Azerbaijani - Armenian conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh

Sentinel-3 OLCI FR acquired on 14 July 2016 at 07:12:34 UTC
Sentinel-3 SLSTR RBT acquired on 20 October 2017 at 07:08:51 UTC
Sentinel-3 SLSTR RBT acquired on 27 February 2020 at 07:12:45 UTC
Sentinel-1 CSAR IW acquired on 17 July 2020 from 14:53:18 to 14:53:43 UTC
Author(s): Sentinel Vision team, VisioTerra, France - svp@visioterra.fr
Keyword(s): Security, Little Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan
Fig. 1 - S3 OLCI (14.07.2016) - Azerbaijan & Armenia are bordered by Turkey at W, Russia at NE, Caspian Sea at E, Iran at S, Georgia at NW.
Fig. 2 - S3 SLSTR (20.10.2017) - Azeris and Armenians lived in the same entity, Transcaucasia, during the period of the USSR.
Fig. 3 - S3 SLSTR (27.02.2020) - The region also encompasses the large Azeri enclave of Nakhitchevan, 25 km from mainland Azerbaidjan.
Azeris and Armenians culture, language, religion remained distinct and communities did not mix during the soviet period. Following the dissolution of the USSR, Azerbaïdjan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence in 1991. It later led to the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh after the separatists won the 2017 referendum by 87%; foreign observers approving the method and results but not the validity of the referendum.
Fig. 4 - S1 (17.07.2020) - On 7 October, about 50% of the population had left Nagorno-Karabakh, the majority for Yerevan, Armenia's capital.
89% of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared to be Armenian according to a census in 1926, 76% in 1989, 99% in 2015 after most of the Azeri and Kurdish populations fled the region in 1992-1993 during the war.
Fig. 5 - Map of Azerbaijan with the pre-conflict extent of Nagorno-Karabakh region shown - Source: United Nations.
The current escalation of the conflict has bolstered by Armenia's new distance with its traditional Russian ally, and the arrival of at least thousand Turkish-conveyed Syrian mercenaries before the offensives started.