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PAGE 14 The Azerbaijani-Armenian Conflict for Nagorno-Karabakh: Han Chen The American University in Cairo May 18, 2009 Introduction This paper explores the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The historic origins of the conflict are examined, as well as the period of open conflict from 1988 to 1994. As this conflict contains numerous dimensions, this paper will limit itself to the period before the Biskek ceasefire agreement in 1994. Unfortunately, the conflict continues to affect the millions of people in the region, and this paper does not have room to study the post-1994 peace and conciliation attempts properly. Hopefully, the discussion of the historical origins of the conflict and the political developments in the period of the war will shed some light on the future prospects for peace. The Caucasus The Nagorno-Karabakh area lies within the southwestern part of Azerbaijan, in the Caucasus. This region is located in Eurasia, sharing a border with Turkey, Iran and Russia. The Caucasus contains diverse ethnic groups that do not fit easily in the artificial national boundaries. The southern portion is also referred to as Transcaucasus, and consists of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.  Leeuw, Charles van der. Azerbaijan: A Quest for Identity. New York: Saint Martin’s Press, 2000, 138 Nagorno-Karabakh, like much of the Caucasus, is a region of mixed ethnical population, and the region was stricken by ethnic conflict and violence. This ethnic conflict occurred not only in the last few decades, but for the last century. The autonomous state of Karabakh was in a dispute with Azerbaijan, but often with intervention from Armenia as well. In the recent conflict, Armenia supplied Nagorno-Karabakh with weaponry.  Lecture Notes Politically, observers note that the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh concerns two basic principles of international law: self determination versus territorial integrity. Armenians and Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians want to unite the