdam) partially. [34] The population of the total 7 districts of Azerbaijan not belonging to the Nagorno-Karabach AO but for the most part under occupation of the Republic of Artsakh, was 393,569 in 1979, only a small Armenian minority (3,661 or only 0,93%). [35] [36] Also 11,000 Kurds have been deported since 1988 by separatist Armenian forces. [37]
Ethnic group | census 1926 | census 1939 | census 1959 | census 1970 | census 1979 | census 1989 | census 2005 | census 2015 [39] | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
Armenians | 111,694 | 89.1 | 132,800 | 88.0 | 110,053 | 84.4 | 121,068 | 80.5 | 123,076 | 75.9 | 145,450 | 76.9 | 137,380 | 99.7 | 144,683 | 99.7 |
Azerbaijanis | 12,592 | 10.0 | 14,053 | 9.3 | 17,995 | 13.8 | 27,179 | 18.1 | 37,264 | 23.0 | 40,688 | 21.5 | 6 | 0.0 | ||
Russians | 596 | 0.5 | 3,174 | 2.1 | 1,790 | 1.4 | 1,310 | 0.9 | 1,265 | 0.8 | 1,922 | 1.0 | 171 | 0.1 | 238 | 0.1 |
Ukrainians | 436 | 0.3 | 193 | 0.1 | 140 | 0.1 | 416 | 0.2 | 21 | 0.0 | 26 | 0.0 | ||||
Yezidis | 16 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||
Assyrians | 16 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||
Georgians | 12 | 0.0 | 15 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||
Others | 416 | 0.3 | 374 | 0.2 | 568 | 0.4 | 563 | 0.4 | 436 | 0.3 | 609 | 0.3 | 125 | 0.1 | 59 | 0.0 |
Ethnic groups as of 1979 on territories under full Armenian occupation surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh from 1993 till 2020 [40] | ||||||||||||||||
Azerbaijanis | 182,631 | 97,7 | ||||||||||||||
Kurds | 2,441 | 1,3 | ||||||||||||||
Russians | 1,410 | 0,7 | ||||||||||||||
Armenians | 185 | 0,1 | ||||||||||||||
Lezgins | 126 | 0,1 | ||||||||||||||
Total surroundings | 186,874 | 201,0162 | ||||||||||||||
Total NKAO | 125,300 | 150,837 | 130,406 | 150,313 | 162,181 | 189,085 | ||||||||||
Total | 349,055 | 390,101 | 137,737 | 145,053 | ||||||||||||
1The territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh AO and the current Republic of Artsakh is different. 2 The population of Artsakh-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh was at least 201,016 in fully occupied territories and at most 421,726 people in partially occupied territories in 1989. [40] |
From the National Statistical Service of Republic of Artsakh: [41]
Year | Population (000s) | Urban | Rural | Net Immigration |
---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | 134.4 | 68.4 | 66.0 | 16.1 |
2001 | 135.7 | 68.7 | 67.0 | 11.5 |
2002 | 136.6 | 69.3 | 67.3 | 4.9 |
2003 | 137.0 | 69.1 | 67.9 | 1.3 |
2004 | 137.2 | 69.8 | 67.4 | −2.6 |
2005 | 137.7 | 70.5 | 67.2 | 1.7 |
2006 | 137.7 | 70.8 | 66.9 | −3.2 |
Population by age group
Age Group | Total (000s) | Urban | Rural | % of Pop | % of Urban Pop | % of Rural Pop |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0–6 | 15.7 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 12.3 |
7–17 | 25.2 | 12.8 | 12.4 | 18.3 | 18.1 | 18.5 |
18–59 | 75.8 | 41.9 | 33.9 | 55.0 | 59.2 | 50.7 |
60+ | 21.0 | 8.6 | 12.4 | 15.3 | 12.1 | 18.5 |
Population by entity on the Map of Provinces [42]
Pop (000s) | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 134.4 | 135.7 | 136.6 | 137.0 | 137.2 | 137.7 | 137.7 | 148.9 |
Stepanakert | 49.5 | 49.5 | 49.7 | 49.8 | 49.9 | 50.0 | 50.4 | 55.2 |
Martuni Region | 22.8 | 22.9 | 23.0 | 23.0 | 23.0 | 23.2 | 23.1 | 24.3 |
Martakert Region | 18.9 | 18.7 | 18.8 | 18.8 | 18.8 | 18.9 | 18.9 | 19.9 |
Askeran Region | 16.0 | 16.6 | 16.6 | 16.8 | 16.9 | 17.0 | 17.0 | 18.1 |
Hadrut Region | 11.4 | 11.4 | 11.8 | 11.9 | 11.9 | 12.0 | 12.4 | 13.6 |
Kashatagh Region | 9.8 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 9.9 | 9.8 | 9.7 | 8.6 | 9.3 |
Shushi Region | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 5.4 |
Shahumyan Region | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
Urban population by region
Pop (000s) | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 68.4 | 68.7 | 69.3 | 69.1 | 69.8 | 70.5 | 70.8 | 84.5 |
Stepanakert | 49.5 | 49.5 | 49.7 | 49.8 | 49.9 | 50.0 | 50.4 | 55.2 |
Askeran Region | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.3 |
Hadrut Region | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 4.1 |
Martakert Region | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.6 |
Martuni Region | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 10.2 |
Shahumyan Region | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
Shushi Region | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 4.2 |
Kashatagh Region | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Rural population by region
Pop (000s) | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 66.0 | 67.0 | 67.3 | 67.9 | 67.4 | 67.2 | 66.9 | 64.4 |
Stepanakert | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Askeran Region | 13.7 | 14.5 | 14.6 | 14.9 | 14.9 | 15.0 | 14.9 | 15.8 |
Hadrut Region | 8.9 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 9.4 | 9.5 |
Martakert Region | 15.1 | 14.9 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 14.8 | 14.7 | 15.1 | 15.3 |
Martuni Region | 18.5 | 18.4 | 18.3 | 18.5 | 18.2 | 18.3 | 18.2 | 14.1 |
Shahumyan Region | 1.6 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.5 |
Shushi Region | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
Kashatagh Region | 6.9 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.2 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 5.9 | 6.0 |
From the National Statistical Service of Republic of Artsakh: [43]
Average population | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate (per 1000) | Crude death rate (per 1000) | Natural change (per 1000) | Infant mortality rate (per 1000 births) | Life expectancy males | Life expectancy females | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 125,000 | 1,799 | 1,197 | 602 | 14.4 | 9.6 | 4.8 | |||
1996 | 122,600 | 1,964 | 1,323 | 641 | 15.9 | 10.7 | 5.2 | |||
1997 | 124,200 | 1,887 | 1,205 | 682 | 14.9 | 9.5 | 5.4 | |||
1998 | 128,700 | 1,897 | 1,207 | 690 | 14.6 | 9.3 | 5.3 | |||
1999 | 130,600 | 1,645 | 1,104 | 541 | 12.5 | 8.4 | 4.1 | |||
2000 | 133,300 | 2,222 | 1,185 | 1,037 | 16.6 | 8.9 | 7.7 | |||
2001 | 134,400 | 2,306 | 1,075 | 1,231 | 17.1 | 8.0 | 9.1 | |||
2002 | 135,700 | 2,190 | 1,242 | 948 | 16.1 | 9.1 | 7.0 | |||
2003 | 136,600 | 2,058 | 1,232 | 826 | 15.0 | 9.0 | 6.0 | |||
2004 | 137,000 | 2,095 | 1,306 | 789 | 15.3 | 9.5 | 5.8 | |||
2005 | 137,200 | 2,004 | 1,260 | 744 | 14.6 | 9.2 | 5.4 | |||
2006 | 137,700 | 2,102 | 1,235 | 867 | 15.3 | 9.0 | 6.3 | |||
2007 | 138,000 | 2,145 | 1,227 | 918 | 15.5 | 8.9 | 6.6 | |||
2008 | 139,000 | 2,418 | 1,317 | 1,101 | 17.4 | 9.5 | 7.9 | 13.6 | 70.0 | 76.3 |
2009 | 141,000 | 2,821 | 1,266 | 1,555 | 20.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 10.6 | 70.3 | 76.9 |
2010 | 143,000 | 2,694 | 1,341 | 1,353 | 18.8 | 9.3 | 9.5 | 12.6 | 71.2 | 76.5 |
2011 | 144,000 | 2,586 | 1,297 | 1,289 | 17.9 | 9.0 | 8.9 | 12.0 | 70.8 | 75.9 |
2012 | 146,000 | 2,500 | 1,232 | 1,268 | 17.0 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 7.6 | 71.8 | 77.4 |
2013 | 142,800 | 2,371 | 1,344 | 1,027 | 16.0 | 9.1 | 6.9 | 11.8 | 71.0 | 76.0 |
2014 | 143,500 | 2,428 | 1,309 | 1,119 | 16.3 | 8.8 | 7.5 | 8.6 | 71.6 | 76.8 |
2015 | 144,600 | 2,582 | 1,290 | 1,292 | 17.8 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 10.8 | 71.5 | 76.6 |
2016 | 145,200 | 2,471 | 1,222 | 1,249 | 16.9 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 12.5 | 71.3 | 77.4 |
2017 | 146,100 | 2,336 | 1,238 | 1,098 | 15.9 | 8.4 | 7.5 | 6.4 | 72.6 | 77.5 |
2018 | 147,000 | 2,328 | 1,185 | 1,143 | 15.8 | 8.0 | 7.7 | 5.2 | 72.5 | 79.0 |
2019 | 148,000 | 2,119 | 1,155 | 964 | 14.3 | 7.8 | 6.5 | 10.9 | 73.2 | 77.8 |
2020 | 148,800 | 1,659 | 1,529 | 130 | 11.1 | 10.3 | 0.9 | 7.2 | 61.2 | 78.2 |
2021 | 120,000 |
Period | Live births | Deaths | Natural increase |
---|---|---|---|
January - June 2020 | 980 | 596 | +384 |
January - June 2021 | 660 | 748 | -88 |
Difference | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Year | Births | Deaths | NG | BR | DR | NGR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | 1,158 | 566 | 592 | 16.9 | 8.3 | 8.7 |
2001 | 1,162 | 519 | 643 | 16.9 | 7.6 | 9.4 |
2002 | 1,120 | 539 | 581 | 16.2 | 7.8 | 8.4 |
2003 | 1,106 | 579 | 527 | 16.0 | 8.4 | 7.6 |
2004 | 1,235 | 662 | 573 | 17.7 | 9.5 | 8.2 |
2005 | 1,132 | 640 | 492 | 16.1 | 9.1 | 7.0 |
2006 | 1,202 | 605 | 597 | 17.0 | 8.6 | 8.4 |
Year | Births | Deaths | NG | BR | DR | NGR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | 1,064 | 619 | 445 | 16.1 | 9.4 | 6.7 |
2001 | 1,144 | 556 | 588 | 17.1 | 8.3 | 8.8 |
2002 | 1,070 | 703 | 367 | 15.9 | 10.4 | 5.5 |
2003 | 952 | 653 | 299 | 14.0 | 9.6 | 4.4 |
2004 | 860 | 644 | 216 | 12.8 | 9.6 | 3.2 |
2005 | 872 | 620 | 252 | 13.0 | 9.2 | 3.8 |
2006 | 900 | 630 | 270 | 13.5 | 9.4 | 4.0 |
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 five kilometres (3.1 mi)–wide Lachin corridor, which was placed under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces.
Kalbajar District is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Lachin, Khojaly, Agdam, Tartar, Goranboy, Goygol and Dashkasan districts of Azerbaijan, as well as the Gegharkunik and Vayots Dzor provinces of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is Kalbajar. As of 2020, the district had a nominal population of 94,100.
Shahumyan Province was a province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, de jure part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was Karvachar. Shahumyan Province had 17 communities of which one is considered urban and 16 are rural. Its bordered Martakert Province to the east, Kashatagh Province to the south, Gegharkunik and Vayots Dzor provinces of Armenia to the west and Dashkasan, Goygol and Goranboy districts of Azerbaijan to the north.
Nagorno-Karabakh is located in the southern part of the Lesser Caucasus range, at the eastern edge of the Armenian Highlands, encompassing the highland part of the wider geographical region known as Karabakh. Under Russian and Soviet rule, the region came to be known as Nagorno-Karabakh, meaning "Mountainous Karabakh" in Russian. The name Karabakh itself was first encountered in Georgian and Persian sources from the 13th and 14th centuries to refer to lowlands between the Kura and Aras rivers and the adjacent mountainous territory.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majority of the population were ethnic Armenians.
Karabakh is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It is divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh, Lowland Karabakh, and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains.
Patara or Badara is a village in the Khojaly District of Azerbaijan. The village has an ethnic Armenian-majority population, and also had an Armenian majority in 1989. Prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive, it was de facto controlled by the Republic of Artsakh.
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 Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh were areas of Azerbaijan, situated around the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), which were occupied by the ethnic Armenian military forces of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh with military support from Armenia, from the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994) to 2020, when the territories were returned to Azerbaijani control by military force or handed over in accordance to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement. The surrounding regions were seized by Armenians under the justification of a "security belt" which was to be traded for recognition of autonomous status from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan has a large number of internally displaced people and refugees, mostly as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The First Nagorno-Karabakh war led to the displacement of approximately 700,000 Azerbaijanis. This figure includes around 500,000 people from Nagorno-Karabakh and the previously occupied surrounding regions, in addition to 186,000 from Armenia.
Hadrut District was an administrative unit within the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
The women in Nagorno-Karabakh are, in general, composed of Armenian women, Azerbaijani (Azeri) women, and other ethnic groupings. This “blend of races” of women in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic resulted because, historically, Nagorno-Karabakh became a part of Azerbaijan after the fall and disintegration of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan started a policy to change the ethnic composition of the region. Azerbaijanis were invited to move to Artsakh while Armenians were invited to leave. This change can clearly be seen in russian and soviet demographic charts. Artsakh whose population's majority has always been Armenian, was being turned into a majority-Azerbaijani region at the expense of the Armenian population. A campaign of sterilization had also been secretcly launched during the Karabagh Khanate Karabakh Khanate against Armenian women.
The Law on Abolishment of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was a motion passed by the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan and signed into law by the President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov on November 26, 1991. The law had been prompted by a vote in the National Assembly of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in favor of uniting itself with the Armenian SSR on 20 February 1988. The vote was followed by an independence referendum in 1991 which was boycotted by the Azerbaijani population of the Oblast; most voted in favor of independence. While these votes and elections had mainly been conducted in a relatively peaceful manner, in the following months, as the Soviet Union disintegrated, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis. Both sides claimed that ethnic cleansing was being carried out. The declaration of secession from Azerbaijan was the final result of a territorial conflict regarding the land.
The Karabakh movement, also known as the Artsakh movement, was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of neighboring Azerbaijan to the jurisdiction of Armenia.
The Armenia–Azerbaijan border is the international border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Estimates of the border's length vary from 996 km (619 mi) to 1,007.1 km (625.8 mi). European routes E002 and E117 cross the border.
The 1988 violence in Shusha and Stepanakert was the expulsion of the ethnic Armenian population of Shusha and the ethnic Azerbaijani population of Stepanakert, in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in the Azerbaijani SSR, Soviet Union, from September 18 to 20, 1988. During the violence, 33 Armenians and 16 Azerbaijanis were wounded, more than 30 houses hed been set on fire, and a 61-year-old Armenian was killed. At the end of the violence, 3,117 ethnic Azerbaijanis were forced to leave Stepanakert.
The Lachin offensive was a military operation launched by Azerbaijan against the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh and their Armenian allies along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, with the suspected goal of taking control of the Lachin corridor. The offensive began in mid-October, when the Azerbaijani forces advanced into Qubadlı and Laçın Districts after capturing Zəngilan. On 25 October, the Azerbaijani forces seized control of the city of Qubadlı.
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.
Armenia–Artsakh relations were the foreign relations between the former unrecognized Republic of Artsakh and Armenia. The Republic of Artsakh controlled most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. Artsakh had very close relations with Armenia. It functioned as a de facto part of Armenia. A representative office of Nagorno-Karabakh exists in Yerevan.
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