Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Currency & Banknote Values

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic series of Nagorno Karabakh in the World Currency contains 6 distinct entries.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) was a de facto independent republic which controled most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) and several Azerbaijani districts adjacent to the borders of Azerbaijan with Armenia to the west and Iran to the south.

The predominantly Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh became disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan when both countries gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1918. After the Soviet Union established its control over the area, in 1923 it created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, the region re-emerged as a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, culminating in a large-scale ethnic conflict and, eventually, in the Nagorno-Karabakh War that was fought from 1991 to 1994.

On 10 December 1991, as the Soviet Union was dissolving, a referendum held in the NKAO and the neighboring Shahumian region resulted in a declaration of independence from Azerbaijan as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The country remained diplomatically unrecognized by UN-member states, including Armenia. However, Trans-Dniester, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia, all UN non-member states, recognized the state.

Since 1994, most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and several regions of Azerbaijan around it remained under joint Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh military control. Representatives of the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan held peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.

A referendum held on 20 February 2017 changed the official name to the Republic of Artsakh, or Artsakh Republic. Following an Azerbaijan offensive in September 2023, Nagorno-Karabakh is now fully under Azerbaijan’s control. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement Armenian forces must withdraw and disarm. Discussions over the reintegration of the region into Azerbaijan are also underway.