Armenia and Azerbaijan map: Where is Nagorno-Karabakh?
HEAVY fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia has broken out in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
But where is Nagorno-Karabakh?
Is Azerbaijan at war with Armenia?
Clashes have erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armenia has said that Azerbaijan had launched an air and artillery attack.
Now, Armenia has declared martial law and total military mobilisation.
However, Azerbaijan said it was responding to Armenian shelling.
Civilian deaths have been reported by both sides.
Where is Nagorno-Karabakh?
Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is a landlocked region in the South Caucases.
The area is found within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan - but it is controlled by ethnic Armenians.
Azerbaijan has not exercised political authority over the region since the emergence of the Karabakh movement in 1988.
For four decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been stuck in an unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
An estimated one million people were displaced in the region by wars in the 1990s, and about 30,000 people were killed.
A stalemate has largely prevailed since a ceasefire in 1994.
What happened between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
- September 27, 2020 - Clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh once again erupted, Armenia declared martial law and mobilization.
- September 16, 2020 - One Armenian soldier was killed by hostile gunfire, and five days later an Azerbaijani Sergeant was killed.
- July 2020 - Clashes near Tavush took place in July 2020. 13 Azeris, including a civilian, and five Armenians were killed.
- 2018 - Six Nagorno-Karabakh soldiers were killed, as well as three civilians and an Armenian army soldier.
- 2014, Four-Day War - Between 1 and 5 April 2016, heavy fighting along the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline left 88 Armenian and 31–92 Azerbaijani soldiers dead.
The Armenian Defence Ministry said an attack on civilian settlements, including the regional capital Stepanakert, occurred early on the morning of September 27, 2020.
In the attack, three tanks were destroyed as well as two helicopters and three drones.
Armenia's government declared martial law and total military mobilisation, and officials said a woman and child had been killed.
Azerbaijan blamed Armenia for starting the fighting, announcing a "counter-offensive operation of our troops along the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the armed forces of Armenia and ensure the safety of the civilian population".
In a TV address, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Armenia's policy was "a new war for new territories".
He said: "Armenia has been consciously provoking Azerbaijan, and they will see the bitter results of this.
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"Armenia is an occupying country, and an end must be put to this occupation and an end will be put to it."
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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Twitter: "We stay strong next to our army to protect our motherland from Azeri invasion."
Armenia and Azerbaijan were part of the Soviet Union before its collapse in 1991.