Mets Taghlar ( hy, Մեծ Թաղլար; russian: Мец Тагла́р; az, Mets Tağlar), Mets Tagher ( hy, Մեծ Թաղեր, lit=Big quarter) or Boyuk Taghlar ( az, Böyük Tağlar) is a village in the

Khojavend District Khojavend District ( az, Xocavənd 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 Lachin, Shusha, Khojaly, Agdam, Agh ...

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 t ...

, in the disputed region of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

. The village had an ethnic

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

-majority population prior to 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 the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involving Azerbai ...

, and also had an Armenian majority in 1989. After the capture of the village in 2020 by Azerbaijani forces, large portions of the village along with several historical objects were destroyed by Azerbaijani authorities.

Etymology

The village was known as ''Tag'' or ''Taglyar'' ( pre-reform Russian: Тагъ; Тагляръ) during 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. ...

. Later, the village became known as ''Mets Taghlar'' during the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

period. The name ''Mets Tagher'' derives from two Armenian words, ''Mets'', meaning great, large, or big, and ''Tagh'', meaning quarter (of a city).

History

During the Russian Empire, Mets Taghlar was part of its own rural commune () within the second subcounty (''

uchastok An uchastok (russian: yча́сток}, plural russian: yча́стки, translit=uchastki, label=none), or dilyanka in Ukrainian usage ( uk, ділянка, plural uk, ділянки, translit=dilyanki, label=none), was a territorial-administrat ...

'') of the

Shusha uezd The Shusha uezd was a county (''uezd'') of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire, and then of the Ganja Governorate of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic with its center in Shusha in 1840–1921. Geography The Shusha uezd was located in ...

of the

Elizavetpol Governorate The Elizavetpol Governorate, also known after 1918 as the Ganja Governorate, was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yelisavetpol (present-day Ganja). The area of the governorate st ...

within the Caucasus Viceroyalty. During the

period, the village was a part of the Hadrut 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 ...

. The village came under the control of Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, on October 2, 1992, and subsequently became part of the

Hadrut Province Hadrut Province ( hy, Հադրութի շրջան) was a province of the Republic of Artsakh. The provincial capital was Hadrut city. The last governor was Valery Gevorkian. The province was captured by the armed forces of the Republic of Azerbai ...

of the

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Artsakh controls a part of the former ...

. The village was captured by Azerbaijani forces on 9 November 2020 during the

. In early May 2021, satellite images released by Caucasus Heritage Watch, a watchdog group made up of researchers from Purdue and

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

, revealed that the local early 19th-century Armenian cemetery had been destroyed by Azerbaijani forces. Bulldozer tracks near the vicinity of the village's Holy Savior Church, founded in 1846, indicated that that building was also endangered. Satellite photography from July 2021 revealed the centre of the town and a large portion of the town's buildings have been bulldozed for the construction of the Fizuli–Shusha highway. They also revealed the destruction of the statue of

Sergei Khudyakov russian: Серге́й Алекса́ндрович Худяко́в , native_name_lang = , image = Sergei Khudyakov.jpg , alt = , caption = Khudyakov in 1944 , birth_date = , birth_place = Mets Tagher villag ...

that had stood outside his house-museum. In August 2021, satellite images released by Caucasus Heritage Watch, revealed that the village's Makun Bridge, which was built in 1890, had been destroyed by Azerbaijan between April 8 and July 7, in the course of river engineering and road construction.

Historical heritage sites

Historical heritage sites in and around Mets Taghlar include the cave of ''Shmanek'' ( hy, Շմանեք), a village from between the 9th and 13th centuries, a 12th/13th-century khachkar, a cemetery from between the 17th and 19th centuries, a bridge built in 1835, and the Holy Savior Church ( hy, Սուրբ Ամենափրկիչ Եկեղեցի, Surb Amenaprkich Yekeghetsi) built in 1846. The

Taghlar Cave The Taghlar cave ( az, Tağlar mağarası; hy, Մեծ Թաղերի Քարայր, Mets Tagheri Karayr) is an archaeological site that was inhabited by prehistoric humans of the Mousterian culture during the Paleolithic. The cave is located in Az ...

is located in the southern part of the village.

Demographics

In 1886, Mets Taghlar had a population of 2,996, including 1,651 men and 1,345 women, all of them

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 diasp ...

in 515 households. In 1897, the village had a population of 2,849 consisting of 1,433 men and 1,416 women, all Armenian Apostolic. The village had 3,175 and 3,500 mainly Armenian residents in 1908 and 1914, respectively. The village had 1,503 inhabitants in 2005, and 1,509 inhabitants in 2015.

Gallery

Եկեղեցի ամենափրկիչ...JPG, Entrance to the Holy Savior Church, built in 1846 Makun bridge, Mets Tagher, Nagorno-Karabakh.jpg, Makun Bridge built in 1890 Bust of Sergei Khudyakov with MiG-17, Mets Tagher, Nagorno-Karabakh.jpg, Bust of

with MiG-17 Ծաղկանոց.JPG, Garden Makun bridge stone, Mets Tagher, Nagorno-Karabakh.jpg, Makun Bridge stone with construction inscription

Notable people

Marshal of Aviation Marshal of the branch (or "marshal of the branch of service"; russian: Ма́ршал ро́да во́йск, Marshal roda voysk) was from 1943 to 1974 the designation to a separate rank class in the general officer's rank group of the form ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyuk Taghlar Populated places in Khojavend District Populated places in Hadrut Province Nagorno-Karabakh Former Armenian inhabited settlements