113-636: Khudafarin Bridges or Khoda Afarin Bridges ( Azerbaijani : Xudafərin körpüləri , Persian : پل خداآفرین ), are two arch bridges located at the border of Azerbaijan and Iran connecting the northern and southern banks of the Aras River . Communication between the Caucasus and the historical Iranian region of Azerbaijan has long been hampered by the Aras River . Therefore, bridges have been built over it since ancient times. The Khudafarin bridge
226-429: A 2011 study, 30 Turkish participants were tested to determine how well they understood written and spoken Azerbaijani. It was found that even though Turkish and Azerbaijani are typologically similar languages, on the part of Turkish speakers the intelligibility is not as high as is estimated. In a 2017 study, Iranian Azerbaijanis scored in average 56% of receptive intelligibility in spoken Turkish. Azerbaijani exhibits
339-465: A chance to get in touch with mahals under his control. " The sole place in whole Karabakh was Shusha lowland, which was a natural fort surrounded by inaccessible rocks ". Baharli, the historian of Karabakh, stated that the space selected for the construction of the new fort was surrounded all around, except the east, by dense forests. The area of the fortress is divided into the ravines completed by valleys. The ravines allow natural water to flow out of
452-449: A degree mutually intelligible, though it is easier for a speaker of Azerbaijani to understand Turkish than the other way around. Turkish soap operas are very popular with Azeris in both Iran and Azerbaijan. Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran (who spoke South Azerbaijani) met with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey (who spoke Turkish) in 1934; the two were filmed speaking their respective languages to each other and communicated effectively. In
565-513: A good defensive role for Shusha. " E. Avalov notes that all the defensive buildings of the Karabakh khanate built in the 18th century – Shahbulag , Shusha and Askeran fortresses – have round towers. The artist Georg Wilhelm Timm , who lived in the Caucasus from the autumn of 1848 to December 1850, painted the northern walls of the fortress in a painting called "Shusha fortress" almost from
678-453: A great value as local building materials for the construction of the fortress. Although the fortress walls were vital to the city during the continuous feudal wars, their construction required to spend a large part of the city budget. The choice of a mountainous area for the construction of the town of Shusha also allowed to save some money for the construction of the walls. Rocky cliffs caused an inaccessible environment in almost two-thirds of
791-657: A literary language in the 14th century through poetry and other works. One ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu state, Jahanshah , wrote poems in Azerbaijani language with the nickname "Haqiqi". Sultan Yaqub , a ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu state, wrote poems in the Azerbaijani language. The ruler and poet Ismail I wrote under the pen name Khatā'ī (which means "sinner" in Persian ) during the fifteenth century. During
904-498: A much larger number of Persian and Arabic loanwords, phrases and syntactic elements. Early writings in Azerbaijani also demonstrate linguistic interchangeability between Oghuz and Kypchak elements in many aspects (such as pronouns, case endings, participles, etc.). As Azerbaijani gradually moved from being merely a language of epic and lyric poetry to being also a language of journalism and scientific research , its literary version has become more or less unified and simplified with
1017-403: A new fort and thus he decided to build Shusha fortress. Ahmad bey Javanshir noted that " The eternally impassable, inaccessible place chosen for construction of the fort would not allow even the strongest enemy to besiege it ". The construction of a new fortress required such a location that one of its sides would be open to be in contact with elats as well as would provide Panah Ali Khan with
1130-535: A non-syllabic / v / can also be pronounced after the aforementioned diphthongs, to form / ou̯v / and / œy̯v / , the rules of which are as follows: Modern linguists who have examined Azerbaijani's vowel system almost unanimously have recognised that diphthongs are phonetically produced in speech. Before 1929, Azerbaijani was written only in the Perso-Arabic alphabet , an impure abjad that does not represent all vowels (without diacritical marks ). In Iran,
1243-477: A result, the area of Ternekut best known as Shahbulag , which was a foothill located near Shahbulag spring (10 km away from Aghdam ), was preferred. The 19th-century Karabakh historians stated that fortress, stone houses, mosque, bath and bazaar was built in accord with Panah Ali Khan's instructions. The information related to the construction of civil and religious buildings in Shahbulag can be found in
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#17327729457931356-516: A similar stress pattern to Turkish but simpler in some respects. Azerbaijani is a strongly stressed and partially stress-timed language, unlike Turkish which is weakly stressed and syllable-timed . Below are some cognates with different spelling in Azerbaijani and Turkish: The 1st person personal pronoun is mən in Azerbaijani just as men in Turkmen , whereas it is ben in Turkish. The same
1469-629: A staging area for military operations and a means of transportation during two wars, and it was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. In 1805, the Qajar shah (king) of Iran, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ( r. 1797–1834 ) discovered that the Karabakh khan Ibrahim Khalil Khan had defected from the Iranian government and joined the Russian forces. He therefore dispatched the crown prince Abbas Mirza and
1582-607: A unique place was related to the strategic importance that the complex mountainous area had. At the beginning of the 18th century, on the eve of the formation of Khanates of the Caucasus , large centers of the traditional school of architecture such as Nakhchivan, Ganja, Shamakhi, were in the period of decline. In the period when Azerbaijan was divided into smaller territories, these centers of architecture lost their power of influence. New capital cities were in need of construction of palaces, castles, and forts. Therefore, feudal lords were forced to make local rural architects involve in
1695-938: Is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch. It is spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people , who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan , where the North Azerbaijani variety is spoken, while Iranian Azerbaijanis in the Azerbaijan region of Iran , speak the South Azerbaijani variety . Azerbaijani has official status in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan (a federal subject of Russia ), but it does not have official status in Iran, where
1808-444: Is a fortress surrounding the historical centre of Shusha , also called Shushi. The newly conquered castle town was called " Panahabad fortress" named after Panah Ali Khan who together with Melik Shahnazar was the founder of the fort. In later years, the city was just called "Fortress". A settlement at Shusha is first recorded in a 15th-century illustrated Armenian gospel which mentions the "Shushu village". The area where
1921-477: Is as follows: The modern Azerbaijani Latin alphabet contains the digraphs ov and öv to represent diphthongs present in the language, and the pronunciation of diphthongs is today accepted as the norm in the orthophony of Azerbaijani. Despite this, the number and even the existence of diphthongs in Azerbaijani has been disputed, with some linguists, such as Abdulazal Damirchizade [ az ] , arguing that they are non-phonemic. Damirchizade's view
2034-563: Is because there is a strong tu-vous distinction in Turkic languages like Azerbaijani and Turkish (as well as in many other languages). The informal "you" is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal "you" is used when talking to someone who is older than the speaker or to show respect (to a professor, for example). Shusha fortress The Shusha fortress ( Azerbaijani : Şuşa qalası , Persian : قلعه شوش ) or Shushi fortress ( Armenian : Շուշիի բերդ )
2147-641: Is certain that Russian and Iranian words (sic), respectively, have entered the vocabulary on either side of the Araxes river, but this has not occurred to an extent that it could pose difficulties for communication". There are numerous dialects, with 21 North Azerbaijani dialects and 11 South Azerbaijani dialects identified by Ethnologue. Three varieties have been accorded ISO 639-3 language codes: North Azerbaijani, South Azerbaijani and Qashqai . The Glottolog 4.1 database classifies North Azerbaijani, with 20 dialects, and South Azerbaijani, with 13 dialects, under
2260-557: Is close to present-day Azeri- Türki . ), Afshari (often considered a separate language ), Shahsavani (sometimes considered its own dialect, distinct from other Turkic languages of northwestern Iran ), Baharlu (Kamesh), Moqaddam, Nafar, Qaragozlu, Pishagchi, Bayat, Qajar, Tabriz ". Russian comparatist Oleg Mudrak [ ru ] calls the Turkmen language the closest relative of Azerbaijani. Speakers of Turkish and Azerbaijani can, to an extent, communicate with each other as both languages have substantial variation and are to
2373-651: Is common throughout former USSR countries). The Shirvan dialect as spoken in Baku is the basis of standard Azerbaijani. Since 1992, it has been officially written with a Latin script in the Republic of Azerbaijan, but the older Cyrillic script was still widely used in the late 1990s. Ethnologue lists 21 North Azerbaijani dialects: "Quba, Derbend, Baku, Shamakhi, Salyan, Lenkaran, Qazakh, Airym, Borcala, Terekeme , Qyzylbash , Nukha, Zaqatala (Mugaly), Qabala, Nakhchivan, Ordubad, Ganja, Shusha (Karabakh), Karapapak , Kutkashen, Kuba". South Azerbaijani, or Iranian Azerbaijani,
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#17327729457932486-411: Is completed by a fault is also the center of a large amphitheater, with one wing reaching south and crossing Jidir Plain , then extends to the north from where it rounds to the south, and is completed by a ravine. All the outer edges of Shusha plateau are sharply surrounded by hard rocks descending into Dashalticay and Khalfalichay . According to "Qafqaz" newspaper, the main reason for choosing such
2599-796: Is encountered in many dialects of the Turkmen language and may be observed in such words as: boyun > moyın in Yomut – Gunbatar dialect, büdüremek > müdüremek in Ersari and Stavropol Turkmens' dialects, bol > mol in Karakalpak Turkmens' dialects, buzav > mizov in Kirac dialects. Here are some words from the Swadesh list to compare Azerbaijani with Turkmen: Azerbaijani dialects share paradigms of verbs in some tenses with
2712-666: Is from Turkish Azeri which is used for the people ( azerice being used for the language in Turkish), itself from Persian آذری, Āzarī. The term is also used for Old Azeri , the ancient Iranian language spoken in the region until the 17th century. Azerbaijani evolved from the Eastern branch of Oghuz Turkic ("Western Turkic") which spread to the Caucasus, in Eastern Europe , and northern Iran, in Western Asia , during
2825-418: Is located in the middle of the fortress walls – between Aghoghlan and İrevan Gates. Ganja Gate has survived in a better condition to the present day compared to the other gates of Shusha fortress. The masonry woven from white and black stones in the shape of a checkerboard and a fir effectively surrounds the arched entrance of the castle. There are symmetrical traces of the fake and demolished window exits over
2938-501: Is spelled Buş and Schröder becomes Şröder . Hyphenation across lines directly corresponds to spoken syllables, except for geminated consonants which are hyphenated as two separate consonants as morphonology considers them two separate consonants back to back but enunciated in the onset of the latter syllable as a single long consonant, as in other Turkic languages . Some samples include: Secular: Invoking deity: Azerbaijani has informal and formal ways of saying things. This
3051-634: Is still written in Cyrillic script. The Azerbaijani Latin alphabet is based on the Turkish Latin alphabet. In turn, the Turkish Latin alphabet was based on former Azerbaijani Latin alphabet because of their linguistic connections and mutual intelligibility. The letters Әə , Xx , and Qq are available only in Azerbaijani for sounds which do not exist as separate phonemes in Turkish. Northern Azerbaijani, unlike Turkish, respells foreign names to conform with Latin Azerbaijani spelling, e.g. Bush
3164-529: Is strategically important and is considered one of the historical main points of contact between the Caucasus and the Iranian Azerbaijan. This bridge has also been called the "Khosrow Bridge" and "Aras Bridge" in chronicles. The bridge is first attested in the first half of the 14th century, in the Nuzhat al-Qulub by the Iranian geographer Hamdallah Mustawfi . The origin of the bridge's name has been
3277-527: Is the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan . It is closely related to modern-day Istanbul Turkish, the official language of Turkey. It is also spoken in southern Dagestan , along the Caspian coast in the southern Caucasus Mountains and in scattered regions throughout Central Asia . As of 2011 , there are some 9.23 million speakers of North Azerbaijani including 4 million monolingual speakers (many North Azerbaijani speakers also speak Russian, as
3390-402: Is true for demonstrative pronouns bu , where sound b is replaced with sound m . For example: bunun > munun / mının , muna / mına , munu / munı , munda / mında , mundan / mından . This is observed in the Turkmen literary language as well, where the demonstrative pronoun bu undergoes some changes just as in: munuñ , munı , muña , munda , mundan , munça . b > m replacement
3503-717: Is widely spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan and, to a lesser extent, in neighboring regions of Turkey and Iraq , with smaller communities in Syria . In Iran , the Persian word for Azerbaijani is borrowed as Torki "Turkic". In Iran, it is spoken mainly in East Azerbaijan , West Azerbaijan , Ardabil and Zanjan . It is also spoken in Tehran and across the Tehran Province , as Azerbaijanis form by far
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3616-679: The Chuvash language , on which linguists also rely in the study and reconstruction of the Khazar language . Azerbaijani phonotactics is similar to that of other Oghuz Turkic languages, except: Works on Azerbaijani dialectology use the following notations for dialectal consonants: Examples: The vowels of the Azerbaijani are, in alphabetical order, a /ɑ/ , e /e/ , ə /æ/ , ı /ɯ/ , i /i/ , o /o/ , ö /œ/ , u /u/ , ü /y/ . The typical phonetic quality of South Azerbaijani vowels
3729-544: The Eastern Anatolia Region and all over Iran from the 16th to the early 20th centuries, alongside cultural, administrative, court literature, and most importantly official language (along with Azerbaijani) of all these regions, namely Persian . From the early 16th century up to the course of the 19th century, these regions and territories were all ruled by the Safavids , Afsharids , and Qajars until
3842-958: The Kipchak-Turkic language of the same name), the dialect of the Ayrïm (Āyrom) tribe (which, however, resembles Turkish ), and the dialect spoken in the region of the Borchala river ; (3) northern group: Zakataly , Nukha , and Kutkashen ; (4) southern group: Yerevan (Īravān), Nakhichevan (Naḵjavān), and Ordubad (Ordūbād); (5) central group: Ganja (Kirovabad) and Shusha ; (6) North Iraqi dialects ; (7) Northwest Iranian dialects: Tabrīz , Reżāʾīya ( Urmia ), etc., extended east to about Qazvīn ; (8) Southeast Caspian dialect ( Galūgāh ). Optionally, we may adjoin as Azeri (or "Azeroid") dialects: (9) East Anatolian , (10) Qašqāʾī , (11) Aynallū, (12) Sonqorī , (13) dialects south of Qom , (14) Kabul Afšārī . North Azerbaijani, or Northern Azerbaijani,
3955-554: The South Caucasus , where semi-autonomous khanates emerged as a result of the lack of a centralized government, one of them being the Karabakh Khanate . Each of these khanates, which was implementing their own policies and trying to develop their economy, had a center to control the areas that was under their supervisory. This period was associated with several complicated events in the military-political history of
4068-430: The South Caucasus . Some of them are as follows: 1. Forty Years’ War (1709–1749) had not yet ended. 2. The wars and the uprisings of peasants in feudal society were frequent. 3. The region was being attacked by Turks and Iranians. In such a situation, khanates were mainly in need of a well-fortified capital city because they had to maintain their territorial integrity and political independence. Therefore,
4181-476: The "Karabakhname" (the important historical source to investigate the history of Karabakh Khanate), note that it is doubtful the date of the foundation of Shusha fortress was given as 1170 according to Islamic calendar . According to mentioned historians, Mirza Jamal Javanshir did not indicate the date of the foundation of the fortress correctly, and his mistake was repeated by Ahmad bey Javanshir and Mirza Adigozal bey in their own works. According to their notes,
4294-425: The 16th century, the poet, writer and thinker Fuzûlî wrote mainly in Azerbaijani but also translated his poems into Arabic and Persian . Starting in the 1830s, several newspapers were published in Iran during the reign of the Azerbaijani speaking Qajar dynasty , but it is unknown whether any of these newspapers were written in Azerbaijani. In 1875, Akinchi ( Əkinçi / اکينچی ) ("The Ploughman") became
4407-552: The Azerbaijani macrolanguage with "significant differences in phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and loanwords" between the two. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) considers Northern and Southern Azerbaijani to be distinct languages. Linguists Mohammad Salehi and Aydin Neysani write that "there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility" between North and South Azerbaijani. Svante Cornell wrote in his 2001 book Small Nations and Great Powers that "it
4520-671: The Caucasus. They base their argument on the Achaemenid era's advancement and growth in road building as well as their campaigns throughout the Caucasus. Other historians consider the bridge that the Shaddadid ruler Abu'l-Aswar Shavur ibn Fadl ( r. 1022–1067 ) erected in 1027 over the Aras River during his march to the Caucasus to be the Khudafarin bridge. Others consider the bridge's architectural design to date back to
4633-600: The Iranian languages in what is now northwestern Iran, and a variety of languages of the Caucasus and Iranian languages spoken in the Caucasus , particularly Udi and Old Azeri . By the beginning of the 16th century, it had become the dominant language of the region. It was one of the spoken languages in the court of the Safavids , Afsharids and Qajars . The historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods: early ( c. 14th to 18th century) and modern (18th century to present). Early Azerbaijani differs from its descendant in that it contained
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4746-699: The Latin script and not South Azerbaijani written in the Perso-Arabic script. Modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is primarily based on the Shirvani dialect, while in the Iranian Azerbaijan region (historic Azerbaijan) it is based on the Tabrizi one. An Azerbaijani koine served as a lingua franca throughout most parts of Transcaucasia except the Black Sea coast, in southern Dagestan ,
4859-509: The Modern Azeric family, a branch of Central Oghuz. In the northern dialects of the Azerbaijani language, linguists find traces of the influence of the Khazar language . According to Encyclopedia Iranica : We may distinguish the following Azeri dialects: (1) eastern group: Derbent (Darband), Kuba , Shemakha (Šamāḵī), Baku , Salyani (Salyānī), and Lenkoran (Lankarān), (2) western group: Kazakh (not to be confounded with
4972-600: The Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia) is based on the Shirvani dialect, while South Azerbaijani uses variety of regional dialects. Since the Republic of Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Northern Azerbaijani has used the Latin script. On the other hand, South Azerbaijani has always used and continues to use the Perso-Arabic script . Azerbaijani is closely related to Turkmen , Turkish , Gagauz , and Qashqai , being mutually intelligible with each of these languages to varying degrees. Historically,
5085-498: The Shusha fortress was built is a mountainous plateau in the form of amphitheater from the west with numerous hills and rifts. The highest area of plateau is 1600 metres and the lowest area is 1300 metres above sea level. At present, the territory of Shusha city consists of plateau with a hill located lengthwise in its center. The architecture of Shusha fortress represents basic principles of architecture of feudal period in terms of both
5198-408: The appearance of inner part of the fortress was introduced by Vasily Vereshchagin's painting " The End of Dramatic Play " in 1865. The background of the painting depicts inner part of the fortress and the buildings there. E. Avalov notes that many buildings located in the inner part of Shusha fortress were destroyed in the period when the drawing was painted. The parts of walls of the inner fortress and
5311-455: The architecture of Shaki and Karabakh khanates. The architecture of Shusha fortress represents basic principles of architecture of feudal period in terms of both the choice of location, structural planning and the artistic appearance of the fort. Ahmad bey Javanshir says: When you look up from the north-east to Shusha (from the location where 3 verst left to get there), the steep cliffs with magnificent castle walls and towers remind you of
5424-399: The area of Shahbulag, especially the architecture of castle and mosque, had a significant impact on the subsequent building process in Shusha. Almost all fortresses in Shusha used the features of the Shahbulag castle again in terms of architectural planning and the structure of volume-space. Later, however, the relatives of Panah Khan advised him to choose a safer place for the construction of
5537-489: The areas of Karabakh, Zangezur and Bargushad. In 1748, Panah Ali Khan ordered to start the construction of Bayat castle near Barda . Panah Ali Khan were willing to build " a fortress where his family can live and he can protect the people in the case of invasion by enemies ". Therefore, Bayat castle was surrounded by deep ditches and thick exterior walls. Bayat castle, which was built with fired bricks, features Khan's palace, mosque, bazaar , bath and houses. Following
5650-402: The article, Aghoghlan and İrevan gates were intended for the passage of dignitaries and cargo but Ganja gate were used for the passage of carts. Although some sources mentioned that there was the fourth gate of the castle walls, its location and name have not been determined. Architects have long considered that the acquaintance with the city began with its castle walls, and the architecture of
5763-514: The author, it is possible to explain in two ways the reason why the fortress does not have a well-developed inner part. The first one is the natural strategic location of Shusha plateau, and the other one is related to the existence of the safekeeping of an ancient rock-palace located in Dashalty Gorge (outside the limits of the city), which is difficult to pass, and a defense castle in the rock cave across it. According to Ahmad bey Javanshir,
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#17327729457935876-595: The available evidence, the bridge predates Islam and was present throughout the era of the Sasanian Empire (224–651). From the rise of Islam until the end of the Russo-Iranian War of 1826–1828 , the bridge was the scene of several fights and conflicts. The Khodafarin bridge is frequently cited in accounts of the events of the Russo-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1828. This bridge was used as
5989-403: The beginning of the 19th century (under the complicated historical conditions), Shusha fortress continued to play the role of an important defense system. At that time, the city was in danger of being captured by Qajar army. Therefore, the new Russian administration paid special attention to strengthening the defense system. During the invasion of Shusha by Qajar army in 1826, the defensive walls of
6102-445: The bridge is not straight in the plan, but has a certain curvature. The length of the 15-span bridge is about 200 meters, width – 4.5 m. The highest point of the bridge is 10 m above the water level. The breakwaters protecting the bridge abutments are triangular in plan and are built of river cobblestone. On the reverse side, the breakwaters have a semicircular shape. Abutments of the 11-span bridge were also built of rock outcrops. In
6215-416: The cave connected the castle with Shusha fortress by a secret underground road. According to the main plan of Shusha whose exact date is unknown, during the later development of the fortress, the inner part with a large complex of buildings and surrounded by castle walls and towers was built on a high hill near Ganja Gate of the fortress. The Khan's Palaces, including the palace of Khurshidbanu Natavan who
6328-482: The cession of Transcaucasia proper and Dagestan by Qajar Iran to the Russian Empire per the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan and the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay . Per the 1829 Caucasus School Statute, Azerbaijani was to be taught in all district schools of Ganja , Shusha , Nukha (present-day Shaki ), Shamakhi , Quba , Baku , Derbent , Yerevan , Nakhchivan , Akhaltsikhe , and Lankaran . Beginning in 1834, it
6441-433: The choice of location, structural planning and the artistic appearance of the fort. Shusha fortress had three main gates: Ganja Gate , Iravan Gate and Aghoghlan Gate . The names of all these gates are often mentioned in historical sources, as well as in all the drawn plans of 19th-century Shusha. Following the assassination of Nader Shah ( r. 1736–1747 ) in 1747, internal chaos erupted in Iran, particularly in
6554-412: The city was determined by these walls. Therefore, in terms of architectural composition, the main (northern) gate of Shusha fortress is reminiscent of the arch of victory. A similar attitude to the artistic significance of defense systems is characteristic of the architecture (in terms of fortresses) of Azerbaijan , Dagestan , Armenia , Georgia, Central Asia and Ancient Russia . The gate built during
6667-404: The city was simply called " Fortress ". After a while, the people called the fortress as Shusha fortress, and later only Shusha. The name "Shusha" was probably derived from the name of Shushikend , which is near the place where the fortress was built. There is no exact information regarding the definite date of construction of fortress. A. Alasgarzadeh and E. Shukurzadeh, who edited and published
6780-425: The city were in need of serious reconstruction: " At that time, Shusha fortress was in a very dilapidated condition: some of its defensive walls had collapsed, and some of them had been demolished by local residents and stones had been carried to build houses for these citizens; the trenches were almost full… It was necessary to make Shusha capable of defense. " Using the 10-day peace treaty, the besieged city " rebuilt
6893-469: The construction of cities. As a result, these architects had a significant impact on the architecture of new cities built in Azerbaijan in the middle of the 18th century. The main buildings of these cities are characterized by the lack of monumentality and the fact that the building materials are not well-hewn stones, which are especially observed in the buildings of Medieval Period . At the same time,
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#17327729457937006-485: The construction of such fortified cities was primarily driven by the demand of military-political situation. Panah Ali khan who founded the Karabakh Khanate with the support of Armenian Melik Shahnazar in 1747 decided to build a fortress which would help him to control this large country extending from The Aras River to Lake Sevan , from The Tartar River to Meghri , Tatev and Sisian and including
7119-430: The defense system. Therefore, Shusha is one of the best examples of how the strategic factor influences the choice of territory. The testimony of many witnesses proves the success of the site chosen for the construction of the fortress. G. Keppel, the famous English traveler who visited Karabakh in the 19th century, noted the successful strategic location of the Shusha plateau. He writes: " The natural superior position –
7232-423: The eastern side of Shusha fortress and provide access to the lower part of the city. The road leading through this gate connected Shusha city with the villages of Shushakend and Mukhtar and extended to Aghoghlan castle. In all Russian-language sources of the 19th century, the southern gate of Shusha was mentioned as Aghoghlan Gate. According to a road map attached to "Qafqaz təqvimi" published in 1846, Shusha fortress
7345-464: The entrance is arched. According to the sources, at the same time with the construction of Shusha fortress, a castle was built for Panah Ali Khan inside the fortress. E. Avalov notes that the construction of fortress walls for each of the palaces built for members of the khan's family indicates the absence of inner part of Shusha fortress in the early period. From this point of view, Shusha fortress differs from Shaki and Ganja fortresses. According to
7458-458: The entrance. There are loopholes or tower chimneys among them. The ordering of fake and real window exits was widely used in the architecture of that period to compose the facades of public buildings, and it was adopted by architects as a result of civil architecture . İrevan Gate or Khalfali Gate is one of three main gates of Shusha Fortress and is located on the western side of the fortress. The road through this gate connected Shusha city with
7571-577: The era of the Seljuk Empire (1037–1194). According to Hamdallah Mustawfi, the bridge was built by Bukayr ibn Abdallah , one of the Arab commanders who led the conquest of Iranian Azerbaijan ( Adurbadagan ) during the rise of Islam. The Iranian historian Hassan Mousavizadeh considers this unlikely, stating that the Arabs did not have experience with bridge building at the time. He states that, based on
7684-520: The first Azerbaijani newspaper to be published in the Russian Empire . It was started by Hasan bey Zardabi , a journalist and education advocate. Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar is an important figure in Azerbaijani poetry. His most important work is Heydar Babaya Salam and it is considered to be a pinnacle of Azerbaijani literature and gained popularity in the Turkic-speaking world. It
7797-406: The fort, Shusha fortress was continuously reconstructed and expanded until the middle of the 19th century. After the death of Panah Ali Khan, Ibrahim Khalil Khan (his son) also continued the construction of the fortress started by his father. During his reign (1759–1806) and after the annexation of the Karabakh khanate to the Russian Empire , the fortification of Shusha fortress was expanded. At
7910-495: The fort. The towers of the northern walls of the Shusha fortress, seen in the background in Vasily Vereshchagin's painting " The End of Dramatic Play ", have a prismatic shape, not a circle as in all the previous plans of the city. Platon Zubov also wrote about the battle towers of the Shusha fortress: " The castle walls built to protect the city from the north have the round towers erected in an old way and playing
8023-458: The fortress walls in such a way that it could easily repel the attacks of numerous Persian warriors. " Because it was successfully rebuilt, its walls could not be destroyed even by the English cannons used during the siege. During the reconstruction and strengthening process of the fortress in the 19th century, its original appearance was partially changed, and new defensive towers were added to
8136-483: The fortress, so it reduces the possibility of flooding to zero in Shusha, where the rainy and foggy weather is characteristic. Due to the lack of flowing water sources in Shusha plateau (except a few springs), numerous groundwater wells were drilled to meet the needs of the castle population for water. One of the most important features of the Shusha plateau was its richness of well-hewn stones used for construction and forests. All of these played an important role and had
8249-400: The founder of Varlıq , Javad Heyat , in 2001 where a document outlining the standard orthography and writing conventions were published for the public. This standard of writing is today canonized by a Persian–Azeri Turkic dictionary in Iran titled Loghatnāme-ye Torki-ye Āzarbāyjāni . Between 1929 and 1938, a Latin alphabet was in use for North Azerbaijani, although it was different from
8362-434: The involvement of architects who are not well known in the building process of cities had a major advantage: they were somewhat acquainted with local building materials and had certain information about how to apply them in construction. They combined the traditions of the old schools of architecture with the works of folk architects in the architecture of new cities. The most interesting syntheses of this period are observed in
8475-607: The language was referred to by its native speakers as türk dili or türkcə , meaning either "Turkish" or "Turkic". In the early years following the establishment of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , the language was still referred to as "Turkic" in official documents. However, in the 1930s, its name was officially changed to "Azerbaijani". The language is often still referred to as Turki or Torki in Iranian Azerbaijan . The term "Azeri", generally interchangeable with "Azerbaijani",
8588-409: The largest minority in the city and the wider province, comprising about 1 ⁄ 6 of its total population. The CIA World Factbook reports that in 2010, the percentage of Iranian Azerbaijani speakers was at around 16 percent of the Iranian population, or approximately 13 million people worldwide, and ethnic Azeris form by far the second largest ethnic group of Iran, thus making the language also
8701-595: The latter's deputy Mirza Bozorg Qa'em-Maqam to bring Ibrahim Khalil Khan under control. The Russian general Pavel Tsitsianov deployed some troops to stop Abbas Mirza's soldiers from advancing at the base of the Khudafarin bridge in an effort to aid Ibrahim Khalil Khan. However, Abbas Mirza's forces eventually overcame the Russians and took control of the Shusha fortress , Ibrahim Khalil Khan's government headquarters. Today, there are two bridges called Khudafarin Bridges in
8814-413: The legendary giants with crowned head. During the construction of Shusha fortress, the architect took mainly into account the local relief, and this is also clearly seen in the plans of the city drawn in the 19th century. Therefore, the landscape of Shusha dictated the line of the castle walls and defined the boundaries of all these walls. The battle towers of Shusha fortress stick out from the surface of
8927-529: The location in the almost inaccessible peak of the high hill – caused the need for human defense to play a less important role in the city. " Count Platon Zubov who described Shusha fortress at the top of the Caucasus Mountains also stated its natural strategic advantage. The high cliffs surrounding the Shusha plateau on three sides – south, west and east – rise above each other in different directions and they are " completely inaccessible " from all
9040-524: The loss of many archaic Turkic elements, stilted Iranisms and Ottomanisms, and other words, expressions, and rules that failed to gain popularity among the Azerbaijani masses. The Russian annexation of Iran 's territories in the Caucasus through the Russo-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 split the language community across two states. Afterwards, the Tsarist administration encouraged
9153-543: The majority of Iranian Azerbaijani people live. Azerbaijani is also spoken to lesser varying degrees in Azerbaijani communities of Georgia and Turkey and by diaspora communities, primarily in Europe and North America. Although there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between both forms of Azerbaijani, there are significant differences in phonology , lexicon , morphology , syntax , and sources of loanwords . The standardized form of North Azerbaijani (spoken in
9266-435: The medieval Turkic migrations . Persian and Arabic influenced the language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through the intermediary of literary Persian. Azerbaijani is, perhaps after Uzbek , the Turkic language upon which Persian and other Iranian languages have exerted the strongest impact—mainly in phonology, syntax, and vocabulary, less in morphology. The Turkic language of Azerbaijan gradually supplanted
9379-679: The middle part of the river, the spans are longer and, consequently, higher, and closer to the banks, the spans are smaller in both width and height. The total length of this bridge is 130 m, width – 6 m, maximum height – 12 m above the water. The binding solution of the 15-span bridge was made of clay with an admixture of milk. [REDACTED] Media related to Khudafarin Bridges at Wikimedia Commons Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani ( / ˌ æ z ər b aɪ ˈ dʒ æ n i , - ɑː n i / AZ -ər-by- JAN -ee ) or Azeri ( / æ ˈ z ɛər i , ɑː -, ə -/ az- AIR -ee, ah-, ə- ), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish ,
9492-465: The mountain. In the 1870s, the measures were taken to straighten this steep road hindering the development of the economy in Shusha. For this purpose, some rocks which was difficult to pass were destroyed by blasting. V. Vereshchagin , who visited Shusha in 1864–1865, described the difficult, steep, sloping road where five horses hardly pulled a cart. The newly built fortress-city was named Panahabad fortress named after its founder Panah Ali Khan. Later,
9605-493: The one used now. From 1938 to 1991, the Cyrillic script was used. Lastly, in 1991, the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow. For instance, until an Aliyev decree on the matter in 2001, newspapers would routinely write headlines in the Latin script, leaving the stories in Cyrillic. The transition has also resulted in some misrendering of İ as Ì . In Dagestan, Azerbaijani
9718-486: The overuse of Persian, Arabic, and European elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style. The Soviet Union promoted the development of the language but set it back considerably with two successive script changes – from the Persian to Latin and then to the Cyrillic script – while Iranian Azerbaijanis continued to use the Persian script as they always had. Despite
9831-433: The place described by V. Vereshchagin. In his painting, the northern defensive walls are shown with round towers which have loopholes. Shusha fortress had three main gates: Ganja Gate , İrevan Gate and Aghoghlan Gate. The names of all these gates are often mentioned in historical sources, as well as in all the drawn plans of 19th-century Shusha. For example, in the 25th issue of the "Qafqaz" newspaper published in 1871, it
9944-419: The process of standardization of orthography started with the publication of Azerbaijani magazines and newspapers such as Varlıq ( وارلیق — Existence ) from 1979. Azerbaijani-speaking scholars and literarians showed great interest in involvement in such ventures and in working towards the development of a standard writing system. These effort culminated in language seminars being held in Tehran , chaired by
10057-471: The reign of Panah Ali Khan has been called Ganja Gate or Chilabord Gate since the 18th century. The way through his gate of Shusha fortress connected Ganja city with Chilabord district of Karabakh khanate. After the annexation of the Karabakh Khanate to the Russian Empire in 1805, Ganja was renamed Elisabethpol (1804) and Ganja Gate was called Elisabethpol Gate. The Northern Gate of Shusha Fortress
10170-526: The second most spoken language in the nation. Ethnologue reports 10.9 million Iranian Azerbaijani in Iran in 2016 and 13,823,350 worldwide. Dialects of South Azerbaijani include: "Aynallu (often considered a separate language ), Karapapakh (often considered a separate language. The second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam mentions that it is close to both "Āzerī and the Turkish of Turkey". The historian George Bournoutian only mentions that it
10283-464: The settlement of Khan's family in Bayat, artists from nearby villages as well as Ardabil and Tabriz moved here. However, Bayat did not remain as Khan's residence for a long time. Despite numerous reinforcement efforts, the castle was still weak against the attacks of foreigners. Taking into account the threat, Panah Ali Khan started to look for a strategically more favorable area to build a new fort. As
10396-414: The sides except the north. The height of the rocks surrounding the Shusha plateau even reaches up to 400 meters in some places. Russian military historian Vasily Potto described 48-day defense of Shusha against the army led by Qajar crown prince Abbas Mirza and also noted the topographical characteristics of Shusha: " The fort, which was in a dilapidated condition but impassable due to its position,
10509-641: The spread of Azerbaijani in eastern Transcaucasia as a replacement for Persian spoken by the upper classes, and as a measure against Persian influence in the region. Between c. 1900 and 1930, there were several competing approaches to the unification of the national language in what is now the Azerbaijan Republic, popularized by scholars such as Hasan bey Zardabi and Mammad agha Shahtakhtinski . Despite major differences, they all aimed primarily at making it easy for semi-literate masses to read and understand literature . They all criticized
10622-450: The start of the construction of Shusha fortress dates back to 1751 or the second half of 1770. E. Avalov notes that Molla Panah Vagif , the poet and vizier of the Karabakh khan, personally supervised the construction of Shusha fortress. Karabakh historian Hasan Ali Khan Garadaghi writes: " Under the direct control of Molla Panah Vagif, several buildings including Shusha fortress were built in Shusha. " The area in which Shusha fortress
10735-501: The subject of several stories, most of which are mixed with mythology. According to the 18th-century Iranian historian Mohammad Kazem Marvi, the bridge is known as "Khudafarin" ("God created") because during the Ilkhanate era (1256–1335), fruitless efforts were made to build the bridge, until one day, the bridge suddenly appeared, having been created by the unseen . The bridge's history and date cannot be precisely confirmed because it
10848-462: The vicinity, one is small and the other bigger. The engineering and architectural features of these two bridges differ from one another. The age of little bridge is unknown, although most scholars have suggested that it dates to the Safavid era (1501–1736). These two bridges are currently closed on both sides of Iran's and Azerbaijan's borders. The first description of the 15-span bridge was given in
10961-484: The village of Khalfali and the city Yerevan—or Iravan (İrevan) , as it is known in Persian and Azerbaijani . İrevan Gate, like the other two gates of Shusha fortress, was mentioned in all the plans of Shusha drawn in the 19th century. Unlike Ganja Gate, İrevan Gate was composed in a more traditional way; The arched door was reinforced with two-tiered battle towers placed symmetrically on both sides. Aghoghlan Gate, Mukhtar Gate or Shushakend Gate are located on
11074-525: The walls, and even it can be said that they are built almost outside the walls, which causes the good protection of the walls. Straight walls between the towers were erected to open a fire in Shusha fortress as well as in Chirag Gala, Baku and Bughurt fortresses. The defensive walls of Shusha were made of stone and lime and are 2.5 km long. Mirza Yusif Nersesov and Platon Zubov noted that Shusha fortress had special loopholes. The use of artillery
11187-571: The wide use of Azerbaijani in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , it became the official language of Azerbaijan only in 1956. After independence, the Republic of Azerbaijan decided to switch back to a modified Latin script. The development of Azerbaijani literature is closely associated with Anatolian Turkish, written in Perso-Arabic script . Examples of its detachment date to the 14th century or earlier. Kadi Burhan al-Din , Hasanoghlu , and Imadaddin Nasimi helped to establish Azerbaiijani as
11300-469: The work "the Art of Iran" published in 1938 under the editorship of A. Pope. The work also includes a schematic drawing of the bridge. A. Sadikhzade was the first Azerbaijani scientist to study the bridges on the spot and perform their visual measurements, publishing the results of research in 1963 in the "History of Azerbaijani architecture". A detailed study of the remains of the bridges and their measurements
11413-479: The works of Mirza Yousif Karabakhi and Mirza Jamal Javanshir . M. J. Javanshir noted "In the section about monuments and buildings erected by the order of deceased Panal Ali Khan" in his " The History of Karabakh " book: " Shahbulag fortress, mosque near the fort, bath, other buildings and bazaar were built by the order of Panah Ali khan" . The khan, who moved to a new castle and fortified his positions, instructed to destroy his former headquarters. Construction in
11526-462: Was also taken into account during the construction of Shusha fortress, which was a great strategic advantage. This statement was confirmed by the historian Yakhov Zakharyants who took part in the defense of Shusha fortress in the late 18th century: " At 6.00 a.m., after the soldiers gathered in Dovteleb, the fire was opened by artillery placed in all the sides. " During the period of foundation of
11639-418: Was built is a mountainous plateau in the form of amphitheater from the west with numerous hills and rifts. The highest area of plateau is 1600 m and the lowest area is 1300 m above sea level. At present, the territory of Shusha city consists of plateau with a hill located lengthwise in its center. The plateau which turns sharply to the east reaches the hill that dominate the whole area in the west. The hill which
11752-458: Was challenged by others, such as Aghamusa Akhundov [ az ] , who argued that Damirchizade was taking orthography as the basis of his judgement, rather than its phonetic value. According to Akhundov, Azerbaijani contains two diphthongs, / ou̯ / and / œy̯ / , represented by ov and öv in the alphabet, both of which are phonemic due to their contrast with / o / and / œ / , represented by o and ö . In some cases,
11865-497: Was connected to Aghoghlan castle by the road leading through this gate. Another name of this door mentioned in the sources is Topkhana Gate. E. Avalov notes that according to the drawings kept in Russian State Military and Historical Archive , unlike the northern and western gates of the fortress, Aghoghlan Gate located in the east was not fortified with battle towers and had a fairly simple appearance. The form of
11978-474: Was destroyed numerous times throughout history and lacks any stone inscriptions or architectural inscriptions. There has likely been a bridge across the Aras River in this vicinity for a long time. Some historians consider the bridge to have existed since the era of the pre-Islamic Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), during the reign of Cyrus the Great ( r. 550 – 530 BC ), to allow him to cross into
12091-656: Was introduced as a language of study in Kutaisi instead of Armenian. In 1853, Azerbaijani became a compulsory language for students of all backgrounds in all of Transcaucasia with the exception of the Tiflis Governorate . Azerbaijani is one of the Oghuz languages within the Turkic language family . Ethnologue lists North Azerbaijani (spoken mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia) and South Azerbaijani (spoken in Iran, Iraq, and Syria) as two groups within
12204-420: Was made in 1974. The bridges are located at a distance of 800 m from each other. The 11-span bridge is called "Synyg korpu" ("broken bridge"). Architects used river cobblestone (breakwaters and arches) and square baked brick (parapet of the upper part) to build the 15-span bridge. Only natural rock outcrops were used as bridge abutments. The bridge spans have different sizes. Following the terrain structure,
12317-501: Was not in need of a complicated defense plan. " One of the advantages of the site chosen for the construction of the fortress was the good observation and control of all the surrounding areas, which prevented a sudden attack of the enemy. P. Zubov writes: " It is possible to observe the villages, which are scattered along the valley and located on the farthest side from the perspective of Shusha plateau, beautiful vineyards and mountains covered with forests. " V. Potto and A. A. Caspari who
12430-406: Was speaking about the natural impregnability of Shusha fortress also noted that the cliffs which rise to the top, especially in the north-eastern part of the city. They stated that due to these cliffs, " even a few people would be enough to prevent an army consisting of a large number of soldiers as in ancient Thermopylae ". The road from Shusha fortress to Ganja fortress was located on the slope of
12543-418: Was the daughter of Ibrahim Khalil Khan was located inside the fortress. E. Avalov notes that neither the main plan, nor the parts of Shusha plan drawn in 1837, which have survived until the present day, do not specify the exact purpose of each of the buildings inside the fortress. In one of the drawings (drawn in 1847), the whole interior complex was generally called "Khanshi House". General information about
12656-750: Was translated into more than 30 languages. In the mid-19th century, Azerbaijani literature was taught at schools in Baku , Ganja , Shaki , Tbilisi , and Yerevan . Since 1845, it has also been taught in the Saint Petersburg State University in Russia . In 2018, Azerbaijani language and literature programs are offered in the United States at several universities, including Indiana University , UCLA , and University of Texas at Austin . The vast majority, if not all Azerbaijani language courses teach North Azerbaijani written in
12769-493: Was written: " According to Abix's barometric measurements, the northeastern part of the city where the Aghoghlan and Elisabethpol gates are located is 3,886 feet tall, and the southwestern part known as "Shusha Rock" and Irevan Gate are located is 4,705 feet tall. " Even in the 1860s, these gates played an important role in the public life of Shusha, as evidenced by an article published in the «Иллюстрация» newspaper. According to
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