Three Armenian soldiers have been killed in firing from Azerbaijan as tensions between the two countries persist.
What is the dispute?
- Armed forces were mobilized in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, an occupied enclave in Azerbaijan that has declared independence and is governed by ethnic Armenians.
- Armenia said that Azerbaijan had attacked Nagorno-Karabakh with artillery and aircraft.
Epicentre: The Nagorno-Karabakh region
- Conflict erupted in 1991 as the Soviet Union fell apart, leading to the secession of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan.
- After tens of thousands of people were slain and countless more were displaced, a ceasefire was reached in 1994.
- Attacks near Nagorno-Karabakh and along the distinct Azeri-Armenian border are routinely blamed on one another by Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The economics behind the clashes
- The fights sparked a frenzy of diplomatic activity to stop a further escalation of a long-running dispute between predominately Muslim Azerbaijan and Armenia, which is populated by Christians.
- Near Nagorno-Karabakh are the pipelines that transport Caspian oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan to the rest of the world.
- Conflicts have sparked worries about instability in the South Caucasus, a route for pipelines carrying gas and oil to international markets.
