Lachin

Lachin (Azerbaijani: Laçın, literally "hawk") or Berdzor (Armenian: Բերձոր), formerly Abdallyar, Datschin) is a town de facto controlled by the Republic of Artsakh (ROA), a region internationally recognized de jure as part of Azerbaijan. The area has been governed by the ROA, which has renamed the town Berdzor, since the 1992 Nagorno-Karabakh War, and acts as the capital of Kashatagh Region.[3] The government of Azerbaijan considers Lachin to be the regional center of its Lachin Rayon. The town and the surrounding region serve as the strategic Lachin corridor, which connects the ROA with Armenia.

For other places with the same name, see Lachin (disambiguation).
"Laçın" redirects here. For other uses, see Laçın (disambiguation).

Laçın (Բերձոր)/Berdzor
Laçın (Բերձոր)/Berdzor
Coordinates: 39°38′27″N 46°32′49″E
CountryDe jure Azerbaijan
De facto Artsakh
District
Province		Lachin
Kashatagh
Government
 • MayorArthur Sahakyan[1]
Population
 (2015)
 • Total1,900[2]
Time zoneUTC+4 (UTC)

History

It was originally known as Abdalyar or Abdallyar (after the Turkic Abdal tribe).[4][5][6] It was granted town status in 1923 and renamed Lachin (a Turkic first name meaning falcon) in 1926.[4]

In the early 1920s, Vladimir Lenin's letter to Narimanov "had implied that Lachin was to be included in Azerbaijan, but the authorities in Baku and Yerevan were given promises that were inevitably contradictory."[7] The town of Lachin on 7 July 1923 became the administrative center of Kurdistansky Uyezd, often known as Red Kurdistan, before it was moved to Shusha.[8] It was dissolved on 8 April 1929: Kurdish schools and newspapers were closed.[9]

Lachin/Berdzor

On 15 May 1992, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Armenian military forces took control of the first land-corridor to Armenia.[10] Previously, on 13 May 1992 Turkey threatened Armenia that, "It would intervene militarily if Shusha and Lachin were not restored to Azerbaijan".[11] Russia responded by signing a military agreement with Armenia, pledging military aid if its security was threatened. On 20 May 1992, Turkey reassured Russia that it would not intervene militarily.[11] Thus, after three years of blockade, a land bridge linking Armenia with the territory of Artsakh was established. In the fall of 1992, Azerbaijani forces tried to regain control over Lachin, but were repulsed. All of Lachin's Azerbaijani and Kurdish population fled as a result of the fall of the region to Karabakhs Armenian forces.

Demographics
The Lachin corridor checkpoint on Aghavno River
Year Population Ethnic groups Source
1926 435 37.7% Azeri Turks, 25.3% Kurds, 15.2% Armenians, 13.1% Russians Soviet census[12]
1939 1,063 80.7% Azerbaijani, 11.6% Armenians, 6.4% Russians Soviet census[13]
1959 2,329 94.5% Azerbaijani, 4.3% Armenians 1% Russians Soviet census[14]
1970 4,990 95% Azerbaijani, 2.7% Russians & Ukrainians, 1.1% Armenians Soviet census[15]
1979 6,073 99.1% Azerbaijani Soviet census[16]
1989 7,829 Soviet census[17]
2005 2,190 ~100% Armenians NKR census[18]
2015 1,900 ~100% Armenians NKR estimate[2]

Terrain

The town is scenically built on the side of a mountain on the left bank of Hakari River.[19]

Nagorno-Karabakh war
An Armenian monument in Berdzor commemorating the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Holy Ascension Church in Berdzor opened in 1998

Lachin town and the surrounding rayon were the location of severe fighting during the 1990-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war, and the town has not wholly recovered from the destruction of that war. Lachin is the most important town under Armenian control because of the Lachin corridor, which links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Minsk Group co-chairs noted that "Lachin has been treated as a separate case in previous negotiations." This is because Lachin is Nagorno Karabakh's humanitarian and security corridor. Without it, Nagorno-Karabakh would remain an isolated enclave. The Lachin corridor and the Kelbajar district have been at the center of Armenian demands during the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks with Azerbaijan.[20]

On 16 June 2015 European Court of Human Rights passed a judgement in the case of ″Chiragov and Others v. Armenia″, which concerned the complaints by six Azerbaijani ethnically-Kurdish refugees that they were unable to return to their homes and property in the district of Lachin, in Azerbaijan, from where they had been forced to flee in 1992 during the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The Court confirmed that Armenia exercised effective control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories and thus had jurisdiction over the district of Lachin. The Court found that the denial by the Armenian Government of access to the applicants’ homes constituted an unjustified interference with their right to respect for their private and family lives as well as their homes.[21]

Administrative divisions and sister cities

Berdzor is the capital of Kashatagh Region.[22]

Berdzor is twinned with:

See also

References

Notes
  1. "ԼՂՀ աշխատանքի և սոցիալական հարցերի նախարարություն". mss.nkr.am. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  2. "Urban communities of the NKR" (PDF). stat-nkr.am. National Statistical Service of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. January 1, 2015. p. 13.
  3. Holding, Nicholas (2006). Armenia with Nagorno Karabagh, 2nd: The Bradt Travel Guide. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, p. 208. ISBN 1-84162-163-3.
  4. Pospelov, p. 23
  5. Karapetian, Samvel. Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabagh. Yerevan: Gitutiun Publishing House, 2001, p. 169.
  6. Map of Armenia and Adjacent Countries by H. F. B. Lynch and F. Oswald in Armenia, Travels and Studies. London: Longmans, 1901.
  7. Alexandre Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush. Muslims of the Soviet Empire. C. Hurst & Co Publishers, 1986, pp. 202, 286. ISBN 1-85065-009-8.
  8. McDowall, David. A Modern History of the Kurds, 3rd. ed. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004, p. 492.
  9. Catherine Cosman, "Soviet Kurds Face Loss of Their Identity," New York Times, May 13, 1991/June 2, 1991.
  10. "The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference". Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  11. A Study of Crisis, by Michael Brecher, Jonathan Wilkenfeld, 1997, p. 565
  12. "Курдистанский уезд 1926". www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru.
  13. "Лачинский район 1939". www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru.
  14. "Лачинский район 1959". www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru.
  15. "Лачинский район 1970". www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru.
  16. "Лачинский район 1979". www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru.
  17. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". demoscope.ru.
  18. http://census.stat-nkr.am/nkr/1-1.pdf
  19. "Great Soviet Encyclopedia". yandex.ru.
  20. CountryWatch - Interesting Facts Of The World Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  21. Press release issued by the Registrar of the Court. "Azerbaijani refugees' rights violated by lack of access to their property located in district controlled by Armenia". European Court of Human Rights. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  22. "Serop From Syria Starts Anew in Berdzor: "Rich or poor, it's the homeland" - Hetq - News, Articles, Investigations". hetq.am.
  23. "Azerbaijan Protests California Town’s Recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh." RIA Novosti. December 6, 2013.

Sources
  • Е. М. Поспелов (Ye. M. Pospelov). "Имена городов: вчера и сегодня (1917–1992). Топонимический словарь." (City Names: Yesterday and Today (1917–1992). Toponymic Dictionary." Москва, "Русские словари", 1993.

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