YERASKH, Armenia -- It has been a year since the ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan was brokered by Russia after a 44-day war took place over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory in the south Caucasus.
While Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, it has been populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, inter-ethnic clashes sprung up between the two sides in the 1990s, when secessionist ethnic Armenians -- historically the majority in Stepanekert, the heartland of the disputed region -- backed by Armenia took up arms and seized seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan.
