2014 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes

2014 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes
Part of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Territory controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic   Territory claimed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic but controlled by Azerbaijan
Date 27 July – 8 August 2014 (1 week and 5 days) Location Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact Armenia–Azerbaijan state border Result Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Nagorno-Karabakh  Armenia	Azerbaijan
Casualties and losses
6 soldiers killed	13 soldiers killed

Clashes on the Armenian–Azerbaijan border (Tavush–Qazakh) and the line of contact between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan started on 27 July 2014. Reported casualties of the clashes were some of the highest since the that ended the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

As the Soviet Union was dissolving, ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan fought a brief conflict, backed by Armenia proper, that resulted in the de facto independence of Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) alongside a and what academics have called a frozen conflict. At the same time, Azerbaijan controls the exclave of the Nakhichivan Autonomous Republic bordering Armenia that is not contiguous with its main territory.

Further, at the General Debate during the United Nations General Assembly, Armenia and Azerbaijan have regularly used their two allotted Rights of Reply for at least the last few years in argument over the conflict.

In early August 2014, Azerbaijani forces reported a total of twelve military casualties. Eight of these were reported on 1 August 2014 after three days of sporadic fighting, with another four deaths reported on 2 August 2014. The Ministry of Defense of Nagorno-Karabakh reported one military casualty.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan stated that the four soldiers killed on 2 August 2014 died in a clash with what they called "Armenian sabotage groups" conducting an operation in the Agdam–Tartar area. There were other injuries reported, but they were not life-threatening. The Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Defense said that its only casualty occurred in what it labeled a "successful repulsion of an attack by Azerbaijani commando units." NKR authorities later upgraded their death toll to three soldiers.