2008 Mardakert skirmishes

2008 Mardakert/Aghdere skirmishes
Part of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
NKR, Mardakert, and the line of contact
Date 4 March 2008 Location Mardakert/Aghdara, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Result Both sides claim victory
Belligerents
Nagorno-Karabakh	Azerbaijan
Commanders and leaders
Movses Hakobyan	Najmaddin Sadigov
Strength
Unknown	Unknown, armored vehicles
Casualties and losses
Dead: None (Armenian claim) 12 (Azerbaijani claim) Wounded: 2 (Armenian claim) 15 (Azerbaijani claim)	Dead: 4 (Azerbaijani claim) 8 (Armenian claim) Wounded: 2 civilians (Azerbaijani claim) 7 (Armenian claim)

Dead:
None (Armenian claim)
12 (Azerbaijani claim)

Wounded:

Dead:
4 (Azerbaijani claim)
8 (Armenian claim)

Wounded:
2 civilians (Azerbaijani claim)

The 2008 Mardakert skirmishes began on March 4 after the 2008 Armenian election protests. It involved the heaviest fighting between ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh since the after the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Armenian sources accused Azerbaijan of trying to take advantage of ongoing unrest in Armenia. Azerbaijani sources blamed Armenia, claiming that the Armenian government was trying to divert attention from internal tensions in Armenia.

Following the incident, on March 14 the United Nations General Assembly by a recorded vote of 39 in favour to 7 against adopted Resolution 62/243, demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

During and shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and Azeris were involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh War from February 1988 to May 1994. As the war progressed, the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan became enveloped in a protracted, undeclared war as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament voted on February 20, 1988, to unify with Armenia, and the vast majority of the Karabakh population voted in favor of independence in a referendum. 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, resulting in claims of ethnic cleansing by all sides.

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