Karabakh movement
The Karabakh movement (Armenian: Ղարաբաղյան շարժում), also known as the Artsakh movement (Armenian: Արցախյան շարժում), was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of neighboring Azerbaijan to the jurisdiction of Armenia.
| Karabakh movement | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union | |||
The first major demonstration in Stepanakert, February 13, 1988 | |||
| Date | 13 February 1988 — 30 April 1991 | ||
| Location | Armenia (mainly Yerevan) Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast | ||
| Goals | Unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia | ||
| Methods | Demonstrations, sit-ins, strikes, hunger strike, student protest, civil disobedience | ||
| Resulted in | Establishment of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Escalation of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War | ||
| Parties | |||
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| Lead figures | |||
Levon Ter-Petrosyan Mikhail Gorbachev | |||
| Number | |||
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Initially, the movement was entirely devoid of any anti-Soviet sentiment and did not call for independence of Armenia. The Karabakh Committee, a group of intellectuals, led the movement from 1988 to 1989. It transformed into the Pan-Armenian National Movement (HHSh) by 1989 and won majority in the 1990 parliamentary election. In 1991, both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from the Soviet Union. The intense fighting known as the first Nagorno-Karabakh War turned into a full-scale war by 1992.