Armenian occupation of Karabakh
Occupation of Azerbaijan.
Aggression by Republic of Armenia.
10th anniversary of the occupation of Shusha and
massacre of Khojaly in Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
Commemoration by Azerbaijan Society in America (ASA), 8 May 2002.
As the result of aggression by the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan, during the
1988-1994 period, serious material damage has been inflicted, currently estimated at $22 billion dollars.
Overall area of the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan includes:
• the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh region (former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
(NKAO), abolished in 1991);
• the territories of 7 regions bordering with Nagorny Karabakh (Aghdam, Fizuli, Djabrail, Zangelan,
Gubadly, Lachin and Kelbajar);
• the territories of 4 regions bordering with Armenia (Gazakh, Agstafa, Tovuz and Gedabey);
• the territories of 4 regions bordering with the Line of Contact (Ter-Ter, Goranboy, Agdjabedi and
Beylagan);
• the territories of the administrative regions of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijani
exclave, separated from the rest of the republic in 1920),
Total: 17,000 sq.km. (10,563 sq. miles)
Occupied regions of Azerbaijan has been totally destroyed and robed. The great economic damage has
been inflicted also to 4 regions of Azerbaijan bordering with Armenia, 4 regions bordering with the Line of
Contact and the territories of the administrative regions of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
From the beginning of the aggression against Azerbaijan, more than 877 settlements have been burned
and destroyed.
"The actions taken by the government of Armenia in the context of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
are inconsistent with the territorial integrity and national sovereignty principles of the Helsinki Final Act.
Armenia supports Nagorno-Karabakh separatists in Azerbaijan both militarily and financially. Nagorno-
Karabakh forces, assisted by units of the Armenian armed forces, currently occupy the Nagorno-
Karabakh region and surrounding areas in Azerbaijan. This violation and the restoration of peace
between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been taken up by the OSCE."
William J. Clinton
President of the United States of America
(Source: Presidential Determination (PD) No. 99-8 of December 8, 1998, and PD No. 98-11 of January
26, 1998, Memorandum for the Secretary of State, Re: "Assistance Program for the New Independent
States of the Former Soviet Union.")
In the late 18th century, several khanates [Azerbaijani states], including Karabakh [founded in 1747],
emerged in the south Caucasus to challenge the waning influence of the [Iranian Empire and] Ottoman
Empire. After the Russian Empire eventually took control over the region in 1813, Azerbaijani Turks
began to emigrate from Karabakh while the Armenian population of mountainous (Nagorno) Karabakh
grew. With the 1917 Russian Revolution, Azerbaijan and Armenia each declared independence [in 1918]
and sought control over Karabakh during the Russian Civil War. In 1923, after the Bolshevik takeover of
the Caucasus, Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) was made an autonomous region [NKAO] within the Azerbaijani
Soviet Republic. Soviet control temporarily quieted ethnic tensions.
By the 1980s, NK's population was about 75% ethnic Armenian, with most Azerbaijanis living in the
district and city of Shusha. [According to the last official Soviet census (1989), 91.7% of population of
Shusha district and 98% of the city Shusha were ethnic Azerbaijanis. Since 1992, all were either killed or
became refugees (IDPs) It is important to note the spiritual, cultural and historical value of Shusha and
Karabakh region to all Azerbaijanis. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: "The people of Azerbaijan
have retained their ancient musical tradition. For example, the art of ashugs, who improvise songs to their
own accompaniment on a stringed instrument called a kobuz, remains extremely popular. Mugams, vocal
and instrumental compositions, are also widely known, the town of Shusha being particularly renowned
for this art"].
The violence increased dramatically after the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Over 30,000 people were killed
in the fighting from 1992 to 1994. In May 1992, Armenian and Karabakhi forces seized Shusha (the
historical, Azerbaijani-populated capital of the region) and Lachin (thereby linking NK to Armenia). By
October 1993 Armenian and Karabakhi forces eventually succeeded in occupying almost all of NK,
Lachin and large areas in southwestern Azerbaijan. As Armenian and Karabakhi forces advanced,
hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani refugees fled to other parts of Azerbaijan. In 1993 the UN Security
Council adopted resolutions calling for the cessation of hostilities, unimpeded access for international
humanitarian relief efforts, and the eventual deployment of a peacekeeping force in the region. The UN
also called for immediate withdrawal of all ethnic Armenian forces from the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan. Fighting continued, however, until May 1994 when Russia brokered a cease-fire.
(Source: U.S. Department of State, History of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, March 30, 2001.
Abridged version with comments by ASA).
"At the end of 1991, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated into war. Between
1992 and 1994 almost 20 percent of the Azerbaijan's territory, including six districts of Azerbaijan
in addition to Nagorno-Karabagh, were under Armenian control, resulting in mass population
displacement within the country. The State estimated the number of internally displaced persons
at 778,500 by the end of 1993, and 604,574 as of 1 March 1998. UNHCR estimates are lower, with
551,000 persons at the end of 1997." (International Organization for Migration, 1999, Migration in the
CIS 1997-1998, 1999 Edition, p. 40)
"More than 568,000 persons from western regions of Azerbaijan under Armenian occupation since
1993, including 42,072 from Nagorno-Karabakh, remained displaced within the country. Most were
displaced from regions just outside Nagorno-Karabakh, including Fizuli (133,725 persons), Agdam
(128,584 persons), Lachin (63,007 persons), Kelbadjar (59,274), Jabrayil (58,834 persons), Gubadli
(31, 276), Zangilan (34,797), Terter (5,171) and Adjabedi (3,358)." (U.S. Committee for Refugees
(USCR), 31 December 2000, World Refugee Survey 2000, Washington D.C.: Country Report Azerbaijan)
"The more than 600,000 displaced Azerbaijanis constitute the largest group of IDPs in the
Caucasus. The displaced include the entire Azeri population of Nagorno-Karabakh and a wide
area surrounding it. They comprise a broad range of professionals, farmers, and workers and
include men, women, and children of all ages. Because of the ethnic basis of displacement in
Azerbaijan, the IDPs there are virtually all Azeri (Turkic) peoples. Most of them are nominally Shia
Muslim, but many of those from Lachin and Kelbajar Provinces are Sunni Muslim Kurds." (Greene,
Thomas, 1998, The Forsaken People, "Internal Displacement in the North Caucasus, Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia" (Washington D.C: The Brookings Institution, p. 254)
"The overwhelming majority, over 99 per cent, of the internally displaced population are ethnic
Azeris. The remainder are some 4,000 Kurds from the Lachin and Kelbajar districts and several
hundred persons of various other ethnic groups, mostly Russian." (United Nations Commission on
Human Rights (CHR), 25 January 1999, Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr.
Francis M. Deng, Profiles in displacement: Azerbaijan (E/CN.4/1999/79/Add.1), para. 31)
”Now the longest -running conflict in the former Soviet Union, the battle for Nagorno-Karabakh has
rapidly expanded and intensified since it began in 1988, resulting in the deaths of an estimated
25,000 soldiers and civilians and the displacement of one million others. What began with
demonstrations calling for the unification of the Republic of Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, a
largely Armenian [populated] region of Azerbaijan, became a full-scale war in 1992. In 1993, the
war spilled into other parts of Azerbaijan as Karabakh Armenian forces, often with the support of
the Republic of Armenia, conducted massive offensive military operations into the Azeripopulated
provinces surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.” (Source: Human Rights Watch / Helsinki
(HRW). Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, December 1994)
''An appropriate analogy with the Jewish Holocaust might be the systematic extermination of the
entire Muslim population of the independent republic of Armenia which consisted of at least 30-40
percent of the population of that republic. The memoirs of an Armenian army officer who
participated in and eye-witnessed these atrocities was published in the U.S. in 1926 with the title
'Men Are Like That.' Other references abound.'' Rachel A. Bortnick - The Jewish Times - June 21, 1990.
