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109-550: The centre of the district, the town of Khojaly, was also the site of the Khojaly Massacre , the largest massacre throughout the whole Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . Following the massacre, most of the district was captured and made part of the Askeran Province of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh . Following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war , Azerbaijan recaptured some villages in the district, while most of

218-578: A corridor by which the people could leave, was, nevertheless, left by Armenians. Why then would they begin to shoot?" In later interviews, however, Mutalibov would condemn the Armenians, claiming that they blatantly misinterpreted his words. He also denied ever accusing the Popular Front of Azerbaijan of having anything to do with these events, saying that he only meant that the PFA took advantage of

327-422: A corridor. On 25–26 February 1992, Armenian forces went on the offensive, forcing almost the entire Azerbaijani population of the enclave to flee, and committing what HRW describes as "unconscionable acts of violence against civilians" as they fled. According to HRW, the tragedy struck when "a large column of residents, accompanied by a few dozen retreating fighters, fled the city as it fell to Armenian forces. It

436-612: A curfew three days later. In 1990 the army dispatched special forces units and various other elements to Stepanakert in order to prevent its takeover by Azerbaijani forces. After Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Stepanakert was renamed Khankendi by the Azerbaijani government. Fighting broke out over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which, after three years of war, resulted in Armenian control of

545-555: A result of 3–0. There was also interest in other sports, including basketball and volleyball . Artsakh athletes also took part with the representing teams and athletes in the Pan-Armenian Games , organized in Armenia. As an unrecognized entity, the athletes of Artsakh competed in international sports competitions under the flag of Armenia. Stepanakert was twinned with: The late-19th-century church of Vararakn

654-608: A result of some 10,000 to 15,000 displaced people who lost their homes elsewhere in the Republic of Artsakh during the war. On 19–20 September 2023 Azerbaijan launched a new offensive in the region , which ended in a ceasefire and led to a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians a few days later. By 29 September 2023, police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Artsakh left all their weapons in Stepanakert and completely abandoned

763-552: A result of the shelling of the town, an unascertained number of civilians were killed in Khojaly during the assault. The Armenian side practically refused to tell Memorial observers how many people perished. The refugees in both groups were fired upon, resulting in death of many of them. Those who remained alive dispersed. Running refugees came across Armenian military posts and were fired upon. Some refugees managed to escape to Agdam, while some, mainly women and children (the exact number

872-460: A result of wartime military operations, and were caused by the prevention of the town inhabitants' evacuation by Azerbaijani forces, who shot those attempting to flee. This explanation, however, is widely disputed. Among others, the executive director of Human Rights Watch has stated that: "we place direct responsibility for the civilian deaths with Karabakh Armenian forces. Indeed, neither our report nor that of Memorial includes any evidence to support

981-466: A settlement in the locale called Vararakn ( Armenian : Վարարակն , lit.   'rapid spring'). In 1847, the village was officially renamed from Vararakn to Khankendi by the Russian authorities; however, Vararakn remained the local Armenian name for the town until 1923. Most Azerbaijani sources claim that the settlement was built in late 18th century, as a place of rest for the heads of

1090-630: Is a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan . The city was under the control and the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in the region. The city is located in a valley on the eastern slopes of the Karabakh mountain range, on the left bank of the Qarqarçay (Karkar) river. The area that would become Stepanakert was originally an Armenian settlement named Vararakn . During

1199-484: Is formed from the words Stepan ( Armenian : Ստեփան ) and kert ( Armenian : կերտ , lit.   'created'). According to medieval Armenian sources, the settlement was originally an Armenian village named Vararakn ( Armenian : Վարարակն ). From the 10th–16th centuries, the settlement was a part of the Armenian Principality of Khachen . Over the centuries, it would successively pass into

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1308-430: Is impossible to determine), froze to death while wandering around in mountains, some were captured near the villages of Nakhichevanik and Pirjamal. Helsinki Watch reported that "the militia, still in uniform, and some still carrying their guns, were interspersed with the masses of civilians" and according to eyewitness accounts, there was a shooting between Armenian forces and the Azerbaijani forces who were mixed with

1417-692: Is located on the Karabakh plateau , at an average altitude of 813 m (2,667 ft) above sea level . The city has a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ) according to the Köppen climate classification system and an oceanic climate ( Do ) according to the Trewartha climate classification system. In the month of January, the average temperature drops to 1 °C (34 °F). In July, it averages around 23 °C (73 °F). Extreme temperatures ranged from −15.0 °C (5 °F) on January 8, 1974, to 37.0 °C (99 °F) on July 11, 1978. During

1526-401: Is reported that as they approached the border with Azerbaijan, they came across an Armenian military post and were cruelly fired upon". According to Memorial society, part of the population started leaving Khojaly soon after the assault began, trying to flee towards Agdam, and armed people from the town's garrison were among some of the fleeing groups. People left in two directions: 1) from

1635-404: Is still very much exaggerated, very much. Azerbaijanis needed an excuse to equate a place to Sumgait, but they can not be compared. Yes, in fact, was in Khojaly civilians, but along with the civilians were soldiers. [W]hen a shell is flying through the air, it doesn't distinguish between a civilian resident and a soldier; it doesn't have eyes. If the civilian population stays there, even though there

1744-513: The 366th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of United Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States . took part in the attack on Khojaly. Memorial called for an investigation of the facts of participation of CIS soldiers in the military operations in the region and transfer of military equipment to the sides of the conflict. Soon after the massacre, in early March 1992, the regiment was withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh. Paratroopers evacuated

1853-476: The Israeli Center for Near East Policy Research, Armenia's non-recognition of the Khojaly massacre was an "impediment for peace" in the region, and that the "same state that perpetrated that crime against humanity" is continuing to not take responsibility for their actions. To date, no one has been prosecuted for the massacre in Khojaly. In November 2019, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called

1962-534: The Karabakh Khanate . In the first years, it was known as "Khan's village" ( Azerbaijani : Xanın kəndi ) because only the khan's family and his relatives lived there. By the 19th century, the settlement was renamed Khankendi ("village of the khan" in Azerbaijani ). The town was renamed Stepanakert ("city of Stepan") in 1923, after Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary Stepan Shahumian . The name

2071-429: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . Mentioning that "there are no exact figures for the number of Azeri civilians killed because Karabakh Armenian forces gained control of the area after the massacre", HRW estimated the number of Azerbaijani civilian deaths at least 161 in 1993 and then to at least 200 in 1994, mentioning the possibility that as many as 500–1,000 may have died". The death toll given by Azerbaijani authorities

2180-501: The Russian Orthodox Church . The population was engaged in agriculture, as well as various crafts, carriage, the renting of apartments (mainly to military personnel), and so on. After 1898, the tsarist government turned Khankendi into a Russian military garrison . The garrison consisted of barracks , hospitals, and a church, as well as several houses where officers' families and a small local population, who supplied

2289-555: The Soviet period, the city was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast , becoming a hub for economic and industrial activity. In addition, the city became a hotbed for political activity, serving as the center for Armenian demonstrations calling for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Stepanakert suffered extensive damage following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and

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2398-474: The 1930s and 1960s, both of which retained Tamanian's initial plan. Several schools and two polyclinics were established, and an Armenian drama theater was founded in 1932 and named after Maxim Gorky . In 1960, the ensemble of the central square of Stepanakert was built with the building of the regional committee (now the NKR government). This square, then named after Lenin, became the arena of many rallies demanding

2507-533: The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the economy once again experienced severe damage, particularly in the tourism sector. The most developed sectors of Stepanakert and the rest of the Republic of Artsakh are tourism and services. Several hotels were opened by diasporan Armenians from Russia, the United States and Australia. Artsakhbank was the largest banking services provider in Artsakh, while Karabakh Telecom

2616-405: The 366th regiment took part in military operations near Khojaly on Karabakhi side on the 20s of February. At least two such instances were recorded. And during evacuation of the military personnel of the regiment paratroopers selectively searched several servicemen and found large amounts of money on them, including foreign currency. The Armenian side officially asserts that the killings occurred as

2725-543: The Agdam Region. However, in his statement to the European Court of Human Rights Fatullayev claimed that in the article "The Karabakh Diary", he had merely conveyed the statements of a local Armenian, who had told Fatullayev his version of the events during the interview. Fatullayev claimed that his article did not directly accuse any Azerbaijani national of committing any crime and that in his article, there

2834-591: The Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh, viewed Gorbachev's reform program as an opportunity to unite the two together. On 20 February 1988, tens of thousands of Armenians gathered to demonstrate in Stepanakert's Lenin Square (now Renaissance Square ) to demand that the region be joined to Armenia. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to join the Armenian SSR, a move strongly opposed by

2943-542: The Armenians had indeed left a free corridor and the Armenian soldiers positioned behind the corridor had not opened fire on them. Some soldiers from the battalions of the National Front of Azerbaijan instead, for some reason, had led part of the refugees in the direction of the village of Nakhichevanik, which during that period had been under the control of the Armenians' Askeran battalion. The other group of refugees were hit by artillery volleys while they were reaching

3052-533: The Armenians, who are very accurate and who know very well how to behave in such situations, would have allowed the Azerbaijanis to obtain evidence from Khojaly, which would expose them in committing fascist acts… I assume that someone had a vested interest in showing these photos in the session of the Supreme Council and placing all the blame on me… However, the general background of arguments is, that

3161-423: The Armenians. At the same time, some Armenian sources admitted the responsibility of the Armenian side. According to Markar Melkonian , the brother of the Armenian military leader Monte Melkonian , "Khojaly had been a strategic goal, but it had also been an act of revenge." The date of the massacre in Khojaly had a special significance: it was the run-up to the fourth anniversary of the anti-Armenian pogrom in

3270-462: The Azerbaijani forces in Khojaly warning that unless missile attacks from that town on Stepanakert ceased, Armenian forces would attack. The report quotes the testimony of an Azerbaijani woman who states that after Armenians seized Malybeyli, an ultimatum was made to Alif Gajiev, the head of the militia in Khojaly, who told the population on 15 February, but they didn't consider leaving the town. The report also noted that by remaining armed and in-uniform,

3379-442: The Azerbaijani militia endangered the retreating civilians. Salman Abasov, one of the survivors of massacre stated: Several days before the tragedy the Armenians told us several times over the radio that they would capture the town and demanded that we leave it. For a longtime helicopters flew into Khojali and it wasn't clear if anyone thought about our fate, took an interest in us. We received practically no help. Moreover, when it

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3488-456: The Azerbaijanis positioned BM-21 Grad rocket artillery in Shusha and rained down missiles over Stepanakert. A journalist for Time noted in an April 1992 article that "scarcely a single building [had] escaped damage in Stepanakert." It was not until 9 May 1992, with the capture of Shusha , that the ground bombardment ceased. The city, nevertheless, continued to suffer aerial bombardment until

3597-708: The Giant Cross and the Eagle Monument, and statues of prominent Armenians in the city, among them, Stepan Shahumyan (after whom Stepanakert is named), Charles Aznavour and Alexander Myasnikyan . In early March 2024, Azerbaijani authorities demolished the National Assembly of Artsakh Building and the Artsakh Freedom Fighters Union Building. In November 2024, reports emerged that Azerbaijan demolished

3706-745: The National Assembly, the Presidential Palace, the Constitutional Court, all ministries, judicial bodies and other government organizations. Under the Republic of Artsakh, the city of Stepanakert was governed by the Stepanakert City Council and the mayor of Stepanakert. The last local elections took place in September 2019. The most recent mayor was Davit Sargsyan. According to the data of

3815-476: The Soviet Azerbaijani authorities. Relations between Stepanakert's Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who supported the Azerbaijani government's position, deteriorated in the following years. Inter-ethnic strife in the city in September 1988, encompassing physical attacks and burning of property, forced nearly all Azerbaijanis to flee the city. The Soviet Army took up positions in the city and announced

3924-687: The Transcaucasian Statistical Committee, extracted from the family lists of 1886, there were 71 houses and 279 residents registered in Khankendi (recorded as Ханкенды, Khankendy in Russian ), of which 276 were Russians, 2 Armenians and 1 Tatar (later known as Azerbaijani ), who were respectively Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian and Sunni Muslim by religion. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897,

4033-717: The Tumo Centre and the Armenian General Benevolent Union , with the support of mobile operator Karabakh Telecom. Football was a popular sport in Nagorno-Karabakh and the city has a renovated football stadium. Since the mid-1990s, football teams from Karabakh started taking part in some domestic competitions in Armenia . Lernayin Artsakh is the football club that represents the city of Stepanakert. The Artsakh national football league

4142-411: The argument that Azerbaijani forces obstructed the flight of, or fired on Azeri civilians". British journalist Thomas de Waal noted that "the overwhelming evidence of what happened has not stopped some Armenians, in distasteful fashion, trying to muddy the waters". However, De Waal has also stated that the tragedy in Khojaly was a result of a chaotic situation, and not a "deliberately planned" action by

4251-640: The assault, the Khojaly population was informed about the existence of this 'corridor' through loudspeakers mounted on armoured personnel carriers. NKR officials also noted that, several days prior to the assault, leaflets had been dropped on Khojaly from helicopters, urging the Khojaly population to use the 'free corridor'. However, not a single copy of such a leaflet has been provided to Memorial's observers in support of this assertion. Likewise, no traces of such leaflets have been found by Memorial's observers in Khojaly. When interviewed, Khojaly refugees said that they had not heard about such leaflets. Several days prior to

4360-446: The assault, the representatives of the Armenian side had, on repeated occasions, informed the Khojaly authorities by radio about the upcoming assault and urged them to immediately evacuate the population from the town. The fact that this information had been received by the Azerbaijani side and transferred to Baku is confirmed by Baku newspapers (Bakinskiy Rabochiy) Armenian fighters stated to HRW investigators that they sent ultimata to

4469-420: The author did not cross the limits of journalistic freedom". The Court, however, also noted that "The Karabakh Diary" did not constitute a piece of investigative journalism focusing specifically on the Khojaly events and considered that Fatullayev's statements about these events were made rather in passing, parallel to the main theme of the article. According to international observers, soldiers and officers of

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4578-453: The capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was sited in Stepanakert. At the time of the formation of the NKAO, Stepanakert was a dilapidated settlement, where the number of surviving buildings barely reached 10 to 15. Some of the buildings were completely destroyed, others lacked doors and windows, while only walls remained from a number of buildings. During the first years of

4687-482: The children cradled in the women’s arms. Several of them, including one small girl, had terrible head injuries: only her face was left. Survivors have told how they saw Armenians shooting them point blank as they lay on the ground." Helen Womack reported in The Independent : "The exact number of victims is still unclear, but there can be little doubt that Azeri civilians were massacred by Armenian fighters in

4796-476: The church was expected to take place in September 2016. Construction finished and the church was opened in 2019. There was small community of Armenian Evangelicals with around 500 members. The only Armenian evangelical church in Artsakh was located in Stepanakert. The Evangelical community supported many schools, hospitals and other institutions through the help of the Armenian Diaspora . The city

4905-709: The city later that day, showing deserted streets in what the reporter described as "A ghost town with no soul left". After the offensive and Armenian exodus, sources reported that Azerbaijani authorities issued a map of Stepanakert renaming one of the streets after Enver Pasha , one of the main perpetrators of the Armenian genocide . An Azerbaijani official disputed this during a case at the International Court of Justice , saying that "No streets in Khankandi have been renamed". President Ilham Aliyev visited

5014-456: The city of Sumgait where the civilian Armenian population was brutally murdered solely because of their ethnic origin. Melkonian wrote that fighters of Arabo and Aramo military detachments stabbed many Azeri civilians to death, despite Monte Melkonian strictly ordering not to harm captives. In an interview with Thomas de Waal, Serzh Sargsyan , the then Defense Minister of Armenia who later became president of Armenia, he stated that Stepanakert

5123-570: The city on 15 October and officially raised the flag of Azerbaijan at the building that was previously used as the Artsakh Presidential Palace. In December 2023, the first football match since the resumption of Azerbaijani control was played between MOIK Baku and Qarabağ FK from Aghdam in the Azerbaijan Cup . In the following months, Azerbaijani authorities dismantled monuments symbolizing Artsakh, including

5232-785: The city was named after Charles Aznavour . Stepanakert was home to the Mesrop Mashtots Republican Library opened in 1924, Artsakh History Museum opened in 1939, Hovhannes Tumanyan Children's Library opened in 1947, Stepanakert National Gallery opened in 1982, and the Memorial Museum of the Martyred Liberators opened in 2002. A new cultural complex of the Armenian heritage of Artsakh was under construction. The Artsakh State Museum , based in Stepanakert, had an important collection of ancient artifacts and Christian manuscripts. Stepanakert

5341-482: The city's bomb shelters . As Azerbaijani forces advanced on the city of Shusha , the Lachin corridor was shut down by Artsakh authorities. With Azerbaijani forces 15 km (9.3 mi) from the capital, a ceasefire agreement was signed on 10 November. As part of the agreement, Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region. Following the war, the population of Stepanakert swelled to 75,000 residents as

5450-461: The civilians. At the same time, Human Rights Watch and Memorial stated that the killing of civilians could not be justified under any circumstances. Human Rights Watch noted that "The attacking party is still obliged to take precautionary measures to avoid or minimize civilian casualties. In particular, the party must suspend an attack if it becomes apparent that the attack may be expected to cause civilian casualties that are excessive in relation to

5559-402: The concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. The circumstances surrounding the attack at Nakhichevanik on those fleeing from Khojaly indicate that Armenian forces and the troops of the 366th CIS regiment (who were not apparently acting on orders from their commanders) deliberately disregarded this customary law restraint on attacks". However, the obligation to protect the civilians

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5668-535: The conflict had escalated into a full-scale war. In February 1992 the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Stepanakert , was under a blockade by Azerbaijani forces. In 1988 the town had 2,135 inhabitants. Due to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, population exchanges occurred between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Meskhetian Turk refugees leaving Central Asia subsequently settled in Khojaly. According to Thomas de Waal , Khojaly had been

5777-479: The corridor. Nevertheless, attempting to minimize his own role did not help him. In one of his interviews Mutalibov stated that the event was "organized" by his political opponents to force his resignation. The interview was much cited in Armenia. As the survivors of Khojaly say, all this was organized to create a cause for my resignation. A certain power was working for discrediting the President. I don't think

5886-489: The denialism of the massacre by calling it "propaganda" and "fabricated". Memorials have been erected in Azerbaijan and abroad to commemorate the Khojaly massacre. Stepanakert Stepanakert ( Armenian : Ստեփանակերտ , romanized :  Stepʻanakert , Eastern pronunciation: [stɛpʰɑnɑˈkɛɾt] ) or Khankendi ( Azerbaijani : Xankəndi , pronounced [xɑncænˈdi] )

5995-646: The district, including its capital, was put under Russian peacekeeping control. After the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh , the entire district fell under the control of Azerbaijan after the capitulation of the Artsakh Defence Army in the area. Khojaly district was established on the basis of the Askeran District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in 1991. It was captured by Armenian forces in 1991–1992. The district consists of 1 city, 2 settlements and 50 villages in

6104-607: The district. It was once a site of prehistoric Khojaly-Gadabay culture . Khojaly district is located in Nagorno-Karabakh . The territory of the district is mountainous. The highest altitudes are Qirkhqiz and Gizgala, the main rivers are Gargar and Badara. The climate is mild-hot except the mountainous area. 39°54′N 46°47′E  /  39.900°N 46.783°E  / 39.900; 46.783 Khojaly Massacre The Khojaly massacre ( Azerbaijani : Xocalı soyqırımı , Armenian : Խոջալուի արյունահեղություն , romanized :  Khojalui aryunaheghut’yun )

6213-448: The east side of the town northeastwards along the river, passing Askeran to their left (this route, according to Armenian officials, was provided as a "free corridor"); and 2) from the north side of the town northeastwards, passing Askeran to their right (it appears that fewer refugees fled using this route). Thus, the majority of civilians left Khojaly, while around 200–300 people stayed in the town, hiding in their houses and basements. As

6322-488: The economy of Stepanakert was mainly based on food-processing industries, silk weaving and winemaking . Inhabitants also engaged in producing furniture and footwear. The economy was severely damaged due to the 1988 earthquake in Armenia and the First Nagorno Karabakh war. In the years following, the economy was developed further, mainly due to investments from the Armenian diaspora . However, following

6431-593: The end of the war. As a result, the majority of the city was in a severely damaged state. As of 2016, the city had not been completely restored from the war. The city came under intense bombardment once again during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. Residential areas were continuously hit by the Azerbaijani Army with cluster munitions throughout the war, starting on the first day of fighting, and residents were urged to use

6540-430: The fact that there were armed people fleeing together with the refugees, who were firing at Armenian outposts, thus drawing return fire, as well as by an attempted breakthrough by the main Azerbaijani forces. According to members of the Armenian armed forces, the Azerbaijani forces attempted to battle through Agdam in the direction of the 'free corridor'. At the moment when the Armenian outposts were fighting off this attack,

6649-430: The first groups of Khojaly refugees approached them from the rear. The armed people who were among the refugees began firing at the Armenian outposts. During the battle, one outpost was destroyed, but the fighters from another outpost, of whose existence the Azerbaijanis were unaware, opened fire from a close distance at the people coming from Khojaly. According to testimonies of Khojaly refugees (including those published in

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6758-494: The focus of a large resettlement program by the Azerbaijan government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This coincided with the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and increased the population to 6200 by 1991. Khojaly was on the road from Shusha and Stepanakert to Aghdam and had the region's only airport. The airport was of vital importance for the survival of the population in Karabakh, which had no land connection with Armenia and

6867-714: The hands of the meliks of Karabakh and the Karabakh khans before coming under the control of the Russian Empire in 1822. In the Russian Empire, the town was a part of the Shusha uezd of the Elizavetpol Governorate . According to the 19th-century author Raffi , in 1826, the local Armenian meliks met with the Persian crown prince Abbas Mirza , who had invaded Karabakh with his army, in

6976-432: The historical Armenian center of the city. The Vahram Papazyan Drama Theater of Stepanakert was founded in 1932. In 1967, the monumental complex of Stepanakert known as We Are Our Mountains was erected to the north of Stepanakert, It is widely regarded as a symbol of the Armenian heritage of the historic Artsakh . After the independence of Armenia, many cultural and youth centres were reopened. The cultural palace of

7085-508: The majority of the population from that time onwards. In the summer of 1920, the city was occupied by part of the Red Army . In 1923, Khankendi was renamed Stepanakert by the Soviet government in honor of Stepan Shahumian , a fallen Bolshevik party member and leader of the 26 Baku Commissars . The former regional capital was Shusha. However, following the depopulation of Armenians in Shusha,

7194-438: The mass of bodies two caught his sight. An old woman with uncovered grey head was lying face down next to a little girl in a blue jacket. Their legs were tied with barbed wire, and the old woman's hands were tied as well. Both were shot in their heads, and the little girl in her last move was stretching out her hands to her dead grandmother. Shocked, Romanov initially forgot about his camera, but started filming after recovering from

7303-454: The massacre "a blatant lie," claiming that it was "carried out by Azerbaijanis themselves", despite the findings by Human Rights Watch which placed direct responsibility for the civilian deaths with Karabakh Armenian forces. Pashinyan referred to Ayaz Mutalibov 's interview to claim that the massacre had been committed not by Armenian soldiers but by Popular Front of Azerbaijan militants who allegedly shot their own civilians escaping through

7412-596: The meeting of the National Security Council was held… At the meeting, a resolution was made not to evacuate the people from Khojaly. It was considered that if we evacuated the population, we would invite Armenians to occupy the settlement. That is, we would ourselves incite Armenians to attack. Even the members of the Security Council didn't believe that Armenians could commit this sort of actions that resulted in genocide. They thought that if

7521-462: The mid-1980s there were nineteen factories in operation in the city, including an electrical and asphalt plant. By the end of the Soviet era, Stepanakert had an agricultural technical school, a pedagogical institute , a medical and music school, a local history museum, and a drama theater. The political and economic reforms that General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev undertook in 1985 saw a marked decentralization of Soviet authority. Armenians, in both

7630-474: The military units with food, lived. The local population consisted of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. In February 1920, after a body thought to be of an Azerbaijani soldier was found, an anti-Armenian riot took place in the village that claimed several hundred lives. Following the massacre of the Armenian population of Shusha in March 1920, the city received an influx of Armenians; as a result, Armenians formed

7739-553: The mosque when we arrived in Agdam late on Tuesday. I also saw women and children with bullet wounds, in a makeshift hospital in a string of railway carriages at the station", "I have little doubt that on this occasion, two weeks ago, the Azeris were the victims of Armenian brutality. In the past, it has been the other way round" Russian journalist Victoria Ivleva entered Khojaly after it fell to Armenian armed forces. She took photos of

7848-469: The most important. As of 2021, the population of Stepanakert was 75,000. In September 2023, Azerbaijani authorities took control of the city, with almost the entire Armenian population forced to flee to Armenia ahead of the advancing Azerbaijani forces. It was an abandoned ghost city for a year; Azerbaijan began settling new permanent residents in the city in September 2024 with the opening of Karabakh University . Medieval Armenian sources attest to

7957-473: The oblast, some of the buildings were restored and many were rebuilt, roads were improved, and electricity and telephone communications were installed in the city. In time, Stepanakert grew to become the region's most important city (a status it received in 1940). Its population rose from 10,459 in 1939 to 33,000 in 1978. In 1926, municipal authorities adopted a new city layout designed by Aleksandr Tamanian ; two additional designs for expansion were approved in

8066-587: The outbreak of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and passed into the hands of local Armenians with the establishment of the Republic of Artsakh . During the control by the Armenians, the city was a regional center of education and culture, being home to Artsakh University , musical schools, and a palace of culture . The economy was based on the service industry and had varied enterprises, food processing , wine making , and silk weaving being

8175-622: The period of the USSR , Stepanakert served as the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic , between 1923 and 1991. With the self-declared independence of Artsakh in 1991, Stepanakert continued with its status as the political and cultural centre of the newly established republic, being home to all the national institutions: the Government House,

8284-404: The personnel of the regiment by helicopter, but over 100 soldiers and officers remained in Stepanakert and joined the Armenian forces, including the commander of the 2nd battalion major Seyran Ohanyan , who later served as a Minister of Defense of Armenia . The Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper reported: Despite categorical orders of the command of the military district , some military personnel of

8393-452: The population left the settlement we ourselves would give Khojaly up. Elmar Mammadov, the Mayor of Khojaly testified that the Azerbaijani authorities knew about the attack but they took no measure to evacuate the civilians: On 25 February 1992 at 8:30 pm we were told that the tanks of the enemy have been placed around the city in a fighting position. We informed everybody about this over

8502-446: The press), the armed people inside the refugee column did exchange gunfire with Armenian outposts, but on each occasion, the fire was opened first from the Armenian side. Denial of the Khojaly massacre, by either claiming that the massacre was committed by Azerbaijanis themselves or that no civilian was killed is common among the Armenian public, officials and organisations. According to Rachel Avraham, senior media research analyst at

8611-401: The radio. Furthermore, on 24 February I called Aghdam and told them, that a captured Armenian fighter has informed us on the impending attack... There was no response. I have also asked to send a helicopter for the transportation of the elderly, women and children. But no help came. None of the witnesses interviewed by Helsinki Watch on the Azerbaijani side said that they knew beforehand of such

8720-417: The region and a connecting corridor to Armenia to the west. Prior to the conflict, Stepanakert was the largest city of the NKAO, with a population of 70,000 out of a total 189,000 (Armenians at the time comprised 75% of the region's total population). By early 1992, that figure had dropped to 50,000. During the war, the city suffered immense damage from Azerbaijani bombardment , especially in early 1992 when

8829-445: The region. Azerbaijani police vehicles began patrolling the area on 29 September and the Azerbaijani flag was placed on the city's We Are Our Mountains monument. From 1 October, Azerbaijani officials began working from the former Artsakh police headquarters, Azerbaijan took over responsibility for medical services in the city and its area was covered by the Azerbaijani mobile networks. An Al Jazeera news crew reported from

8938-615: The shock. However, the helicopter came under the fire, and they had to leave. Czech journalist Dana Mazalova said that in Baku she had seen Chingiz Mustafayev 's unedited footage of the dead bodies without the signs of mutilation that were shown in later footage. Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev traveled in 2005 to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and wrote an article called "Karabakh Diary". He claimed that he met some refugees from Khojaly, temporarily settled in Naftalan, who said that

9047-444: The site of the massacre: "Scattered amid the withered grass and bushes along a small valley and across the hillside beyond are the bodies of last Wednesday’s massacre by Armenian forces of Azerbaijani refugees. ... Of the 31 we saw, only one policeman and two apparent national volunteers were wearing a uniform. All the rest were civilians, including eight women and three small children. Two groups, apparently families, had fallen together,

9156-549: The situation to focus the popular resentment on him. Mutalibov stated that after the massacre he called the speaker of the Supreme Soviet of NKAO Artur Mkrtchyan , and the latter assured him that the people of Khojaly were given a corridor to escape, and he only referred to Mkrtchyan's words, without making any assertions as to whether the corridor actually existed. Armenian organisations such as Armenian National Committee of America , Political Science Association of Armenia and Armenian National Committee of Australia have embraced

9265-468: The snowy mountains of Nagorny Karabakh last week. Refugees from the enclave town of Khojaly, sheltering in the Azeri border town of Agdam, give largely consistent accounts of how their enemies attacked their homes on the night of 25 February, chased those who fled and shot them in the surrounding forests. Yesterday I saw 75 freshly dug graves in one cemetery in addition to four mutilated corpses we were shown in

9374-404: The term massacre to refer to the incident. Azerbaijani sources oftentimes refer to the massacre as a tragedy ( Azerbaijani : Xocalı faciəsi ) or a genocide ( Xocalı soyqırımı ). In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, both Armenians and Azerbaijanis became victims of pogroms and ethnic cleansing, which resulted in numerous casualties and displacement of large groups of people. By 1992,

9483-569: The town streets strewn with dead bodies of its inhabitants, including women and children. She described how she saw a large crowd of Meskhetian Turks from Khojaly who were led to captivity by the Armenian militants and she was hit by an Armenian soldier who took her for one of the captives, when she was helping a woman falling behind the crowd with four children, one of which wounded, and the other one newly born. The captives were later exchanged or released, and in 2011 Ivleva found that woman in Azerbaijan. Her little child grew up, but did not speak, this

9592-487: The transfer of the NKAO to the Armenian SSR. By 1968, the first outbreak of ethnic violence occurred in Stepanakert. In the city, a trial was held over an Azerbaijani director of the city school who was accused of murdering an Armenian girl. The Armenians, who considered the verdict of the Azerbaijani judge too lenient, gathered outside the court building and burned the car which the criminal and judge were in. Stepanakert served as Nagorno-Karabakh's main economic hub, and by

9701-593: The village to reconcile with the Persians and ensure the safety of the Karabakh Armenian population. In 1847, Vararakn was a village of about 132 houses, consisting of 80 Armenian households, 52 Russian households, an Armenian church, and a cemetery. That same year, the village was renamed from Vararakn to Khankendi. By 1886, there were 52 houses in the settlement. The population of Khankendi consisted of retired soldiers and their descendants, who belonged to

9810-485: The withdrawal of the Soviet Internal Troops from Karabakh the blockade became total. Some inhabitants left the blockaded town, but the civilian population was not fully evacuated, despite insistent demands of the head of executive power of Khojaly, Elman Mammadov . Khojaly was defended by local OMON forces under the command of Alif Hajiyev , which numbered about 160 or so lightly armed men. Khojaly

9919-525: Was 613 civilians, including 106 women and 63 children. By 28 March 1992, over 700 civilians from Khojaly, mostly women and children detained both in the city and on their way to Aghdam, were delivered to the Azerbaijani side, according to Moscow-based Memorial society. Memorial described the actions of Armenian militants as in gross violation of a number of basic international human rights conventions. Anatol Lieven wrote in The Times after visiting

10028-476: Was a perfect opportunity to leave, that means that they also are taking part in military operations . . . The corridor was not left open in order to shoot them, shooting could have been done in Khojali, not somewhere near Agdam. . According to Memorial society, Official representatives of the NKR and members of the Armenian armed forces explained the death of civilians in the zone of the 'free corridor' by

10137-428: Was a regional center of education and culture, being home to Artsakh University, musical schools, and a palace of culture . The economy was based on the service industry and has varied enterprises, food processing , wine making , and silk weaving being the most important. In 2021, the population of Stepanakert was 75,000. Stepanakert was the center of the economy of Artsakh. Prior to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War,

10246-402: Was attributed to the shock she suffered in childhood. After the seizure of Khojaly, Armenians allowed Azerbaijanis to claim their dead, based on which the Azerbaijanis later grounded their accusations of the massacre. As argued by British historian Christopher J. Walker , the group committing a massacre would have hardly taken up any of these measures. The site of the Khojaly mass killing

10355-675: Was being shelled from Khojali, that the fleeing Azerbaijanis had put up armed resistance, that "a lot was exaggerated" in the casualties and that Azerbaijanis needed something to compare to the Sumgait pogrom. At the same time, he stated: Before Khojali, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us, they thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that [stereotype]. And that's what happened. And we should also take into account that amongst those boys were people who had fled from Baku and Sumgait. Although I think that

10464-473: Was consecrated on 9 May 2007, in honor of the 15th anniversary of the capture of Shusha by Armenian forces. The construction of the Holy Mother of God Cathedral was launched on 19 July 2006. The cost of the project was expected to be around US$ 2 million and the architect of the church is Gagik Yeranosyan. However, the construction process was slow due to a lack of financial resources. The inauguration of

10573-605: Was destroyed in the 1930s to build the Stepanakert Drama Theatre. Throughout the rest of the Soviet era, there were no traditional churches in Stepanakert, although most of the population of the city were members of the Armenian Apostolic Church . The church of Surp Hakob (or Saint James ) was opened in 2007; it remained the only open church in the city until 2019. The church was financed by Nerses Yepremian from Los Angeles . The church

10682-476: Was filmed on videotape by Azerbaijani journalist Chingiz Mustafayev , who was accompanied by the Russian journalist Yuri Romanov in the first helicopter flight to the scene of the tragedy. Romanov described in his memoir how he looked out of the window of the helicopter and jumped back from an incredibly horrible view. The whole area up to the horizon was covered with dead bodies of women, elderly people and boys and girls of all ages, from newly born to teenagers. Amid

10791-557: Was launched in 2009. The non- FIFA affiliated Artsakh national football team was formed in 2012 and played their first competitive match against the unrecognized Abkhazia national football team in Sukhumi on 17 September 2012. The match ended with a 1–1 draw. The following month, on 21 October 2012, Artsakh played the return match at the Stepanakert Republican Stadium against Abkhazia, winning it with

10900-468: Was likewise breached by the Azerbaijani side. As stated by HRW report: The parties may not use civilians to shield military targets from attack or to shield military operations including retreats. Thus a party that intersperses combatants with fleeing civilians puts those civilians at risk and violates its obligation to protect its own civilians. Human Rights Watch described the Khojaly massacre in their 1994 report as "the largest massacre to date" in

11009-594: Was no statement asserting that any of the Khojaly victims had been killed or mutilated by Azerbaijani fighters. Fatullayev was sued for defamation and convicted in an Azerbaijani court to eight and a half years in prison and a penalty fee of $ 230,000. Reporters without Borders strongly condemned this decision, stating that the judgment was based on no evidence but is purely political. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Fatullayev must be released, because in their opinion "although “The Karabakh Diary” might have contained certain exaggerated or provocative assertions,

11118-416: Was one of the turning points during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The death toll given by the Azerbaijani authorities is 613 civilians, including 106 women and 63 children. According to Human Rights Watch , at least 200 Azerbaijanis were killed during the massacre, though as many as 500–1,000 may have died. This number includes combatants and those who died of cold. Most governments and media use

11227-423: Was possible to take our women, children out of the town, we were persuaded not to do so. Azerbaijani filmmaker Ramiz Fataliev testified in his interview that the Azerbaijani authorities did not evacuate the civilians from Khojaly because they thought that by doing so they would invite the Armenians to occupy Khojaly: On the 22nd of February, in the president's, prime-minister's, KGB minister's and others' presence,

11336-420: Was shelled by Armenian forces almost daily in the winter of 1991–1992, and people grew accustomed to spending nights in basements, surviving the total blockade, and the lack of electricity, gas and water. The report of Memorial stated that the Armenian side claimed that a free corridor was provided for fleeing civilians. The Memorial report says: According to the officials of the NKR and those taking part in

11445-513: Was subject to daily shelling and total blockade by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War . Without supply of electricity, gas, or water, it was defended by the local forces consisting of about 160 lightly armed men. The Armenian forces, along with some troops of the 366th CIS regiment, launched an offensive in early 1992, forcing almost the entire Azerbaijani population of the enclave to flee, and committing "unconscionable acts of violence against civilians" as they fled. The massacre

11554-438: Was the center of higher education in Artsakh. Five higher educational institutions operated in the city: Many new schools in Stepanakert were opened from the late 1990s to 2010 with the help of the Armenian diaspora . Existing schools were also renovated with donations from the diaspora. The Stepanakert branch of Tumo Center for Creative Technologies was opened in September 2015, as a result of continued cooperation between

11663-452: Was the leading provider of mobile telecommunications and other communication services. Stepanakert was also home to many large industrial firms, including Stepanakert Brandy Factory, Artsakh Berry food products and Artsakh Footwear Factory. Construction was also one of the leading sectors in the city. Artsakh Hek is the leading construction firm, while Base Metals was the leader in mining and production of building materials. Stepanakert

11772-435: Was the mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian forces and the 366th CIS regiment in the town of Khojaly on 26 February 1992. The event became the largest single massacre throughout the entire Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . Khojaly was an Azerbaijani-populated town of some 6,300 people in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of Azerbaijan SSR , also housing the region's only airport in 1992. The town

11881-498: Was under a total blockade by Azerbaijan. According to Human Rights Watch , Khojaly was used by Azerbaijani forces as a base for shelling Stepanakert . In October 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh forces cut the road connecting Khojaly and Aghdam, so that the only way to reach Khojaly was by helicopter. According to the Memorial civil rights society, from autumn 1991 Khojaly was practically blockaded by Armenian armed forces, and after

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