The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the same year. In September 1991, the ethnic Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Republic of Artsakh. The region and seven surrounding districts, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh through negotiations facilitated by the OSCE, became ''de facto'' independent with the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994.