Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

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 their expulsion in 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.

Throughout the Soviet period, Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast were heavily discriminated against. The Soviet Azerbaijani authorities suppressed Armenian culture and identity in Nagorno-Karabakh, pressured Armenians to leave the region, and encouraged Azerbaijanis to settle within it, although Armenians remained the majority population. Motivated by fears of cultural and physical erasure under government policies from Azerbaijan, the Karabakh Movement advocated for the reunification ("miatsum") of the enclave with Soviet Armenia. A referendum in 1988 was held to transfer the region to Soviet Armenia, citing self-determination laws in the Soviet constitution. The Karabakh Movement was met with a series of pogroms against Armenians across Azerbaijan, before violence committed against both Armenians and Azerbaijanis occurred.

The conflict escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The war was won by Artsakh and Armenia, and led to occupation of regions around Soviet-era Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Turkey responded with a transportation and economic blockade of Armenia which persists to this day, while Artsakh was also blockaded until 2023. There were expulsions of ethnic Armenians from Azerbaijan and ethnic Azerbaijanis from Armenia and the Armenian-controlled areas. The ceasefire ending the war, signed in 1994 in Bishkek, was followed by two decades of relative stability, which significantly deteriorated in the 2010s. A four-day escalation in April 2016 resulted in hundreds of casualties but only minor changes to the front line.

In late 2020, the large-scale Second Nagorno-Karabakh War resulted in thousands of casualties and a significant Azerbaijani victory. The hostilities subsided with a tripartite ceasefire agreement, under which Azerbaijan captured one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh and regained control over the occupied territories surrounding the region. Ceasefire violations in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the Armenian–Azerbaijani border continued following the 2020 war. Between 2022 and 2023, Azerbaijan escalated its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh using a military checkpoint, sabotaging civilian infrastructure, and targeting agricultural workers. The ten-month-long military siege isolated the region from the outside world. In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive,, expelled the entire population, dissolved the government of Artsakh, and incorporated the territory into Azerbaijan. In August 2025, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a US-brokered peace agreement in Washington D.C., aiming to end the conflict, reopen transport routes, and normalize relations. Barriers to a comprehensive and lasting settlement include Azerbaijan’s denial of the right of return for displaced Armenians, disputes over Armenians detained, and Azerbaijan’s demands that Armenia concede an extraterritorial transit corridor and amend its constitution and national symbols.