It is a controversial ballot in a bitterly-disputed territory. Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region has been voting on a proposed constitution. It comes 15 years to the day since a referendum in which it declared independence.

But, for the international community, it is not a sovereign state. Nagorno-Karabakh officially remains part of Azerbaijan. This, is despite the fact that it has been controlled by Armenian separatists since armed conflict erupted in the early 1990s.

The fighting was the bloodiest of the separatist wars that broke out when the Soviet Union disintegrated. Some 35,000 people died. A fragile ceasefire has been in force for over a decade. But the conflict is still unresolved and exchanges of gunfire continue.

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