Misplaced Pages

#162837

100-535: The town was occupied by Armenian forces in 1992, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War , and its local Azerbaijani and Kurdish population was expelled, while Armenians settled in. The town came under the de facto control of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh , administered as part of its Kashatagh Province . It came under the supervision of the Russian peacekeeping force following

200-574: A ceasefire agreement was signed between the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev , the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan , and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin , ending all hostilities in the area from 00:00, 10 November 2020 Moscow Time . The President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan , also agreed to end the hostilities. Under the agreement, which is being enforced by Russian peacekeepers under an initial 5 year mandate,

300-612: A Field Assessment Mission to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in October 2010 reported that there was no significant growth in the population since 2005, and the overall population was roughly estimated as 14,000 persons. They also reported that towns and villages that existed before the conflict were abandoned and almost entirely in ruins, and Armenian settlers lived "in precarious conditions, with poor infrastructure, little economic activity, and limited access to public services". In later years, Armenians from Lebanon and Syria settled in

400-601: A bus shelter has been left unscarred". A Kurdish nationalist organization in the area, the "Caucasian Kurdistan Freedom Movement", proclaimed the establishment of the Kurdish Republic of Lachin , after Armenian troops entered the town. However, most of the local Kurdish population had by then fled, and the attempt quickly proved abortive. Lachin was then transferred to be administrated by the Republic of Artsakh as part of its Kashatagh Province . Artsakh repopulated

500-413: A canton of the historic Artsakh province of Greater Armenia ; it was alternatively transcribed as Beradzor , Berdzor , or Berdzork . The reputed author Movses Kaghankatvatsi mentions a so-called Berdzor horse purportedly indigenous to the region, as does Makar Barkhudaryan , an Apostolic bishop, traveler, polymath , and ethnographer from Shusha . During the mediaeval period, the town Berdzor

600-612: 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

700-603: A group of 250 Azerbaijani soldiers had arrived at the Sotk gold mine , one of the largest gold deposits in the South Caucasus, located on the border of Kalbajar District and Gegharkunik Province in Armenia, and demanded its handover, establishing a military post at the mine. The Armenian defense ministry refuted this account, stating that Azerbaijani forces, having found an Armenian border checkpoint unacceptable, contacted

800-656: A mountain peak in the Murovdag range in Kalbajar District . They then stated that the Azerbaijani forces had taken effective control of the Vardenis–Martakert/Aghdara highway connecting Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. On 23 October, the clashes spilled to Qubadli , with the suspected goal of taking control of the Lachin corridor . Two days later, the Azerbaijani forces had seized control of Qubadli ,

900-502: A post in a town previously called Zabukh by the local Azerbaijanis before it was destroyed in 1992, but later on the ruins there was built a village inhabited by Lebanese-Armenians . From 27 November, citing the city's self-proclaimed mayor, Narek Aleksanyan, who called on the ethnic Armenian population to flee the region, the Armenian media alleged that "the agreement has been amended," adding that Lachin, Sus , and Zabukh would not be handed over to Azerbaijan. These claims were refuted by

1000-624: A referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh). The predominantly Azerbaijani population of the occupied territories was forced out as a result of what HRW considers war crimes by the Armenian forces, and became IDPs in Azerbaijan. According to UNHCR office in Baku, based on Azerbaijani government statistics, in March 1994 there were an estimated 658,000 displaced persons and 235,000 refugees in Azerbaijan. An OSCE Fact-Finding Mission visited

1100-575: A regional hospital, four dental clinics, two secondary schools, the Berdzor Music School and the Berdzor Art and Sports School, and a kindergarten. Lachin is twinned with: Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh The Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh were areas of Azerbaijan , situated around the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), which were occupied by

SECTION 10

#1732765448163

1200-500: 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

1300-608: 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

1400-536: A result, Lachin became a strategic link between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh region -the Lachin corridor . The disfigured bodies of Armenian civilians killed by Azerbaijani soldiers in 1992 were discovered near Lachin on May 28, 1993. The civilians had attempted to flee Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and were reportedly massacred by the Grey Wolves. Following the town's capture by Armenian forces, it

1500-466: 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

1600-564: 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

1700-484: 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

1800-692: 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

1900-534: 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

2000-413: The Lachin corridor ), while Azerbaijan offered a formula of "land for peace" (returning the occupied territories back to Azerbaijan in exchange for security guarantees with Azerbaijan controlling the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh). Mediators offered another "land for status" option (returning the occupied territories to the control of Azerbaijan in exchange for guarantees by Azerbaijan to hold at some point

2100-496: The Lachin corridor ). The surrounding regions were seized by Armenians under the justification of a "security belt" which was to be traded for recognition of autonomous status from Azerbaijan. The United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War demanding that all occupying forces withdraw from the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh . In 2008,

SECTION 20

#1732765448163

2200-501: 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

2300-555: 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

2400-725: The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 62/243 , demanding the withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, although the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group , Russia , France and the United States , voted against it. Unlike the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, the population of all the adjacent Armenian-occupied districts were majority-Azerbaijani. In

2500-491: The United Nations General Assembly passed the Resolution 62/243 by 39 to 7, calling for the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Stepanakert Stepanakert ( Armenian : Ստեփանակերտ , romanized :  Stepʻanakert , Eastern pronunciation: [stɛpʰɑnɑˈkɛɾt] ) or Khankendi ( Azerbaijani : Xankəndi , pronounced [xɑncænˈdi] )

2600-614: The border between Armenia and Azerbaijan in July 2020. Thousands of Azerbaijanis demonstrated for war against Armenia in response, with Turkey propagandising in support of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani forces started operations along the Aras River on the same day, with advancements in Jabrayil and Fuzuli districts, and the initial objective to seize control of Jabrayil and Fuzuli . The Azerbaijani authorities claimed to have taken

2700-465: The ceasefire agreement that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war , the Lachin District was returned to Azerbaijan on 1 December. Today, Russian peacekeepers continue to secure safe passage through the Lachin corridor . However, the unclear and unstable situation in the region have caused many Armenians to evacuate from the city. The Artsakh mayor of Lachin, Narek Aleksanyan, first called on

2800-475: The ceasefire agreement that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war . Lachin and the villages of Sus and Zabukh were returned under Azerbaijan's control on 26 August 2022 as part of the 2020 ceasefire agreement. Cuneiform inscriptions dating back to the Urartian period have been found in the caves surrounding the town. The area was first mentioned by Armenian sources as Berdadzor ( Armenian : Բերդաձոր ),

2900-474: 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

3000-533: 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

3100-538: The Armenian Armed Forces in 1992, which resulted in its population fleeing the region, and the Armenian forces burning Lachin , the district's administrative center, which was re-settled by ethnic Armenian migrants from Armenia, to Azerbaijan, some ethnic Armenians fled from the city of Lachin, despite the Russian supervision over the land corridor passing thorough the city, which links Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. The Russian peacekeepers also set up

Lachin - Misplaced Pages Continue

3200-591: 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

3300-469: The Armenian and Azeri forces were separated on the northern front by the Murovdag mountain chain until 2020. Since 1994, Armenia and Azerbaijan have held talks on the future of the occupied territories. The Armenian side offered to use a "land for status" formula (returning the occupied territories to the control of Azerbaijan in exchange for Azerbaijan recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and giving security assurances to Nagorno-Karabakh and

3400-516: The Armenian forces, before handing over the region, had sacked and burned down an 18th-century mosque, which they used as a barn for cows, in Qiyasli , Agdam . Rustam Muradov , commander of the Russian peacekeeping task force in the region, stated that the handover operation had been carried out without incident. The transfer was celebrated in Baku, where cars paraded through the city with Azerbaijani, Russian and Turkish flags. On 24 November, with

3500-464: The Armenian side via loudspeaker and negotiated with Russian peacekeepers over the issue. Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities started to demarcate the border on the same day. Armenian military authorities then stated that half of the mine area had been passed to Azerbaijan. Ahead of the transfer of Lachin District , a predominantly-Azerbaijani and Kurdish populated region before its occupation by

3600-545: The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The Court confirmed that Armenia exercised effective control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories and thus had de facto jurisdiction over the district of Lachin. The Court also found that the denial by the Armenian government of access to the applicants’ homes constituted an unjustified interference with their right to respect for their private and family lives as well as their homes. Following

3700-517: 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

3800-497: The British journalists that the looting was done because the Azerbaijanis had previously pillaged 23 villages. Among the Armenian looters there also were civilians from Stepanakert , which had been shelled by the Azerbaijanis for eight months and had been without power and water for several weeks. A Canadian journalist who visited the town a few months later noted that "the destruction is absolute. No building, no home, no school, not

3900-708: 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

4000-669: The Kalbajar district had been at the centre of Armenian demands during the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks with Azerbaijan. On 16 June 2015 the European Court of Human Rights passed a judgement in the case of Chiragov and Others v. Armenia , which concerned the complaints by six Azerbaijani ethnically- Kurdish refugees that they were unable to return to their homes and property in the district of Lachin, in Azerbaijan, from where they had been forced to flee in 1992 during

4100-455: The Lachin corridor. In May 2024, satellite imagery showed that the Armenian church of St. Ascension had been completely demolished by the Azerbaijani government, with no trace of it left. The town is scenically built on the side of a mountain on the left bank of the river Hakari . As of 2015, the population is mainly engaged in different state institutions. The town has a municipal building,

Lachin - Misplaced Pages Continue

4200-745: 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

4300-476: 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

4400-633: 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,

4500-650: 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

4600-434: The administrative center of Qubadli District ; Azerbaijan released confirmary footage. The Azerbaijani forces soon entered Lachin District , with its administrative center, Lachin , getting constantly shelled until the end of the conflict. Three ceasefires brokered by Russia, France, and the United States failed to stop the fighting. Following the capture of Shusha , the second-largest settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh,

4700-453: 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

4800-690: The chairman of the Azerbaijan-based Center for Social Research, MP Zahid Oruj. According to BBC Russian Service correspondent, Yuri Vekdik, despite Aleksanyan's calls, the vast majority of Armenian settlers in Lachin, as well as the Lebanese-Armenians in Zabux, had fled the region. On 1 December, the Azerbaijani forces, with tanks and a column of trucks, entered the district, and the Azerbaijani MoD released footage from

4900-476: 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

5000-425: The city by attracting ethnic Armenians from Armenia and Lebanon . According to journalist Onnik Krikorian, although the official statistics claimed that the number of Armenian residents in Lachin was 2200, the actual figure was around fifty per cent less. While some settlers were refugees from Azerbaijan and Karabakh, as well as from the diaspora, Krikorian wrote that most were poor families from Armenia, attracted by

5100-709: 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

SECTION 50

#1732765448163

5200-507: The city of Lachin. The Azerbaijani authorities stated that the district had suffered "great damage over the years", while it was administrated by the Republic of Artsakh as its Kashatagh Province . During the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, the United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions calling for the withdrawal of occupying forces from the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh . In 2008,

5300-570: 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

5400-785: 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

5500-430: 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

5600-564: The district. The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, vowed to rebuild and revive Kalbajar District, and the event was also celebrated by a rally in Baku. Internally displaced Azerbaijanis from Kalbajar who had settled in Ganja also celebrated the occasion. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources stated that it would evaluate the mineral deposits of Kalbajar District in order to calculate "the amount of damage caused to Azerbaijan". On 26 November, Armenian media reported that

5700-409: The early 1920s, Vladimir Lenin 's letter to Nariman Narimanov "had implied that Lachin was to be included in Azerbaijan, but the authorities in Baku and Yerevan were given promises that were inevitably contradictory." The town and hinterland of Lachin was the location of severe fighting during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1990–1994). During May 1992, an Armenian offensive captured the town; as

5800-488: 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

5900-447: 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

6000-400: The ethnic Armenian military forces of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh (or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ) with military support from Armenia , from the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994) to 2020, when the territories were returned to Azerbaijani control by military force or handed over in accordance to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement (with the exception of

6100-418: The ethnic Armenian population of the town to evacuate. However, later Aleksanyan stated that the agreement had been changed and that Lachin, Sus , and Zabukh which are located inside the Lachin corridor would not be handed over to Azerbaijan, urging the Armenian population to stay in their homes. Despite Aleksanyan's calls, the vast majority of Armenians in Lachin, as well as Lebanese-Armenians in Zabukh fled

SECTION 60

#1732765448163

6200-419: The former combatants will keep control of their currently held areas within Nagorno-Karabakh, while Armenia will return the surrounding territories it occupied in 1994 to Azerbaijan. Armenia will also allow transport connections between western regions of Azerbaijan’s and Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, as part of the tripartite plan of unblocking all transport and economic connections in the region. Ahead of

6300-405: 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

6400-432: 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

6500-400: 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,

6600-462: 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

6700-422: 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

6800-469: 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

6900-473: 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

7000-520: The occupied territories in 2005 to inspect settlement activity in the area and report its findings to the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group . According to FFM figures, at that time the number of Armenian settlers in Kelbajar District was approximately 1,500, in Agdam District from 800 to 1,000, in Fizuli District under 10; in Jebrail District under 100, in Zangelan District from 700 to 1,000, in Kubatly District from 1000 to 1,500, and in Lachin District about 8,000. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, who conducted

7100-452: The occupied territories. Based on the administrative and territorial division of Azerbaijan , Armenian forces occupied the territory of the following districts of Azerbaijan from 1994 to 2020: The outer perimeter of these territories was a line of direct contact between the military forces of the Republic of Artsakh and Azerbaijan . On 27 September 2020, a war broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, following skirmishes that occurred on

7200-510: 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

7300-483: The outset of the 1991–1994 Karabakh conflict, the majority-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was surrounded by regions with Azerbaijani majorities and had no land border with Armenia. From then till the 2020 war, Armenians were in control of most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, with Azerbaijan controlling parts of the eastern Martuni and eastern Mardakert . In addition, since that time and until 2020, Armenians occupied all of

7400-622: 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,

7500-482: The permission of the Azerbaijani military, some Armenians returned to Gülablı to collect their clothing and were offered residency in Agdam as Azerbaijani citizens. On 22 November, the Azerbaijani military reported that it had defused more than 150 mines in the district. On 25 November, Kalbajar became the second district to be returned to Azerbaijan. Armenian forces blew up their military headquarters before returning

7600-415: The promise of land, livestock and social benefits that averaged 4,000 Armenian drams (about ten US dollars) per child. Krikorian also wrote that the Armenian population was leaving the region due to decreased government funding and the uncertainty of region's status. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs had noted that "Lachin has been treated as a separate case in previous negotiations." The Lachin corridor and

7700-417: 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

7800-445: 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

7900-639: The region. Azerbaijani MP Zahid Oruj , the chairman of the Center for Social Research, which is linked to the Azerbaijani government, denied that the Lachin District would not be handed over in its entirety. On December 1, Azerbaijani forces, with tanks and a column of trucks, entered the district, and the Azerbaijani MoD released footage from the Lachin district. On December 3, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence released video footage from

8000-484: The road around Lachin, while Armenia did not yet. On 2 August, the local Armenian authorities reported that the Azerbaijani side had conveyed to them a demand to organise communication with Armenia along a different route, bypassing the existing one. Following the renewed clashes around Lachin , Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, stated that Azerbaijan's demand for the Lachin corridor

8100-401: The territory between the former NKAO and Iran, as well as all of the territory between the former NKAO and Armenia, and some areas to the east surrounding Aghdam. Nagorno-Karabakh also claims but did not control the region known until 1992 as Shahumian , which although being majority-Armenian before 1992, was not part of the NKAO. Shahumian's Armenian population was driven out during the war, and

8200-455: The town of Lachin. Following the ceasefire, only around 200 Armenians remained in the Lachin corridor , with 100–120 of them being in Lachin. According to the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev , a new corridor was going to be built in the region as the Lachin corridor passes through the city of Lachin, and when this corridor is ready, the city will be returned to the Azerbaijani administration. In August 2022, Azerbaijan built its part of

8300-942: The transfer of Kalbajar District from Artsakh to Azerbaijan under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, ethnic Armenians burnt their homes, many of which were once inhabited by Azerbaijanis, to prevent them being reinhabited by the Azerbaijanis. The district had been mostly inhabited by ethnic Azerbaijanis before the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and was re-settled by Armenian citizens after the conflict. Some Armenians took their dead relatives' remains with them, and Reuters reported that villagers were "carting off everything they could as trucks nearby loaded up with household possessions". Reports of house burning emerged on 13 November, and on 15 November Agence France-Presse reported that in Charektar at least six houses were set on fire. BBC Russian Service reported that houses were also burning in neighboring Dadivank , and in other villages along

8400-487: 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

8500-593: 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

8600-536: The wake of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (2020), Azerbaijan gained control over Fuzuli , Jabrayil , Zangilan , and Qubadli districts, and Armenia agreed to withdraw its forces from Agdam , Kalbajar , and Lachin districts, returning them to Azerbaijani control, by 20 November, 25 November and 1 December 2020, respectively. This agreement was codified in a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement, to be enforced by Russian peacekeepers. At

8700-495: The way. The fleeing Armenians were also sawing trees en masse, taking the firewood back to Armenia. Azerbaijan denounced civilians leaving the area for burning houses and committing what it termed "ecological terror"; President Ilham Aliyev called Armenians who destroyed their properties a "wild enemy". At Armenia's request, Azerbaijan extended the deadline for Armenians to fully vacate Kalbajar District by 10 days, until 25 November. Azerbaijan's Presidential Office stated that it took

8800-569: The worsening weather and the fact that there was only one road to Armenia into consideration when agreeing to extend the deadline. The first district to be handed over to Azerbaijan was Agdam District , on 20 November. Prior to the transfer of control, Armenians living in Agdam District also set their homes on fire, and on 19 November, Agence France-Presse reported that Armenian soldiers had destroyed their headquarters in Aghdam . Agdam

8900-497: Was a predominantly Azerbaijani town until the 1993 battle over the city , after which it became a ghost town , labelled the Hiroshima of Caucasus , The Associated Press reported that Aghdam Mosque , which had been vandalized with graffiti and used as a stable for cattle and swine, was the town's only structurally whole building. Also, on 30 November, French-Iranian Azerbaijani photojournalist Reza Deghati reported that

9000-428: 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,

9100-409: Was actively underway and would be completed the spring of 2023. On 5 August, local Armenian authorities told the residents of Lachin, as well as Zabukh and Sus , to leave their homes by 25 August, after which the towns would be handed over to Azerbaijan. Some of the Armenian inhabitants burned their houses down. As of 26 August, Azerbaijan regained control of the town and the villages Sus and Zabukh in

9200-473: 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

9300-658: 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

9400-567: Was eventually abandoned. Following the displacement of the Armenian population, the area was then repopulated with Kurdish tribes . The modern settlement was built using the stones from the ancient Armenian settlement. The town was formerly also known as Abdallar , named after the Turkic Abdal tribe . In 1914, Abdallar was a small relatively insignificant village of about 124 Tatars. It was granted town status in 1923 and then renamed Lachin (a Turkic first name meaning falcon ) in 1926. In

9500-557: 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

9600-408: Was looted and burned. The mainly Azerbaijani population fled and became internally displaced people . British reporters witnessed looting and burning in Lachin, with trucks and cars piled high with looted furniture and household utensils moving to Armenia, and big convoys blocking the road. Looters took everything of value, including livestock, before setting houses on fire. An Armenian sergeant said to

9700-630: Was mentioned as being a part of the Artsakh province within the domain of the Armenian Bagratid Kingdom . Jalal al-Din Mangburni 's private secretary Shihab ad-Din an-Nasawi referred to the settlement as both Berdadzor and a new name, Kaladara . Berdzor had its own local Meliks during the 15th-17th centuries and fell under the jurisdiction of the Armenian Melikdom of Kashatagh . The Armenian settlement of Berdzor

9800-438: 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

9900-452: 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

10000-481: Was unlawful, since the Armenian side has not yet agreed to any plan for the construction of a new road. Azerbaijan accused Armenia of delaying the construction of its part of the road, while the part for which Azerbaijan was responsible had already been built. On 4 August, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia, Gnel Sanosyan, stated that the construction of an alternative road to Lachin

#162837