Chayly ( az, Çaylı, also ''Chaylu'') or Aygestan ( hy, Այգեստան) is a village in the

Tartar District Tartar District ( az, Tərtər rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country and belongs to the Karabakh Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Kalbajar, Goranboy, Yevlakh, Barda, ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, in the

disputed Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

region of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked country, landlocked region in the Transcaucasia, South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik, and covering the southeastern range o ...

. The village is on the ceasefire line between the armed forces of the breakaway state

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan ...

and those of Azerbaijan.

History

The village was founded in 1827 by

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

who fled from the Iranian

Khoy County Khoy County ( fa, شهرستان خوی) is located in West Azerbaijan province, Iran. The capital of the county is Khoy. At the 2006 census, the county's population (including those portions of the county later split off to form Chaypareh Coun ...

north of

Lake Urmia Lake Urmia; az, اۇرمۇ گؤلۆ, script=Arab, italic=no, Urmu gölü; ku, گۆلائوو رمیەیێ, Gola Ûrmiyeyê; hy, Ուրմիա լիճ, Urmia lich; arc, ܝܡܬܐ ܕܐܘܪܡܝܐ is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is ...

and resettled in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. During the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

period, the village was a part of the Mardakert District of the

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), DQMV, hy, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its cap ...

. During the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in th ...

, the village's Armenian population fled after Azerbaijani troops stormed the settlement on 16 June 1992. In 2001, refugees from the village founded a new settlement they named Nor Aygestan ( hy, Նոր Այգեստան, , ''Mollalar'' in Azerbaijani), in the

Martakert Province Martakert Province ( hy, Մարտակերտ) is a province of the Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The population is mainly Armenian. The province has 43 communities of which one is considered urban and 42 a ...

of the

, with 90-95% of its population originating from Aygestan/Çaylı. The village was part of a set of villages of displaced Armenians who relocated to the

Aghdam District Aghdam District ( az, Ağdam rayonu) is one of the 66 administrative divisions of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country and belongs to the Karabakh Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Khojaly, Kalbajar, Tartar ...

, which was largely captured by Armenian forces during the

. This district, including the area of Nor Aygestan, was previously inhabited by Azerbaijanis. In 1979, there only used to be 284 non-Azerbaijanis in the countryside of the whole district (0.4% of the population). The village of Nor Agyestan was surrendered to Azerbaijan on the basis of the terms of the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement is an armistice agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. It was signed on 9November by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the Pre ...

after the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of ...

. During the ceasefire of the

Bishkek Protocol The Bishkek Protocol is a provisional ceasefire agreement, signed by the representatives of Armenia (Parliament Speaker Babken Ararktsian), the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Parliament Speaker Karen Baburyan), Azerbaijan (First Deputy ...

of 1994 until 2020, there have been multiple allegations of ceasefire violations in the village's vicinity. The village was also part of the 2010 Mardakert clashes. The Armenian forces nevertheless managed to hold or regain control over the nearby frontline, until the

when Azerbaijan claimed that their forces had captured the entire village.

Notable people

* — Armenian writer

References

External links

* Populated places in Tartar District Nagorno-Karabakh {{Tartar-geo-stub