Kalbajar ( az, Kəlbəcər , ) is a city and the capital of the
Kalbajar District
Kalbajar District ( az, Kəlbəcər rayonu) 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 of Lachin, Khojaly, Agdam, Tart ...
of
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 on the
Tartar river
The Tartar ( az, Tərtərçay, hy, Թարթառ) is one of the tributaries of the Kura located in Azerbaijan. It passes through the districts of Kalbajar, Barda and Tartar. Parts of the river flows through the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsa ...
valley, it is away from the capital
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
.
The city had a population of 7,246 before its capture by Armenian forces on 2 April 1993, 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 ...
, which resulted in all of the city's population being expelled,
after which the city was repopulated by ethnic Armenians.
[The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis. Heiko Krüger. Springer, 2010. , 9783642117879. p. 102]
The city, alongside the surrounding district, was returned to Azerbaijan on 25 November 2020 per the
ceasefire agreement
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
that ended 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 ...
.
Etymology
There are several theories about the origin of the town's name. According to one of the versions, the city was originally called ''Kevlicher'', meaning "fortress in the upper reaches of the rivers" (''kevli'' – "the upper reaches of the river," ''cher''/''jar'' – "fortress") in
Old Turkic
Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic language, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested form of the Turkic languages, found in Göktürks, Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganate inscriptions dating from about the eighth to the 13th century. It ...
. According to another version, the name of the town comes from the combination of the Persian word ''kevil'' ("cave") and the Turkic word ''jer'' ("rock, ravine") and means "ravine with caves". This etymology is explained by the fact that there are a number of artificial caves along the
Tartar River
The Tartar ( az, Tərtərçay, hy, Թարթառ) is one of the tributaries of the Kura located in Azerbaijan. It passes through the districts of Kalbajar, Barda and Tartar. Parts of the river flows through the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsa ...
valley, where the town is located. Another version proposes that the name comes from the Turkic words ''kevli'' ("river mouths") and ''jar'' ("gorge, ravine"), and that the settlement was originally called ''Keblajar'', but over time the name purportedly morphed to ''Kalbajar''.
According to Armenian sources, the name Kalbajar is a modified form of ''Karavachar''/''Karvachar'' ( hy, Քարավաճառ).
The Armenian name is popularly interpreted as meaning "a place for selling rocks", as if consisting of the elements ''kar'' – "rock" and ''vachar'' – "sale, selling".
Other possible etymologies consider ''kar'' to mean "fortress" in this case or to be prefix meaning settlement found in the names of some ancient Near Eastern cities.
History
Early history
In ancient times, the territory where modern-day Kalbajar is located was part of the county (''gavar'') of Tsar of the
Artsakh province within the
Kingdom of Armenia.
From the 9th to 16th centuries, it was part of the Armenian
Principality of Khachen
The Principality of Khachen ( hy, Խաչենի իշխանություն, Khacheni ishkhanutyun) was a medieval Armenian principality on the territory of historical Artsakh (present-day Nagorno-Karabakh). The provinces of Artsakh and Utik were ...
and following its collapse, the Armenian melikdom of
Jraberd
Jraberd ( hy, Ջրաբերդ) or Chilabord ( az, Çiləbörd or ) is a village ''de facto'' in the Martakert Province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' in the Tartar District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karab ...
, one of the five
Melikdoms of Karabakh
The Five Melikdoms of Karabakh, also known as Khamsa Melikdoms (), were Armenian feudal entities on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring lands, from the dissolution of the Principality of Khachen in the 15th century to the a ...
. Archaeological evidence uncovered in 1924 by Soviet
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and scholar of the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
Evgenia Pchelina attests to the existence of an Armenian settlement in the area during the
middle ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
.
![Karvachar013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Karvachar013.JPG)
The settlement is mentioned by Armenian sources in the 15th century as the village of ''Karavachar'' (17th-century and later Armenian sources spell it ''Karvachar'').
It is first mentioned in the colophon of an Armenian manuscript dated to 1402:
According to Armenian historian
Samvel Karapetyan, its population likely consisted of
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 ...
until the 1730s.
In the mid-18th century, Kalbajar was again incorporated into the province of Khachen as a part of the newly-formed
Karabakh Khanate
The Karabakh Khanate was a semi-independent Turkic peoples, Turkic Khanates of the Caucasus, Caucasian khanate on the territories of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan established in about 1748 under Safavid dynasty, Iranian suzerainty in Karaba ...
. In the mid-19th century, the area was settled by
Kurds ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...
, and the settlement's name was distorted from ''Kar(a)vachar'' to ''Kyarvajar'' or ''Kyalbajar''.
Kurdish folk tales from the region, recorded by Pchelina, speak of the arrival of the Kurds in the region and the subsequent displacement of the historical Armenian population.
[
In 1930, the Kalbajar region with an area of was formed as part of the Azerbaijan SSR, the administrative centre of was the town of Kalbajar, which received the status of a city in 1980.
]
Red Kurdistan
The city was part of the Kurdistansky Uyezd
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 distr ...
(later called the Kurdistan Okrug
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 distr ...
) of the Azerbaijani SSR
Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...
from 7 July 1923 to 23 July 1930. To its Kurdish population, it was known as ''Kevn Bajar''.
Battle of Kalbajar
The city was seized by Armenian forces on 2 April 1993 during the Battle of Kalbajar, near the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and all of its Azerbaijani inhabitants were forced out. Civilians reported being forced to flee through mountains still covered in snow, resulting in hundreds freezing to death.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
findings concluded that during the Kalbajar offensive Armenian forces committed numerous violations of the rules of war
The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...
, including forcible exodus of civilian population, indiscriminate fire and hostage-taking
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refra ...
. In April 1993, the United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
adopted Resolution 822 which called for the withdrawal of all occupying forces from the Kalbajar district, including the town of Kalbajar.
Armenian occupation
Following the war, the city and surrounding territory were absorbed into 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 ...
becoming the centre of its Shahumyan Province
Shahumyan Province ( hy, Շահումյան, Shahumyan, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') is a claimed province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was ...
and was renamed ' ( hy, Քարվաճառ). Starting in the early 2000s, the city was slowly repopulated by ethnic 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 ...
from the eastern areas of Shahumyan
Shahumyan Province ( hy, Շահումյան, Shahumyan, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') is a claimed province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was K ...
and Gulistan Gulistan, Golestan or Golastan ( fa, گلستان) means "flower land" in Persian language (''gol'' meaning "flower", and ''-stan'' or meaning "land").
It may refer to:
Places
Iran
"Golestan" most often refers to:
* Golestan province in nor ...
; they had fled 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 ...
after they had been forcefully expelled by Azerbaijani forces and the aforementioned settlements had been taken under control by Azerbaijan.
Infrastructure was thereafter rebuilt and the town had electricity and a nearby highway connecting it to Armenia. In 2018, the town's school had 177 schoolchildren.
An OSCE
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
Fact-Finding Mission visited the occupied territories in 2005 to inspect settlement activity in the area and report its findings to the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azer ...
. According to FFM figures, at that time the number of Armenian settlers in the Kalbajar District was approximately 1,500, of which about 450–500 lived in Kalbajar proper. FFM reported that "housing conditions were basic and no more than 20 to 30 percent of the ruins were reconstructed, usually in a crude and make-shift manner. Some were without glass windows and were only heated by a small wood-burning stove". According to 2013 local estimates, which the historian and political scientist Laurence Broers considers plausible, the city had some 700 inhabitants at the time while the larger, namesake district had a total of 3,000 inhabitants.
From 2014 to 2020, the city maintained ties with Pico Rivera, California
Pico Rivera is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California. The city is situated approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin, and on the southern edge of the area known as the ...
as a friendship city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are ...
.
Return to Azerbaijani control
As part of an agreement Agreement may refer to:
Agreements between people and organizations
* Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law
* Trade agreement, between countries
* Consensus, a decision-making process
* Contract, enforceable in a court of law
** Meeting o ...
that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the town and its surrounding district were initially to be returned to Azerbaijani control by 15 November 2020, but this deadline was subsequently extended to 25 November 2020. The city, along with the district were returned to Azerbaijan on 25 November 2020.
Following the end of 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 ...
, Armenian armed forces and civilians began to leave the Kalbajar area on 11 November 2020 in preparation for the handover of the town to Azerbaijani control on 15 November 2020. It was reported that some residents were burning their own homes, schools and forests and were cutting fruit trees and downing power lines prior to the handover. In the days leading up to the return to Azerbaijani control, there was heavy traffic on the road leading into the area as residents rushed to leave while other Armenians rushed to visit the nearby 9th century Dadivank monastery
Dadivank ( hy, Դադիվանք) or Khutavank ( hy, Խութավանք, translation=monastery on the hillЖеан-Паул Лабурдетьте, Доминикуе Аузиас, Армения, Petit Futé, 2007 – p. 203) is an Armenian Apo ...
one last time before the border closed.
According to Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
's senior crisis adviser, who traveled to Kalbajar soon after it was returned to Azerbaijan's control, "during 27 years of occupation all was looted – not a door, nor a window, not a single roof tile was left in the houses of the Azerbaijanis who had to flee in 1993". She also reported observing in the cemetery of Kalbajar smashed graves "of Azerbaijanis who were buried here before the 1993 Armenian occupation. Some graves were freshly smashed, seemingly by Armenians who left the area last week after 27 years of occupation".
On 16 August 2021, the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003.
The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...
visited the city and hoisted the flag of Azerbaijan
The national flag of Azerbaijan ( az, Azərbaycan bayrağı), often referred to in Azerbaijani as ( en, Tricolour flag), is a horizontal tricolour that features three equally sized bars of bright blue, red, and green; a white crescent; and ...
in the city. In september of the same year, the building of the military prosecutor's office, as well as a bakery was opened in Kalbajar. On 26 June 2022, the foundation of the İstisu mineral water plant was laid in Kalbajar.В Кяльбаджаре заложен фундамент завода минеральной воды «Истису»
/ref>
Historical heritage sites
Historical heritage sites in and around the town include a petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
, a medieval oil mill
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
, a khachkar
A ''khachkar'', also known as a ''khatchkar'' or Armenian cross-stone ( hy, խաչքար, , խաչ xačʿ "cross" + քար kʿar "stone") is a carved, memorial stele bearing a cross, and often with additional motifs such as rosettes, in ...
from 916, and tombstones from between the 13th and 17th centuries.
Demographics
Gallery
Karvachar009.JPG, Children playing football (2010)
Karvachar004.JPG, Street in Kalbajar (2010)
Karvachar002.JPG, Street in Kalbajar (2010)
Caves near Karvachar.jpg, Basalt columns and caves near Kalbajar, locally known as "rock symphony"
Sunflowers in Nor Verishen village.jpg, Sunflowers in the countryside
Gorge of the Tartar.jpg, Dashtak Gorge on the Tartar River, from Kalbajar
Ephedra major shrubs near the gorge.jpg, Dashtak Gorge near Kalbajar
The building of Karvachar's cultural center.jpg, Cultural Center in Kalbajar, under construction
References
External links
*
World Gazetteer: Azerbaijan
– World-Gazetteer.com
{{Authority control
Populated places in Kalbajar District
Cities and towns in the Republic of Artsakh