Yevlakh

The name of the city comes from an Old Turkic word meaning 'swampy place.'[1]

The city of Yevlakh was initially established as a station in the 80s of the last century and known as the "Vagzal" for a long time by the local population. In the official documents and sources of the 19th century and early 20th century the city is referred as Yevlakh station of Yelizavetpol province, then Yevlakh village of Yelizavetpol province, and in 1920, it took the name of Yevlakh village locating in Javanshir region. The Yevlakh region first was organized on February 20, 1935, by the decision of Azerbaijan SSR, on February 1, 1939, by the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Yevlakh was referred as a city. The Yevlakh region was abolished by the decision of the X session of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic on December 26, 1962, and its territory was transferred to Agdash, Barda and Gasim Ismayilov districts, and it became the industrial city of in Azerbaijan SSR. In 1965, Yevlakh again turned into an independent region. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijani SSR on January 6, 1965, Yevlakh was included into the list of cities in Azerbaijan SSR and started the construction of industrial enterprises in the city. Nowadays, the city has 4200 meters long Heydar Aliyev, Nizami avenues, 5500 meters long and 168 streets. The monument dedicated to the Azerbaijan's national leader Heydar Aliyev that locates in the biggest square within the city- Heydar Aliyev Square, Heydar Aliyev Alley, Dede Gorgud, Samad Vurgun, Nizami, Friendship, Independence parks have been established lately.[2]

Yevlakh is located in Kur-Araz natural-economic zones and Aran (Kur-Araz) economic region (also referred as Lowland Economic Region) covers 21.1 thousand km2 (24.7% of the territory of Azerbaijan).  The climate that common for this region is dry subtropical.[3]

Yevlakh has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk).

The demographics of Yevlakh city embrace the demographic features of the population of the city of Yevlakh including population growth, population density, economic status and other aspects. As of 2016, the population increased in the city in comparison with the previous years about 7.1 thousand people. According to the population census data in 2009, urban population accounted for 55.04% and rural was 44.96%.[5]

Number of population

Yevlakh is one of the important rayons of the country in terms of economy. The farmers grow potato, vegetable, water-melon and fruits, as well. Agriculture mainly connected with cotton growing, grain growing and livestock breeding. Yevlakh is also engaged in poultry farming and silkworm breeding. There are agricultural processing enterprises, manufacturing and industrial complexes within the city.[6]

Yevlakh City is also rich with natural resources like clay mixture sand deposits, as well as clay, sand and gravel deposits needed for brick making.

Yevlakh city was referred as "gates of Karabakh" in some historical documents of XII century. Via those "gates" there were passed roads towards, being the well-known in Azerbaijan, eylags (alpine grasslands - summer pastures) in Kelbajar, Lachin and further to Batabat. Moreover, there are many fields of culture in the city of Yavlakh. 45 libraries serve the population of the district. Ten of them are located in the city center and 35 in the villages. There are 552300 copies of books in the book fund of the libraries. Currently, there are 18 culture houses (2 in the city, 16 in the villages), 22 clubs and 6 music schools in the city. Yevlakh History and Ethnography Museum (2005) and Heydar Aliyev Museum (2006) are two main museums in Yevlakh.[7][8]

Some of the city's many prestigious residents include: Orthodox theologian Pavel Florensky, human rights activist Anar Mammadli and government civilian Elmar Valiyev.

• Yevlakh (as Yevlax) at GEOnet Names Server
• World Gazetteer: Azerbaijan – World-Gazetteer.com