Novyy Karanlug

Political status:

Politically, Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan, but had an ethnic Armenian majority since the days of the Russian Empire. As the Soviet Union was falling apart in the 1980s and 1990s, the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh decided to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, resulting in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War being fought from 1988-1994, in which the local Azeris were ethnically cleansed from the area.

Although no country formally recognised Nagorno-Karabakh's independence, its de facto independence was maintained through economic and military support from Armenia. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, continued to assert its sovereignty over the region.

Nagorno-Karabakh was in a state of political limbo from 1994, when it declared independence, until 2020 when Azerbaijan regained much of its territory. It is recognized as part of Azerbaijan by all UN member states. The recognition of Artsakh comes from three other self-proclaimed and unrecognized states: Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, as well as by 11 U.S. states. After the Azerbaijani victory in 2023, the Republic of Artsakh was officially dissolved on 1 January 2024.

Background:

In 1920, Soviet Russia's Red Army occupied the Caucasus, leading to the formation of Armenia's and Azerbaijan's Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs). The region of Karabakh, historically linked to both Armenian and Azeri ethnic groups, quickly became hotly-contested between these SSRs. In the end, the Soviet government opted to assign the region to Azerbaijan SSR, while keeping part of it, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, as an Armenian-majority autonomous region, but with an established Azeri minority.

There are few roads. Most likely, a tour guide and invitation will be needed.

A few airports operate in the region, such as Fuzuli International Airport.