Dastakert ( hy, Դաստակերտ); is a village in the Sisian Municipality 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. It ...

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 ''O ...

. It is located 225 km south of the capital

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

and 115 km northwest of the provincial centre

Kapan Kapan ( hy, Կապան) is a town in southeast Armenia, serving as the administrative center of the urban community of Kapan Municipality, Kapan as well as the provincial capital of Syunik Province. It is located in the valley of the Voghji River ...

. According to the 2016 official estimate, the current population of Dastakert is around 300.

Etymology

Founded as a summer resort for the monks of the nearby

Tatev monastery The Tatev Monastery ( hy, Տաթևի վանք, Tat'evi vank') is a 9th-century Armenian Apostolic monastery located on a large basalt plateau near the village of Tatev in the Syunik Province in southeastern Armenia. The term "Tatev" usually refe ...

, the name of the village is derived from the old Armenian word ''Dastakert'' ( hy, Դաստակերտ), literally meaning ''summer resort'' or ''backyard''.

History

Middle Ages

Dastakert was first mentioned by the historian

Stephen Orbelian Stepanos Orbelian ( hy, Ստեփանոս Օրբելեան, originally spelled hy, Ստեփաննոս, translit=Stepʻannos, label=none; – 1303) was a thirteenth-century Armenian historian and the metropolitan bishop of the province of Syu ...

as a small village, in his 12th-century work History of the Province of Syunik. According to Orbelian, Dastakert was founded as a summer resort for the monks of the nearby

. Between the 12th and 15th centuries, Syunik along with the rest of the historic territories of Armenia suffered from the Seljuk, Mongol,

Aq Qoyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu ( az, Ağqoyunlular , ) was a culturally Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: Akkoyunlu (W ...

and

Kara Koyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu ( az, Qaraqoyunlular , fa, قره قویونلو), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, En ...

invasions, respectively.

Iranian and Russian rule

At the beginning of the 16th century, Syunik became part of the Erivan Province within the

Safavid Persia 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 ...

. At the beginning of the 18th century, the region was involved in the liberation campaign of the Armenians of Syunik led by David Bek, against

and the invading

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. David Bek started his battles in 1722 with the help of thousands of local Armenian patriots who liberated Syunik. In 1813, Syunik (including Dastakert) became part 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 ...

as a result of the Russo-Persian War of 1804–13 and the signing of the

Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (russian: Гюлистанский договор; fa, عهدنامه گلستان) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan (now in the Goranboy Distr ...

, between Russia and Qajar Persia. In 1868, it became part of the

Zangezursky 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 Arm ...

, within the Elisabethpol Governorate of the Russian Empire.

20th century and beyond

With the establishment of the Republic of Armenia in 1918, Dastakert was included within the Zangezur region of the newly-founded republic. However, after the fall of the republic in December 1920, the 2nd Pan-Zangezurian congress held in Tatev on 26 April 1921, announced the independence of the self-governing regions of Daralakyaz (Vayots Dzor), Zangezur (including Dastakert), and parts of Mountainous Artsakh, under the name of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia (''Lernahaystani Hanrapetutyun''). However, the self-proclaimed republic had a short life as the Red Army started conducting massive military operations in the region during June–July 1921, attacking Syunik from the north and east. As a result of fierce battles, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia capitulated on 13 July 1921, following Soviet Russia's promises to keep the mountainous region of Syunik part of

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

. During the Soviet period, the Dastakert copper and molybdenum mines were found in 1945. With the establishment of the Dastakert branch of the Zangezur copper-molybdenum plant in 1951, Dastakert was granted the status of an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

within the ''Sisian raion''. In 1968 – the period of the Soviet heydays – Dastakert had over 4,000 residents. However, following the closure of the copper-molybdenum combine in 1975, the population drastically declined. Following the independence of Armenia, Dastakert retained its status as an urban settlement until the administrative reforms of November 2017, when it was turned into a rural settlement as part of the Sisian community. According to the 2011 census the population of Dastakert was 323, up from 287 reported during the 2001 census. As of 2016, around 300 residents live in Dastakert, most of them being Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan.

Geography

Historically, the area of Dastakert was part of Tsghuk canton (Armenian: Ծղուկք գավառ ''Tsghukk gavar''), at the heart of the ancient Syunik province of Armenia Major. Dastakert is situated on the slopes of Mount Ayri of the Zangezur Range, near the roots of the Ayri River (a tributary of the Sisian River). At an average height of 2,050 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

, Dastakert is regarded as a mountainous settlement.

Demographics

Population

Dastakert is one of the smallest settlements in Armenia. It was one of the smallest urban settlements in the world in terms of population. The population of Dastakert grew significantly during the 1950s and 1960s after the opening of the Dastakert branch of the copper-molybdenum plant, exceeding 4,000 residents. Since the mid-1970s, the population has gradually declined with the closure of the plant. Currently, the population of Dastakert is around 300 who are entirely Armenians, most of them refugees from

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 ...

. Between two and three children are born in Dastakert every year. Population timeline of Dastakert since 1908: Healthcare in Dastakert is provided by the nearby Sisian Medical Center.

Municipal administration

Dastakert was Armenia's smallest urban community in terms of both population and area until November 2017 when it became a rural settlement.

Culture

The cultural heritage of Dastakert includes a medieval settlement located 2 km northwest of Dastakert, a medieval cemetery in the north of the city, and 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 ...

dating back to 1320. There is a lithographic inscription 2 km north of Dastakert on a rock known by the locals as ''Vardapet'', dating back to the 14th century. Dastakert is currently home to a public education high school, a cultural centre, a music school, as well as a public library run by the municipality.

Transportation

Dastakert can be only reached by the regional H-44 road that connects the village with Sisian in the north, near the Tolors reservoir.

Economy

In 1995, the government of independent Armenia reaffirmed the status of Dastakert as an urban settlement within the

, until November 2017 when the settlement was stripped of its status and became a village. The economy of the village is one of the poorest in Armenia.Dastakert. The smallest town in the world
/ref> Most of the village's residents are involved in agriculture. However, only 8% of them have permanent jobs, mainly in the post office, the municipal administration and the school. In recent years, a branch of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine with its ore-dressing mill was opened on the basis of Dastakert's old Soviet copper-molybdenum plant.

Gallery

Dastakert town3.jpg, Panorama of Dastakert

References

{{portal bar, Geography Populated places in Syunik Province Populated places established in the 12th century