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Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh

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Khojaly (Azerbaijani: Xocalı, listenⓘ; Armenian: Խոջալու, romanized: Khojalu) is a town in the Khojaly District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Khojaly
Xocalı
Khojaly in May 2024
Khojaly in May 2024
Khojaly is located in Azerbaijan
Khojaly
Khojaly
Khojaly is located in Karabakh Economic Region
Khojaly
Khojaly
Coordinates: 39°54′40″N 46°47′21″E / 39.91111°N 46.78917°E / 39.91111; 46.78917
Country Azerbaijan
DistrictKhojaly
Elevation
570 m (1,870 ft)
Population
 (2015)[1]
 • Total1,397
Time zoneUTC+4 (UTC)

The town was the second largest Azerbaijani town in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast until the mass killing and exodus of its Azerbaijani population during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.[2][3]

Stepanakert Airport is located to the immediate south of the town.

Toponymy

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The Azerbaijani name of the town, Khojaly, derives from khoja (xoca),[4] which is the Azerbaijani spelling of the Persian word khawaja, meaning master.[5]

In 2001 the settlement was renamed Ivanyan (Իվանյան) by Artsakh, after the late general of the Artsakh Defence Army, Kristapor Ivanyan.[6]

History

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According to the 1910 publication of the Caucasian Calendar, Khojaly had 184 Tatar (i.e. Azerbaijani) inhabitants in 1908.[7] In the 1912 publication, Khojaly had 172 Tatar and 52 Russian inhabitants.[8]

During the Soviet period, Khojaly was a village in the Askeran District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.

First Nagorno-Karabakh War

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Main articles: First Nagorno-Karabakh War and Khojaly massacre

As the First Nagorno-Karabakh War started, the Azerbaijani government began to implement a plan to create a new district center. From 1988 to 1990 the population of Khojaly increased from 2,135 to 6,000 residents, mostly consisting of immigrants from Soviet Central Asia (including more than 2,000 Meskhetian Turks) and immigrants from Armenia (about 2,000). In April 1990 the Azerbaijani government abolished the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and its internal divisions. Khojaly was given city status and became the regional center for the newly created Khojaly District composed of the former Askeran District and part of the Martuni District.[9][10] The town had 6,300 Azerbaijani inhabitants in 1991.[3]

Most of the inhabitants fled during the town's capture by Armenian forces on 26 February 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and hundreds were killed in the Khojaly massacre. The Khojaly massacre was the mass killing of Azerbaijanis — mostly civilians, but also armed troops — by local[11] irregular Armenian forces and the 366th Commonwealth of Independent States Guards Motor Rifle Regiment.[12][13][14][15][16] It was one of the four events that defined the war, along with the Karabakh Armenian seizure of Shusha and the capture of Lachin and the Lachin corridor between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia as well as the June 1992 Azerbaijani offensive against the Mardakert Province in Nagorno-Karabakh.[citation needed] The death toll claimed by the Azerbaijani authorities is 613 civilians, including 106 women and 63 children.[17] According to Human Rights Watch, it resulted in death of at least 200 Azerbaijanis, though it is possible that as many as 500–1,000 may have died.[18][11][19]

Republic of Artsakh

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After the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the town became part of the Askeran Province of the Republic of Artsakh and the town was settled by Armenians.

The town had an Armenian-majority population of 908 inhabitants in 2005,[20] and 1,397 inhabitants in 2015.[1]

After the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, five Armenian families displaced from Vazgenashen (Gulably) settled in the town, as well as in Shosh (Shushikend).[21][22] Artsakh launched the construction of two new residential districts in the town in 2021, consisting of more than 400 apartments for displaced people from the village of Mets Tagher (Boyuk Taghlar) in the Hadrut Province.[23]

Republic of Azerbaijan

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Khojaly came under Azerbaijani control on 24 September 2023, after the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. On 15 October 2023, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev raised the Azerbaijani national flag in Khojaly.[24]

On 28 May 2024, Aliyev presented apartment keys to the returning residents of Khojaly.[25][26]

Historical heritage sites

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Historical heritage sites in and around the town include burial mounds and fields from the 2nd–1st millennia BCE and a 14th-century tomb. Tombstones from the Late Middle Ages and the 18th century, and a 19th-century Turkic mausoleum are located a few hundred meters to the west of the town.[27][1]

Economy and culture

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The population is mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. As of 2015, the town has a municipal building, a house of culture, a secondary school, eleven shops, and a medical centre.[1]

International relations

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In February 2010, the Azeri-Czech Society reported that representatives of the Azeri administration of Khojaly in exile and the Czech town of Lidice were to sign an agreement making Khojaly and Lidice sister cities and that a street in Lidice was to be named "Khojaly".[28][29][30] In March 2012, reports quoted the mayor of Lidice, Veronika Kellerova, as officially stating that Lidice and Khojaly had never been sister cities. She further repudiated reports that there exists a street named Khojaly in Lidice.[31]

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  •  
    Panorama
  •  
    Playground
  •  
    Kindergarten
  •  
    School in the town
  •  
    Mausoleum
  •  
    Panorama
  •  
    Monument
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    Scenery
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    Wine factory
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    Sign in Armenian at the entrance of the town

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Hakob Ghahramanyan. "Directory of socio-economic characteristics of NKR administrative-territorial units (2015)".
  2. ^ Андрей Зубов. "Андрей Зубов. Карабах: Мир и Война". drugoivzgliad.com.
  3. ^ a b "ДОКЛАД ПРАВОЗАЩИТНОГО ЦЕНТРА «МЕМОРИАЛ» О МАССОВЫХ НАРУШЕНИЯХ ПРАВ ЧЕЛОВЕКА, СВЯЗАННЫХ С ЗАНЯТИЕМ НАСЕЛЕННОГО ПУНКТА ХОДЖАЛЫ В НОЧЬ С 25 НА 26 ФЕВРАЛЯ 1992 г. ВООРУЖЕННЫМИ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯМИ" (PDF). memohrc.org. Memorial. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  4. ^ Ashyrly, Akif (2005). Türkün Xocalı soyqırımı (PDF) (in Azerbaijani). Baku: Nurlan. p. 12. "Xoca" türkcə ağ-saqqal, "böyük" mənasını daşıyaraq hörmət əlamətini bildirir
  5. ^ Potter, Lawrence G., ed. (2014). The Persian Gulf in Modern Times. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. doi:10.1057/9781137485779. ISBN 978-1-349-50380-3.
  6. ^ "Karabakh Marks Ten Years Of 'Independence'". azatutyun.am.
  7. ^ Кавказский календарь на 1910 год [Caucasian calendar for 1910] (in Russian) (65th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1910. p. 398. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022.
  8. ^ Кавказский календарь на 1912 год [Caucasian calendar for 1912] (in Russian) (67th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1912. p. 217. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
  9. ^ Доклад общества «Мемориал» Archived 2014-06-22 at the Wayback Machine (Memorial). Независимая газета, 18 June 1992
  10. ^ "Карабахские депутаты: Ходжалу стал жертвой политических интриг и борьбы за власть в Азербайджане – ИА REGNUM". regnum.ru.
  11. ^ a b "Response to Armenian Government Letter on the town of Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh". hrw.org. Human Rights Watch. 23 March 1997. Retrieved 25 February 2021. Yet we place direct responsibility for the civilian deaths with Karabakh Armenian forces.
  12. ^ de Waal, Thomas (2004). Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war. ABC-CLIO. pp. 172–173. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016.
  13. ^ "New York Times – massacre by Armenians Being Reported". Commonwealth of Independent States; Azerbaijan; Khojaly (Armenia); Armenia: Select.nytimes.com. 3 March 1992. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  14. ^ Smolowe, Jill (16 March 1992). "TIME Magazine – Tragedy Massacre in Khojaly". Time. Archived from the original on 28 February 2005. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  15. ^ Bloodshed in the Caucasus: escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, vol. 1245 of Human rights documents, Human Rights Watch, 1992, p. 24
  16. ^ Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus By Svante E. Cornell
  17. ^ "Letter dated 26 February 2015 from the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the President of the Human Rights Council". Archived from the original on 11 January 2016.
  18. ^ Human Rights Watch/Helsinki (1994). Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. New York [u.a.]: Human Rights Watch. p. 5. ISBN 1-56432-142-8. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  19. ^ "Report of Memorial Human rights center (In Russian)". Memo.ru. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  20. ^ "The Results of the 2005 Census of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" (PDF). National Statistic Service of the Republic of Artsakh.
  21. ^ "Մարտունու շրջանի Վազգենաշեն համայնքը նույնպես անցել է Ադրբեջանին". Hetq.am.
  22. ^ LLC, Helix Consulting. "Մարտունու շրջանի Վազգենաշեն համայնքը նույնպես անցել է Ադրբեջանի վերահսկողության ներքո - Այսօր' թարմ լուրեր Հայաստանից". www.aysor.am.
  23. ^ "More than 400 apartments to be built in Artsakh's Ivanyan village". news.am. 2021-08-14.
  24. ^ "Ilham Aliyev raised National Flag of Azerbaijan in Khojaly city". president.az. Official web-site of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 15 October 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  25. ^ "Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva met with residents who relocated to the city of Khojaly". Official web-site of President of Azerbaijan Republic. 28 May 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  26. ^ "Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva viewed conditions of 15 multi-apartment buildings in Khojaly city following repair and reconstruction". Official web-site of President of Azerbaijan Republic. 28 May 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  27. ^ Kiesling, Brady; Kojian, Raffi (2019). Rediscovering Armenia: An in-depth inventory of villages and monuments in Armenia and Artsakh (3rd ed.). Armeniapedia Publishing.
  28. ^ "Khojaly to be twinned with Czech Lidice". Trend News Agency. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on 2010-02-24. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  29. ^ "A street in Lidice, Czechia to be named after Khojaly". Azerbaijan Press Agency. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on October 27, 2011. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  30. ^ Asya Chekanova (2010-03-09). "Лидице стали побратимами Ходжалы. Армения против" [Lidice twinned with Khojaly. Armenia is against]. Český Rozhlas. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
  31. ^ "Mayor Veronika Kellerova: Lidice, Khojaly not sister cities, no street named Khojaly in Lidice". Panorama.am. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
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