First Nagorno-Karabakh War in the context of "Gülüstan, Goranboy"

Goranboy District (Azerbaijani: Goranboy rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country in the Ganja-Dashkasan Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Kalbajar, Tartar, Yevlakh, Samukh, and Goygol. Its capital and largest city is Goranboy. As of 2020, the district had a population of 105,000.

During the Soviet era, the region was best known for the oil-cure sanatorium resort of Naftalan, though administratively Naftalan counts as an independent city. Naftalan is now starting to operate again following several years of virtual inaction when the resorts were filled with refugees from the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Aghdam (Azerbaijani: Ağdam) is a town and the nominal capital of the Aghdam District of Azerbaijan. Founded in the 18th century, it was granted city status in 1828 and grew considerably during the Soviet period. Aghdam lies 26 km (16 miles) from Khankendi at the eastern foot of the Karabakh Range, on the outskirts of the Karabakh plain.

Before the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, butter, wine and brandy, machine, and silk factories, and an airport and two railway stations functioned there. By 1989, Aghdam had 28,031 inhabitants. As Azerbaijani forces withdrew from Karabakh following political turmoil in the country during the war, Armenian forces captured Aghdam in July 1993. The heavy fighting forced the city's population to flee eastwards. Upon the seizure, Armenian forces sacked the town. Until 2020, it was de facto a part of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and was almost entirely ruined and uninhabited.

Ararat (Armenian: Արարատ, Armenian pronunciation: [ɑɾɑˈɾɑt] ) is a province (marz) of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Artashat.

The province is named after the biblical Mount Ararat. It is bordered by Turkey from the west and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic from the south. It surrounds the Karki exclave of Nakhichevan which has been controlled by Armenia since its capture in May 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Domestically, Ararat is bordered by Armavir Province from the northwest, Kotayk Province from the north, Gegharkunik Province from the east, Vayots Dzor Province from the southeast and the city of Yerevan from the north.

Gegharkunik (Armenian: Գեղարքունիք, Armenian pronunciation: [ɡɛʁɑɾkʰuˈnikʰ] ) is a province (marz) of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is Gavar. Gegharkunik is inhabited by approximately 209,669 people and the majority are ethnic Armenians.

Gegharkunik Province is located at the eastern part of Armenia, bordering Azerbaijan. It includes the exclave of Artsvashen, which has been under Azerbaijani occupation since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. With an area of 5,348 km (2,065 sq mi), Gegharkunik is the largest province in Armenia. However, approximately 24% or 1,278 km (493 sq mi) of its territory is covered by Lake Sevan, the largest lake in the South Caucasus and a major tourist attraction of the region.

Nagorno-Karabakh (/nəˌɡɔːrnoʊ kərəˈbɑːk/ , nə-GOR-noh kər-ə-BAHK; lit. 'Upper Karabakh') is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik. Its terrain mostly consists of mountains and forestland.

Most of Nagorno-Karabakh was governed by ethnic Armenians under the breakaway Republic of Artsakh – also known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) – from the end of the first Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1994 to the announcement of the dissolution of the republic in September 2023. Representatives from the two sides held numerous inconclusive peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group regarding the region's disputed status, with its majority-Armenian population over time variously advocating either for Artsakh's independence from both states or for its integration into Armenia.

Buzluq (Buzlug, lit. 'iced'; Armenian: Բուզլուխ, romanized: Buzlukh) is a village and municipality in the Goranboy District of Azerbaijan. The municipality consists of the villages of Buzluq, Gülüstan, and Başqışlaq. The village had an Armenian majority prior to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and Operation Ring.

Sadarak District (Azerbaijani: Sədərək rayonu) is one of the 7 districts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. The district borders the district of Sharur, as well as the Iğdır Province of Turkey, Ararat Province of Armenia and the West Azerbaijan Province of Iran. Its capital is Heydarabad and largest settlement is Sadarak. As of 2020, the district had a population of 16,100.

Sadarak is the only Azerbaijani district bordering Turkey. The Umut Bridge over the Aras, also called the "bridge of hope", links Azerbaijan with Turkey, where the Nakhchivan-Istanbul bus route passes. Sadarak District also includes the Karki exclave which has been controlled by Armenia since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Stepanakert, officially Khankendi, is a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. The city was under the control and the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in the region. The city is located in a valley on the eastern slopes of the Karabakh mountain range, on the left bank of the Qarqarçay (Karkar) river.

The area that would become Stepanakert was originally an Armenian settlement named Vararakn. During the Soviet period, the city was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, becoming a hub for economic and industrial activity. In addition, the city became a hotbed for political activity, serving as the center for Armenian demonstrations calling for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Stepanakert suffered extensive damage following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and passed into the hands of local Armenians with the establishment of the Republic of Artsakh. During the Soviet and Artsakh periods, the city was a regional center of education and culture, being home to Artsakh University, musical schools, and a palace of culture. The economy was based on the service industry and had varied enterprises, food processing, wine making, and silk weaving being the most important. As of 2021, the population of Stepanakert was 75,000.