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Nagorno-Karabakh War

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Recent History

   Nagorno-Karabakh War
   Armenian troops fighting against Azeri forces from trenches in
   Karabakh.

   Date 1988–1994
   Location Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, and Azerbaijan
   Result Military victory by Armenian forces.

   Cease-fire treaty signed in 1994 by representatives of Armenia,
   Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh (still in effect).
   Casus belli Ethnic land dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan
   Territorial
   changes Nagorno-Karabakh becomes a de facto republic, but
   internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Peace talks are held
   between the two nations to decide the future of the disputed territory.
   Combatants
   Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh^1

   Republic of Armenia ^2
   CIS mercenaries
   Republic of Azerbaijan
   Afghan Mujahideen ^3
   Chechen Volunteers ^4

   CIS mercenaries
   Commanders
   Samvel Babayan,
   Hemayag Haroyan,
   Monte Melkonian,
   Vazgen Sarkisyan,
   Arkady Ter-Tatevosyan İsgandar Hamidov,
   Suret Huseynov,
   Rahim Gaziev,
   Shamil Basayev
   Casualties
   ~6,000 dead,
   20,000 wounded ~17,000 dead,
   30,000 wounded
   ^1 Unrecognized

   ^2 Involvement disputed
   ^3 The ‘Afghan Alumni’ Terrorism
   ^4 Chechen Fighters
                               Nagorno-Karabakh War
   Black January – Khojaly – Maraghar – Ring – Sumgait – Mardakert and
   Martuni – Summer - Kelbajar - Shusha
   Conflicts in the former Soviet Union
   Nagorno-Karabakh – South Ossetia – Abkhazia – Georgia – North Ossetia –
   Transnistria – Tajikistan – 1st Chechnya – Dagestan – 2nd Chechnya
   Nagorno-Karabakh is currently a de facto independent republic in the
   South Caucasus, but is officially recognized as part of the Republic of
   Azerbaijan.
   Enlarge
   Nagorno-Karabakh is currently a de facto independent republic in the
   South Caucasus, but is officially recognized as part of the Republic of
   Azerbaijan.

   The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from
   February 1988 to May 1994, in the small ethnic enclave of
   Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the ethnic
   Armenian majority in the enclave and in the neighboring Republic of
   Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia
   and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, became enveloped in a
   protracted, undeclared war as the latter attempted to curb a
   secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament had
   voted in favor of uniting itself with Armenia and a referendum was held
   with the vast majority of the Karabakh population voting in favour of
   independence. The demand to unify with Armenia, which proliferated in
   the late 1980s, began in a relatively peaceful manner; however, in the
   following months, as the Soviet Union's disintegration neared, it
   gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between the two
   ethnic groups.

   The war was the most destructive ethnic conflict in both terms of lives
   and property that emerged after the Soviet Union collapsed in December
   1991. Interethnic fighting between the two broke out shortly after the
   parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous oblast in Azerbaijan,
   voted to unify the region with Armenia on February 20, 1988. Along with
   the secessionist movements in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia,
   and Lithuania, the succeeding movement characterized and played a large
   role in bringing the downfall of the Soviet Union. As Azerbaijan
   declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers
   held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted to secede
   from Azerbaijan, and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic
   of Nagorno-Karabakh.

   Full-scale fighting erupted into a low-intensity conflict in the late
   winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including
   Europe's OSCE failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could
   work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions
   outside the enclave itself, threatening the involvement of other
   countries in the region. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians
   were in full control of not only the mountainous enclave but also held
   and currently control approximately 14% of Azerbaijan's territory. A
   Russian-brokered cease fire was signed in May of 1994 and peace talks,
   mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia
   and Azerbaijan.

Roots of the conflict

   The territorial ownership of Nagorno-Karabakh today is still a heavily
   disputed issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Called Artsakh by
   Armenians, referring to the name it went by under the rule of Armenian
   princes, its history spans several centuries, where it came under the
   control of several different empires. Debate, however, is mired mainly
   in the aftermath of World War I. Shortly before the Ottoman Empire's
   capitulation in the war, the Russian Empire collapsed in November 1917
   and fell into the control of the Bolsheviks. The three nations of the
   Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, previously under the rule
   of the Russians, declared their independence to form the Transcaucasian
   Federation.

   Fighting soon broke out between the Democratic Republic of Armenia and
   the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in three specific regions:
   Nakhichevan, Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik), and
   Karabakh itself. Armenia and Azerbaijan quarreled as to where the
   boundaries would fall in accordance to the three provinces. The
   Karabakh Armenians attempted to declare their independence but failed
   to make contact with the Republic of Armenia.

Soviet division

   Two months later, the Soviet 11th Army invaded the Caucasus and within
   three years, the Caucasian republics were formed into the
   Transcaucasian SFSR of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks, thereafter
   created a seven-member committee, the Caucasus Bureau (also written as
   Kavburo), which under the supervision of the future Soviet ruler Joseph
   Stalin, then the acting People's Commissar for Nationalities, was
   tasked to head up matters in the Caucasus. Although the committee voted
   4-3 in favour of allocating Karabakh to the newly created Soviet
   Socialist Republic of Armenia, protestations made by Azerbaijani
   leaders including the Communist Party leader of Azerbaijan Nariman
   Narimanov and an anti-Soviet rebellion in the Armenian capital Yerevan
   in 1921 embittered relations between Armenia and Russia. These factors
   lead the committee to reverse its decision and award Karabakh to Soviet
   Azerbaijan in 1921, and later into Azerbaijan proper in 1923; leaving
   it with a population that was 94% Armenian. The capital was moved from
   Shusha to Khankendi where it was later renamed Stepanakert.

   Armenian and Azeri scholars have speculated that this was an attempt by
   Russia in accordance to the theory of " divide and rule." This can be
   seen, for example, by the odd placement of the Nakhichevan exclave
   which is separated by Armenia but is a part of Azerbaijan. Armenia has
   always refused to recognize this decision and continued to protest its
   legality in the ensuing decades under Soviet rule.

February 1988, the revival of the Karabakh issue


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

    For Azerbaijan the issue of Karabakh is a matter of ambition, for the
      Armenians of Karabakh, it is a matter of life or death —Soviet
             dissident and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   As the new general secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev
   came to power in 1985, his plans to reform the Soviet Union were two
   policies called Perestroika and Glasnost. While perestroika had more to
   do with economic reform, glasnost or openness granted limited freedom
   to Soviet citizens to express grievances about the Soviet system itself
   and its leaders. Capitalizing on this, the leaders of National Council
   of Karabakh decided to vote in favour of unifying the autonomous region
   with Armenia on February 20, 1988. Karabakh Armenian leaders complained
   that the region had neither Armenian language textbooks in schools nor
   in television broadcasting. Azerbaijan's Communist Party General
   Secretary Heidar Aliev had extensively attempted to " Azerify" the
   region and increase the influence and the number of Azeris living in
   Nagorno-Karabakh, while at the same time reducing its Armenian
   population (In 1987, Aliev would step down as General Secretary of
   Azerbaijan's Politbureau).

   The movement was spearheaded by popular Armenian figures and also
   members of the Russian intelligentsia such as dissident and Nobel
   Laureate Andrei Sakharov. Prior to the declaration, Armenians had begun
   to protest and stage workers strikes in Yerevan, demanding a
   unification with the enclave; prompting Azeri counter-protests in Baku.
   In reaction to the protests, Gorbachev stating that the borders between
   the republics would not change; citing it in accordance to Article 78
   of the Soviet constitution. Gorbachev also stated that several other
   regions in the Soviet Union were yearning for territorial changes and
   redrawing the boundaries in Karabakh would thus set a dangerous
   precedent. Armenians viewed the 1921 Kavburo decision with disdain and
   felt that in their efforts, they were correcting a historical error
   under the principle of self-determination, a right also granted in the
   constitution. Azeris, on the other hand, found such calls for
   relenquishing their territory by the Armenians unfathomable and aligned
   with Gorbachev's position.

Sumgait


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

    Congratulations on your earthquake. Nature has spared us the trouble
   —alleged quote cabled by Azerbaijan to Armenians after the Leninakan
                                 Earthquake


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   Ethnic infighting soon broke out between Armenians and Azerbaijanis
   living in Karabakh. On February 22, 1988, a direct confrontation
   between Azerbaijanis and Armenians near Askeran (in Nagorno-Karabakh,
   on the road Stepanakert - Agdam) degenerated into a skirmish. During
   the clashes, which left about 50 Armenians wounded, a local policeman,
   purportedly an Armenian, shot dead two Azerbaijani youths. On February
   27, 1988 while speaking on Baku's Central television, the USSR Deputy
   Procurator Alexander Katusev mentioned the nationality of those killed.
   Within hours, a pogrom against Armenian residents began in the city of
   Sumgait, 25 kilometers north of Baku, where many Azerbaijani refugees
   resided, resulting in the deaths of 32 people, according to official
   Soviet statistics.

   The manner of which many Armenians were killed reverberated amongst
   Armenians who felt the pogrom was backed by government officials to
   intimidate those involved in the Karabakh movement. As the violence
   escalated, Gorbachev finally decided to send in Soviet Interior troops
   to Armenia in September 1988. By October 1989, over 100 people were
   estimated to have been killed since the revived idea of unification
   with Karabakh in February 1988. The issue temporarily absolved as a
   devastating earthquake hit the Armenian city of Leninakan on December 7
   1988, killing over 25,000 people.

   Gorbachev's attempts to stabilize the region were to no avail as both
   sides were equally intransigent. Armenians refused to allow the issue
   to subside despite concessions made by Gorbachev, including a promise
   of 400 million rubles packaged to revitalize Armenian language
   textbooks and television programming in Karabakh. Azerbaijan was
   unwilling to cede any territory to Armenia. Furthermore, the newly
   formed Karabakh Defense Committee, which comprised eleven members
   including the future president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, were
   jailed by Moscow officials in the ensuing chaos after the quake. Such
   actions polarized relations between Armenia and the Kremlin; Armenians
   lost faith in Gorbachev and despised him even more in his mishandling
   of the earthquake and his uncompromising stature in regards to
   Nagorno-Karabakh.

Black January


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   If Gorbachev wants a second Afghanistan, he will get it in Azerbaijan.
   —Ekhtibar Mamedov, Azeri representative of the Popular Front in Baku


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   Interethnic strife began to take a toll on both countries' populations,
   forcing most of the Armenians in Azerbaijan to flee back to Armenia and
   most of the Azeris in Armenia to Azerbaijan. In January 1990, another
   pogrom against Armenians in Baku forced Gorbachev to declare a state of
   emergency and sent MVD troops to restore order. A curfew was
   established and violent clashes between the soldiers and the surging
   Azerbaijan Popular Front were common, in one instance over 120 Azeris
   and eight MVD soldiers were killed in Baku. During this time, however,
   Azerbaijan's Communist Party had fallen and that the belated order to
   send the MVD had more to do with keeping the Party in power than merely
   to protect the city's Armenian population. The events, referred to as
   Black January, also delineated the relations between Azerbaijan and
   Russia.

   Other instances of fighting spread through other cities in Azerbaijan,
   including in December of that year in Ganja, where eight people were
   killed, four of them soldiers, when Soviet army units attempted to stop
   attacks directed at Armenians. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh had
   grown so out of hand that, in January 1989, the Soviet leadership in
   Moscow temporarily took control of the region, a move welcomed by many
   Armenians. In the summer of 1989, Popular Front leaders and their
   ever-increasing supporters managed to pressure the Azeri SSR to
   instigate a railway and air blockade against Armenia, effectively
   crippling Armenia's economy as 85% of the cargo and goods arrived
   through rail traffic (this also cut off Nakhichevan from the rest of
   the Soviet Union).

Operation Ring

   In the spring of 1991, President Gorbachev held a special countrywide
   referendum called the Union Treaty which would decide if the Soviet
   republics would remain together. Newly elected, non-communist leaders
   had come into place in the Soviet republics including Boris Yeltsin of
   Russia (Gorbachev remained the president of the Soviet Union proper),
   Levon Ter-Petrosyan of Armenia and Ayaz Mutalibov of Azerbaijan.
   Armenia and several other republics boycotted the referendum (Armenia
   would hold its own referendum and declared its independence from the
   USSR on September 21, 1991), whereas Azerbaijan voted in compliance to
   the Treaty. As many Armenians and Azeris in Karabakh began an arms
   build up (by acquiring weaponry located in caches throughout Karabakh)
   in order to defend themselves, Mutalibov touted support from Gorbachev
   in launching a joint military operation (in this case, the Azerbaijani
   militia force called the OMON) in order to disarm Armenian militants in
   the region. Known as Operation Ring, the assault forcibly deported
   Armenians living in villages in the region of Shahumyan. It was
   perceived by both Soviet officials from the Kremlin and from the
   Armenian government as a method of intimidating the Armenian populace
   to giving up their demands for unification.

   The events were counter-productive to what the operation had originally
   sought to accomplish. The initial resistance put up by Armenians
   managed to recruit more irregulars from Armenia and only reinforced the
   conclusion to Armenians that the only solution to the Karabakh conflict
   was through an out-right armed conflict. Monte Melkonian, an
   Armenian-American who had served in revolutionary groups in the 1980s
   and would later rise to be perhaps the most famed commander of the war,
   argued that Karabakh be "liberated" and contended that if it remained
   in Azeri hands, the region of Syunik would then be annexed by the
   Azeris and the rest of Armenia would follow thereafter, concluding "the
   loss of Artsakh could be the loss of Armenia." Velayat Kuliev, a writer
   and the deputy director of Azerbaijan's Literary Institute disputed
   this, "Lately the Armenian nationalists, including some quite
   influential people, have started talking again about 'Greater Armenia'.
   Its not just Azerbaijan. They want to annex parts of Georgia, Iran and
   Turkey."

Weapons vacuum


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   Here's perestroika for you. The Russians gave us weapons, and they gave
     the Armenians weapons. And they are guilty. —Alakhverdi Bagirov,
               commander of Popular Front forces near Askeran


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   As the disintegration of the USSR became a reality for Soviet citizens
   in the autumn of 1991, both sides sought to acquire weaponry from
   military caches located throughout Karabakh. The initial advantage
   tilted in Azerbaijan's favour. During the Cold War, the Soviet military
   doctrine for defending the Caucasus had outlined a strategy where
   Armenia would be a combat zone in the case NATO member Turkey invaded
   from the west. Thus, the Armenian SSR had only three divisions and no
   airfields while the Azeri SSR had a total of five divisions and five
   military airfields. Furthermore, Armenia had approximately 500 railroad
   cars of ammunition, dwarfed by the Azeris' 10,000.

   As MVD forces began pulling out, they bequeathed the Armenians and
   Azerbaijanis a vast arsenal of ammunition and stored armored vehicles.
   The government forces initially sent by Gorbachev three years earlier
   were from other republics of the USSR and many had no wish to remain
   any longer. Most were poor, young conscripts and many simply sold their
   weapons for cash or even vodka to either side, some even trying to sell
   tanks and APCs. The Azeris purchased a large quantity of these
   vehicles, as reported by the Azeri Foreign Ministry in November 1993,
   which said it had acquired 286 tanks, 842 armored vehicles, and 386
   artillery pieces from the power vacuum. Several black markets also
   sprang up which included weaponry from the West.

   Further evidence also showed that Azerbaijan received substantial
   military aid and provisions from Iran, Israel, Turkey, and numerous
   Arab countries. Most weaponry was Russian-made or came from the former
   Eastern bloc countries however some improvisation was made by both
   sides. The Armenian Diaspora managed to donate a significant amount of
   money to be sent to Armenia and even managed to push for legislation in
   the United States Congress to pass a bill entitled Section 907 of the
   Freedom Support Act in response to Azerbaijan's blockade against
   Armenia; restricting a complete ban on military aid from the United
   States to Azerbaijan in 1992. While Azerbaijan charged that the
   Russians were initially helping the Armenians, it was said that "the
   Azeri fighters in the region [were] far better equipped with Soviet
   military weaponry than their opponents."

   With Gorbachev resigning as USSR General-Secretary on December 26,
   1991, the remaining republics including the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia
   declared their independence and the Soviet Union ceased to exist on
   December 31, 1991. This dissolution gave way to any barriers that were
   keeping Armenia and Azerbaijan from waging a full scale war. One month
   prior, on November 21, the Azerbaijani Parliament rescinded Karabakh's
   status as an autonomous oblast and renamed it "Xankandi". In response,
   on December 10, a referendum was held in Karabakh by parliamentary
   leaders (with the local Azeri community boycotting it) where the
   Armenians voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence. On January 6
   1992, the region declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

   The withdrawal of the Soviet interior forces from Nagorno-Karabakh in
   the Caucasus region was only temporary. By February 1992, the former
   Soviet forces, now consolidated as the Commonwealth of Independent
   States (CIS). While Azerbaijan abstained from joining, Armenia, fearing
   a possible invasion by Turkey in the escalating conflict, entered the
   CIS which would have protected it under a "collective security
   umbrella." In January 1992, the CIS forces then moved in and
   established a headquarters at Stepanakert and took up a slightly more
   active role in peacekeeping, incorporating old units including the
   366^th Motorized Regiment and 4^th Army, both which desperately
   attempted to keep the peace between the warring factions. About 1,400
   CIS troops were stationed in the capital of Stepanakert and slated for
   withdrawal by late February.

Building armies

   The sporadic battles between Armenians and Azeris that had since
   intensified after Operation Ring recruited thousands of volunteers into
   improvised armies from both Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Armenia, a
   recurrent and popular theme at the time compared and idolized the
   separatist fighters to the Armenian fedayeen guerilla groups and
   revered individuals such as Andranik Ozanian and Garegin Njdeh, who
   fought against the Ottoman Empire during the late 19th and early 20th
   centuries. In addition to the government's conscription of males aged
   18-45, many Armenians volunteered to fight and formed jokats, or
   detachments, of about forty men, which combined with several others
   were under the command of a Shtabee Bed, or Chief of Headquarters.
   Initially, many of these men chose when and where to serve and acted on
   their own behalf, rarely without any oversight, when attacking or
   defending areas. Direct insubordination was common as many of the men
   simply did not show up, looted the bodies of dead soldiers, and
   commodities such as diesel oil for armored vehicles disappeared only to
   be sold in black markets. Many women enlisted in the Armenian military;
   however, they more often served in auxiliary roles such as providing
   first-aid and evacuating wounded men from the battlefields than taking
   part in the fighting.

   Azerbaijan's military functioned in much the same manner; however, it
   was more organized during the beginning years of the war's beginning.
   The Azeri government also conscripted and many Azeris enthusiastically
   enlisted for combat in the first months after the Soviet Union
   collapsed. Azerbaijan's National Army consisted of roughly 30,000 men
   in addition to nearly 10,000 in its OMON paramilitary force and several
   thousand made up of volunteers from the Popular Front. Suret Huseynov,
   a wealthy Azeri also improvised by creating his own military brigade,
   the 709^th Azerbaijani Army, and purchasing many weapons and vehicles
   from the 23rd division's arsenal. İsgandar Hamidov's bozkurt or Grey
   Wolves brigade also mobilized for action. The government of Azerbaijan
   also poured a great deal of money into hiring mercenaries from other
   countries through the revenue it was making from its oil field assets
   on and near the Caspian Sea. The estimated amount of manpower and
   military vehicles each political entity involved in the conflict had in
   the 1993-1994 time period was:

   Entity Military Personnel Artillery Tanks Armored personnel carriers
   Armored fighting vehicles Fighter aircraft
   Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh 20,000 16 13 120 N/A N/A
   Republic of Armenia 20,000 170 160 240 200 N/A
   Republic of Azerbaijan 42,000 330 280 360 480 170

   In an overall military comparison, the number of men eligible for
   military service in Armenia, of an age group of 17-32 year olds, was
   550,000 while in Azerbaijan it was 1.3 million. Most men from both
   sides had served in the Soviet Army and so had some form of military
   experience prior to the conflict. About 60% of Karabakh Armenians had
   served in the Soviet Army. Most Azeribaijanis, while serving in the
   military were often subject to discrimination and relegated to work in
   construction battalions rather than fighting corps. Despite the
   establishment of two officer academies including a naval school in
   Azerbaijan, the lack of such military experience was one factor that
   rendered Azerbaijan unprepared for the war.

Spring 1992, Early Armenian victories

Khojaly


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

     They just shot and shot and shot —Raisa Aslanova, a refugee from
                  Khojaly commenting in an interview to HRW


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   Officially, the newly created Republic of Armenia publicly denied any
   involvement in providing any weapons, fuel, food, or other logistics to
   the secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, Ter-Petrosyan's later
   did admit to supplying them with only logistical supplies and paying
   the salaries of the separatists but denied sending any of its own men
   to combat. Armenia was facing a debilitating blockade by the now
   Republic of Azerbaijan as well as pressure coming from all sides,
   including Turkey, which had begun to build a close relationship with
   Azerbaijan. The only land connection Armenia had with Karabakh was
   through the narrow mountainous Lachin corridor which could only be
   reached by helicopters. The only airport that existed in Karabakh was
   in the small town of Khojaly, which was seven kilometers north of
   Stepanakert with an estimated population of 6,000-10,000 people.
   Additionally, the town had been serving as an artillery base and since
   Feburary 23, was shelling Armenian and Russian units in the capital. By
   late February, Khojaly had largely been cut off. On February 26,
   Armenian forces, with the aid of armored vehicles in the 366^th,
   mounted an offensive to capture Khojaly.

   According to the Azeris and the affirmation of other sources including
   Human Rights Watch and the Moscow based human rights organization
   Memorial, after Armenian forces captured Khojaly, they proceeded to
   massacre several hundred civilians evacuating from the town. Armenian
   forces had previously stated they would attack the city and left a land
   corridor for them to escape through. However, when the attack finally
   began, an Armenian force of approximately 2,000 fighters easily
   outnumbered and overwhelmed the defenders who along with the civilians
   attempted to retreat north to the Azeri held city of Agdam. The
   airport's runway was found to have been intentionally destroyed,
   rendering it temporarily useless. The attacking forces then went on to
   pursue those fleeing through the corridor and opened fire upon them,
   killing scores of civilians. A video shot several days later showed the
   corpses of both women and children, some burned, dismembered, and
   mutilated to unrecognizable degrees.

   Visits by foreign correspondents also counted similar fates done to
   Azeri soldiers. Many more froze or starved to death as they trekked
   over the snow covered hills towards Agdam. Assad Faradzhev, an aide to
   the region's Azeri governor, also reported that many "women and
   children had been scalped". Facing such charges, Armenian government
   officials denied the occurrence of a massacre and pointed to the
   artillery shelling coming from Khojaly. They alleged that the
   mutilations had been done by the Azeris themselves, citing an interview
   by Mutalibov. The Azeri government charged the Armenian government with
   intentional genocide. The 366th, which after the attack was suspended
   from withdrawing, also faced scathing criticism and denied
   participating in the attack. An exact body count was never ascertained
   but conservative estimates have placed the number to 485.

   Subtle admissions of guilt later laid blame on Armenian irregulars
   acting at their own initiative. Military commanders also pointed out
   that many of fighters had been from Baku and Sumgait, the sites of the
   Azeri pogroms against Armenians. The aftermath of the attack erupted in
   Azerbaijan. Mutalibov, was called to step down from his post by many,
   with perhaps the most vocal being members of the Popular Front. Despite
   his protestations, he was charged for failing to protect the civilians
   in Khojaly and forced to resign amid the hail of criticism on March 6.

The capture of Shusha

   Children standing next to the rubble of a building in Stepanakert after
   a shelling barrage.
   Enlarge
   Children standing next to the rubble of a building in Stepanakert after
   a shelling barrage.

   In the ensuing months after the capture of Khojaly, Azeri commanders
   holding out in the region's last bastion of Shusha, began a large scale
   artillery bombardment with GRAD rocket launchers against Stepanakert.
   By April, the shelling had forced many of the 50,000 people living in
   Stepanakert to seek refuge in underground bunkers and basements. Facing
   ground incursions near the cities outlying areas, military leaders in
   Nagorno-Karabakh organized an offensive to take the town.

   On May 8, a force of several hundred Armenian troops accompanied by
   tanks and helicopters attacked the Shusha citadel. Fierce fighting took
   place in the town's streets and several hundred men were killed on both
   sides. Overwhelmed by the numerically superior fighting force, the
   Azeri commander in Shusha ordered a retreat and fighting ended on May
   9.

   The capture of Shusha resonated loudly in neighboring Turkey. Its
   relations with Armenia had grown better after it had declared its
   independence from the USSR; however they gradually worsened as a result
   of Armenia's gains in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. A deep resentment
   towards Turkey by Armenia predated the Soviet era and this enmity
   stemmed in part from the Armenian Genocide. Many Armenians collectively
   referred to Azeris as "Turks" since they are considered ethnic cousins.
   Turkey's prime minister, Suleyman Demirel said that he was coming under
   intense pressure by his people to have his country intervene and aid
   Azerbaijan. Demirel however, was opposed to such an intervention,
   saying that Turkey's entrance into the war would trigger an even
   greater Muslim-Christian conflict (Turks are predominantly Muslims).

   Turkey never did actively contribute troops to Azerbaijan but did send
   a great deal of military aid and advisers. In May 1992, the military
   commander of the CIS forces, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, issued a
   warning to Western nations, especially the United States, to not
   interfere with the conflict in the Caucasus; stating it would "place us
   [the Commonwealth] on the verge of a third world war, and that cannot
   be allowed."

Sealing Lachin

   Armenian forces in the May 1992 move in to secure the Lachin corridor.
   The capture of Lachin allowed Armenia to send in supply convoys to aid
   the Karabakh separatists and also opened up a route for Armenian
   refugees to evacuate through.
   Enlarge
   Armenian forces in the May 1992 move in to secure the Lachin corridor.
   The capture of Lachin allowed Armenia to send in supply convoys to aid
   the Karabakh separatists and also opened up a route for Armenian
   refugees to evacuate through.
   Azeri artillery shelling Armenian positions in the onset of the 1992
   summer offensive.
   Enlarge
   Azeri artillery shelling Armenian positions in the onset of the 1992
   summer offensive.

   The loss of Shusha led the Azeri parliament to lay the blame on
   Mamedov, which removed him from power and cleared Mutalibov of any
   responsibility after the loss of Khojaly; reinstating him as President
   on May 15 1992. Many Azeris saw this act as a coup in addition to the
   cancellation of the parliamentary elections slated in June of that
   year. The Azeri parliament at that time was made up of former leaders
   from the country's communist regime and the losses of Khojaly and
   Shusha only aggrandized their desires for free elections to be held.
   Mutalibov declared a state of emergency and an end to all political
   demonstrations to sort through the disarray.

   To contribute to the turmoil, an offensive was launched by Armenian
   forces on May 18 to take the city of Lachin in the narrow corridor
   separating Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The city itself was poorly
   guarded and, within the next day, Armenian forces took control of the
   town and cleared any remaining Azeris to open the road that linked the
   region to Armenia. The taking of the city then allowed an overland
   route to be connected with Armenia itself with supply convoys beginning
   to trek up the mountainous region of Lachin to Karabakh.

   The loss of Lachin was the final blow to Mutalibov's regime.
   Demonstations were held despite Mutalibov's ban and an armed coup was
   staged by Popular Front activists. Fighting between government forces
   and Popular Front supporters escalated as the political opposition
   seized the parliament building in Baku as well as the airport and
   presidential office. Deaths and injuries were relatively low. On June
   16, 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey became Azerbaijan's first democratically
   elected leader and many political leaders from the Azerbaijan Popular
   Front Party were elected into the parliament. The instigators
   characterized Mutalibov as an undedicated and weak leader in the war in
   Karabakh. Elchibey was staunchly against receiving any help from the
   Russians, instead favoring closer ties to Turkey and stating that
   Azerbaijan would not join the CIS.

Escalation of the conflict

Azeri Offensive in June 1992

   On June 12, 1992, the Azeri military, along with Huseynov's own
   brigade, used a large amount of tanks, armored personnel carriers and
   attack helicopters to launch a large three-day offensive from the
   relatively unguarded region of Shahumian, north of Nagorno-Karabakh, in
   the process taking back several dozen villages in the Shauhmian region
   originally held by Armenian forces. Another reason the front collapsed
   so effortlessly was because it was manned by the same volunteer
   detachments from Armenia which had abandoned the lines to go back to
   their country after the capture of Lachin. The offensive prompted the
   Armenian government to openly threaten Azerbaijan that it would overtly
   intervene and assist the separatists fighting in Karabakh.

   The assault forced Armenian forces to retreat south towards Stepanakert
   where Karabakh commanders contemplated destroying a vital hydroelectric
   dam in the Martakert region if the offensive was not halted. An
   estimated 30,000 Armenian refugees were also forced to flee to the
   capital as the assaulting forces had taken back nearly half of
   Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the thrust made by the Azeris grounded to a
   halt when their armor were driven off by helicopter gunships. It was
   also revealed that many of the crew members of the armored units in the
   Azeri launched assault were Russians from the 104^th Division based out
   of Ganja and, ironically enough, so were the units who eventually
   stopped them. According to an Armenian government official, they were
   able to persuade Russian military units to bombard and effectively halt
   the advance within a few days; allowing the Armenian government to
   recuperate for the losses and reorganize a counteroffensive to restore
   the original lines of the front.

Renewed fighting

   An Armenian fighter firing an NSV heavy machine gun, often found on
   tank turrets, in a trench in Hadrut in the summer of 1992.
   Enlarge
   An Armenian fighter firing an NSV heavy machine gun, often found on
   tank turrets, in a trench in Hadrut in the summer of 1992.
   Azeri troops in Karabakh.
   Enlarge
   Azeri troops in Karabakh.

   In late June, a new, smaller Azeri offensive was planned, this time
   against the town of Martuni in the southeastern half of Karabakh. The
   attack force consisted of several dozen tanks and armored fighting
   vehicles along with a compliment of several infantry companies massing
   along the Majgalashen and Jardar fronts near Martuni and Krasnyi Bazar.
   Martuni's regimental commander, Monte Melkonian, referred now by his
   men as "Avo", although lacking heavy armor, managed to stave off
   repeated attempts by the Azeri forces.

   In late August 1992, Nagorno-Karabakh's government found itself in a
   disorderly state and its members resigned on August 17. Power was
   subsequently assumed by a council called the State Defense Committee
   which was chaired by Robert Kocharyan, stating it would temporarily
   govern the enclave until the conflict ended. At this time, Azerbaijan
   also attacks by fixed wing aircraft, often bombing civilian targets.
   Kocharyan condemned the international community to what he believed
   were intentional attempts to kill civilians by the Azeris and also to
   what he alleged was Russia's passive and unconcerned attitude towards
   allowing its army's weapons stockpiles to be sold or transferred to
   Azerbaijan.

   There were also reports, for the first time, of incursions by Azeri
   militants into villages north of Yerevan and Armenia itself, drawing
   the ire of government officials into strengthening their support for
   the Karabakh Armenians.

   On September 24, Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev, met with the
   defense ministers of Armenian and Azerbaijan in the Russian coastal
   town of Sochi in an attempt to sign the sixth cease fire between the
   two groups. Defense ministers Vazgen Sarkisyan of Armenia and Rahim
   Gaziev of Azerbaijan negotiated for a two month halt in the fighting.
   However, before the truce was to take place, Azeri forces backed away
   from the peace accordance which led Armenian government leaders to
   announce that they too would in turn refuse to accept it. Attacks were
   launched by the Azeris and the outlying villages around Martuni were
   besieged once more; however, Armenian forces were again able to thwart
   the assaults and launched successful counterattack thereafter.

Winter thaw

   As the winter of 1992 approached, both sides largely abstained from
   launching full scale offensives so as to reserve resources, such as gas
   and electricity, for domestic use. Despite the opening of an economic
   highway to the residents living in Karabakh, both Armenia and the
   enclave suffered a great deal due to the economic blockades imposed by
   Azerbaijan and while not completely closing it, the material aid sent
   through Turkey arrived sporadically. Experiencing both food shortages
   and power shortages, after the close down of the Metsamor nuclear power
   plant, Armenia's economic outlook appeared bleak: in Georgia, a new
   bout of civil wars against separatists in Abkhazia and Ossetia began,
   who raided supply convoys and repeatedly destroyed the only oil
   pipeline leading from Russia to Armenia. Similar to the winter of
   1991-1992, the 1992-1993 winter was especially cold, as many families
   throughout Armenia and Karabakh were left without heating and hot
   water. Armenia was however able to sustain food commodities for itself
   through its agricultural farming.

   Other goods such as grain were more difficult to procure. The Armenian
   Diaspora living in raised money and donated supplies to be sent to
   Armenia. In December, two shipments of 33,000 tons of grain and 150
   tons of infant formula arrived from the United States via the Black Sea
   port of Batumi, Georgia. In February 1993, the European Community sent
   4.5 million ECUs to Armenia. Azerbaijan was also struggling to
   rehabilitate its petroleum industry, the country's chief export. Its
   oil refineries were not generating at full capacity and production
   quotas fell well short of estimates. In 1965, the oil fields in Baku
   were producing 21.5 million tons of oil annually; by 1988, that number
   had dropped down to almost 3.3 million. Outdated Soviet refinery
   equipment and a reluctance by Western oil companies to invest in a war
   region where pipelines would routinely be destroyed prevented
   Azerbaijan from fully exploiting its oil wealth.

Summer 1993, the war spills out

Conflicts at home

   Despite the grueling winter both countries had suffered, the new year
   was viewed enthusiastically by both sides. President Elchibey expressed
   optimism towards bringing an agreeable solution to the conflict with
   Armenia's Ter-Petrosian. Glimmers of such hope however, quickly began
   to fade as in January 1993, despite the calls for a new cease fire by
   Yeltsin and Bush, hostilities in the region brewed up once more.
   Armenian forces began a new bout of offensives that overran villages in
   northern Karabakh that had been held by the Azeris since the previous
   autumn.

   Frustration over these military defeats took a toll in the domestic
   front in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's military had grown more disparate and
   insubordination by defense minister Gaziev and Huseynov's brigade to
   turn to Russian help ran against Elchibey's policies. Political
   infighting and arguments on where to shift military units between the
   country's ministry of the interior, İsgandar Hamidov, and Gaziev led to
   the latters' resignation on February 20. A political shakedown also was
   occurring in Armenia when Ter-Petrossian dismissed the country's prime
   minister, Khosrov Arutyunyan and his cabinet for failing to implement a
   viable economic plan for the country. Protests by Armenians against
   Ter-Petrossian's leadership were also suppressed and put down.

Kelbajar


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   We're tank-rich! The Azeris are arming two armies—theirs and ours. May
     God keep Elchibey in good health —Armenian fighters joking after
           inheriting the vast amounts of abandoned Azeri weaponry


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   Situated west of northern Karabakh, out of the boundaries of the
   region, was the rayon of Kelbajar which bordered alongside Armenia.
   With a population of about 45,000, the several dozen villages were made
   up of Azeris and Kurds. In March of 1993, the Armenian-held areas near
   the Sarsang reservoir in Mardakert were reported to having been coming
   under attack by the Azeris. After successfully defending the Martuni
   region, Melkonian's fighters were tasked to move to capture the region
   of Kelbajar, where the incursions and purported artillery shelling were
   said to have been coming from. Scant military opposition by the Azeris
   allowed Melkonian's fighters to quickly gain a foothold in the region
   and also captured several abandoned armored vehicles and tanks. At 2:45
   P.M., on April 2, Armenian forces from two different directions
   advanced towards Kelbajar in an attack that quickly struck against
   Azeri armor and troops entrenched near the Ganje-Kelbjar intersection.
   Azeri forces were unable to halt advances made by Armenian armor units
   and nearly all died defending the area. The second attack towards
   Kelbajar also quickly overran the defenders. By April 3, Armenian
   forces had captured Kelbajar.

   The offensive provoked international rancor against the Armenian
   government, marking the first time Armenian forces had crossed the
   boundaries of the enclave itself and into Azerbaijan's territory. On
   April 30, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution
   822, co-sponsored by Turkey and Pakistan, affirming Nagorno-Karabakh as
   part of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and demanding that Armenian
   forces withdraw from Kelbajar.
   An Azeri man weeping in the ruins of a home in Agdam after an Armenian
   artillery bombardment.
   Enlarge
   An Azeri man weeping in the ruins of a home in Agdam after an Armenian
   artillery bombardment.

   The political repercussions were also felt in Azerbaijan when Huseynov
   embarked on what was called his "march to Baku" from his base in Ganje.
   Frustrated with what he felt was Elchibey's incompetence in dealing
   with the conflict and demoted from his rank of colonel, his brigade
   advanced towards Baku to unseat the President in early June. Advancing
   virtually unopposed, Elchibey stepped down from office on June 18 and
   power was assumed by then parliamentary member Heidar Aliev. On July 1,
   Huseynov was appointed by prime minister of Azerbaijan.

Agdam, Fizuli, Jebrail, and Zangelan

   While the people of Azerbaijan were adjusting to the new political
   landscape, many Armenians were coping with the death of Melkonian who
   was killed earlier on June 12 in a skirmish near the town of Merzuli as
   his death was publicly mourned at a national level in Yerevan. The
   Armenian forces exploited the political crisis in Baku, which had left
   the Karabakh front almost undefended by the Azerbaijani forces. The
   following four month of political instability in Azerbaijan led to the
   loss of control over five districts, as well as the North of Nagorny
   Karabakh. Azerbaijani military forces were unable to put up any
   resistance to Armenian advances and left most of the areas without any
   serious fighting. In late June, they were driven out from Martakert,
   losing their final foothold of the enclave. By July, the Armenian
   forces were preparing to attack and capture the region of Agdam,
   another rayon nestled outside of Nagorno-Karabakh, claiming that they
   were attempting to bolster a greater security buffer to keep Azeri
   artillery out of range.

   On July 4, an artillery bombardment was commenced by Armenian forces
   against the region's capital of Agdam, destroying many parts of the
   town. As the civilians began to evacuate Agdam, so did the soldiers.
   Facing a military collapse, Aliev attempted to mediate with the
   de-facto Karabakh government and Minsk Group officials. In mid-August,
   Armenians massed a force to take the Azeri regions of Fizuli and
   Jebrail, south of Nagorno-Karabakh proper.

   In light of the Armenians' advance into Azerbaijan, Turkey's prime
   minister Tansu Çiller, warned the Armenian government not to attack
   Nakhichevan and demanded that Armenians pull out of Azerbaijan's
   territories. Thousands of Turkish troops were sent to the border
   between Turkey and Armenia in early September. Russian Federation
   forces in Armenia countered their movements and thus warded off any
   possibility that Turkey might play a military role in the conflict.

   By early September, Azeri forces were nearly in complete disarray. Much
   of the heavy weapons they had received and bought by the Russians were
   either taken out of action or abandoned during the battles. Since the
   June 1992 offensive, Armenian forces captured dozens of tanks, light
   armor and artillery from the Azeris. Further signs of Azerbaijan's
   desperation included the recruitment by Aliev of 1,000-1,500 Afghan and
   Arab mujahadeen fighters from Afghanistan. Although the Azerbaijani
   government denied this claim, correspondence and photographs captured
   by Armenian forces indicated otherwise. The United States-based
   petroleum company, MEGA OIL, also hired several American military
   trainers as a prerequisite for it to acquire drilling rights to
   Azerbaijan's oil fields.

1993-1994, final clashes

   The final borders of the conflict after the 1994 cease-fire was signed.
   Armenian forces currently control 14% of Azeri territory.
   Enlarge
   The final borders of the conflict after the 1994 cease-fire was signed.
   Armenian forces currently control 14% of Azeri territory.
   T-72s of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense force on parade in Stepanakert's
   main square in May, 1995.
   Enlarge
   T-72s of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense force on parade in Stepanakert's
   main square in May, 1995.

   In October 1993, Aliev was formally elected as President, and promised
   to bring social order to the country in addition to recapturing the
   lost regions. In October, Azerbaijan joined the CIS. The winter season
   was marked with similar conditions as in the previous year, both sides
   scavenging for wood and harvesting foodstuffs months in advance. Two
   subsequent UNSC resolutions were passed, (874 and 884), in October and
   November and, although reemphasizing the same points as the previous
   two, they acknowledged Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the conflict.
   Meanwhile, fighting brewed up once more when in January, the Azeri
   defense ministry claimed that it had recaptured several parts of Agdam
   after repulsing an Armenian offensive, purportedly killing 200 Armenian
   soldiers and destroying several armored vehicles. Karabakh's State
   Defense Committee disputed the claims however, saying that they had
   actually made gains into the region at the loss of only five men while
   killing 90 Azeri troops in the offensive.

   In early January, Azerbaijani forces recaptured most of Fizuli
   district, including the railway junction of Horadiz on the Iranian
   border. On January 10, 1994, an offensive was launched by Azerbaijan
   towards the region of Mardakert in an attempt to recapture the northern
   section of the enclave. The offensive managed to advance and take back
   several parts of Karabakh in the north and to the south of but soon
   stalled. The Republic of Armenia began sending conscripts and regular
   Army and Interior Ministry troops to stop Azerbaijani advancements in
   Karabakh. To bolster the ranks of its army, the Armenian government
   issued a decree, instituting a three-month call-up for men up to age
   forty-five and resorted to press-gang raids to enlist recruits. Several
   active-duty Armenian Army soldiers were captured by the Azerbaijani
   forces.

   Enacting peace proposals and enforcing cease-fires proved just as
   difficult as before. In mid-February, another Russian-brokered
   cease-fire was signed by Armenia's and Azerbaijan's defense ministers
   in the midst of more fighting. Set to begin on March 1, it lasted for
   only several days before collapsing. Azerbaijan's offensives grew more
   dire as men as young as 16 with little to no training at all were
   recruited and sent to take part in ineffective human wave attacks,
   tactics once employed by Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. The two
   offensives that took place in the winter cost Azerbaijan as many as
   5,000 men (at the loss of several hundred Armenians). Armenian soldiers
   in Karabakh claimed that the youths were demoralized and lacked a sense
   of purpose and commitment to fighting the war: "The difference is in
   what you do and what you do it for. You know a few miles back is your
   family, children, women and old people, and therefore you're duty-bound
   to fight to the death so that those behind you will live", as one
   Armenian fighter put it.

Final cease-fire

   After six years of intensive fighting, both sides were ready for a
   cease-fire. Azerbaijan, after exhausting nearly all its manpower was
   relying on a cease-fire to be put forth by either the CSCE or by
   Russia. Armenian commanders said their forces had an unimpeded path
   towards Baku. The borders however remained confined to Karabakh and the
   immediate rayons surrounding it. Diplomatic channels increased between
   Armenia and Azerbaijan in the month of May. The final battle of the
   conflict took place near Shahumyan when Armenian troops took the town
   of Gulistan.

   On May 16, the leaders of the Armenian, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh,
   and Russia met in Moscow to sign a truce that would establish the
   following conditions: the cease-fire, troop withdrawals by all factions
   of at least 3-6 miles, the establishment of 49 observer posts led by
   the Russians, and 1,800 troops from the CIS to be temporarily stationed
   between them. In Azerbaijan, the truce was met with both relief and
   disappointment. Many welcomed the end of hostilities, while others felt
   that the peacekeeping troops should have been a multinational force
   rather than solely from Russian led CIS forces. Sporadic fighting
   continued in some parts of the region but all sides affirmed that they
   would stay committed to honoring the cease-fire. The six year war had
   come to an end after several dozen cease-fires and the lives of tens of
   thousands.

A frozen conflict

   Approximately 250,000 Armenians and 600,000 Azeris were displaced from
   the fighting. Above, an Iranian built camp housing some of the refugees
   from Azerbaijan.
   Enlarge
   Approximately 250,000 Armenians and 600,000 Azeris were displaced from
   the fighting. Above, an Iranian built camp housing some of the refugees
   from Azerbaijan.
   An estimated 35,000 people were killed after fighting ended in 1994.
   Enlarge
   An estimated 35,000 people were killed after fighting ended in 1994.

   Today, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains one of several frozen
   conflicts in the post-Soviet states along with Georgia's breakaway
   regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as well as Moldova's troubles
   with Transnistria. Karabakh remains under the jurisdiction of the
   unrecognized de facto independent Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and
   maintains its own uniformed military, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense
   Army. Contrary to media reports which nearly always mentioned the
   religions of the Armenians and Azeris, the war's religious aspects
   never gained enough significance as an additional casus belli and
   remained more or less a territorial debate.

   Since 1995, the OSCE has been mediating with the governments of Armenia
   and Azerbaijan to settle for a new solution. Numerous proposals have
   been made which have primarily been based on both sides making several
   concessions. One such proposal stipulated that as Armenian forces
   withdrew from the seven regions surrounding Karabakh, Azerbaijan would
   share some of its economic assets including profits from an oil
   pipeline that would go from Baku through Armenia to Turkey. Other
   proposals also included that Azerbaijan would provided the broadest
   form of autonomy to the enclave next to granting it full independence.
   Armenia has thus been excluded from major economic projects throughout
   the region, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

   Most autonomy proposals have been rejected, however, by the Armenians,
   which consider it as a matter that is not negotiable. Likewise,
   Azerbaijan has refused to let the matter subside. On March 30, Robert
   Kocharyan was elected President and continued to reject calls for
   making a deal to resolve the conflict. In 2001, Kocharyan and Aliev met
   at Key West, Florida to discuss the issues and, while several Western
   diplomats expressed optimism, mounting opposition against any
   concessions by both countries thwarted hopes for a peaceful resolution.

   Refugees displaced from the fighting account to nearly one million
   people from both sides. An estimated 250,000 Armenians living in
   Azerbaijan fled to Armenia or Russia and a further 30,000 came from
   Karabakh. Many of those who left Karabakh returned after the war ended.
   An estimated 528,000 Azeris were displaced from the fighting including
   those from both Armenia and the enclave. Various other ethnic groups
   living in Karabakh were also forced to live in refugee camps built by
   both the Azeri and Iranian governments. Although the issue of amount of
   territory has often been claimed to be 20% and even as high 40%, the
   number is believed to be, taking into account the exclave of
   Nakhichevan, 13.65% or 14%, or according to the CIA, 16%.

   The ramifications of the war were said to have played a part in the
   February 2004 murder of Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Markaryan who was
   hacked to death with an axe by his Azeri counterpart, Ramil Safarov at
   a NATO training seminar in Budapest, Hungary.

Air war

   The air war in Karabakh involved primarily fighter jets and attack
   helicopters. The primary transport helicopters of the war were the Mi-8
   and its cousin, the Mi-17 and were used extensively by both sides.
   Armenia's active air force consisted of only two Su-25 ground support
   bombers, one of which was, ironically, accidentally shot down by the
   Armenians themselves. There were also several Su-22s and Su-17s however
   these aging craft took a backseat for the duration of the war.

   Azerbaijan's air force was composed of forty-five combat aircraft which
   were often piloted by experienced Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries
   from the former Soviet military. They flew mission sorties over
   Karabakh with such sophisticated jets as the Mig-25 and Sukhoi Su-24
   "Fencer" and with more archaic Soviet fighter bombers, such as the
   Mig-21. They were reported to have being paid a monthly salary of over
   5,000 rubles and flew bombing campaigns from air force bases in
   Azerbaijan often bombing the capital at Stepanakert. These pilots, like
   the men from the Soviet interior forces in the onset of the conflict,
   were also poor and took the jobs as a means of supporting their
   families. Several were shot down over the city by Armenian forces, and
   according to one of the pilots' commanders, with assistance provided by
   the Russians. Many of these pilots faced the threat of execution by
   Armenian forces if they were shot down. The setup of the defense system
   severely hampered Azerbaijan's ability to carry out and launch more air
   strikes.

   Perhaps the most widely used helicopter gunship by both the Armenians
   and Azeris was the Soviet-made Mil Mi-24 Krokodil. The Krokodil was
   used effectively in a support role for advancing infantry; however,
   many were shot down throughout the war.

The Russian role

   An Armenian soldier practices his aim with a Russian-made Dragunov
   Sniper Rifle.
   Enlarge
   An Armenian soldier practices his aim with a Russian-made Dragunov
   Sniper Rifle.

   Russia, the largest republic of the former Soviet Union, played a dual
   and often obfuscated role during the war. The hardline members of the
   Soviet government supported Azerbaijan in the initial stages of the war
   because "until the Soviet Union's collapse...Azerbaijan was the last
   bastion of communist orthodoxy in the Caucasus." A contingent of troops
   during the war consisted of a 23,000-man force housed at the Russian
   102nd Military Base near Gyumri. In Azerbaijan, Russian forces sped up
   the process of withdrawing after the assault on Khojaly and completely
   withdrew in 1993, one year ahead of schedule. Russian support during
   the war remained officially neutral. However, despite this stance, both
   sides accused the Russian military of favoritism.

   Although it is well known that Russians among other ethnic groups of
   the former Soviet Union fought as mercenaries on both sides, official
   Russian military support relied primarily on the accounts of
   eyewitnesses. Russian military units were said to have been cooperating
   with Armenian units when they took Khojaly and similarly with
   Azerbaijan during its summer 1992 offensive. But even after the 366^th
   regiment was officially withdrawn from Karabakh, many Russian
   mercenaries kept on fighting on the Armenian side. A Boston Globe
   correspondent witnessed in March 1992 "a fair sprinkling of
   non-Armenian troops in and around Stepanakert." Among them was
   lieutenant colonel Yury Nikolayevich, who was said to have been the
   deputy commander of the 366^th Motorized Regiment, who went over to the
   Armenian fighters with a large part of the regiment's military
   hardware.

   While Azerbaijan alleged involvement of Russian Army units based in
   Armenia during the Armenian offensives on Azerbaijani positions, the
   Armenian side claimed that Russian combatants were volunteers. On
   September 11, 1992, Azerbaijani forces captured six Russian special
   forces (spetznaz) troops of the 7th Russian Army based in Armenia near
   the village of Merjimek in Kelbajar. The men reportedly were paid in
   Russian rubles by the Armenian Ministry of Defense for action near the
   village of Srkhavend, Nagorno-Karabakh, in June 1992. Soldiers of
   Armenian descent serving in the Russian 127^th Division based in
   Armenia were captured in Kelbajar province, Azerbaijan, in January
   1994. But, as Melkonian notes, Russia welcomed the Armenian victories,
   namely Kelbajar's:


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   The Armenian offensive came at a time of escalating military threats to
   Russia: Washington was eager to push NATO right up to Russia's western
   doorstep, to set up military bases in Central Asia, and to abrogate the
      Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Chechnya teetered on the brink of
       secessionist rebellion in the high Caucasus, while...the newly
    independent Republic of Georgia, was tearing itself up in civil war.
    And now Azerbaijan, the former Soviet Republic, once again turned its
     eyes toward Russia's age-old enemy, Turkey....Only Armenia held any
        promise as a reliable Russian ally in the southern Caucasus.


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   In 1997, Russian parliamentary member and chairman of the parliamentary
   defense committee, Lev Rokhlin released a report detailing Russian arms
   shipments transferred to Armenia at the worth of $1 billion dollars
   including 84 T-72 tanks, 50 armored personnel vehicles, 72 howitzers,
   24 Scud missile systems and several million rounds of ammunition from
   1994-1996. The shipment of the arms were said to have been originally
   authorized by defense minister Pavel Grachev and purportedly sent
   during the height of the war in 1992-1994. Azerbaijan demanded that the
   weapons be returned lest fighting broke out once more (Armenia retained
   the weapons). Relations with Russia and Azerbaijan have been strained
   since then as it has looked more to the West for support.

Misconduct


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

         Could God ever forgive a person who had killed a dog out of
    revenge?...That depends, was it a four-legged dog or two-legged dog?
 —An Armenian soldier asking a priest —and receiving the answer— on the
           consequences of his killing of a Popular Front activist


   Nagorno-Karabakh War

   Emerging from the collapse of the Soviet Union as nascent states and
   due to the near-immediate fighting, it was not until mid-1993 that
   Armenia and Azerbaijan became signatories of international law
   agreements, including the Geneva Conventions. Although allegations from
   all three governments (including Nagorno-Karabakh's) regularly accused
   both sides of committing atrocities, they were difficult to confirm by
   third party media sources or human rights organizations, due to the
   volatility of the conflict. Khojaly, for example, was confirmed by both
   Human Rights Watch and Memorial while what became known as the Maraghar
   Massacre was first independently affirmed by the British-based human
   rights organization Christian Solidarity International in 1992.
   Azerbaijan was also criticized for its use of aerial cluster bombs in
   densly populated civilian areas.

   The lack of international laws for either side to abide by virtually
   sanctioned activity in the war to what would be considered war crimes.
   Looting and mutilation (body parts such as ears, brought back from the
   front as treasured war souvenirs) of dead soldiers were commonly
   reported and even boasted about among soldiers. Another practice that
   took form, not by soldiers but by regular civilians during the war, was
   the bartering of prisoners between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Often,
   when contact was lost between family members and a soldier or a
   militiaman serving at the front, they took it upon themselves to
   organize an exchange by personally capturing a soldier from the battle
   lines and holding them in the confines of their own homes. This was
   noted by New York Times journalist Yo'av Karny as a practice that was
   as "old as the people occupying [the] land."

   After the war ended, both sides alleged that they were continuing to
   hold captives; Azerbaijan claimed that Armenia was continuing to hold
   near 5,000 Azeri prisoners while Armenians claimed Azerbaijan was
   holding 600 people. The non-profit group, Helsinki Initiative 92,
   investigated two prisons in Shusha and Stepanakert after the war ended,
   but concluded that there were no prisoners there. A similar
   investigation found the same result while searching for Armenians
   allegedly laboring in Azerbaijan's quarries.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War"
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