Nagorno-Karabakh dispute: Armenia, Azerbaijan standoff explained

The contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, a mountainous and heavily-forested patch of land, is at the heart of a decades-long armed standoff between neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan. Under international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is recognised as part of Azerbaijan. But the ethnic Armenians who make up the vast majority of the population reject Azerbaijani rule. They have been running their own affairs, with support from Armenia, since Azerbaijan’s forces were pushed out in a war in the 1990s. On Sunday, heavy clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh prompted fears that the dispute could spiral once again into all-out war. Decades-old tensions The status of the region has been disputed at least since 1918, when Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent from the Russian empire. In the early 1920s, Soviet rule was imposed in the south Caucasus and the predominantly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh became an autonomous region within the then-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, with most decisions being made in Moscow. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">