![Administrative divisions of the Republic of Artsakh 1994-2020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Administrative_divisions_of_the_Republic_of_Artsakh_1994-2020.svg)
Kashatagh Province ( hy, Քաշաթաղի շրջան) was a
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of the
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 ...
.
It was the largest province by area (3,376.60 km
2). The population as of 2013 was 9,656. Its capital was
Berdzor
Lachin ( az, Laçın, , ; hy, Բերձոր, translit=Berdzor; ku, Laçîn) is a town in Azerbaijan and the administrative center of the Lachin District. It is located within the strategic Lachin corridor, which links the disputed region of Nag ...
.
Territorial entities
Kashatagh Region had 54 communities of which 3 were considered urban and 51 were rural.
Geography
Kashtagh bordered the
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 ...
in the north,
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 ...
in the north-east,
Askeran Province
Askeran Province ( hy, Ասկերան) is a province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Khojaly District of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is in the center of Artsakh, surrounding the capital, Stepanakert. It is not ...
,
Shushi Province
Shushi Province ( hy, Շուշիի շրջան) is a province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The province has 7 communities of which 1 is considered urban and 6 are rural. The town of Shushi ...
and
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 Azerba ...
in the east.
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
in the south and
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
to the west.
History
The territory of the Kashatagh Province was part of the
Syunik Province
Syunik ( hy, Սյունիք, ) is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. I ...
of the
Kingdom of Armenia. It was one of the many Caucasian areas administrated by a local
melikdom known as 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 ...
under the
Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
(
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
,
Afsharid
Afsharid Iran ( fa, ایران افشاری), also referred as the Afsharid Empire was an Iranian empire established by the Turkoman Afshar tribe in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan, ruling Iran (Persia). The state was ruled by the ...
,
Zand Zand may refer to:
* Zend, a class of exegetical commentaries on Zoroastrian scripture
* Zand District, an administrative subdivision of Iran
* Zand Boulevard, in Shiraz, Iran
* Z And, a variable star
As a tribal/clan and dynastic name
* Zand tr ...
and
Qajar Iran
Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...
).
It was later included in the
Nakhichevan Khanate
The Nakhichevan Khanate ( fa, خانات نخجوان, translit=Khānāt-e Nakhchevān; Azerbaijani:ناخچیوان خانلیغی,Naxçıvan xanlığı; hy, Նախիջեւանի խանութիւն, translit=Naxijewani xanowt'iwn) was a khanate ...
.
The territory remained predominantly Armenian up until the
Russo-Persian wars
The Russo-Persian Wars or Russo-Iranian Wars were a series of conflicts between 1651 and 1828, concerning Iran, Persia (Iran) and the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia fought these wars over disputed governance of territories and countries in th ...
and the South Caucasus invasion of the Ottoman army in the 18th century. Russian forces invaded the Caspian provinces of Persia, and in 1723 while simultaneously fighting the Afghans in the east and Turks in the west, Persia was forced to cede the Caspian provinces to 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. ...
.
Kovsakan was the second largest city in Kashatagh Province after the city of Berdzor. Mher Arakelyan from the
ARF
ARF may refer to:
Organizations
* Advertising Research Foundation
* Animal Rescue Foundation
* Armenian Revolutionary Federation
* ASEAN Regional Forum
People
* Cahit Arf (1910–1997), Turkish mathematician
Science, medicine, and mathematics
* ...
, Razmik Mirzoyan, non-partisan, and Hrach Manucharyan were competing in the mayoral election held in June 2008.
From 1 December 2020, most of the Kashatagh Province was retaken by or returned to Azerbaijan, with the exception of the
Lachin corridor
The Lachin corridor ( hy, Լաչինի միջանցք, Lachini mijantsk; az, Laçın dəhlizi or ; ) is a mountain road that links Armenia and the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Being the only road between these two territories, it is has been oft ...
containing the localities of
Berdzor
Lachin ( az, Laçın, , ; hy, Բերձոր, translit=Berdzor; ku, Laçîn) is a town in Azerbaijan and the administrative center of the Lachin District. It is located within the strategic Lachin corridor, which links the disputed region of Nag ...
,
Sus and
Aghavno, which are controlled by the Russian peacekeepers.
Demographics
The Kashatagh Province had the highest
birth rate
The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...
in the entire Caucasus region. The birth rate was measured at 29.3 per 1,000 in 2010. On the other hand, the Russian republic of Chechnya, which had a birth rate of 28.9 per 1,000 in 2011 could manage only the second spot.
* Birth Rate: 29.3 per 1,000
* Death Rate: 3.4 per 1,000
* Natural Growth: 2.60% per year
Resettlement of Syrian refugees
By June 2015, an estimated 17,000 of
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
's once 80,000-strong Armenian population had fled the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
and sought refuge in Armenia.
David Babayan
David Klimi Babayan (, ''Davit' Klimi Babayan''; born 5 April 1973 in Stepanakert) is the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh. From 28 December 2013 he served as Head of the Central Information Department of the Artsakh Republic. He al ...
, spokesperson of the Artsakh president
Bako Sahakyan, confirmed that some of those refugees had been resettled in Nagorno-Karabakh. In December 2014, Armenian media cited local municipal authorities in stating that "dozens of Syrian Armenian families" had been resettled in Nagorno-Karabakh's Kashatagh Province, specifically the city of
Lachin
Lachin ( az, Laçın, , ; hy, Բերձոր, translit=Berdzor; ku, Laçîn) is a town in Azerbaijan and the administrative center of the Lachin District. It is located within the strategic Lachin corridor, which links the disputed region of Nag ...
(Berdzor in Armenian) and the village of
Ishkhanadzor. 38 families, some 200 Syrian-Armenian refugees have resettled in the area.
ПОСЕЛИВШИЕСЯ В АРЦАХЕ СИРИЙСКИЕ АРМЯНЕ ГОВОРЯТ О СВОИХ ЧАЯНИЯХ
''NKR News''. 26 December 2014.
See also
For the districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan that over lap with the province, see: Zangilan District
Zangilan District ( az, Zəngilan rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the south-west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Qubadli, Jabrayil, the Syun ...
, Qubadli District
Qubadli District ( az, Qubadlı rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the south-west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Lachin, Khojavend, Jabrayil ...
, and 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 ...
.
References
External links
Kashatagh Region
Demographic Crisis
Declining Population
Map
{{Authority control
Regions of the Republic of Artsakh
States and territories disestablished in 2020