Kalbajar Rayon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kalbajar (Azerbaijani: Kəlbəcər) is a rayon of Azerbaijan. Before the outbreak of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1992, it was a predominantly Kurdish inhabited area[1]. Kalbajar is a Kurdish name meaning Stone City[citation needed]. The entire region is now under the control of Armenian forces who call the western half Karvajar. The eastern half is officially[citation needed] part of Nagorno-Karabakh, making up part of the province of Martakert[citation needed]. The Azeri and Kurdish population of Kalbajar were displaced by the fighting and currently live as internally displaced persons in other regions of Azerbaijan.
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[edit] Demographics
1989
- Azerbaijanians 83.19% (55.082)
- Armenians 14.79% (9.794)
- Kurds 1.88% (1.248)
- Other 1%
[edit] History
The Armenian name of the district is Karvachar (Armenian: Քարվաճառ), which corresponds to the ancient district of Vaykunik, one of 12 cantons of Artsakh (historical Nagorno-Karabakh) [2]. It was also known as Upper-Khachen or Tsar (after it's chief town) and was ruled by one of the branches of the House of Khachen, who could hold it until the Russian conquest of the Karabakh region in the early 19th century [2].
In the early 17th century most of the original Armenian population of Kalbajar was deported by Abbas I and eventually Kurds settled the area as they did in the neighboring Qashatagh [2].
Karvachar is rich in Armenian monuments numbering close to 750, which include monasteries, churches, chapels, fortresses, khachkars and inscriptions [2]. The most important of them is the monastery of Dadivank [2].
[edit] Under Armenian Control
The district was made into the province of Shahumyan, one of the 8 provinces of NKR. But authorities failed to attract any meaningful resettling of Armenians in the area and the province remains the least populated of the NKR provinces with a total population of just 2,800. The town of Karvachar is home to just 500 people. The neighbouring villages are home to about 2,300 people. [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Thomas Glotz, Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic, 496 pp., M.E. Sharpe Publishers, 1998, ISBN 0765602431, p.322
- ^ a b c d e Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia: A Historical Atlas. The University of Chicago Press, 2001, pp. 40, 101-102, 264-265.
[edit] External links
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