The de facto border follows the de jure border southwards from the Georgian tripoint down to Mount Hinaldag. From there the 'Line of Contact' then forms the Armenia-Azerbaijan border for all practical purposes; it proceeds eastwards along the Murovdag mountains, turning south-eastwards near the village of Talish, and continues down to the Iranian border on the Aras river. The area west of this line has been organised into the Republic of Artsakh, a self-declared independent state recognised only by Armenia and a handful of other non-sovereign entities, functioning effectively as a semi-autonomous part of Armenia. The southern half of the de jure Armenia-Azerbaijan border has been retained as the Armenia-Artsakh border. Artsakh encompasses most the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within Azerbaijan (except for some small areas on its northern and eastern edges), as well as large parts of adjacent Azerbaijani territory.