Karabakh War

Nagorno-Karabakh War
Part of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Clockwise from top: Remnants of Azerbaijani APCs; internally displaced Azerbaijanis from the Armenian-controlled territory; Armenian T-72 tank memorial at the outskirts of Stepanakert; NKR soldiers.
Date 20 February 1988 – 12 May 1994 (6 years, 2 months, 3 weeks and 1 day) Location Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan Result Decisive Armenian military victory ceasefire in effect. Ongoing blockade of Armenia by Turkey since 1993 Ongoing peace talks, but no peace treaty. Sporadic border skirmishes Territorial changes De facto independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and de facto annexation by Armenia. However, the area remains internationally recognized as a de jure part of Azerbaijan.
Belligerents
1988–1991 Nagorno-Karabakh AO Armenian SSR Armenian Revolutionary Federation	1988–1991 Azerbaijan SSR Azerbaijani Popular Front  Soviet Union
1991–1994  Nagorno-Karabakh  Armenia Non-Armenians: Yazidi detachment Ossetian battalion Armament supply  Russia  Greece	1991–1994  Azerbaijan Foreign groups: Hezb-e-Islami Chechen militants Grey Wolves Military support:  Turkey Armament supply  Israel  Ukraine  Russia
Commanders and leaders
Levon Ter-Petrosyan Vazgen Sargsyan Vazgen Manukyan Serzh Sargsyan Gurgen Dalibaltayan Norat Ter-Grigoryants Tatul Krpeyan † Artur Mkrtchyan Robert Kocharyan Samvel Babayan Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan Christopher Ivanyan Seyran Ohanyan Monte Melkonian †	Ayaz Mutallibov Abulfaz Elchibey Heydar Aliyev Isgandar Hamidov Surat Huseynov Safar Abiyev Rahim Gaziyev Shamil Basayev Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Strength
20,000 (NKR forces, includes 8,000 from Armenia)	Total: 64,000 Turkey: 350 officers and thousands of volunteers, including 200 Grey Wolves Afghanistan: 1,000–3,000 Chechen militants: 300
Casualties and losses
Dead: 5,856–6,000 Wounded: 20,000 Missing: 196	Dead: 20,000–30,000 Wounded: 50,000 Missing: 4,210
Civilian deaths: 1,264 Armenian civilians. (including citizens of Armenia 167–763 Azerbaijani civilians killed in 1992 by the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh's forces. Civilians missing: 400 according to Karabakh State Commission 749 according to Azerbaijani State Commission Civilians displaced: 724,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding areas 300,000–500,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan.

Decisive Armenian military victory

Civilian deaths:

Civilians missing:

Civilians displaced:

The Nagorno-Karabakh War (Azerbaijani: Qarabağ Müharibəsi), referred to as the Artsakh Liberation War (Armenian: Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) by Armenians, was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place in the late 1980s to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, entangled themselves in a protracted, undeclared war in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of uniting itself with Armenia and a referendum, boycotted by the Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh, was held, whereby most of the voters voted in favor of independence. The demand to unify with Armenia, which began anew in 1988, 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 Armenians and Azerbaijanis, resulting in claims of ethnic cleansing by both sides.

Inter-ethnic clashes between the two broke out shortly after the parliament of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) in Azerbaijan voted to unify the region with Armenia on 20 February 1988. The declaration of secession from Azerbaijan was the final result of a territorial conflict regarding the land. 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 unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.