History

This site reflects the situation as of August, 2023, when launched. 

After a nine-month comprehensive blockade of Artsakh and an incessant campaign of intimidation by Azerbaijan, on September 19, 2023 Azerbaijan’s armed forces launched an assault on Artsakh from all sides and employed the entire military arsenal at their disposal. 

Exhausted from a long siege and deprived of any external assistance, Artsakh fell.

Over a hundred thousand-strong ethnic Armenian population, still inhabiting on their ancestral lands after around fifty thousand had left earlier as a consequence of a bloody war in 2020, had to flee in a few days. They left behind their homes and offices, government and commercial buildings, graveyards, places of worship, monuments and all belongings. 

Since the beginning of October 2023, for the first time in millennia-old history, no Armenians live in the Armenian land of Artsakh.

Artsakh historically has many names, even more spellings. As part of the Ararat or Van (Urartu) kingdom in the second millennium before the common era, it was known as Urtekhini, (Orkhistene). As the Tenth Province of Armenia Major (Greater Armenia) it was known as Artsakh for a period spanning many centuries. In the fourth century it was also known as Tsavdek. When parts of Armenia came under Persian rule, together with another province, Utik, it was annexed to Caucasian Albania (what Armenians called Bun Aghvank or Proper Aghvank) in the fifth century. When in later centuries Armenians fought against Arab invaders, the princedom of Khachen took a leading role in that struggle. The name Khachen was for a period of time, starting in the tenth century used for all Artsakh. Following occupation by Turkic tribes, the name Gharabagh (black or big garden) appeared around the fourteenth century. After the Mongol invasions and again falling under Persian rule, it was organized into the half independent Khamsa melikdoms (melikutyun) or five large Armenian principalities ruled by meliks (local independent nobles). Under the Russian empire the name came to be spelled and pronounced as Karabakh, although still pronounced Gharabagh by locals. When the Russian communists annexed the land to Soviet Azerbaijan in the twentieth century, its mountainous part was given some autonomy and called Nagorny (Nagorno) Karabakh which means mountainous. As a liberation movement received impetus at the end of the Soviet period, and grew into a bloody confrontation, the name Nagorno Karabakh became known to the international public. When the Soviet Union was about to collapse, the people living in Karabakh proclaimed - through their elected representatives - the establishment of the Republic of Mountainous Karabakh (RMK) - known to outsiders as the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)- in September 1991 and then went to the ballot boxes to reaffirm the decision in a referendum in December. The Republic covers the main part of what - although by far not all – was forcibly annexed to Azerbaijan earlier. In a Constitution adopted in December 2006, the name of the unrecognized, yet de-facto independent republic was confirmed to have two official alternatives names: the Republic of Mountainous Karabakh or the Republic of Artsakh. As the spelling Karabakh is more known than the true transliteration of Gharabagh, the former is used on this site, along with Artsakh, the centuries-old original name by which Armenians often call the land, although as mentioned, the republic covers only a part of the territory which the names referred to. RMK and NKR (Republic of Nagorno Karabakh) are the abbreviations used for the official name.

This section on history reflects only the most important landmarks in the millennia-old history of Artsakh, focusing a little more on the national liberation movement and the wars imposed on Artsakh in the recent period.

Pre-history: From Ancient Times to Christianity

Pre-history: From Ancient Times to Christianity

Middle Ages to the 20th Century: Invasions, Occupations, Achievements

Middle Ages to the 20th Century: Invasions, Occupations, Achievements

Beginning of the 20th Century and Establishment of Soviet Rule

Beginning of the 20th Century and Establishment of Soviet Rule

Emerging Azerbaijan and Its Claims to Artsakh

Emerging Azerbaijan and Its Claims to Artsakh

The NK Issue in the Soviet Period

The NK Issue in the Soviet Period

The Road to Freedom: 1988-1991

The Road to Freedom: 1988-1991

The Azeri Aggression: the 1991-1994 War

The Azeri Aggression: the 1991-1994 War

The Azeri Aggression: the 2016 War

The Azeri Aggression: the 2016 War

The Azeri Aggression: the 2020 War

The Azeri Aggression: the 2020 War

Ghazanchetsots Church in Shushi after the missile attack.