{{Short description|Autonomous region of the Azerbaijan SSR (1923–1991)}} {{For|the geographical region|Nagorno-Karabakh}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox Former Subdivision | conventional_long_name = Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast | common_name = Nagorno-Karabakh | subdivision = Autonomous oblast | nation = the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic | year_start = 1923 | date_start = July 7 | event_end = Abolished | year_end = 1991 | date_end = November 26 | p1 = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic{{!}}Transcaucasian SFSR | flag_p1 = Flag of the Transcaucasian SFSR (variant).svg | s1 = Republic of Artsakh{{!}}Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh | flag_s1 = Flag of Artsakh.svg | s2 = Azerbaijan | flag_s2 = Flag of Azerbaijan (1991–2013).svg | image_map = Nagorno-Karabakh AO in the Soviet Union (European part).svg | image_map_caption = Location of the Nagorno-Karabakh AO in the European Soviet Union. | capital = Stepanakert | government_type = Autonomous oblast | stat_year1 = 1989<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru/rnkarabax.html НАГОРНО-КАРАБАХСКАЯ АО (1989 г.)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916085723/http://www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru/rnkarabax.html |date=September 16, 2011 }}</ref> | stat_pop1 = 189,085 | stat_area1 = 4388 | today = Azerbaijan }}

The '''Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast''' ('''NKAO'''){{efn|{{multiref2|{{langx|ru|Нагорно-Карабахская автономная область (НКАО)|Nagorno-Karabakhskaya avtonomnaya oblast'}} (NKAO)|{{langx|az|Dağlıq Qarabağ Muxtar Vilayəti}} (DQMV)|{{langx|hy|Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ (ԼՂԻՄ)|Lerrnayin Gharabaghi Ink’navar Marz}} (LGhIM)}}}} was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923.{{sfn|Saparov|2015|p=117}} Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majority of the population were ethnic Armenians.{{sfn|Hewsen|2001|pp=264-265}}

== History == {{See also|History of Nagorno-Karabakh}} thumb|200px|Principal cities of the oblast The area of Nagorno-Karabakh was disputed between the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic during their short-lived independence from 1918 to 1920. After the Sovietization of both republics, the Kavbiuro of the Bolshevik Party decided to keep the area within the newly-formed Azerbaijan SSR, whilst granting it broad regional autonomy.{{sfn|Saparov|2015|pp=110-111}} Initially, the principal city of Karabakh, Shusha, and its surrounding villages were to be excluded from the autonomy as they were predominantly Azerbaijani, particularly after the massacre and expulsion of the majority Armenian population of Shusha—this decision was later reversed in 1923 when Shusha was joined to the NKAO despite protests from Muslim villages who favoured its inclusion into the Kurdistan uezd instead.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Həmid |first=Tural |date=December 15, 2020 |title=Dağlıq Qarabağın sərhədləri necə cızılırdı? |trans-title=How were the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh drawn? |url=https://azlogos.eu/dagliq-qarabagin-s%c9%99rh%c9%99dl%c9%99ri-nec%c9%99-cizilirdi/ |website=Azlogos |access-date=August 23, 2022 |archive-date=January 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113131915/https://azlogos.eu/dagliq-qarabagin-s%C9%99rh%C9%99dl%C9%99ri-nec%C9%99-cizilirdi/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On July 7, 1923, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was formally established and the capital was moved to Stepanakert, named after the revolutionary Stepan Shaumian.{{sfn|Hewsen|2001|pp=264-265}} At the time of its formation, area of the oblast was {{cvt|4,161|km2}}.{{sfn|Atlas|1928|p=92|loc="The Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of the SSR of Azerbaijan, was formed by the decree of the AzCEC 7 / VI 1923 from Armenian parts of the former Jevanshir, Shulgan, Karyaginsky, and Kubatly uyezds. The territory of the Region is 4.161 sq. km. According to the administrative division on 1 / I of 1927, it is divided into 5 sections or parishes. Its administrative and political center is mountains. Stepanakert (formerly the village of Khankendy). Another city of the Region is Shusha"}} According to the 1926 Soviet census, its population was 125,200 people, among whom Armenians accounted for 89.2 percent. However, by the 1989 census, the share of Armenians dropped to 76.9 percent of the population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php?reg=2304 |title=All-Union Population Census of 1926. Ethnic composition of the population by regions of the republics of the USSR |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1926 |website=demoscope.ru |access-date=January 13, 2023 |archive-date=November 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128164406/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php?reg=2304 |url-status=live }}</ref> Reasons for this include the policy of Soviet Azerbaijani authorities to settle Azerbaijanis in the region and some out-migration of Karabakh Armenians, as well as the generally higher birthrate among Azerbaijanis than among Armenians.{{sfn|Saparov|2015|pp=162-164}}

Although the question of Nagorno-Karabakh's status did not become a major public issue until the late 1980s, Karabakh Armenian activists, Armenian intellectuals, and Soviet Armenian leaders periodically appealed to Moscow for the oblast's transfer to the Armenian SSR. In November 1945, Armenian First Secretary Grigory Arutinov appealed to Joseph Stalin to attach the NKAO to Soviet Armenia, a proposal vetoed by Azerbaijan's Mir Jafar Baghirov.{{sfn|Shakarian|2025|pp=104-106}}{{sfn|Goff|2020|p=81}} Following Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" in 1956, Armenian Catholicos Vazgen I raised the matter of the NKAO's status in a letter to Nikolai Bulganin.{{sfn|Shakarian|2025|pp=104-106}} In 1962, Karabakh Armenian residents appealed to Khrushchev, "enumerating their grievances with official Baku and requesting the transfer of their territories from the jurisdiction of Soviet Azerbaijan to that of either Soviet Armenia or the Russian SFSR."{{sfn|Shakarian|2025|pp=104-106}} The demands from the NKAO were boosted in 1966 by an appeal signed by 1,906 Soviet Armenian intellectual and cultural figures, including Martiros Saryan, Yervand Kochar, Hamo Sahyan, and Paruyr Sevak.{{sfn|Shakarian|2025|pp=104-106}} Although their appeal was endorsed by Armenian First Secretary Anton Kochinyan and Badal Muradyan, it was vetoed by Baku, "reportedly with backstage support from Mikhail Suslov."{{sfn|Shakarian|2025|pp=104-106}}

The rise of Heydar Aliyev to the leadership of the Azerbaijani SSR in 1969 saw increasing attempts to tighten Baku's control over the autonomous oblast and alter its demographics.{{sfn|Saparov|2015|pp=162-164}} In 1973–74, Aliyev purged the entire NKAO leadership, who Baku regarded as "Armenian nationalists." He appointed Boris Kevorkov, an Armenian from outside the NKAO, as the oblast's First Secretary.{{sfn|Malkasian|1996|p=6}} In 1977, the prominent Armenian author Sero Khanzadyan wrote an open letter to Leonid Brezhnev calling for Nagorno-Karabakh's annexation to Soviet Armenia.{{sfn|Suny|1993|p=195}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://entriessas.com/articles/armenian-diaspora/#_ftnref25 |title=The Armenian Diasporan Press on Mountainous Karabagh, 1923-1985 |last=Sanjian |first=Ara |date=January 6, 2021 |website=entriessas.com |publisher=Entries of the Society for Armenian Studies |access-date=January 21, 2021 |archive-date=January 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113131916/http://entriessas.com/articles/armenian-diaspora/#_ftnref25 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Inspired by Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms of ''glasnost'' and ''perestroika'', the Karabakh Armenians began a democratic mass movement to unite their region with the Armenian SSR. On February 20, 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the NKAO voted to unify with Soviet Armenia.{{sfn|Malkasian|1996|pp=30-32}}{{sfn|Suny|1993|p=198}} Open conflict soon broke out between the local Armenian population and the government of the Azerbaijan SSR. The fighting escalated into the First Nagorno-Karabakh War by the end of 1991. On November 26 of that year, the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan formally abolished the autonomous status of the oblast.{{sfn|Tsutsiev|2014|p=113}} In response, the majority Armenian population declared their independence as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on December 10, with the support of Armenia.{{sfn|Chrysanthopoulos|2002|p=11}}

== Administrative divisions == There were five administrative divisions or raions in the NKAO:

*Mardakert District (NKAO) *Martuni District (NKAO) *Shusha District (NKAO) *Askeran District (NKAO) *Hadrut District (NKAO)

== Demographics == {{Main|Nagorno-Karabakh#Demographics}}

{| class="wikitable" |+Historical ethnic composition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in 1921–1989 ! rowspan="2" |Ethnic group ! colspan="2" |1921{{sfn|Welt|2004|p=77|loc="Out of a population of approximately 20,000, at least several hundred were killed; the rest were forced to flee. In the fighting that followed, several nearby villages were also razed"}}<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Перепись населения АзССР в 1921 г. |trans-title=Census of the population of the AzSSR in 1921 |url=http://www.karabagh.am/6DokiSvid/Perepis21.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526195503/http://www.karabagh.am/6DokiSvid/Perepis21.htm |archive-date=May 26, 2011 |access-date=June 26, 2022 |website=karabagh.am}}</ref> ! colspan="2" |1923<ref name="beglaryan">{{Cite web |last=Beglaryan |first=Ashot |title=The population of Nagorno-Karabakh for a year. Union of Armenians of Russia - Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Excursion into history |url=https://losevskaya.ru/en/zdorove/chislennost-naseleniya-nagornogo-karabaha-na-god-soyuz-armyan.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031102313/https://losevskaya.ru/en/zdorove/chislennost-naseleniya-nagornogo-karabaha-na-god-soyuz-armyan.html |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |access-date=October 31, 2022 |website=losevskaya.ru |location=Stepanakert}}</ref> ! colspan="2" |1925<ref name="beglaryan" /> ! colspan="2" |1926<ref name="beglaryan" /><ref name="этно1926">[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php?reg=2304 Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года. Национальный состав населения по регионам республик СССР] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605115531/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php?reg=2304 |date=June 5, 2016 }} Демоскоп</ref> ! colspan="2" |1939<ref name="beglaryan" /><ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rer_nac_39_gs.php?reg=25&gor=3&Submit=OK Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года. Распределение городского и сельского населения областей союзных республик по национальности и полу] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605115645/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rer_nac_39_gs.php?reg=25&gor=3&Submit=OK |date=June 5, 2016 }} Демоскоп</ref> ! colspan="2" |1959<ref name="beglaryan" /><ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_59.php?reg=67 Всесоюзная перепись населения 1959 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605120901/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_59.php?reg=67 |date=June 5, 2016 }} Демоскоп</ref> ! colspan="2" |1970<ref name="beglaryan" /><ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_70.php?reg=74 Всесоюзная перепись населения 1970 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605122710/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_70.php?reg=74 |date=June 5, 2016 }} Демоскоп</ref> ! colspan="2" |1979<ref name="beglaryan" /><ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_79.php?reg=77 Всесоюзная перепись населения 1979 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605120319/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_79.php?reg=77 |date=June 5, 2016 }} Демоскоп</ref> ! colspan="2" |1989<ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_89.php?reg=71 Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года.Распределение городского и сельского населения областей республик СССР по полу и национальности] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605113511/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/resp_nac_89.php?reg=71 |date=June 5, 2016 }} Демоскоп</ref> |- !Number !% !Number !% !Number !% !Number !% !Number !% !Number !% !Number !% !Number !% !Number !% |- |Armenians | align="right" |122,715 | align="right" |88.62 | align="right" |149,600 | align="right" |94.8 | align="right" |142,470 | align="right" |90.28 | align="right" |111,694 | align="right" |89.24 | align="right" |132,800 | align="right" |88.04 | align="right" |110,053 | align="right" |84.39 | align="right" |121,068 | align="right" |80.54 | align="right" |123,076 | align="right" |75.89 | align="right" |145,450 | align="right" |76.92 |- |Azerbaijanis{{efn|Until 1936, Azerbaijanis were registered as ''Tyurki''.}} | align="right" |15,444 | align="right" |11.15 | align="right" |7,700 | align="right" |4.9 | align="right" |15,261 | align="right" |9.67 | align="right" |12,592 | align="right" |10.06 | align="right" |14,053 | align="right" |9.32 | align="right" |17,995 | align="right" |13.80 | align="right" |27,179 | align="right" |18.08 | align="right" |37,264 | align="right" |22.98 | align="right" |40,688 | align="right" |21.52 |- |Russians | rowspan="7" |307 | rowspan="7" |0.22 | rowspan="7" |500 | rowspan="7" |0.3 | align="right" |46 | align="right" |0.03 | align="right" |596 | align="right" |0.48 | align="right" |3,174 | align="right" |2.10 | align="right" |1,790 | align="right" |1.37 | align="right" |1,310 | align="right" |0.87 | align="right" |1,265 | align="right" |0.78 | align="right" |1,922 | align="right" |1.02 |- |Ukrainians | rowspan="6" |30 | rowspan="6" |0.02 | align="right" |35 | align="right" |0.03 | align="right" |436 | align="right" |0.29 | align="right" |238 | align="right" |0.18 | align="right" |193 | align="right" |0.13 | align="right" |140 | align="right" |0.09 | align="right" |416 | align="right" |0.22 |- |Belarusians | align="right" |12 | align="right" |0.01 | align="right" |11 | align="right" |0.01 | align="right" |32 | align="right" |0.02 | align="right" |35 | align="right" |0.02 | align="right" |37 | align="right" |0.02 | align="right" |79 | align="right" |0.04 |- |Greeks | align="right" |68 | align="right" |0.05 | align="right" |74 | align="right" |0.05 | align="right" |67 | align="right" |0.05 | align="right" |33 | align="right" |0.02 | align="right" |56 | align="right" |0.03 | align="right" |72 | align="right" |0.04 |- |Tatars | align="right" |6 | align="right" |0.00 | align="right" |29 | align="right" |0.02 | align="right" |36 | align="right" |0.03 | align="right" |25 | align="right" |0.02 | align="right" |41 | align="right" |0.03 | align="right" |64 | align="right" |0.03 |- |Georgians | align="right" |5 | align="right" |0.00 | align="right" |25 | align="right" |0.02 | align="right" |16 | align="right" |0.01 | align="right" |22 | align="right" |0.01 | align="right" |17 | align="right" |0.01 | align="right" |57 | align="right" |0.03 |- |Others | align="right" |151 | align="right" |0.12 | align="right" |235 | align="right" |0.16 | align="right" |179 | align="right" |0.14 | align="right" |448 | align="right" |0.30 | align="right" |285 | align="right" |0.18 | align="right" |337 | align="right" |0.18 |- !TOTAL !138,466 !100.00 !157,800 !100.0 !157,807 !100.00 !125,159 !100.00 !150,837 !100.00 !130,406 !100.00 !150,313 !100.00 !162,181 !100.00 !189,085 !100.00 |}

== First Secretaries == The First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan was the Communist Party of Azerbaijan's head and highest executive power within the oblast. The position was created in July 1923, and abolished on August 27, 1990.{{cn|date=April 2026}} The position of First Secretary was ''de facto'' appointed by the Politburo of the Soviet Union or by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Below is a list of office-holders:

{| class="wikitable" !rowspan="2"| Name !colspan="2"| Term of Office |- ! Start ! End |- ! colspan="3"| First Secretaries of the Oblast Committee of the Communist Party<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.knowbysight.info/1_AZER/06156.asp |title= Автономная область Нагорного Карабаха - Нагорно-Карабахская автономная область - Нагорно-Карабахская Республика |website=knowbysight.info |access-date=October 5, 2025}}</ref> |- | Sero Manutsyan | July 1923 | December 1923 |- | Akop Kamari (Bendzhanyan) | December 1923 | March 1924 |- | Nikolai Sarkisov | April 1924 | August 1924 |- | Artvazd Saakyants | October 1924 | August 1929 |- | Ashot Karamyan | August 1929 | June 1930 |- | Khoren Varunts | June 1930 | August 1931 |- | Karo Grigoryan | August 1931 | August 1933 |- | Bagrat Batikyan | August 1933 | March 1934 |- | Petr Poghosov | April 1934 | September 1937 |- | Mikhail Manukyants (1st) | September 1937 | 1940 |- | Aleksandr Avanesov | 1940 | January 1942 |- | ''Vacant'' | January 1942 | March 1942 |- | Yegishe Grigoryan (1st) | March 1942 | 1946 |- | Mikhail Manukyants (2nd) | 1946 | 1948 |- | Tigran Grigoryan | 1948 | January 1949 |- | Sedrak Abramov | January 1949 | 1952 |- | Yegishe Grigoryan (2nd) | 1952 | December 1958 |- | Nikolai Shakhnazarov | December 1958 | October 1962 |- | Gurgen Melkumyan | 25 October 1962 | 27 October 1973 |- | Boris Kevorkov | 27 October 1973 | 24 February 1988 |- | Genrikh Poghosyan | 24 February 1988 | 20 January 1989 |- | Vagan Gabrielyan | 20 January 1989 | 27 August 1990 |}

== See also == * Nagorno-Karabakh * Karabakh

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Bibliography == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book|title=Атлас Союза Советских Социалистических Республик |trans-title=Atlas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|publisher=Central Executive Committee of the USSR|location=Moscow|date=1928|ref={{harvid|Atlas|1928}} }} * {{cite book|last=Chrysanthopoulos|first=Leonidas T.|title=Caucasus Chronicles: Nation-Building and Diplomacy in Armenia, 1993–1994|date=2002|publisher=Gomidas Institute|location=London|isbn=978-1-884630-05-7}} * {{cite book |last=Goff |first=Krista A. |title=Nested Nationalism: Making and Unmaking Nations in the Soviet Caucasus |date=2020 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-5327-5 |location=Ithaca, NY |author-link=Krista Goff}} * {{cite book|last=Hewsen|first=Robert H.|authorlink=Robert H. Hewsen|title=Armenia: A Historical Atlas|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|year=2001|isbn=978-0-226-33228-4}} * {{cite book|last=Malkasian|first=Mark|title=Gha-ra-bagh!: The Emergence of the National Democratic Movement in Armenia|publisher=Wayne State University Press|location=Detroit|year=1996|isbn=0-8143-2605-6}} * {{cite book |last=Saparov |first=Arsène |title=From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the Making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh |year=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-63783-7 |location=London |oclc=1124532887}} * {{cite book|last=Shakarian|first=Pietro A.|title=Anastas Mikoyan: An Armenian Reformer in Khrushchev's Kremlin|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|year=2025|url={{Google Books|rTNgEQAAQBAJ|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0253073556}} * {{cite book |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigor |title=Looking toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History |author-link=Ronald Grigor Suny|date=1993 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington |isbn=978-0-253-20773-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/lookingtowardara00rona}} * {{cite Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus}} * {{cite book |last=Welt |first=Cory D. |url=https://home.gwu.edu/~cwelt/ExplainingEthnicConflict_Welt.pdf |title=Explaining Ethnic Conflict in the South Caucasus: Mountainous Karabagh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |location=Cambridge, MA |year=2004 |oclc=59823134 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911110408/https://home.gwu.edu/~cwelt/ExplainingEthnicConflict_Welt.pdf |archive-date=September 11, 2022 |url-status=live}} {{refend}}

==External links== * [https://cis-legislation.com/document.fwx?rgn=2890 Law of the Azerbaijan Republic of November 26, 1991 No. 279-XII About abolition of the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region of the Azerbaijan Republic]

{{Autonomous Oblasts of the Soviet Union}} {{Authority control}} {{Coord|39.8153|N|46.7519|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

Category:Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Category:1923 establishments in the Soviet Union Category:1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union Category:States and territories established in 1923 Category:States and territories disestablished in 1991 Category:Subdivisions of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic Category:Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union Category:History of Nagorno-Karabakh Category:Armenians in Azerbaijan