User:Viceskeeni2/sandbox

The Karabakh genocide (Azerbaijani: Qarabağ Faciəsi) was the mass killing and forceful expulsion of Azerbaijani civilians living in and outside of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenian seperatists, predominantly in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Before the First Nagorno-Karabakh war, the majority of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh were ethnic Armenians, although there were a few outliers with the majority being ethnic Azerbaijanis like Shusha or Khojaly. In the war, Armenian seperatist forces, with the help of Armenia, occupied almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh and also 7 provinces outside Nagorno-Karabakh, which were all almost completely populated by Azerbaijanis and Kurds, under the justification of a "security belt" for Nagorno-Karabakh. All Azerbaijanis and Kurds were brutally forced out of those regions, not having time to take important necessities with them and having to abandon their houses because of Armenian forces "hunting them down" to the forests while they were fleeing.

The biggest mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians was the Khojaly massacre in February of 1992, at the start of the war. The number of fatalities in this massacre range from more than to 500 to over 1,000, although the official number of deaths is ca. 613.

All together, thousands of Azerbaijanis, ranging from 16,000 to 30,000, were killed, while 724,000 to over a Million were expelled and displaced.

Background
The first killings of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh started in 1988, when ethnic Armenians in the region called for a complete swap of authority over Nagorno-Karabakh, from the Azerbaijani SSR to the Armenian SSR. In September 1988, Armenians and Azerbaijanis started using violence against each other resulting in the over 3,100 Azerbaijanis of Khankendi being expelled, while the Armenians of Shusha were also expelled.

In 1991 both Armenia and Azerbaijan declared independence from the Soviet Union, short before it collapsed. The same year, both countries put claims on the region of Nagorno-Karabakh and in December the ethnic Armenians held an "illegal referendum" boycotted by the Karabakh Azerbaijanis, on joining the Republic of Armenia. The next year, total war over Nagorno-Karabakh started.

First Nagorno-Karabakh War and ethnic cleansing
Over the course of the first war, Armenian seperatists occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and parts of 7 provinces around it as a "security belt", resulting in the expulsion of the Azerbaijani population, which was the majority in that area, and dozens of war crimes.

Kalbajar
The Kalbajar District was mostly populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis before the war. After the Battle of Kalbajar in 1993, all of the 60,000 Azerbaijanis and Kurds in the region were forcefully expelled by Armenian forces, while 80 of them were taken hostage. But one of the most famous massacres against Azerbajani civilians in Kalbajar took place in Aghdaban, when Armenian forces, under the command of Monte Melkonian, attacked the village and massacred its population, resulting in the deaths of 67-779 people according to Azerbaijan. Another massacre that took place in Kalbajar, was the Bashlybel massacre, where Armenian forces killed 12 people while taking 14 hostage.

Lachin
The Lachin District was also mostly populated by Azerbaijanis and Kurds like Kalbajar. Around 47.100 Kurds and Azerbaijan were expelled from the region. An unknown number of people also died in a massacre in the village of Zabukh after the village was seized by Armenian forces.

Qubadli
The Qubadli District was populated by mostly Azerbaijanis. Although there are no specifically documented massacres against Azerbaijani civilians in Qubadli, the 28,000 Azerbaijanis in the region were forcefully displaced from the region.

Khojavend
Unike the other ones, the Khojavend District was mostly populated by Armenians, although it had a wide Azerbaijani minority. Still, one of the worst massacres in the entire conflict took place in the village of Garadaghly in the Khojavend District. In February 1992, after Armenian seperatists under the command of Monte Melkonian occupied the town, around 53 people, mostly civilians, were taken hostage. According to Melkonian's brother, 20 people had already died in the attack and afterwards the Armenian soldiers began stabbing, shooting and killing their captives. Several captives were also burned alive with the Armenians tossing gasoline over them. The deaths amounted to around 73 people. The 10,020 Azerbaijanis in the region were expelled.

Shusha
Although Shusha was in the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh, both the district and city were populated by mostly Azerbaijanis before the war. After the war, the whole Azerbaijani population of Shusha was displaced mounting up to 15,000 people. All that was left were ruins and some Armenian settlers. 3 different massacres, that erupted in the Shusha district, took place in the villages of Malibeyli, Yukhari Gushchular and Ashaghi Gushchular. According to Memorial, more than 24 people died in the massacre.