to house and feed up to 200,000 Azerbaijanis fleeing the fighting. Fighting continued into early 1994, with Azerbaijani forces reportedly winning some engagements and regaining some territory lost in previous months. In January 1994, Əliyev pledged that in the coming year occupied territory would be liberated and Azerbaijani refugees would return to their homes. At that point, Armenian forces held an estimated 14 percent of the area recognized as Azerbaijan, with Nagorno-Karabakh proper comprising 5 percent. However, during the first three months of 1994 the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army started a new offensive campaign and captured some areas, creating a wider safety and buffer zone around Nagorno-Karabakh. By May 1994 the Armenians were in control of 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan. At that stage the Government of Azerbaijan for the first time during the conflict recognised Nagorno-Karabakh as a third party of the war and started direct negotiations with the Karabakhi authorities. As a result a cease-fire was reached on May 12, 1994, through Russian negotiations, which ended entirely with the outbreak of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. As a result of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, Azerbaijanis were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh and territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. With the support of Soviet/Russian military forces, Azerbaijanis forced tens of thousands of Armenians out of Shahumyan region. Armenians remained in control of the Soviet-era autonomous region, and a strip of land called the Lachin corridor linking it with the Republic of Armenia, as well as seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan. The Shahumyan region remained under the control of Azerbaijan. See also List of massacres in Azerbaijan Republic of Artsakh Demographics of the Republic of Artsakh Timeline References External links Articles and Photography on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) from UK Photojournalist Russell Pollard Mountainous-Karabakh.org: History, maps, images and information Gandzasar.com: Gandzasar Monastery and History of Nagorno Karabakh Geographic history of Armenia Geographic history of Azerbaijan