Tatul Hakobyan, on ANI Armenian Research Center website, presented the history of Nagorno-Karabakh / Artsakh during the last 35 years, 1988-2023, in 10 chronological episodes. They are, read below.
Episode one
In February 1988, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of Soviet Azerbaijan appealed to Yerevan, Baku, and Moscow to withdraw the region from Soviet Azerbaijan and join Soviet Armenia. Baku and Moscow considered this unacceptable.
Episode two
In response to the Karabakh movement, Azerbaijan carried out Armenian pogroms in the city of Sumgait in the last days of February. In January 1990, Armenian pogroms were also organized in Baku. In the territory of Azerbaijan, the presence of Armenians for all practical purposes ended. More than 300 thousand Armenians were driven out or left that country within two years. All Azerbaijanis, about 180 thousand people, left or were driven out of Armenia.
Episode three
Armenians and Azerbaijanis who gained independence after the collapse of the USSR entered the war phase, which lasted from the end of 1991 to May 1994. The Armenian army established control over an area of 11,500 square kilometers, of which Artsakh itself, Nagorno-Karabakh – 4,400 square kilometers, and more than 7,000 square kilometers – 7 regions of Azerbaijan. About half a million Azerbaijanis were displaced. The Armenian side gave more than 6.5 thousand victims, the Azerbaijani side – 12 thousand.
Episode four:
In the fall of 1997, Levon Ter-Petrosyan tried to find a solution in stages. Nagorno-Karabakh and the entire Lachin region would remain under Armenian control without status, 6 regions were to be returned to Azerbaijan.
Episode five
At the beginning of 1998, a military coup took place in Armenia. Under the pretext of a more favorable solution to the Karabakh issue, Vazgen Sargsyan, Robert Kocharian, Serzh Sargsyan and several other figures removed from power the first president Ter-Petrosyan, during whose presidency the Armenian army stood on almost 42 thousand square kilometers.
Episode six
On October 27, 1999, 8 high-ranking officials and deputies, including Vazgen Sargsyan and Karen Demirchyan, became victims of the terrorist attack in the Armenian Parliament. After the overthrow of this power base, the second president, Robert Kocharyan, strengthened his position. He and his supporters showed no interest in settling the conflict, declaring that the Karabakh issue had been resolved.
Episode seven
In April 2016, a four-day war took place. Since May 1994, Azerbaijan had managed to change the status quo, albeit slightly, by occupying about 800 hectares of territory. It became obvious that Azerbaijan is preparing to resolve the conflict by military means.
Episode eight
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan started a war and within 44 days occupied the entire land strip along Araxex river, Hadrut region, Shushi and other areas. The Armenian side gave about 4 thousand martyrs. With the tripartite declaration of November 9 and signed by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the military operations ceased. The Armenian Army withdrew from all regions outside the former Nagorno-Karabakh on schedule.
Episode nine
On September 19 and 20, 2023, after more than nine months of continuous blockade, Azerbaijan launched a new war against Artsakh. Armenia declared that it would not intervene, Russia and the Russian peacekeepers did nothing either. A few days later, the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Armenians began. More than 100 thousand Armenians were uprooted from their homeland. Artsakh, where 150 thousand Armenians and 40 thousand Azerbaijanis lived in 1988, was depopulated.
Episode ten
On September 28, 2023, Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree by which Nagorno Karabakh ceases to exist from January 1, 2024. A few days later, he was transferred to Armenia, and the three former presidents of Artsakh, as well as other state and military figures, were arrested/kidnapped and taken to prisons in Baku.
