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 In late February and March 1988 Armenia (predominantly Christian) and
neighboring Azerbaijan (mostly Shiite Muslim) began violently pressing their
territorial claims to Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly mountainous agricultural region
located within Azerbaijan's boundaries but home mainly to Armenians. Bloody
ethnic clashes also occurred over control of Nakhichevan, a smaller area
bordering Iran and separated from Azerbaijan by a strip of Armenian territory.
Situated in the southwestern part of the Soviet Union, between the Black and
Caspian Seas, the two republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan soon turned their
ethnic conflict into a popular revolt against Soviet rule. When Azerbaijani
militants called for the republic's reunification with part of northern Iran,
Moscow declared a state of emergency and, in late January 1990, sent 11,000
troops to help the 6,000 Soviet soldiers already in Azerbaijan; they invaded the
republic's capital city of Baku. Thus the conflict, which had begun with
skirmishes with hunting rifles, escalated to battles with missiles, tanks, and
heavy artillery. In the late summer of 1991 Azerbaijan and then Armenia declared
independence, but they did not become real independent states until the Soviet
Union dissolved on December 26, 1991. Efforts to resolve the war by the United
Nations, Iran, and others failed in 1991 and1992. Fighting resumed, with both
sides blaming the other for truce violations. In May 1994 Russia mediated a
ceasefire, with Armenian soldiers in control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Sporadic fight
has occurred since, and no progress has been made toward a political settlement
to end the conflict.
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