Nagorno-Karabakh

Why did Armenia and Azerbaijan fight over Nagorno-Karabakh?

At the 1989 Soviet census the region was about 77% Armenian and 22% Azerbaijani. On July 4, 1921, the Caucasus Bureau of the Soviet Communist Party voted to give it to Soviet Armenia. The next day the bureau reversed that vote and kept it in Soviet Azerbaijan. In 1923 it became an autonomous oblast there. In February 1988 the oblast's council voted to join Soviet Armenia. Violence followed on both sides. Later that month mobs attacked Armenians in the city of Sumgait. The Soviet count was 32 dead, 26 of them Armenians. Armenians call it a pogrom. Azerbaijanis point to the expulsion of about 200,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia from 1988 to 1991.

Full war broke out as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Armenian forces took Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani districts. In February 1992 they captured the town of Khojaly. Azerbaijan says 613 civilians were killed there and calls it a genocide. Human Rights Watch counted more than 200 dead and held Karabakh Armenian forces directly responsible. A Russian-brokered ceasefire in May 1994 ended the fighting. About 30,000 people were killed, by common estimates. More than 600,000 Azerbaijanis were displaced inside Azerbaijan, and over 400,000 Armenians fled Azerbaijan, by Amnesty International's count.

What happened in the 2020 war?

On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan launched a large offensive along the line of contact. Azerbaijan called it a counter-offensive after Armenian shelling. Armenia said Azerbaijan attacked first. Turkey had sold Azerbaijan Bayraktar drones, which destroyed Armenian armor and positions. From 2016 to 2020 Israel supplied 69% of Azerbaijan's major arms imports and Russia 94% of Armenia's, by SIPRI's count. On November 8, 2020, Azerbaijani forces took Shusha (called Shushi by Armenians), a hilltop town Azerbaijanis consider their cultural capital. Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to a ceasefire the next day.

The ceasefire, brokered by Russia, took effect on November 10. Armenia handed back the districts it still held around the region: Agdam, Kalbajar and Lachin, by December 1. About 2,000 Russian peacekeepers deployed along the line of contact and in the Lachin corridor. Both sides hit towns. Human Rights Watch documented Armenian missile and cluster munition strikes on the Azerbaijani cities of Ganja and Barda, and Azerbaijani cluster munitions in Stepanakert. Azerbaijan lost 2,908 soldiers and 100 civilians, by its official counts. Armenia lost about 3,800 people, by later Armenian counts.

How did Azerbaijan retake Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023?

In December 2022 Azerbaijanis who said they were protesting illegal mining blocked the Lachin corridor, the only road linking the region to Armenia. Armenia said the Azerbaijani government ran the blockade. In February 2023 the International Court of Justice ordered Azerbaijan to keep the road open. In April Azerbaijan set up its own checkpoint on it. On September 19, 2023, after mine blasts killed four Azerbaijani police officers and two civilians, Azerbaijan launched what it called anti-terrorist measures. Fighting stopped the next day. Azerbaijan said 192 of its soldiers died. Armenian officials counted 223 dead on their side, including 25 civilians.

What happened to the Armenians who fled?

Armenia now hosts about 42 refugees per 1,000 people, the eighth highest rate in the world. A $250 million World Bank program helps refugees pay rent and buy homes. More than 45,000 have taken Armenian citizenship.

Azerbaijan freed four Armenian prisoners in January 2026. It still holds 19, by Armenian counts, including former political and military leaders of Artsakh. On February 5, 2026, a military court in Baku sentenced five of them, including former Artsakh president Arayik Harutyunyan, to life in prison on charges including war crimes and terrorism. Two other former presidents, Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, received 20 years. On February 17 the court sentenced Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire born in Yerevan who made his fortune in Russia, to 20 years. He had served as Artsakh's state minister from November 2022 to February 2023. The defendants denied the charges. Azerbaijan says the trials were lawful and dealt with crimes against Azerbaijanis. Armenian rights groups and some European lawmakers called them unfair. Appeals were still being heard in 2026.

Will Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a peace treaty?

On August 8, 2025, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev met President Donald Trump at the White House. They signed a joint declaration, and their foreign ministers initialed a 17-article peace treaty. At their joint request, the OSCE closed the Minsk Group on November 30, 2025.

The treaty has not been signed. Aliyev says he will sign only after Armenia changes its constitution, which cites a 1990 declaration that Azerbaijan reads as a claim to Karabakh. Armenia rejects that reading. A new constitution needs a referendum, which parliament calls with 70 of 105 votes. Pashinyan's Civil Contract party won 64 seats in the June 7, 2026, election. On October 15, 2026, Pashinyan set a goal of signing and ratifying the treaty before 2031.

The deal also created TRIPP, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a planned road and railway through Armenia's Syunik province linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave. Azerbaijan and Turkey have called it the Zangezur corridor. Armenia rejects that name, saying a corridor suggests land outside Armenian control. A company 74% owned by the United States will run it for 49 years, with an option for 50 more. Armenia keeps sovereignty over the route. Armenia's parliament ratified the framework agreement in October 2026. Building has not started.