Q. What is the demographic make up of Nagorno-Karabakh?
In March 2007, the local government announced that its population in Nagorno-Karabakh was 138,000. Due to a deliberate re-settlement programme of Armenians in the region, stretching back over many centuries, and the displacement of native Azerbaijanis, it is estimated that 95 % of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenian.
Q. What is the official status of Nagorno-Karabakh?
The territory of Nagorno-Karabakh remains legally part of the Sovereign Territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Q. How many people were displaced as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War?
The United Nations estimates that up to 1 million Azerbaijanis were displaced during the Armenia-Azerbaijan war over Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 – 1994.
Q. What is Azerbaijan’s position on resolving the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh?
The current President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has stated that a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be based only on the international legal standards and principles and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity must be restored. The Azerbaijani Government believes that talks can result in a just solution to the problem and that they would never allow the eternal land of Nagorno-Karabakh to be separated from Azerbaijan.
Q. What is the international community’s response to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
There is universal recognition in international law that Nagorno-Karabakh remains under the sovereign territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and that Armenian occupying forces should withdraw from the region. The following United Nations Security Council resolutions have been passed with respect to Nagorno-Karabakh:
- Resolution 822, agreed on 30 April 1993
- Resolution 853, agreed on 29 July 1993
- Resolution 874, agreed on 14 October 1993
- Resolution 884, agreed on 12 November 1993
Each of these resolutions reaffirms both the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the inviolability of international borders and the inadmissibility on the use of force for the acquisition of territory. Moreover, on 14 March 2008, the United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution by a vote of 39 to 7, with 100 abstentions, reaffirming Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, expressing support for that country’s internationally recognized borders and demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories there.