Shahumian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Shahumian Region (Շահումյան in Armenian, Ağcakənd in Azerbaijani) stradles an area of Azerbaijan and northern Nagorno-Karabakh. Before the Nagorno-Karabakh War of the 1990's the area was entirely within Azerbaijan but the population was predominantly Armenian. The majority of the territory remains under the control of Azerbaijan within Goranboy rayon but is claimed by the breakaway republic of Nagorno-Karabagh.

[edit] History of Shahumian

In antiquity the territory was a part of Artsakh; in the Middle Ages it was part of the principality of Khachen; in the 17-18th centuries the territory formed part of Melik-Abovian dynasty's melikdom^[1]. of Giulistan, with its capital in the fortress of that name. During Soviet times in the area was renamed after the Armenian Bolshevik Stepan Shahumyan, its administrative center taking the same name.

By the 1990's the population of Shaumian district was almost exclusively Armenian by language and ethnicity, though the area was not included within the boundaries of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast by the Soviet Union. In the spring-summer of 1991, Gorbachev ordered Operation Ring ^[2] in which the Soviet Red Army surrounded some of the area's Armenian villages (notably Getashen and Martunashen) and violently deported their inhabitants to Armenia. In December 1991 with the Soviet Union imploding, Shaumian was claimed by the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and became the focus for considerable fighting. This reached a climax in summer 1992 when most of the area was retaken by the Azerbaijan army. Damage was severe and the Armenian population fled. Today Shaumian town, still noticeably war-damaged, has been renamed Ashağı Ağcakənd and partly re-populated by ethnic Azerbaijani refugees^[3] and idps.

[edit] External links

• Armeniapedia - Rediscovering Armenia - Nagorno-Karabakh

[edit] References

v • d • e Administrative divisions of Nagorno-Karabakh
Image:Flag of Nagorno-Karabakh.svg	Cities: Shushi, Stepanakert (capital) Provinces (marzer - մարզեր): Askeran • Hadrut • Mardakert • Martuni • Shahumian* • Shushi * Shahumian remains under Azerbaijani control, although the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh claims it.	Image:Flag of Nagorno-Karabakh.svg