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=== War and secession === {{main|First Nagorno-Karabakh War}} [[File:Askeran_T-72.jpg|thumb|right|A restored Armenian [[T-72]], knocked out of commission while attacking Azeri positions in [[Askeran District (NKAO)|Askeran District]], serves as a war memorial on the outskirts of Stepanakert.]] On 13 February 1988, Karabakh Armenians began demonstrating in [[Stepanakert]], in favour of unification with the Armenian republic. Six days later they were joined by mass marches in [[Yerevan]]. On 20 February, the Soviet of People's Deputies in Karabakh voted 110 to 17 to request the transfer of the region to Armenia. This unprecedented action by a regional Soviet brought out tens of thousands of demonstrations both in Stepanakert and Yerevan, but Moscow rejected the Armenians' demands. On 20 February 1988, 2 Azeri girls were raped in Stepanakert.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} This caused widespread outrage in the Azeri town of [[Aghdam]]. The first direct confrontation of the conflict occurred as a large group of Azeris marched from [[Agdam (rayon)|Agdam]] to the Armenian populated town of Askeran.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} The confrontation between the Azeris and the police near Askeran degenerated into the [[Askeran clash]], which left two Azeris dead, one of them allegedly killed by an Azeri police officer. Fifty Armenian villagers and an unknown number of Azeris and police officers were injured.<ref>Black Garden Thomas de Waal, p.15</ref><ref>Elizabeth Fuller, ''Nagorno-Karabakh: The Death and Casualty Toll to Date'', RL 531/88, 14 December 1988, pp. 1–2</ref><ref name="dewaal">{{cite book| last =de Waal | first = Thomas | author-link = Thomas de Waal| title = Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War| publisher = [[New York University Press]]| year = 2003 | location = New York| isbn = 0-8147-1945-7}}</ref> Large numbers of refugees left Armenia and Azerbaijan as violence began against the minority populations of the respective republics.<ref>{{cite book |last = Lieberman |first = Benjamin |title = Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe |publisher = Ivan R. Dee |year = 2006 |location = Chicago |pages = 284–92 |isbn = 1-5666-3646-9}}</ref> On 7 July 1988, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemned the violence employed against Armenian demonstrators in Azerbaijan, and supported the demand of the Armenians for reunification with the Soviet Republic of Armenia.<ref>[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:JOC_1988_235_R_0080_01 RESOLUTION on the situation in Soviet Armenia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608140305/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:JOC_1988_235_R_0080_01 |date=8 June 2022 }} page 21</ref> On 29 November 1989, direct rule in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and the region was returned to Azerbaijani administration.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Encyclopedia of World History| publisher =Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | year = 2001 | page = 906 }}</ref> The Soviet policy backfired, however, when a joint session of the Armenian [[Supreme Soviet]] and the National Council, the legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh, proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} On 26 November 1991 Azerbaijan [[Law on Abolishment of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast|abolished the status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast]], rearranging the [[Azerbaijani administrative divisions of Nagorno-Karabakh|administrative division]] and bringing the territory under direct control of Azerbaijan.<ref>{{cite book |title=Where nation-states come from: institutional change in the age of nationalism |last1=Roeder |first1=Philip G. |year=2007 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-13467-3 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAItI5C_JPUC&q=Nagorno-Karabakh+Autonomous+Oblast+was+created&pg=PA51 |access-date=10 October 2011 |archive-date=23 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923062214/https://books.google.com/books?id=XAItI5C_JPUC&q=Nagorno-Karabakh+Autonomous+Oblast+was+created&pg=PA51 |url-status=live }}</ref> On 10 December 1991, in a referendum boycotted by local Azerbaijanis,<ref name="dewaal"/> Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh approved the creation of an independent state. A Soviet proposal for enhanced autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan satisfied neither side and [[First Nagorno-Karabakh War|a full-scale war]] subsequently erupted between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, with the latter receiving support from Armenia.<ref>[[Human Rights Watch]]. ''[http://hrw.org/reports/1995/communal/ Playing the "Communal Card". Communal Violence and Human Rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011042435/http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/communal/ |date=11 October 2012 }}'': "By early 1992 full-scale fighting broke out between Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijani authorities." / "...Karabakh Armenian forces—often with the support of forces from the Republic of Armenia—conducted large-scale operations..." / "Because 1993 witnessed unrelenting Karabakh Armenian offensives against the Azerbaijani provinces surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh..." / "Since late 1993, the conflict has also clearly become internationalized: in addition to Azerbaijani and Karabakh Armenian forces, troops from the Republic of Armenia participate on the Karabakh side in fighting inside Azerbaijan and in Nagorno-Karabakh."</ref><ref>[[Human Rights Watch]]. ''[https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hsw-07.htm The former Soviet Union. Human Rights Developments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218230025/http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hsw-07.htm |date=18 February 2015 }}'': "In 1992 the conflict grew far more lethal as both sides—the Azerbaijani National Army and free-lance militias fighting along with it, and ethnic Armenians and mercenaries fighting in the Popular Liberation Army of Artsakh—began."</ref><ref>[[United States Institute of Peace]]. [http://www.usip.org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks25/forewrd25.html ''Nagorno-Karabakh Searching for a Solution''. Foreword] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202233445/http://www.usip.org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks25/forewrd25.html |date=2 December 2008 }}: "Nagorno-Karabakh’s armed forces have not only fortified their region but have also occupied a large swath of surrounding Azeri territory in the hopes of linking the enclave to Armenia."</ref><ref>[[United States Institute of Peace]]. ''[http://www.usip.org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks19/chap3_19.html Sovereignty after Empire. Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union. Hopes and Disappointments: Case Studies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201052200/http://www.usip.org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks19/chap3_19.html |date=1 December 2008 }}'' "Meanwhile, the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh was gradually transforming into a full-scale war between Azeri and Karabakh irregulars, the latter receiving support from Armenia." / "Azerbaijan's objective advantage in terms of human and economic potential has so far been offset by the superior fighting skills and discipline of Nagorno-Karabakh's forces. After a series of offensives, retreats, and counteroffensives, Nagorno-Karabakh now controls a sizable portion of Azerbaijan proper ... including the Lachin corridor."</ref> According to Armenia's former president, [[Levon Ter-Petrossian]], the Karabakh leadership approach was maximalist and "they thought they could get more."<ref>{{cite news|title=By Giving Karabakh Lands to Azerbaijan, Conflict Would Have Ended in '97, Says Ter-Petrosian|url=http://asbarez.com/95222/by-giving-karabakh-lands-to-azerbaijan-conflict-would-have-ended-in-%E2%80%9997-says-ter-petrosian/comment-page-1/|newspaper=Asbarez|date=19 April 2011|agency=Asbarez|access-date=21 May 2011|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001083625/http://asbarez.com/95222/by-giving-karabakh-lands-to-azerbaijan-conflict-would-have-ended-in-%E2%80%9997-says-ter-petrosian/comment-page-1/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ter-Petrosyan on the BBC: Karabakh conflict could have been resolved by giving certain territories to Azerbaijan|url=http://www.armenianow.com/news/29088/terpetrosyan_bbc_interview|newspaper=ArmeniaNow|date=19 April 2011|agency=ArmeniaNow|access-date=21 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519030034/http://www.armenianow.com/news/29088/terpetrosyan_bbc_interview|archive-date=19 May 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Первый президент Армении о распаде СССР и Карабахе|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/multimedia/2011/04/110415_v_terpetrosyan_int.shtml|newspaper=BBC|date=18 April 2011|agency=BBC|access-date=21 May 2011|archive-date=3 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903075448/http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/multimedia/2011/04/110415_v_terpetrosyan_int.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In the post-Soviet [[power vacuum]], military action between Azerbaijan and Armenia was heavily influenced by the [[Military of Russia|Russian military]]. Furthermore, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani military employed a large number of mercenaries from [[Ukraine]] and Russia.<ref name="ratios">[[Human Rights Watch]]. ''Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh''. December 1994, p. xiii, {{ISBN|1-56432-142-8}}, citing: Natsional'nyi Sostav Naseleniya SSSR, po dannym Vsesoyuznyi Perepisi Naseleniya 1989 g., Moskva, "Finansy i Statistika"</ref> Between fifteen and twenty-five hundred [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] [[mujahideen]], along with fighters from [[Chechnya]], participated in the fighting on Azerbaijan's side.<ref name="dewaal"/> Russia provided Armenia with heavy artillery and tanks.<ref name="dewaal"/> Many survivors from the Azerbaijani side found shelter in 12 emergency camps set up in other parts of Azerbaijan to cope with the growing number of internally displaced people due to the first Nagorno-Karabakh war.<ref>[http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/47aaf6734.html Azerbaijan closes last of emergency camps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124113352/http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/47aaf6734.html |date=24 November 2020 }}, ''[[UNHCR]]''</ref> By the end of 1993, the conflict had caused about 30,000 casualties<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-12 |title=Armenia, Azerbaijan clash as ceasefire fails to stick |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1584677 |access-date=2022-06-08 |website=[[Dawn.com]], [[Agence France-Presse]] |language=en |archive-date=8 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608112150/https://www.dawn.com/news/1584677 |url-status=live }}</ref> and created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides.{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}}<!-- The source cited at the end of the next sentence supports the claim of there having been thousands of Azeri refugees but does not appear to support the other claims in the preceding sentence. --> By May 1994, the Armenians were in control of 14% of the territory of Azerbaijan.<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=de Waal |date=2003 |title=Black Garden |page=3 |publisher=New York University Press |url=https://raufray.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/0814719449.pdf |access-date=6 May 2020 |archive-date=26 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226124838/https://raufray.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/0814719449.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> At that stage, for the first time during the conflict, the Azerbaijani government recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a third party in the war and started direct negotiations with the Karabakh authorities. As a result, a [[Bishkek Protocol|ceasefire]] was reached on 12 May 1994 through Russian mediation.
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