Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inside the republic of Azerbaijan with an ethnic Armenian majority, declared independence in 1991 and won a bloody war which was ended by a ceasefire in 1994.

• First European civil war sparked by disintegration of the Soviet Union
• About 610,000 people displaced across Azerbaijan and Armenia
• Prospects for a settlement may be improving

Full-scale conflict broke out in early 1992, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Azerbaijani forces initially had the upper hand, but met with spirited resistance from the Karabakh Armenians, who soon drove the Azerbaijanis out of Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is estimated that more than 35,000 people were killed in the war, which also uprooted more than 600,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis and 300,000 ethnic Armenians. About 610,000 people remain displaced across Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Years of negotiations between the opposing nations have so far failed to produce an agreement on the region's status. Armenia supports its self-determination, while Azerbaijan claims the territory as its own.