For decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabkh. Over the past few days however, the conflict has escalated in unprecedented ways, killing dozens of innocent people and wounding thousands.

On September 27, the biggest clash since 1994 in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict broke out. In that year, all parties involved agreed to a ceasefire, however on Sunday helicopters were shot down, tanks were bombed, and dozens of soldiers were killed in combat. Some experts are fearing that if tensions aren’t settled, the situation could begin to resemble the 1992 to 1994 war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions.

The Caucasus (the broader region Nagorno-Karabakh is located in), is surrounded by countries with large ethnic gaps between them. The people of Azerbaijan speak an eastern dialect of Turkish and are made up almost entirely of Shia Muslim, while Armenia is Orthodox Christian and speaks Armenio, a language with no direct relation to the Indo-European family.

Although both nations have many differences, both spent over 90 years being controlled by the Russian empire, briefly enjoying independence during the Russian revolution, and then went on to spend 70 years as part of the Soviet Union. Both got their independence in 1991, but almost immediately afterwards went to war.

The conflict in question can be traced back to Joseph Stalin. As Commissar of Nationality Affairs between 1918 and 1922, Stalin designed the borders of the new, non-Russian “Soviet Republics” in Central Asia and the Caucasus, with each one including ethnic minorities from other Republics as to avoid these states developing a national identity.

Azerbaijan was given Nagorno-Karabakh, despite the fact that four fifths of the area’s population were Armenian. Upon the fall of the Soviet Union, minorities in both Armenia and Azerbaijan began fleeing to “safe areas” before the actual war. The war itself began in 1992 and went on for two years, becoming a horrifying ethnic cleansing that took out 600,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000 Armenian refugees.

Russia then moderated a ceasefire between both countries, one that ended with Armenia holding Nagorno-Karabakh and a large territory connected to the region. To this day, the ceasefire line and actual border still stand at that same location.

It’s important to note that even though Armenia controls all the territory it claims, it doesn’t have a legal claim to it under international law. The UN Security Council has called on Armenia on four different occasions to withdraw their troops from the line, something that has also highlighted the fact that the country is actually much weaker in military terms.

Now, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry came out to say that Armenian troops in Tartar are causing damage to civilian buildings and wounding innocent people. Armenian military officials on the other hand are saying that Azerbaijan’s forces have been bombing specific positions of the Nagorno-Karabakh army.

Armenia went on to say that drones provided by Turkey and F-16 fighter jets are also being employed, accusations that both countries have denied, however Turkey has been pretty vocal about their siding with Azerbaijan. Around the world there have been multiple calls for a ceasefire, with European officials including French President Emmanuel Macron calling for talks between France, Russia, and the U.S. to mediate the conflict.

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse the other of breaking the ceasefire first. In Ganja, one of the most populated cities in the region, several buildings have been destroyed thanks to the conflict, with civilians saying that they are “living in fear thanks to the visible consequences.”

There have been estimates that place the number of deaths at around 250, but some fear that the real number is much higher. Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, has allegedly been impacted by missiles and air strikes, producing reports of harsh wounds and even a city-wide power outage.

Civilians in the area have spoken about hearing huge explosions, experiences with PTSD, having to find immediate shelter and even seeing dead bodies. Authorities have urged residents of large cities in Nagorno-Karabakh to flee as soon as possible, saying that these zones are becoming legitimate targets.

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