The Law on Abolishment of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (or the resolution No. 279-XII) was a motion passed by the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan and signed into law by the President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov on November 26, 1991.[1] The law had been prompted by a vote in the National Assembly of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in favor of uniting itself with the Armenian SSR on 20 February 1988. The vote was followed by an independence referendum in 1991 which was boycotted by the Azerbaijani population of the Oblast; most voted in favor of independence. While these votes and elections had mainly been conducted in a relatively peaceful manner, in the following months, as the Soviet Union disintegrated, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis. Both sides claimed that ethnic cleansing was being carried out.[2][3] The declaration of secession from Azerbaijan was the final result of a territorial conflict regarding the land.[4]
- ^ "AZƏRBAYCAN RESPUBLIKASININ DAĞLIQ QARABAĞ MUXTAR VILAYƏTINI LƏĞV ETMƏK HAQQINDA Azərbaycan Respublikasının Qanunu". Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
- ^ Rieff, David (June 1997). "Without Rules or Pity". Foreign Affairs. 76 (2). Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 13 February 2007.
- ^ Lieberman, Benjamin (2006). Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. pp. 284–292. ISBN 1-56663-646-9.
- ^ Croissant, Michael P. (1998). The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications. London: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-96241-5.