At the heart of the conflict that has led <br />to dozens of deaths in the past week<br />is the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.<br />Nagorno-Karabakh is region <br />of Azerbaijan mostly comprised <br />of ethnic Armenians.<br />After the fall of the Soviet Union, <br />Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from <br />Azerbaijan that has not been recognized internationally.<br />"Conflict has marked the region for the last three decades. The most recent is said to be the most severe since 1994.<br />We are definitely one step away from a large-scale war in the region." Olesya Vartanyan, International Crisis Group, via CBS News.<br />Turkey has backed Azerbaijan in the conflict.<br />Russia is allied militarily with Armenia, <br />though the nation has sold arms to both countries.<br />According to the Armenian <br />Ministry of Defense, one of the country's jets was shot down by a Turkish F-16.<br />F-16s in Turkey have been purchased from the U.S.<br />The U.S. has remained unusually <br />hands-off concerning the conflict.<br />"The flare-up can also be seen as a symptom of a world in which the U.S. is no longer acting to defuse <br />regional conflicts." Thomas de Waal, Carnegie Europe, <br />via CBS News
