The legal aspects
of the conflict

Economic damage to
Azerbaijan inflicted by the aggression of Armenia

Chronology of the Armenian aggression

Khojaly genocide

Occupation of Kelbajar region

Nagorno Karabakh in pictures

The Day of Genocide,
March 31st

The conflict is rooted in expansionism and a policy of aggression aimed at expanding the territory of Armenia by force at the expense of the territory of another sovereign state.

       Separatists in the local council of the Mountainous (Nagorno) Karabakh Autonomous Region (MKAR) of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a unilateral decision to secede from Azerbaijan in February 1988. (According to the population census of 1989, the population of the MKAR was 186,100, of which 138,600 were Armenians (73.5%) and 47,500 Azerbaijanis (25,3%). In December 1989 the Parliament of Armenia decided to annex Mountainous Karabakh, an integral part of neighboring Azerbaijan, in a move grossly violating international laws and norms of conduct. By doing so, Armenia has clearly followed an example set by Nazi Germany in annexing German-populated areas of the neighboring countries on the eve of the World War II.

       Armenia started to establish unconstitutional structures in the Mountainous Karabakh (MK) region of Azerbaijan. The military formations as well as a huge amount of weapons and ammunition were shipped on the territory of Azerbaijan. A military bridgehead was set up to conduct an armed aggression against Azerbaijan.

       Full-scale hostilities in the zone of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict escalated at the end of 1991-early 1992. Ethnic cleansing, conducted by the Armenian armed forces on the territory of the Mountainous Karabakh region, reached its climax during the massacre of Khojaly, an Azerbaijani town in the region, in February 1992. More than 800 peaceful residents, including women and children, were slaughtered in what Human Rights Watch called «the largest massacre of the conflict.» The Armenian aggression spread far beyond the administrative boundaries of the region to the rest of Azerbaijan. Between May 1992 and May 1994, six districts of Azerbaijan outside MKAR were occupied.

      Thus, as a result of aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan, more than 17.000 km2 (approximately 20% of the territory) were occupied, more than 18.000 persons were killed, over 50.000 left wounded or maimed, and almost 900 settlements, 100 thousand dwellings, more than 600 schools, and 250 medical institutions were looted or ruined. The number of internally displaced persons (IDP) from the occupied Azerbaijani lands and refugees from Armenia reached about 1 million people. In a country of 8 million people, this represents the highest per capita number of IDP in the world.

       With 20% of its territory seized, Azerbaijan is facing a humanitarian disaster. Limited humanitarian aid coming to Azerbaijan falls short of the basic needs of the people affected by the conflict.

       Aghdere and Aghdam districts of Azerbaijan were seized by Armenian armed forces following the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 822 (1993) of 30 April 1993,which condemned occupation of the Kelbajar district; the Fizuli district was seized after the adoption of Security Council Resolution 853 (1993) of 29 July 1993, condemning the seizure of the Aghdam district; and the Djebrail and Kubatly districts were seized after the adoption of Security Council Resolution 874 (1993) of 14 October 1993. In its resolution 884(1993) of 11 November 1993, the Security Council condemned the occupation of the Zangelan district and the town of Horadiz, attacks on civilians, and bombardments of the territory of Azerbaijan.

       In its resolutions, the UNSC underscored respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of Azerbaijan, and the inadmissibility of using force to annex territories. It also demanded the immediate cessation of armed hostilities and hostile acts, and the immediate, full and unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces from the occupied areas of Azerbaijan. Despite the unequivocal demands of the Security Council, the Republic of Armenia still occupies Azerbaijani territory and increases its military presence there.

       Illegal supplies of the Russian arms and equipment to Armenia from 1994 to 1996 greatly facilitated the Armenian aggression. A military cooperation agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia, signed on August 29, 1997, finalized the military alliance between the two states. By signing the agreement, the Russian Federation compromised its position as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Process, which mediates the conflict.

       Azerbaijan considers that this agreement aggravates the situation in the region, and undermines efforts to reach a peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and to strengthen security in the region.

       Despite the above, the cease-fire regime, negotiated on May 12, 1994, has been generally observed. Efforts aimed at releasing POWs and hostages are continuing under the aegis ICRC. From 1993 to 1998, 357 persons were released. However, there are reports about Azerbaijanis still detained in Armenia and on the occupied territories.

       The negotiation process - International mediation on settlement of the conflict started in February 1992, within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk process. The Minsk group was established to negotiate political settlement of the conflict.

       After occupation of the Azerbaijani territories, the UN Security Council adopted Resolutions 822, 853, 874, 884 that demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan and return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes.

       In accordance with decisions of the OSCE Budapest Summit (1994) the institute of Co-Chairs, of the Minsk conference was established «to conduct speedy negotiations for the conclusion of a political agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict («Political Agreement»), the implementation of which would have eliminated major consequences of the conflict for all parties and permit the convening of the Minsk Conference.»

       Thereby, the Budapest Summit adopted a legal two-stage framework of the conflict settlement process:
       1) First stage - elimination of consequences of the armed conflict by implementation of the agreement, i.e., full liberation of all occupied territories and ensuring return or IDP's to their homes:
       2) Second stage - elaboration and adoption of a comprehensive peace settlement at the Minsk conference.

       The Budapest Summit also adopted a decision to establish an OSCE peacekeeping operation after the conclusion of the political agreement.

       Later three main principles of the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict were formulated in the Statement of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office at Lisbon Summit, 1996.

They are the following:
- Territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan;
- Legal status of Mountainous Karabakh defined in an agreement based on self-determination, which confers on Mountainous Karabakh the highest degree of self-rule within Azerbaijan;
- Guaranteed security for Mountainous Karabakh and its whole population, including mutual obligations to ensure compliance by all the Parties with the provisions of the settlement.

       These principles were supported by all 53 OSCE state-participants except Armenia. Since November 1996, Armenia has unilaterally ceased direct consultations between the two countries and only recently consultations were restored.

       After the Lisbon Summit and establishment of an institute of the triple Co-Chairmanship (Russia-France-USA), only one round of negotiations has taken place, in April 1997.

       Further, the process of settlement was developing as follows:

June-September, 1997, the Co-Chairs elaborated and submitted a new document for consideration of the Parties, envisaging a two-staged conflict settlement according to the following scheme:

First stage
- Liberation of 6 occupied districts, outside MKAR (except Lachin district),
- Return of civilians and restoration of communication links.

Second stage
- Reaching solution on Lachin and Shusha districts and adoption of the main principles of the status of the Mountainous Karabakh region.

October 1, 1997, Azerbaijan officially informed Co-Chairs on its consent to the document at the basis for the upcoming negotiations.

October 1997, in Strasbourg the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia made a joint statement on readiness to resume negotiations on the basis of Co-Chairmen's proposals.

December 1997,  in Copenhagen, a report of the Co-Chairs, emphasizing the need to continue efforts on settlement of the conflict on the basis of Lisbon principles and proposals of Co-Chairs, was distributed at the OSCE Ministerial Council's meeting.

May 13-17, 1998, during a visit of the Co-Chair's to the region, Armenia, under new president Robert Kocharyan officially recalled the early consent of former President of Armenia (L. Ter-Petrosyan) to stage-by-stage proposals.

November 9, 1998,  the Co-Chairs introduced new proposal based on a Russian-designed concept of «common state». Azerbaijan from the very beginning refused to accept this proposal, and on November 19 officially informed the mediators of the unacceptability of this proposals. Azerbaijan confirmed its readiness to resume negotiations within the OSCE Minsk Group on the basis of the Co-Chairs' proposals of September 19, 1997.

November 20, 1998, the delegation of the Azeri community of MK officially rejected proposals of November 9, and on November 25, Armenia and the Armenian community of MK stated the agreement with these proposals.

December 2-3, 1998, during the OSCE ministerial meeting in Oslo, the Chairman-in-Office appealed to the parties to the conflict to resume negotiations immediately in the framework of the Minsk Group and to Co-Chairs to continue their efforts.

On April 2, 1999, a meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia during the CIS Summit in Moscow was held at which an agreement was reached on undertaking a series of meetings for discussing the problems of the peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

An exchange of views and positions of the parties was continues at the meetings of the presidents on April 24 in Washington, on August 16 and 22 in Geneva, on September 10 in Yalta and on October 11 in the village of Sadarak. During the meetings an agreement was reached on the consultations between MFA and MoD of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the problems of enforcement of the cease-fire rejime, confidence-building measures, procedures of preventing and settlement of the border incidents, as well as the development of the agreed basis for the resumption of the negotiations process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. As an implementation of the agreement meetings and consultations of defence ministers (September 14 and October 11) and of foreign ministers (Seprtember 10, September 30 and October 12) of Azerbaijan and Armenia were held.

On September 18, 1999, during the visit of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office K.Vollebaek to Baku it was declared that the meetings and consultations of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia did not substitute the OSCE Minsk process and the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group was called to speed up their activities and make a new proposal acceptable to both parties.

On November 18-19, 1999, in the Final Document of the OSCE Istanbul Summit and in the report of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office it was once again underlined that the Minsk Group was the most suitable format for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the continuation of the dialogue of two presidents which is to complement the Minsk process was welcomed, and the parties were called to resume as soon as possible the negotiations on the conflict settlement. The European Security Charter was adopted at the OSCE Istanbul Summit. It is a legally-binding document that confirms the OSCE principles and norms and the resulting commitments of the states on the observance of the sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On December 13-15, 1999, the first visit of new Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to the region was held. The Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Group declared that they would begin the work on new proposals that would be based on the elements on which the agreement had been reached at the meetings of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia. In its actiities on the settlement of the conflict the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group will pay a considerable attention to the economic development of the region. On this purpose the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group expressed their intention to appeal to the world financial institutions, public and non-governmental organizations to send experts to the region in order to carry out the works on estimating the costs of the reconstruction of the region.

On January 24, 2000, during the Summit of the CIS member-states in Moscow a separate meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and on January 25 a quadripartite meeting with the participation of presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and the Acting President of the Russian Federation V.Putin were held. Consultations between presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia were resumde during the meetings and it was declared that the policy of the "Four" in the region will be based on the principles of the international law and, first of all, on the absolute acknowledgement of the principle of territorial integrity of the sovereign states.

On January 28, 2000, at the World Economic Forum in Davos the consultations between presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia on searching the ways of peacefull settlement of the conflict. The foreign ministers of the two countries took part in the meeting.

On July 20, 2000, during the Summit of the CIS member-states in Moscow a quadripartite meeting with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and the Russian Federation was held. The questions of peaceful settlement of conflicts in South Caucasus, the problem of consolidation of regional security, including the cooperation in the struggle against international terrorism as well as in humanitarian and other fields. The text of joint statement signed as a result of the meeting of three presidents was also circulated. The statement says that the sides expressed their adherence to the continuation of meetings in this format, welcomed the initiative of the world community and international organisations, which assist the acceleration of settlement of conflicts in South Caucasus. Heads of states agreed that such meetings will be held not less than two times a year and as a rule will be held during CIS summits.

On July 2-5, 2000, the visit by the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to the region was held. In their activities on the settlement of the conflict a great attention was paid to the economic development of the region. With this aim the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group appealed to the world financial institutes, social non-governmental organisations to send experts to the region to estimate the possibilities of its economic reconstruction. During the visit, the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group made a statement that they would search the methods of modifying the plan of the Karabakh conflict settlement.

On November 30, 2000 in Minsk during the Summit of the heads of the countries of CIS the bilateral meeting of the President of Azerbaijan H.Aliyev and of Armenia R.Kocharyan took place. After the ending of the meeting the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev declared that he was satisfied on the whole with last negotiations.The President H.Aliyev justified his satisfaction by unofficial feature of the meeting but that the Presidents of these two countries are in the process of the search of the ways of the solution of Nagorniy Karabakh problem. As the President of Armenia R.Kocharyan noticed in his turn, the agreement about the intensification of the meetings was achieved at the meeting.

On January 25, 2001 in Paris negotiations of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Robert Kocharyan and Heydar Aliyev in the presence of the President of Republic of France Jacques Chiraq. In the briefing after the negotiations, which took place in Paris in Yelisey Palace in the presence of the President of the Republic of France Jacques Chiraq, the President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan noticed, that "the complete solution of the problem was maybe achieved at the attraction to the negotiations of the representatives of Nagorniy Karabakh". The President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev said in his turn that "as soon as we come to something concrete at the bilateral negotiations with the leader of Armenia, perhaps the third part may appear ". Both Presidents characterized their bilateral negotiations in Paris as "rather positive", having informed, that they outlined the plan of the following meeting in the very near future.

May 31, 2001 - At the CIS Summit in Minsk the trilateral meeting among President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and President of Russia Vladimir Putin was held. During the meeting the three presidents discussed the problem of the peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

August 1, 2001 - At the informal Summit of the CIS countries in Sochi President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan held a bilateral meeting. During the meeting they had a wide discussion on the problem of the peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

       Currently the Co-Chairs are pursuing their objective to present a compromise settlement plan to the conflict based on the principles of international law.