at the time). After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Karabakh was disputed by independent Armenia and Azerbaijan with none of them completely controlling the claimed area. Karabakh was taken over by the Bolsheviks in 1920 and included in Soviet Azerbaijan in 1923.

Until the late 1980s, most Armenians living in Soviet Azerbaijan spoke the Karabakh dialect. The Karabakh (75% Armenian-populated before the