The Armenia–Azerbaijan border (; ) is the international border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Estimates of the border's length vary from to . European routes E002 and E117 cross the border.
The de jure border follows that of the former Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and consists of two main segments – that between Armenia and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave in the west, and the longer section between Armenia and 'mainland' Azerbaijan to the east. Additionally, there are a number of enclaves on either side of the boundary, however these no longer exist except in a de jure sense. The borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been closed since 1989 due to the Turkish and Azeri blockade of Armenia, which aimed to suppress the Karabakh Movement which called for independence from Azerbaijan and reunification with Armenia.
Following Armenia's defeat in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, a border crisis began with numerous instances of incursions and occupations by Azeri forces of Armenian territory. In October 2022, the two countries reached an agreement that Soviet-era borders should form the basis of border delineation based on the Alma-Ata 1991 Declaration, and Armenia returned four villages within Azerbaijan's de-jure border which Armenia controlled since 1990s. Azerbaijan continues to occupy 215 square kilometers of Armenian territory.
Geography Western (Nakhchivan) section
The border starts in the north at the tripoint with Turkey on the Aras river, and proceeds overland in a south-easterly direction along various mountain ridges, such as the Zangezur Mountains, down to the western tripoint with Iran on the Aras. Additionally, the Azerbaijani enclave of Karki/Tigranashen lies just north of the border, however since May 1992, following the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Karki has been controlled by Armenia, which administers the territory as part of its Ararat Province.
Eastern section
The border starts in the north at the tripoint with Georgia and proceeds overland in a broadly south-easterly direction, zigzagging next to and around the Voskepar river, crossing through part of the Joghaz Water Reservoir at the mouth of the Voskepar, and touching the western tip of the Abbasbayli Water Reservoir. It then forms a broad concave arc along the Khndzorut Range and down to the Miapor Range. It then runs parallel with the eastern shore of Lake Sevan along the Sevan Range, runs south along the Eastern Sevan Range, and then west along the Vardenis Range before turning sharply east, thus creating an Azeri protrusion encompassing Böyük Alagöl lake. It then proceeds southwards, crossing the Aylakh-Lich Lake and Sev Lich State Sanctuary, terminating at the Iranian border on the Aras river. The entire border lies mainly in mountainous terrain, with elevations averaging between and .
Additionally, in the northern stretch of the boundary area there are one Armenian (Artsvashen) and four Azerbaijani (Karki, Yukhari Askipara, Barxudarlı and Sofulu) exclave villages which are now controlled by their 'host' nation. In addition, since the 1990s, Armenia controlled another 4 villages within the de-jure borders of Azerbaijan: Aşağı Əskipara, Bağanis Ayrum, Qızılhacılı, and Xeyrimli, which were returned to Azerbaijan on 24 May 2024 in accordance with the border delimitation agreement.
History
During the 19th century the Caucasus region was contested between the declining Ottoman Empire, Persia and Russia. Over the span of the 1800s, Russia had pushed south at the expense of the Persian and Ottoman Empires. By the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) and the subsequent Treaty of Gulistan, Russia acquired the bulk of what is now Azerbaijan and part of what is now Armenian's Syunik Province (known as Zangezur within the Russian Empire).John F. Baddeley, "The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus", Longman, Green and Co., London: 1908, p. 90 Following the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) and the Treaty of Turkmenchay Persia was forced to cede Nakhchivan and the rest of what is now Armenia.Gavin R.G. Hambly, in The Cambridge History of Iran, ed. William Bayne Fisher (Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 145–146
In 1867 Russia organised its Armenian and Azerbaijani territories into the governorates of Erivan, Tiflis, Baku and Elisabethpol. Relations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the governorates were often tense, for example in 1905–07 there was an outbreak of ethnic violence which resulted in thousands of deaths.Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Turks Willem van Schendel, Erik Jan Zürcher. Identity Politics in Central Asia and the Muslim World: Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the Twentieth Century. I.B.Tauris, 2001. , , p. 43
Following the Russian Revolution in 1917 the peoples of the southern Caucasus had declared the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR) in 1918 and started peace talks with the Ottomans. (Armenian Perspective) (Turkish Perspective) Internal disagreements led to Georgia leaving the federation in May 1918, followed shortly thereafter by Armenia and Azerbaijan. With the Ottomans having invaded the Caucasus and quickly gained ground, the three new republics were compelled to sign the Treaty of Batum on 4 June 1918, by which they recognised the pre-1878 Ottoman-Russia border, thereby ceding most of Nakhchivan and a considerable part of western Armenia to the Ottomans. Armenia in particular was reeling from the aftermath of the Ottoman-led Armenian genocide, which had resulted in vast numbers of refugees fleeing eastern Turkey. The borders between the three new republics were all disputed. War broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over disputed territories along the frontier, lasting from 1918 to 1920, focussing on the disputed areas of Nakhchivan (under the control of the short-lived 'Republic of Aras'), Zangezur and Nagorno-Karabakh.Dr. Andrew Andersen, Ph.D. Atlas of Conflicts: Armenia: Nation Building and Territorial Disputes: 1918-1920
In April 1920 Russia's Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and Armenia, ending the independence of both, followed in February–March 1921 by Georgia. Fighting continued however in Zangezur, where Armenian forces declared a Republic of Mountainous Armenia and continued to fight against the Bolsheviks until their defeat in July 1921.Hovannisian, Richard G. "Armenia and the Caucasus in the Genesis of the Soviet-Turkish Entente ." International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2 (April, 1973), pp. 129–147. The Soviet Kavbiuro was tasked with drawing borders between the three former republics in the Caucasus. Armenian control of Zangezur was confirmed in late 1920. In March 1921 Nakhchivan, despite having earlier being promised to Armenia, was allotted to Azerbaijan, partly at the insistence of the new Republic of Turkey via the Treaty of Moscow.Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras. New States, New Politics: Building Post-Soviet Nations, p. 444. Tim Potier. Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia: A Legal Appraisal, p. 4. On 3 June 1921 the Kavbiuro decided that Nagorno-Karabakh would be included within Armenia, however disputes between the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegates over the issues continued. On 4 July a final Kavbiuro meeting took place to settle the issue, which confirmed the earlier decision to include Nagorno-Karabakh within Armenia. However the next day this decision was reversed and it was granted to Azerbaijan on the proviso that it was granted autonomous oblast status. The precise reasons for the sudden volte-face remain unclear: some scholars think that Joseph Stalin influenced the decision, whereas others (such as Arsène Saparov) point to the fact that the final meeting coincided with Soviet victory in Zangezur and the defeat of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, after which the Azerbaijanis were able to press their claims more forcefully and the Soviets had little incentive to appease the Armenian side. Also in the period of 1921-1922 districts of Kazah, Akstafa and partially the district of Tauz were part of Armenian SSR
In 1922 all three states were incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR within the USSR, before being separated in 1936. From 1923 to 1929 the strip of land in Azerbaijan between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia was designated as the Kurdistansky Uyezd, known colloquially as Red Kurdistan, later renamed the Kurdistan okrug, and then dissolved in 1930. Партизаны на поводке.
The Azerbaijani officials were deeply reluctant to grant Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous status, and thereafter dragged their feet. They proposed instead to create a larger Karabakh oblast encompassing both lowland and highland areas, which would thereby dilute the Armenian majority in the highland areas. The Armenians raised the slow progress with Soviet authorities, who in turn pressured the Azerbaijanis to press on with the creation of the autonomous oblast. On 7 July 1923 they duly announced that a Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was to be formed. An initial border was decided upon in July 1923, with amendments made later in the same month so as to include Shusha and the Khonashen (Martuni) and Skobolevskoe lowland regions within the NKAO. The issue dragged on into the following year, with a final announcement of the NKAO's borders not being published until 26 November 1924. The boundary thus announced was not a formal, demarcated line as such, but rather a list of the 201 villages which were to be included within the NKAO. The border was then changed again in 1925 so as to include more villages in the NKAO. The boundary that thus emerged used at times geographic and pre-existing administrative lines, but was predominantly based on ethnographic factors.
Over the following decades Armenia pressed for the inclusion of NKAO within the Armenian SSR, notably in the post-Second World War period when the USSR was pushing its territorial claims against Turkey (later dropped) and again in 1960 following the transfer of Crimea from Russia to Ukraine. In 1965 large protests took place in Yerevan calling for greater recognition of the Armenian genocide, with many also calling for the transfer of NKAO to Armenia. Allegations of discrimination against Armenians in the NKAO by Azerbaijan's government continued, with many claiming that Azerbaijanis were being encouraged to move so as to alter the demographic balance in their favour. Mikhail Gorbechev’s announcement of glasnost and perestroika in 1987 allowed these frustrations to be publicly vented, and Armenians began openly pressing for the transfer of NKAO to Armenia. Protests escalated throughout 1988 with increasingly violence, culminating in the Sumgait pogrom in which 32 Armenians were killed. The violence caught Moscow unawares – they introduced direct rule in January 1989, and sent in troops to Azerbaijan in 1990 following further violence.