ABSTRACT
Nagorno-Karabakh is an autonomous enclave, populated by some 180,000 Christian Armenians but located in Muslim Azerbaijan. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, in March 1918, placed Russian Armenia as an independent republic under German control. One month later Azerbaijan declared its independence. In 1919, following conflict over the enclave, the UK military administration awarded Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. One year later, the Treaty of Svres established Greater Armenia as an independent state, but in the same year independence ended when Soviets and Turks together recaptured the Caucasus. The deterioration in the enclave led the Soviet Union to impose direct rule over the region in January 1989, and in October 1989 the Azerbaijani Popular Front and the Armenia Pan-national Movement were both legalised. In January 1990, Nakhichevan declared its independence and the Baltic Council offered to mediate between representatives of the warring factions. By that time, the forces of Nagorno-Karabakh had displaced approximately 600,000 Azeris and the enclaves with certain surrounding districts.
