Nagorno Karabakh is now history as a self-proclaimed State: these are the 10 key dates that have marked its 32 years of life

INTERNATIONAL / By Luis Moreno

Nagorno Karabakh is now history as an independent state. The president of this self-proclaimed republic, Samvel Shajramanián, decreed this Thursday its dissolution in the territory of Azerbaijan. It's been almost 32 years. During this time, Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflictive region on Azerbaijani soil but with an Armenian population, has been controlled for the most part by the Artsakh government, that is, by the separatists.

This has been the short history of the State of Nagorno Karabakh or Artsakh in ten key dates:

1918

Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent from the Russian Empire. When it became part of the Soviet Union, its rivalry and the ethnic conflict in Upper Karabakh, whose population is made up almost entirely of Armenians, fell asleep.

1923

Since that year, Nagorno-Karabakh was integrated into the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.

February 26, 1988

When the USSR dissolved, the conflict manifested itself again. There was a Russian proposal to increase the autonomy of the region which, however, did not satisfy any of the parties.. The growth of anti-Armenian sentiment on one side and anti-Azerbaijani sentiment on the other resulted in ethnic violence, including pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan (Sumgait and Baku) and against Azerbaijanis in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Gugark and Stepanakert).

This is how the war broke out between the government of Azerbaijan and the independentists of Nagorno-Karabakh. The first were helped by Turkey and supported by Afghan mujahideen and Chechen volunteers, with weapons help from Russia, Ukraine, Iran and Israel.. The independentists were supported by Armenia, Ossetian, Yazidi and Assyrian volunteers, and had arms help from Russia (it sold weapons to both sides) and Greece.

A building destroyed by shelling in the city of Shusha, Nagorno-Karabakh. HAYK BAGHDASARYAN / EFE

December 10, 1991

The population of Armenian origin in the region self-proclaimed the territory as an independent republic. In a referendum boycotted by the Azeri population, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh approved the creation of an independent state. In reality, the new State was barely recognized. Only three other unrecognized states did so: Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

May 16, 1994

The first Nagorno-Karabakh war ended. After the armed confrontation, the Republic of Artsakh controlled a large majority of the territory of the former Soviet autonomous oblast along with an important part of the surrounding regions in Azerbaijan territory that were not in dispute.

An Armenian soldier patrols on the front near Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, in October 2020. PABLO GONZÁLEZ / EFE

September 27, 2020

The second Nagorno-Karabakh war began. Three decades had passed with multiple skirmishes by Azerbaijan, the most serious being the clashes in 2016 (called the Four Day War) and July 2020.. That year the tensions increased, ending in the second war.

November 9, 2020

Following the capture of Shusha, the second largest city in Artsakh before the war, the president of Azerbaijan, the prime minister of Armenia and the Russian president signed a ceasefire agreement, ending all hostilities. The president of Artsakh accepted the agreement. This second war had been won by Azerbaijan, which recovered a large part of the territories, reducing the independent state to the immediate surroundings of the capital and some cities.

Azeris celebrate in Baku the capture by Azerbaijan of the city of Shushi, or Shusha, in Nagorno-Karabakh. ROMAN ISMAYILOV / EFE

December 12, 2022

After the end of the war, almost 2,000 Russian soldiers were to be deployed as a peacekeeping force to protect the land corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh for a mandate of at least five years.. The Lachín corridor was created, the only road that connected the enclave with Armenia.

In September 2022, new clashes broke out between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.. Both sides blamed each other for the escalation. In December, Azerbaijan-backed activists blocked the corridor. The blockade, which lasted 9 months, increased tensions, the number of skirmishes and caused a humanitarian crisis in the region.

Azerbaijan military in Nagorno Karabakh, in an archive image. AZERBAIJAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE / EUROPA PRESS

September 19, 2023

Azerbaijan began what it called an “anti-terrorist” campaign against separatist forces. He justified it by the death of six people in the explosion of several mines placed by alleged Armenian “saboteurs”. The cessation of hostilities came 24 hours after the Azerbaijani army began bombing Nagorno-Karabakh to restore what they called “constitutional order.”. In just a few hours, 200 people died and another 400 were injured.

September 28, 2023

The president of Nagorno Karabakh, Samvel Shajramanián, decreed the dissolution of the separatist entity in the territory of Azerbaijan. “All state bodies and organizations dependent on them must be dissolved before January 1, 2024, and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Artsakh) ceases to exist,” states the decree reported by Armenian media.

Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh board a truck to evacuate the area. AP / LAPRESSE / Stepan Poghosyan