Northern Artsakh

Ethnic map of the Northern Artsakh region (between the Murovdag mountain range and Kura River) in 1886-1890 with today's international borders and Nagorno-Karabakh de facto controlled territory frontier with Azerbaijan.

Northern Artsakh (Armenian: Հյուսիսային Արցախ, Hyusisayin Artsakh), sometimes referred to as Lower Artsakh (Armenian: Դաշտային Արցախ Dashtayin Artsakh) is a geopolitical concept used in the Republic of Armenia to refer the region in north-western Azerbaijan, lying north of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Mountainous Artsakh) and between the Kura river and the border of the Republic of Armenia, which had a significant Armenian population from antiquity up to the 1987-1992, when Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out.

History

Historically, the region was known as Gardman. During the early medieval period, Northern Artsakh (it was more known under the name of Gardman in the Middle Ages) included some of the districts of Utik and Artsakh provinces of Greater Armenia, such as Koght, Kust-i-Parnes, Gardman, Shakashen, etc.

Under Russian Empire (1804-1918)

During the late medieval period, it formed part of Ganja khanate, being later incorporated into the territory of Russia, after which it became known under the name of Elisabethpol Governorate. During 1918-1920 period it was part of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

August von Haxthausen, an ethnographer and an official from Prussia who visited Ganja in the 1850, writes:

“

Gandzak District is inhabited by the Armenians and the Tartars, the former dwelling in the mountains and the latter in the fertile plains. The Armenians are mainly engaged in farming and gardening (they grow wheat, barley, millet, maize and flax), while the Tartars' main occupation is stock-breeding: the majority of the latter is lazy but rich, whereas the former, on the contrary, are very hard-working. The Turkish villages are rather large, unlike the Armenian ones that comprise a small number of houses...

”

Soviet era (1920-1991)

Ethnic map of the region in 1970, during Soviet era, showing Armenian (in red) enclaves outside of NKAO.

After the Soviet takeover, the region was annexed to the Republic of Azerbaijan, being divided into the following administrative units:

• Getabek (Кедабекский район)
• Dashkesan (Дашкесанский район)
• Touz (Таузский район)
• Khanlar (Ханларский район)
• Kasum-Ismayilov (Касум-Исмаиловский район)
• Ghazakh (Казахский район)
• Shamkhor (Шамхорский район)
• Shahumian (Шаумяновский район)

The following table shows the data from two Soviet censuses about the ethnic makeup of the region by districts (rayons) according to the 1939 and 1959 Soviet censuses.

District	1939					1959					1970					1979
	Armenians	%	Azeris	%	TOTAL	Armenians	%	Azeris	%	TOTAL	Armenians	%	Azeris	%	TOTAL	Armenians	%	Azeris	%	TOTAL
city of Kiorvabad	27,676	24	49,755	50.3	115,120	37,462	27.1	63,258	54.5	138,239
Shahumyan	12,048	85.9	429	3.1	14,032	12,707	77.2	2,744	16.7	16,459
Khanlar	27,316	63.5	9,191	21.4	43,050	16,845	51.7	13,063	40.1	32,592
Dashkesan	63	0.7	9,137	97.5	9,370	16,626	47.2	17,372	49.3	35,222
Shamkir	16,129	23.5	44,910	65.3	68,765	17,513	21.2	61,661	74.6	82,688
Goranboy	1,928	5.2	32,820	89.1	36,840	1,915	4.3	41,125	91.7	44,825
Tovuz	1,031	1.8	53,687	93.3	57,530	1,147	1.6	67,634	69.2	70,318
Qazax	824	2.2	34,846	93.6	37,220	700	1.7	40,290	95.5	42,185
Gadabay	442	1.2	31,950	83.9	38,100	294	0.6	48,320	91.1	53,047
TOTAL	87,457	20.8	216,970	63.5	420,027	105,209	20.4	292,209	68.9	515,575

Karabakh War and aftermath

See also: Operation Ring

During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Northern Karabakh (Northern Artsakh) lost its remaining Armenian population.

In May 1991, the Soviet sceurity forces (MVD and OMON) started the military Operation Ring in the region of Shahumyan, north of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR. Officially dubbed a "passport checking operation", the stated goal launched by the Soviet Union's internal and defense ministries was to disarm Armenian militia detachments which were organized in "[illegally] armed formations." The operation involved the use of soldiers who accompanied a complement of military vehicles, artillery and helicopter gunships to be used to root out the self-described Armenian fedayeen.

However, contrary to their stated objectives, Soviet troops and the predominantly Azeri soldiers in the OMON and army forcibly depopulated many Armenians living in the twenty-four villages strewn across Shahumyan to leave their homes and settle elsewhere in Nagorno-Karabakh or in the neighboring Armenian SSR. Some authors have also described the actions of the joint Soviet and Azeri force as ethnic cleansing.

Thus, the population of about 25 Armenian villages in Shahumyan and Khanlar districts (known to Armenians as Getashen and Martunashen) were deported to Armenia and NKAO.

Armenians of Shamkor and Dashkesan left their homes even before the military conflct started.

Republic of Azerbaijan

According to the 1999 Azeri official census, there were about 100 Armenians in the districts, known as Northern Arstakh: 32 in Ganja, 22 in Shamkir, 18 in Tovuz, 8 in Goranboy, 8 in Xanlar, 7 in Ağstafa, 7 in Gadabay, 6 in Dashkasan and 4 in Samux.

See also

• Artsakh
• Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
• Greater Armenia

References

• Northern Artsakh by Samvel Karapetyan
• La tutela del patrimonio culturale in caso di conflitto, edited by Fabio Maniscalco. 2002
• Samvel Karapetyan, Northern Artsakh, Yerevan: Gitutiun Publishing House, 2004 (re-published in 2007, ISBN 5808006775) - [1].

External links

• Historical Structures of Northern Artsakh by Research on Armenian Architecture
• Armenian Architectural Monuments of Northern Artsakh