Lachin
39°38′27″N 46°32′49″E / 39.64083°N 46.54694°E
Laçın | |
|---|---|
 Berdzor | |
| Country | De jure AzerbaijanDe facto  Nagorno-Karabakh |
| District Province | Lachin Kashatagh |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Arthur Sahakyan[1] |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 2,200 |
| Time zone | UTC+4 (UTC) |
Lachin (Azerbaijani: Laçın (which is Azeri for "hawk"), Armenian: Բերձոր Berdzor, Kurdish: Laçîn; also Abdallyar, Datschin) or Berdzor is a town in the de facto independent unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, capital of the Kashatagh Province. For the government of Azerbaijan, it is the regional center of the occupied Lachin Rayon. Since 1992 the area has been under the control of NKR, which has renamed the town Berdzor.[2] The town and its surrounding region serve as the strategic Lachin corridor connecting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with Armenia.
History
It was known as Abdalyar until 1923.[3][4][5] It was granted town status in 1923 and renamed Lachin (a Turkic first name meaning falcon) in 1926.[3]
On May 15, 1992, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army took control of the first land-corridor to Armenia.[6] Previously, on May 13, 1992 Turkey threatened Armenia that, "It would intervene militarily if Shusha and Lachin were not restored to Azerbaijan".[7] Russia responded by signing a military agreement with Armenia, pledging military aid if its security was threatened. On May 20, 1992, Turkey reassured Russia that it would not intervene militarily.[7] Thus, after three years of blockade, a land bridge linking the Republic of Armenia with the territory of Nagorno Karabakh was established. In the fall of 1992, Azerbaijani forces tried to regain control over Lachin, but were repulsed. All of Lachin's Azerbaijani and Kurdish population fled as a result of the fall of the region to Armenian armed forces.
Demographics (1989)
Kurds
In the early 1920s, Vladimir Lenin's letter to 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."[8] The town of Lachin on July 7, 1923 became the administrative center of Kurdistansky Uyezd, often known as Red Kurdistan, before it was moved to Shusha.[9] It was dissolved on April 8, 1929: Kurdish schools and newspapers were closed.[10] According to Bushkapin[who?], official statistics from 1931 show that there were 3,322 Kurdish speakers in Lachin. These figures did not include those individuals who did not speak Kurdish but nonetheless defined themselves as Kurds.[citation needed] Most of the Kurdish population in Lachin were Shi'a Muslims and there was a Kurdish minority in the area before the Nagorno-Karabakh War started.
Terrain
The town is scenically built on the side of a mountain on the left bank of Akera River.[11]
Nagorno-Karabakh war
Lachin town and the surrounding rayon were the location of severe fighting during the 1990-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war, and the town has not wholly recovered from the destruction of that war. Lachin is the most important town under Armenian control because of the Lachin corridor, which links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Minsk Group co-chairs noted that "Lachin has been treated as a separate case in previous negotiations." This is because Lachin is Nagorno Karabakh's humanitarian and security corridor. Without it, Nagorno-Karabakh would remain an isolated enclave. The Lachin corridor and the Kelbajar district have been at the center of Armenian demands during the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks with Azerbaijan.[12]
Administrative divisions and sister cities
Berdzor is the capital of Kashatagh Province.[13]
Berdzor is twinned with:
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Բերձոր քաղաքի համայնքապետի հաշվետվություն
- ^ Holding, Nicholas (2006). Armenia with Nagorno Karabagh, 2nd: The Bradt Travel Guide. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, p. 208. ISBN 1-84162-163-3.
- ^ a b Pospelov, p. 23
- ^ Karapetian, Samvel. Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabagh. Yerevan: Gitutiun Publishing House, 2001, p. 169.
- ^ Map of Armenia and Adjacent Countries by H. F. B. Lynch and F. Oswald in Armenia, Travels and Studies. London: Longmans, 1901.
- ^ Baev, Pavel K. The Russian Army in a Time of Troubles. International Peace Research Institute, 1996, p. 124. ISBN 0-7619-5187-3.
- ^ a b A Study of Crisis, by Michael Brecher, Jonathan Wilkenfeld, 1997, p. 565
- ^ Alexandre Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush. Muslims of the Soviet Empire. C. Hurst & Co Publishers, 1986, pp. 202, 286. ISBN 1-85065-009-8.
- ^ McDowall, David. A Modern History of the Kurds, 3rd. ed. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004, p. 492.
- ^ Catherine Cosman, "Soviet Kurds Face Loss of Their Identity," New York Times, May 13, 1991/June 2, 1991.
- ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- ^ CountryWatch - Interesting Facts Of The World
- ^ Serop From Syria Starts Anew in Berdzor: "Rich or poor, it's the homeland"
- ^ "Azerbaijan Protests California Town’s Recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh." RIA Novosti. December 6, 2013.
Sources
- Е. М. Поспелов (Ye. M. Pospelov). "Имена городов: вчера и сегодня (1917–1992). Топонимический словарь." (City Names: Yesterday and Today (1917–1992). Toponymic Dictionary." Москва, "Русские словари", 1993.
External links
- Pictures of Lachin
- Demographic Crisis in Lachin (Berdzor)
- More information about Lachin (Berdzor) from Armeniapedia.com
- "Lachin (Berdzor)". Azerb.com. Retrieved February 4, 2007.
- "History of Artsakh (Part 3)".
- Lachin (as Laçın) at GEOnet Names Server
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