The latest bout of fighting over the disputed territory has the potential to draw in outside actors, such as Turkey.
You are browsing in private mode. To enjoy all the benefits of our website LOG IN or Create an Account Fighting has broken out between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a contentious flashpoint between the two South Caucasian countries, in what is now likely the most serious escalation in recent years. By Tuesday 29 September,95 people had reportedly been killed, with clashes continuing into a third day. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but is populated by ethnic Armenians and has functioned as an Armenian-sponsored unrecognised state since the fall of the Soviet Union. Armenian forces and Azerbaijan fought a devastating war over the territory in the 1990s, which saw reports of massacres and ethnic cleansing committed by both sides. Sporadic clashes between the countries have broken out since then, most recently in July. Azerbaijan claims the territory as an inalienable part of its sovereign territory, while Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto government, known as the Republic of Artsakh, argues it is an independent state and aims for eventual political unification with Armenia. Occasional peace talks between the two sides have never resulted in much progress. Both countries are deeply sensitive towards public opinion on Nagorno-Karabakh, as a pro-war – and implicitly anti-government – 2016 demonstration in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, showed.
