The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (Russian: Нагорно-Карабахская автономная область, НКАО; Azerbaijani: Дағлыг Гарабағ Мухтар Вилајәти, ДГМВ/Dağlıq Qarabağ Muxtar Vilayəti, DQMV; Armenian: Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ) was an autonomous oblast within the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR, mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians. According to Robert Service, in 1921 Joseph Stalin, then acting Commissar of Nationalities for the Soviet Union, included Nakhchivan ASSR and Karabakh under Azerbaijani control to try and placate Turkey to join the Soviet Union. Had Turkey not been an issue, Stalin would likely have left Karabakh under Armenian control. As a result, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was established with the Azerbaijan SSR on July 7, 1923. According to Karl R. DeRouen it was created as an enclave so that a narrow strip of land would separate it from Armenia proper. According to Audrey L. Altstadt the oblast's borders were drawn to include Armenian villages and to exclude as much as possible Azerbaijani villages. The resulting district ensured an Armenian majority.
After the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 1987 between the Armenian and Azerbaijan SSRs, it grew into a full-scale war by the end of 1991. On November 26, 1991, the Parliament of the Azerbaijan SSR abolished the autonomous status of the NKAO. Its internal administrative divisions were also abolished, and its territory was split up and redistributed amongst the neighboring administrative rayons of Khojavend, Tartar, Goranboy, Shusha and Kalbajar In response, the majority Armenian population of the oblast unilaterally declared independence as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Most of territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast is under the control of the ethnic Armenian forces of Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the Nagorno-Karabakh region was reaffirmed as part of the newly independent Republic of Azerbaijan by the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (822, 853, 874, 884). Today, the area of the former NKAO includes the de facto established Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, although it is not recognized by any state or international government organization, and is de jure part of Azerbaijan.
Read more about Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast: Administrative Divisions
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