Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh is a fanmade character for Hetalia: Axis Powers. He represents the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, an unrecognized country located between Armenia and Azerbaijan. His human name is Malik Tooligian.

Appearance
Malik has thick black hair that is always a mess and sharp, bright emerald green eyes that are always on the lookout for a fight. He has a scar on his right cheek, smack on the cheekbone, that he got after a piece of shrapnel nicked him during an Azerbaijani attack on his village.

He wears a red, blue, and orange long-sleeved shirt underneath a bomber jacket, knee-length cargo shorts, and Army shoes. He carries Azerbaijan's left boot with him, which he considers a prize from his three-year war with her.

Personality and Interests
Malik never knew who his parents were; therefore, he suffers abandonment-attachment issues. When he finally discovered the identity of his real father, Armenia, he stuck to him like glue, which caused poor Haig Tooligian a lot of trouble. It was only because Malik was his own flesh and blood that Haig didn't blow him off.

Malik is very territorial. He sometimes acts like a dog whenever people or nations come to visit him, but he calms down quickly once he sees his visitor/s.

Malik is also very possessive. Whenever Armenia or Azerbaijan tries to convince him to return Azerbaijan's boot, he responds with, "It's mine! Mine, mine, mine!"

Malik is a Catholic nation just like his father Armenia, but Azerbaijan's Muslim culture has also influenced him, like his name.

Early life
Malik came into existence as the province of Artsakh in the Armenian Kingdom, which he remained as until the 4th century AD. In 821, Armenian prince Sahl Smbatian revolted in Artsakh and established Malik as a Principality of Khachen, in which Smbatian and his House of Khachen became his new boss. By 1000, Malik was proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh. Dizak, a neighboring kingdom, merged with Artsakh in 1261 in a marriage alliance.

By the 15th century, Karabakh was part of the territory ruled by the Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu tribal confederations. The governship of upper Karabakh was assigned to five local Armenian noble families. Ivan Braginski (Russian Empire) and Emperor Paul I recognized the sovereignty of these princes on Malik and Nagorno-Karabakh. Aftr the fall of the Ak Koyunlu in the 16th century, the Safavids gained control of Malik, ut he still remained Armenian. By the 18th century, internal conflicts led to the weakening of the five princes, and the Karabakh khanate was formed. Nagorno-Karabakh became a protectorate of the Russian Empire with the Kurekchay Treaty, and the rest of Transcaucasia followed with the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828.

Soviet era
The present-day conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has its roots in decisions made by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Malik became part of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, a union between Haig Tooligian (Armenia), Marina Mizemehemmedova (Azerbaijan), and Ludmilla Shevardnadze (Georgia), which only lasted for two years or so before it broke up and they fought against each other, mostly Haig and Marina over Malik and the like. In 1918, Malik declared himself self-governing and established a National Council. Later, Ottoman forces under Sadik Adnan (Turkey) entered Karabakh, meeting resistance from Armenians.

After Sadik's defeat in World War One, British troops under Arthur Kirkland (England) occupied Karabakh. He provisionally confirmed Marina's choice to lead Karabakh, and Malik strongly opposed this.

In 1920, Bolsheviks took control of the Caucasus republics, and as Stalin had far-reaching plans for Sadik and Turkey, Zangezur was handed over to Haig, while Marina received Nakhchivan and Karabakh. Malik became the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923. With Ivan firmly in control, the conflict for Malik died down, but with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s, the Karabakh question reemerged. Accusing Marina of Azerifying him, Malik, with Haig's support, started a movement to transfer himself to the Armenian SSR. He drew his borders to include as much Armenian villages and as little Azeri villages as possible, in order to create an Armenian majority.

War and secession
Suddenly, in 1988, Malik and some Karabakh Armenians began demonstrating in Stepanakert, his capital, for unification with Haig and Armenia. Six days later, Haig joined him with mass marches in Yerevan. The local Soviet of People's Deputies voted to transfer the region to Armenia, but Ivan rejected this demand. In 1989, he ended direct rule and handed Malik back to Marina. This, however, backfired when the Armenian Supreme Soviet and the Karabakh National Council proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh's unification with Armenia.

A referendum in 1991 by local Armenians approved the creation of an independent state. A suggestion by Ivan for Malik's increased autonomy within Marina failed to satisfy, and war erupted between the two of them, with Malik receiving support from Haig.

The struggle for Malik escalated after both Haig and Marina received independence in 1991. Military action between the two was heavily influenced by Ivan's military. Furthermore, both their armies operated with Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries, as well as Afghan mujahideen and Chechen fighters. By the end of 1993, the conflict had caused thousands of casualties and created hundreds of thousands of refugees. By May 1994, Malik had control of roughly 14% of Marina's territory; namely, her left boot. At that stage, Marina finally recognized him as a third party and began negotiations. A ceasefire was reached on May 12, 1994 with Ivan's negotiations.

Contemporary situation
Despite the ceasefire, casualties between Armenian and Azeri forces continued. In 2009, several world leaders met in Munich in hopes of a peaceful settlement of Malik's status.

Republic of Armenia (Haig Tooligian)
Main article: Armenia

Malik's estranged father, Haig left Malik to the care of a local family for unknown reasons, but it most probably had something to do with him being weakened by constant wars. When they were finally reunited in 1991, Haig was very surprised to see that his son was capable of standing on his own two feet. After a lengthy explanation, Haig and Malik maintain a close father-son relationship.

Republic of Azerbaijan (Marina Mizemehemmedova)
Main article: Azerbaijan

Malik's greatest problem in his life, Marina is the reason why Malik became a war freak. After the Soviet Union broke up, Malik declared himself independent of Marina's house, and he was forced to fight her when her boss Heydar Aliyev refused to recognize his declaration. He captured her left boot during the war, and he has refused to return it until now, which is messing up Haig and Marina's diplomatic relations a little.

Russian Federation (Ivan Braginski)
Main article: Russia

Ivan is the reason why Malik became an independent and free-spirited person. He gave him a house and country of his own, which seemed a good idea at the time. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Malik thought that having his own house and country was good enough for a declaration of independence. Nowadays, Ivan visits Malik only periodically to check up on him.

Trivia

 * Malik's birthday is listed as January 6, the day that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic declared its independence from Azerbaijan.
 * Malik is a common Arabic name that means either "king" or "owner"; therefore, one can think that Malik is "king/owner" of Nagorno-Karabakh.
 * Malik is insanely tall for an apparent twelve-year-old child, just like his father.
 * Malik's flag is similar to Haig's flag, only that a white sideways chevron has been added. This symbolizes his Armenian heritage, culture, and population, and that he is a separated region (exclave) of Armenia.