Husulu (), historically also known as Kashataghk () is a village in the

Lachin District Lachin District ( az, Laçın rayonu, ku, Navçeya Laçînê, script=Latn) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts ...

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 ...

, located close to the villages of Malıbəy (Melikashen), Qarıqışlaq (Tandzut) and Ağoğlan. Armenian monuments such as the

Tsitsernavank Monastery Tsitsernavank ( hy, Ծիծեռնավանք) is a fifth-to-sixth century Armenian Apostolic monastery in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan. The monastery is within five kilometers of the border of Armenia's province of Syunik, in an area historica ...

from between the 5th and 7th centuries, and the 15th-century

Melik Haykaz Palace Melik Haykaz Palace ( hy, Մելիք Հայկազի ապարանք) is a 15th-century palace in the village of Hüsülü in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan. It is believed to have been built by Melik Haykaz I (1450-1520), the first ruler of th ...

are located near the village.

History

Most Armenian historians identify the village with Kashataghk, a settlement mentioned by the 13th-century Armenian historian Stephen Orbelian (one Armenian historian, Armen Gharagyozian, instead identifies Kashataghk with the nearby village of Qarıqışlaq). Despite the village's small size and population, the whole region of Kashatagh was named after this settlement due to it being a princely residence of the Armenian Meliks of Kashatagh. The

Kurdish population The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million.T ...

that settled in the Kashatagh region after the deportation of the Armenian population from the region by

Shah Abbas I Abbas I ( fa, ; 27 January 157119 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the 5th Safavid Shah (king) of Iran, and is generally considered one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavid dynasty. He was the third so ...

referred to the village as Sultankand; according to historian Samvel Karapetyan, this is because the inhabitants knew about the location's past as a princely residence. The name has also been rendered as ''Sultanlar'' and ''Sultanlı''. Under the rule of 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. ...

, the settlement was administered as part of the

Zangezur Uyezd The Zangezur uezd was a county (''uezd'') of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Gerusy (present-day Goris) from 1868 until its formal abolition and partition between the Soviet republics of Armeni ...

of the

Elisabethpol 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 ...

. 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 village was part of

Red Kurdistan Kurdistan uezd,, ku, Кӧрдӧйәзд, Kurduyezd also known colloquially as Red Kurdistan,, ku, Кӧрдьстана Сор, Kurdistana Sor was a Soviet administrative unit that existed for six years from 1923 to 1929 and included the dist ...

until its abolition in 1929. Thereafter, it was administered as part of the Lachin District. In 1931, the village received its current name, after the Azerbaijani communist official Hüsü Hajiyev. The village was located in the

Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh The Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh were areas of Azerbaijan, situated outside the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), which were occupied by the ethnic Armenian military forces of the breakaway Republi ...

, coming under the control of ethnic Armenian forces 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 ...

in the early 1990s. The village subsequently became part of the breakaway

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 ...

as part of its

Kashatagh Province Kashatagh Province ( hy, Քաշաթաղի շրջան) was a province of the Republic of Artsakh. It was the largest province by area (3,376.60 km2). The population as of 2013 was 9,656. Its capital was Berdzor. Territorial entities Kashata ...

, where it was known as Tsitsernavank ( hy, Ծիծեռնավանք), with the Tsitsernavank community including the village of Melikashen ( hy, Մելիքաշեն). It was returned to Azerbaijan as part of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement.

Historical heritage sites

Historical heritage sites in and around the village include the monastery of ''

Tsitsernavank Tsitsernavank ( hy, Ծիծեռնավանք) is a fifth-to-sixth century Armenian Apostolic monastery in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan. The monastery is within five kilometers of the border of Armenia's province of Syunik, in an area historical ...

'' () from between the 5th and 7th centuries, khachkars from between the 8th and 17th centuries, two 20th-century tombstones, and the 15th-century

( hy, Մելիք Հայկազի ապարանք, Melik Haykazi Aparank), which was the palace of an Armenian

melik Мelik (also transliterated as ''Meliq'') ( ''melikʿ''; from ar, ملك '' malik'' (king)) was a hereditary Armenian noble title, in various Eastern Armenian principalities known as ''melikdom''s encompassing modern Yerevan, Kars, Nakhic ...

, Melik Haykaz, the first ruler of the

Melikdom of Kashatagh The Melikdom of Kashatagh ( Armenian: Քաշաթաղի մելիքություն) was an Armenian melikdom (principality) which existed in the 15th–18th centuries. It was located along the Hakari River, on the southeastern section of the mod ...

. The palace follows the classical architectural style of an

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 ...

melik palace, and was built on a slope surrounded by a fortified wall with towers and gates. It had several floors, with Melik Haykaz's living room being located on the ground floor and his throne room being located on the second floor. The palace underwent renovation between 1989 and 1992, and was turned into a hotel in 2007. Azerbaijani sources refer to the structure as Hamza Sultan Palace, attributing it to an 18th-century local ruler named Hamza Sultan of the Qaraçorlu tribe.

Demographics

According to administrative data from 1886, the settlement (recorded as two villages taken together, "First Sultankand" and "Second Sultankand") had 151 inhabitants. The village had 113 inhabitants in 2005, and 113 inhabitants in 2015.

Gallery

Meliqashen, Haykaz Meliq's House - panoramio.jpg, The Palace of Armenian Melik Haykazyan

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Husulu, Lachin Villages in Azerbaijan Populated places in Lachin District Armenian Highlands