Nagorno-Karabakh independence referendum
Nagorno-Karabakh independence referendum of 10 December 1991, held under the Soviet secession-law framework and boycotted by the Azerbaijani minority. Armenian voters overwhelmingly supported independence, creating the foundational legal claim of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
- Armenian
- Azerbaijani
Account
Background
After Azerbaijan abolished NKAO autonomy, Karabakh Armenian leaders moved from transfer to Armenia toward independence. The Soviet Union was collapsing, and the Belovezh Accords had just announced its dissolution.
Referendum and dispute
On 10 December 1991 Karabakh held a referendum. Armenian voters supported independence overwhelmingly; Azerbaijani residents boycotted. Armenians cite the referendum as lawful self-determination by a threatened population. Azerbaijan rejects it as unconstitutional secession carried out without the Azerbaijani community and against territorial integrity contested.
The event created a legal identity for the NKR before full-scale war had settled the territory militarily. From that point onward, politics, law and battlefield control reinforced one another rather than offering a route back to shared institutions editorial.
Further reading
- Thomas de Waal, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, 2003
- Levon Chorbajian, Patrick Donabedian, Claude Mutafian, The Caucasian Knot: The History and Geo-Politics of Nagorno-Karabagh, 1994
- Arsène Saparov, From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the Making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh, 2014