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168-496: In Azerbaijan , where it is referred to as "Ganjasar" ( Azerbaijani : Gəncəsər ), the history of the monastery is falsified. Azerbaijan authorities deny its Armenian heritage and instead call it a " Caucasian Albanian temple." The name Gandzasar , which means "treasure mountain" in Armenian , is believed to have originated from the tradition that the monastery was built on a hill containing ores of silver and other metals. The site

336-773: A firman (decree) recognizing Panah Ali as the Khan of Karabakh. Less than a year after Shusha was founded, the Karabakh Khanate was attacked by Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar , one of the major claimants to the Iranian throne. During the Safavid Empire Karabakh was for almost two centuries ruled by Ziyad-oglu family of the clan of Qajars (of Turkic origin), and therefore, Muhammed Hassan Khan considered Karabakh his hereditary estate. Muhammed Hassan Khan besieged Shusha (Panahabad at that time) but soon had to retreat because of

504-677: A Persian satrap under the Achaemenid Empire who was reinstated as the satrap of Media under Alexander the Great . The original etymology of this name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism . In the Avesta 's Frawardin Yasht ("Hymn to the Guardian Angels"), there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide , which translates from Avestan as "we worship

672-508: A vassal state in 252, while King Urnayr officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century. Despite Sassanid rule, Caucasian Albania remained an entity in the region until the 9th century, while fully subordinate to Sassanid Iran, and retained its monarchy. Despite being one of the chief vassals of the Sasanian emperor, the Albanian king had only a semblance of authority, and

840-455: A "jewel". The monastery consists of a narthex ( gavit ) and the main church, named for John the Baptist . The church's exterior dimensions are 12.3 by 17.75 metres (40.4 ft × 58.2 ft). The narthex or gavit , measured 11.8 by 13.25 metres (38.7 ft × 43.5 ft), is a square-plan hall with two columns near the eastern wall that support the roof. It is very similar to

1008-511: A fortress called Shikakar or Karaglukh, where the 9th-century Armenian prince Sahl Smbatean is said to have defeated an invading Arab army. According to several sources, a settlement called Shosh served as an ancient fortress in the Armenian principality of Varanda, and had traditionally belonged to the Melik-Shahnazarian princely dynasty. According to some sources, Shushi existed and had

1176-688: A functioning scriptorium in 1428. The fortress was described as a strategic stronghold in one of the Eastern Armenian military districts, called sghnakhs , playing a key role in the Armenian commander Avan Yuzbashi 's campaign against Ottoman forces during their incursion into of the South Caucasus in the 1720s and 1730s. Armenian historian and Shusha native Ashot Hovhannisian wrote that the fortress walls must have been built by Avan Yuzbashi in 1724, if not earlier. Kehva Chelebi, an early Armenian national activist who maintained correspondence between

1344-665: A hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, which itself is known as the "land of fire." Flames jet out into the air from a thin, porous sandstone layer. It is a tourist attraction to visitors to the Baku area. The first reports on the richness and diversity of animal life in Azerbaijan can be found in travel notes of Eastern travelers. Animal carvings on architectural monuments, ancient rocks, and stones survived up to

1512-404: A mountain-steppe racing and riding horse endemic to Azerbaijan. The Karabakh horse has a reputation for its good temper, speed, elegance, and intelligence. It is one of the oldest breeds, with ancestry dating to the ancient world, but today the horse is an endangered species. Azerbaijan's flora consists of more than 4,500 species of higher plants. Due to the unique climate in Azerbaijan, the flora

1680-584: A part of Azerbaijan's cultural heritage, was left to decay under Azerbaijani control. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Azerbaijan Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a transcontinental country at the boundary of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia's republic of Dagestan to

1848-695: A town and district school and a girls' seminary. The population of the town primarily dealt with trade, horse-breeding, carpet-weaving and wine and vodka production. Shusha was also the biggest centre of silk production in the Caucasus. Most of the Muslim population of the town and of Karabakh, in general, was engaged in sheep and horse-breeding and therefore, had a semi-nomadic lifestyle, spending wintertime in lowland Karabakh in wintering pastures and spring and summer in summering pastures in Shusha and other mountainous parts. In

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2016-451: A video posted online showed Azerbaijani police at the monastery. Simultaneously, Azerbaijan's State Service of Cultural Heritage issued a statement that claimed that the "Ganjasar monastery" is "one of the most prominent monuments of Christian architecture of Caucasian Albania". It claimed that under Armenian "occupation" it was "vandalized by Armenians" who carried out "illegal repair-restoration". Azerbaijani historian Rizvan Hüseynov claimed

2184-674: Is a city in Azerbaijan , in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh . Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet era . Most sources date Shusha's establishment to the 1750s by Panah Ali Khan , founder of the Karabakh Khanate , coinciding with the foundation of the fortress of Shusha . Some attribute this to an alliance between Panah Ali Khan and Melik Shahnazar ,

2352-567: Is an active member of international coalitions fighting international terrorism, and was one of the first countries to offer support after the September 11 attacks . The country is an active member of NATO 's Partnership for Peace program, contributing to peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Azerbaijan is also a member of the Council of Europe since 2001 and maintains good relations with

2520-437: Is around 14.% of the total land area, equivalent to 1,131,770 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 944,740 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 826,200 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 305,570 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 33% of

2688-495: Is frequently attributed to Joseph Stalin , who was Commissar of Nationalities at the time, purportedly with the purpose of ensuring Moscow's position as power broker between the Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs. Stalin participated in the Kavbiuro's meetings on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh but did not vote. The town remained half-ruined until the 1960s when the town began to gradually revive due to its recreational potential. In 1977

2856-553: Is held by the unicameral National Assembly and the Supreme National Assembly in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The Parliament of Azerbaijan , called Milli Majlis, consists of 125 deputies elected based on majority vote , with a term of five years for each elected member. The elections are held every five years, on the first Sunday of November. The Parliament is not responsible for the formation of

3024-458: Is located atop a hill, at an altitude of 1,270 metres (4,170 ft), to the south-west of the village of Vank (Azerbaijani: Vəngli ) in the province of Martakert . The walled monastery complex includes the church with its narthex ( gavit ), living quarters, bishop's residence, refectory, and a school building. The living quarters, located on the northern side contain eight cells (2.9 by 2.5 metres (9.5 ft × 8.2 ft)), were built in

3192-519: Is much richer in the number of species than the flora of the other republics of the South Caucasus. Sixty-six percent of the species growing in the whole Caucasus can be found in Azerbaijan. The country lies within four ecoregions: Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests , Caucasus mixed forests , Eastern Anatolian montane steppe , and Azerbaijan shrub desert and steppe . Azerbaijan had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.55/10, ranking it 72nd globally out of 172 countries. Forest cover

3360-590: Is often considered the cradle of Azerbaijan's music and poetry, and one of the leading centres of the Azerbaijani culture . Shusha also contains a number of Armenian Apostolic churches, including Ghazanchetsots Cathedral and Kanach Zham , and serves as a land link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia , via the Lachin corridor to the west. Throughout modern history, the city fostered a mixed Armenian–Azerbaijani population. The first available demographic information about

3528-560: Is particularly evidenced by remnants of ancient rivers found throughout the country. The water systems are continually changing under the influence of natural forces and human-introduced industrial activities. Artificial rivers (canals) and ponds are a part of Azerbaijan's water systems. In terms of water supply, Azerbaijan is below the average in the world with approximately 100,000 cubic metres (3,531,467 cubic feet) per year of water per square kilometer. All big water reservoirs are built on Kur. The hydrography of Azerbaijan basically belongs to

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3696-454: Is prominent for its richly decorated 16-sided cupola . The bas-reliefs on its exterior depict the Crucifixion of Jesus , Mary with baby Jesus, Adam and Eve , two ktetors (patrons) holding the model of the church, geometrical figures, such as rosettes , head of a bull and an eagle. The bas-reliefs have been compared to the elaborate carvings of Aghtamar . The interior pendentives under

3864-657: Is supported by the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam , and the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary . According to Mirza Jamal Javanshir, the author of the Persian-language text History of Karabakh , one of the most significant chronicles on the history of Karabakh in 18th-19th centuries, the Karabakh nobility assembled to discuss the danger of invasion from Iran and told Panah Ali Khan, "We must build among

4032-676: Is the administration in its current formation. The president does not have the right to dissolve the National Assembly but has the right to veto its decisions. To override the presidential veto, the parliament must have a majority of 95 votes. The judicial power is vested in the Constitutional Court , Supreme Court , and the Economic Court. The president nominates the judges in these courts. Azerbaijan's system of governance nominally can be called two-tiered. The top or highest tier of

4200-555: Is the deliberative body under the president, and he organizes it according to the constitution. It was established on 10 April 1997. The administrative department is not a part of the president's office but manages the financial, technical and pecuniary activities of both the president and his office. The short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic succeeded in establishing diplomatic relations with six countries, sending diplomatic representatives to Germany and Finland. The process of international recognition of Azerbaijan's independence from

4368-802: Is to remain within AzSSR, receiving wide regional autonomy with the administrative centre in Shusha, which is to be included in the autonomous region." As a result, the Mountainous Karabakh Autonomous Region was established within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923. A few years later, Stepanakert , named after the Armenian communist leader Stepan Shaumyan , became the new regional capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and soon became its largest town. The decision make Nagorno-Karabakh an autonomous region within Azerbaijan

4536-562: The fravashi of the holy Atropatene ". The name "Atropates" is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian , probably Median , compounded name with the meaning "Protected by the (Holy) Fire" or "The Land of the (Holy) Fire". The Greek name was mentioned by Diodorus Siculus and Strabo . Over the span of millennia, the name evolved to Āturpātākān ( Middle Persian ), then to Ādharbādhagān , Ādhorbāygān , Āzarbāydjān (New Persian) and present-day Azerbaijan . The name Azerbaijan

4704-513: The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war , the more than one hundred manuscripts kept there were evacuated to Yerevan and displayed at the Yerevan Matenadaran in March 2021. In the 1970s, Soviet Azerbaijani historians, particularly Rashid Geyushev and Ziya Bunyadov , asserted a negationist theory that postulated that Gandzasar was a Caucasian Albanian monument. They based their claim on the fact that it

4872-555: The Aliyev political family and the New Azerbaijan Party ( Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası , YAP) established by Heydar Aliyev continuously since 1993. It is categorised as "not free" by Freedom House , who ranked it 7/100 on Global Freedom Score in 2024, calling its regime authoritarian. The structural formation of the political system was completed by the adoption of the constitution on 12 November 1995. According to Article 23 of

5040-500: The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic on 28 April 1920. Although the bulk of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt that had broken out in Karabakh , Azerbaijanis did not surrender their brief independence of 1918–20 quickly or easily. As many as 20,000 Azerbaijani soldiers died resisting what was effectively a Russian reconquest. Within the ensuing early Soviet period,

5208-591: The Azerbaijanis are nowadays parted between two nations: Iran and Azerbaijan. After the collapse of the Russian Empire during World War I , the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was declared, constituting the present-day republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. It was followed by the March Days massacres that took place between 30 March and 2 April 1918 in Baku and adjacent areas of

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5376-640: The Baku Governorate . When the republic dissolved in May 1918, the leading Musavat party declared independence as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), adopting the name of "Azerbaijan", a name that prior to the proclamation of the ADR was solely used to refer to the adjacent northwestern region of contemporary Iran . The ADR was the first modern parliamentary republic in the Muslim world. Among

5544-624: The Baku pogrom , the Maraga massacre and the Kirovabad pogrom . Furthermore, an estimated 30,000 people were killed and more than a million people were displaced (more than 800,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000 Armenians). Four United Nations Security Council resolutions ( 822 , 853 , 874 , and 884 ) demand for "the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan." Many Russians and Armenians fled Azerbaijan as refugees during

5712-622: The Caucasus , and on August 5, 1905, first conflict between the Armenian and Azerbaijani inhabitants of Shusha took place. As a result of the mutual pogroms and killings, hundreds of people died and more than 200 houses were burned. After World War I and subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire , Karabakh was claimed by Azerbaijan to be part of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic , a decision hotly disputed by neighbouring Armenia and by Karabakh's Armenian population, which claimed Karabakh as part of

5880-837: The Council of Europe , the Non-Aligned Movement , the OSCE , and the NATO PfP program. It is one of the founding members of GUAM , the Commonwealth of Independent States , and the OPCW . Azerbaijan is also an observer state of the World Trade Organization . The vast majority of the country's population (97%) is nominally Muslim, but the Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion, and all major political forces in

6048-528: The First Nagorno-Karabakh war with the ethnic Armenian majority of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia. By the end of the hostilities in 1994, Armenians controlled 14–16 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh. During the war many atrocities and pogroms by both sides were committed including the massacres at Malibeyli, Gushchular and Garadaghly and the Khojaly massacre , along with

6216-572: The First Republic of Armenia . With the capture of Baku, a small force of Turkish troops entered Shusha on 7 October 1918, also occupying the road to Aghdam . Whilst the Armenians of Shusha did not resist the Turks to avoid violence, the Turks with their limited troops were unable to seize the countryside of Karabakh which was held by an armed milita of local Armenians. After the defeat of Ottoman Empire in

6384-739: The Guruchay culture of Azykh Cave . Early settlements included the Scythians during the 9th century BC. Following the Scythians, Iranian Medes came to dominate the area to the south of the Aras river . The Medes forged a vast empire between 900 and 700 BC, which was integrated into the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC. The area was conquered by the Achaemenids leading to the spread of Zoroastrianism . The Sasanian Empire turned Caucasian Albania into

6552-483: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . After the capture of Shusha in 1992 by Armenian forces during First Nagorno-Karabakh War , the city's Azerbaijani population fled, and most of the city was destroyed. Between May 1992 and November 2020, Shusha was under the de facto control of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh and administered as the centre of its Shushi Province . On 8 November 2020, Azerbaijani forces retook

6720-538: The New Persian Shīsha ("glass, vessel, bottle, flask"). According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names , when Iranian ruler Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar approached the town with his army, he reportedly told the ruler of Karabakh Ibrahim Khalil Khan : God is pouring stones on thy head. Sit ye not then in thy fortress of glass. Panahabad ("City of Panah"), Shusha's previous name,

6888-623: The Non-Aligned Movement and World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union . On 9 May 2006 Azerbaijan was elected to membership in the newly established Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly . The term of office began on 19 June 2006. Azerbaijan was first elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2011 with

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7056-505: The Russian Empire ; the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 defined the border between Russia and Iran. The region north of the Aras was part of Iran until it was conquered by Russia in the 19th century, where it was administered as part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty . By the late 19th century, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged when the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence from

7224-536: The Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 . Amidst the war, in 1805, an agreement was made between the Karabakh Khanate and the Russian Empire on the transfer of the Karabakh Khanate to Russia during the war, but was not fully realized, as both parties were still at war and the Russians were unable to consolidate any effective control over Karabakh. The Russian Empire consolidated its power in the Karabakh Khanate following

7392-563: The Safavid dynasty of Iran subdued the Shirvanshahs and gained its possessions. In the course of the next century, the Safavids converted the formerly Sunni population to Shia Islam , as they did with the population in what is modern-day Iran. The Safavids allowed the Shirvanshahs to remain in power under Safavid suzerainty until 1538, when Safavid King Tahmasp I completely deposed them and made

7560-683: The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918, a year after the Russian Empire collapsed , and became the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state. In 1920, the country was conquered and incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan SSR . The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union . In September 1991,

7728-441: The Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, when Iran was forced to recognize the Karabakh Khanate, along most of the other khanates they possessed in the Caucasus , as belonging to Russia , comprising present-day Dagestan and most of the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan , while officially ceding Georgia as well, thus irrevocably losing the greater part of its Caucasian territories. Absolute consolidation of Russian power over Karabakh and

7896-421: The World War I , Armenian forces under Andranik Ozanian defeated Azerbaijani forces under Khosrov bey Sultanov in Abdallyar ( Lachin ), and began heading down the Lachin corridor towards Shusha. Shortly before Andranik could arrive, British troops under General W. M. Thomson encouraged him to retreat, out of concerns that Armenian military activity could have an adverse effect on the region's status, which

8064-455: The clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces , which were the deadliest since the ceasefire of 1994. The monastery's 770th anniversary was commemorated in 2010 and the 777th anniversary in 2017. It remained under Armenian control after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. Following the Azerbaijani offensive of September 19–20, 2023, Nagorno-Karabakh was dissolved and the entire population fled to Armenia. In early October 2023,

8232-595: The flight of nearly all ethnic Armenians from the region . Azerbaijan is located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia , straddling West Asia and Eastern Europe . It lies between latitudes 38° and 42° N , and longitudes 44° and 51° E . The perimeter of Azerbaijan's land borders is 2,648 km (1,645 mi), of which 1,007 km (626 mi) are with Armenia, 756 km (470 mi) with Iran, 480 kilometers with Georgia, 390 km (242 mi) with Russia and 15 km (9 mi) with Turkey. The coastline stretches for 800 km (497 mi), and

8400-423: The gavit of the Holy Cross church of Haghpat Monastery . The portal on western facade of the gavit is richly decorated. The main church, named for John the Baptist , has a rectangular, cruciform plan with two-floored sacristies (chambers) on four corners. In its style, it is similar to the plans of the main churches of Geghard , Hovhannavank and Harichavank , also built in the 13th century. The church

8568-431: The meliks of Karabakh and the Russian authorities, in a 1725 report describes Shusha as a town and a fort: … The nearest Armenian stronghold … was Shushi. Shushi is four days' distance from Shemakhi. Armed Armenians under the command of Avan Yuzbashi guard it. After meeting with the Armenian leaders, including the Patriarch, they returned to Derbent via Shemakhi. Rocky mountains surround the town of Shushi. The number of

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8736-404: The meliks of Jraberd and Talish (Gulistan), however, Melik Shahnazar of Varanda continued to support Panah Ali Khan. The Siege of Shusha lasted for six months and Fath-Ali Khan eventually had to retreat. When Karim Khan Zand took control of much of Iran, he forced Panah Ali Khan to come to Shiraz (capital of Zand-ruled Iran), where he died as a hostage. Panah Ali Khan's son Ibrahim Khalil Khan

8904-415: The 17th and 18th centuries Gandzasar became the center in the liberation efforts by Karabakh Armenian meliks , who were united around Catholicos Yesayi Hasan-Jalalyan (d. 1728). He was staunchly pro-Russian and in a 1701 letter signed by Karabakh and Syunik meliks , he asked Peter the Great to protect Armenians from Muslims. However, it was not until the early 1800s that the Russian Empire took control of

9072-424: The 17th century. On the eastern side there is a refectory , built circa 1689. The two-floored school building was erected in 1898. To the south of the monastery walls is the old cemetery, where priests, bishops and notable laypeople (such as meliks ) of the areas were buried. Anatoli L. Yakobson called Gandzasar an "encyclopedia" of Armenian architecture , while Bagrat Ulubabyan and M. S. Asatryan described it as

9240-464: The 1990s. According to the 1970 census, there were 510,000 ethnic Russians and 484,000 Armenians in Azerbaijan. In 1993, democratically elected President Abulfaz Elchibey was overthrown by a military insurrection led by Colonel Surat Huseynov , which resulted in the rise to power of the former leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev . In 1994, Huseynov, by that time the prime minister, attempted another military coup against Heydar Aliyev, but he

9408-438: The 19th century, Shusha was one of the great cities of the Caucasus, larger and more prosperous than either Baku or Yerevan . Standing in the middle of a net of caravan routes, it had ten caravanserais . It was well known for its silk trade, its paved roads, brightly coloured carpets, big stone houses, and fine-bred horses. In 1824, George Keppel, the Earl of Albemarle, passed through the city. He found two thousand houses in

9576-434: The 20th century marked the first Armenian-Tartar clashes throughout Azerbaijan . This new phenomenon had two causes. Firstly, it was the result of increased tensions between the local Muslim population and Armenians, whose numbers increased throughout the 19th century as a result of Russian resettlement policies. Secondly, by the beginning of the 20th-century, the peoples of the Caucasus, similar to other non-Russian peoples in

9744-409: The 8,350 stream are greater than 100 km (62 mi) in length. All the streams drain into the Caspian Sea. The largest lake is Sarysu at 67 km (26 sq mi), and the longest river is Kur at 1,515 km (941 mi), which is transboundary with Armenia. Azerbaijan has several islands along the Caspian sea, mostly located in the Baku Archipelago . Since independence in 1991,

9912-459: The Armenian half of the city, 1,675 of 1,700 homes, were destroyed. A report from Dashnak archives states that 8,000 Armenians escaped from the city, whilst 5,000–6,000 remained behind. According to the description of an Azerbaijani communist Ojahkuli Musaev: … the ruthless destruction of defenceless women, children, old women, old men, etc has begun. Armenians were exposed to mass slaughter. … beautiful Armenian girls were raped, then shot. … By

10080-430: The Armenian part of the town was built up with plain buildings typical of the Khrushchev era. With the start of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1988 Shusha became the most important Azerbaijani stronghold in Karabakh, from where Azerbaijani forces constantly shelled the capital Stepanakert for half a year, leading to hundreds of Armenian civilian casualties and causing mass destruction in Stepanakert. On May 9, 1992,

10248-416: The Armenians of the city of Shusha, not sparing women, children, etc. Nadezhda Mandelstam wrote about Shusha in the 1930s, "in this town, which formerly of course was healthy and with every amenity, the picture of catastrophe and massacres was terribly visual. ... They say after the massacres all the wells were full of dead bodies. ... We didn't see anyone in the streets on the mountain. Only in downtown—in

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10416-419: The Azerbaijan SSR. The disturbances in Azerbaijan, in response to Moscow's indifference to an already heated conflict, resulted in calls for independence and secession, which culminated in the Black January events in Baku. Later in 1990, the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR dropped the words "Soviet Socialist" from the title, adopted the "Declaration of Sovereignty of the Azerbaijan Republic" and restored

10584-402: The Azerbaijani national identity was forged. On 13 October 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed an agreement with Turkey known as the Treaty of Kars . The previously independent Republic of Aras would also become the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Azerbaijan SSR by the treaty of Kars. On the other hand, Armenia was awarded

10752-420: The Caspian Sea basin. The Kura and Aras are the major rivers in Azerbaijan. They run through the Kura-Aras lowland . The rivers that directly flow into the Caspian Sea originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of the Major Caucasus and Talysh Mountains and run along the Samur–Devechi and Lankaran lowlands. Yanar Dag , translated as "burning mountain", is a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on

10920-414: The Caucasus region vary from about −28 meters at the Caspian Sea shoreline up to 4,466 meters ( Bazardüzü peak). The climate is influenced particularly by cold arctic air masses of Scandinavian anticyclone , temperate air masses of Siberian anticyclone, and Central Asian anticyclone. Azerbaijan's diverse landscape affects the ways air masses enter the country. The Greater Caucasus protects

11088-413: The European Union. The country may eventually apply for EU membership. On 1 July 2021, the US Congress advanced legislation that will have an impact on the military aid that Washington has sent to Azerbaijan since 2012. This was because the packages to Armenia, instead, are significantly smaller. Shusha Shusha ( Azerbaijani : Şuşa , (listen) ) or Shushi ( Armenian : Շուշի )

11256-468: The Greater and Lesser Caucasus , and the Talysh Mountains , together covering approximately 40% of the country. The highest peak is Mount Bazardüzü 4,466 m (14,652 ft), while the lowest point lies in the Caspian Sea −28 m (−92 ft) . Nearly half of all the mud volcanoes on Earth are concentrated in Azerbaijan, these volcanoes were among nominees for the New 7 Wonders of Nature . The main water sources are surface waters. Only 24 of

11424-445: The Iranian Zands and Qajars . From the late 18th century, Imperial Russia switched to a more aggressive geo-political stance towards Iran and the Ottoman Empire . Russia actively tried to gain possession of the Caucasus region which was, for the most part, in the hands of Iran. In 1804, the Russians invaded and sacked the Iranian town of Ganja , sparking the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 . The militarily superior Russians ended

11592-464: The Kalbajar region, is not Gandzasar, but Ganjasar, and has nothing to do with the Armenian Gregorian Church." Historians who have challenged the Azerbaijani state version of the region's local history, including Victor Schnirelmann , note that Caucasian Albania disappeared in the 10th century, and that the Armenian Church simply adopted the name for its easternmost diocese out of tradition. Schnirelmann notes that Azerbaijani historians intentionally omit

11760-484: The Karabakh Khanate and its fortified capital Shusha were the first and major obstacle to achieve these ends. Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar besieged Shusha with the centre part of a 70,000-strong army, after having crossed the Aras River . The right and left wings were sent to resubjugate Shirvan - Dagestan and Erivan respectively. Agha Mohammad Khan himself led the centre part of the main army, besieging Shusha between 8 July and 9 August 1795. Ibrahim Khalil khan mobilized

11928-446: The Karabakh province (1822–1840), and then of the Shusha Uyezd of the Elisabethpol Governorate (1840–1923). Shusha grew and developed, with successive waves of migrants moving to the city, particularly Armenians, who formed a demographic majority in the surrounding highlands. Beginning from the 1830s the town was divided into two parts: Turkic-speaking Muslims lived in the eastern lower quarters, while Armenian Christians settled in

12096-611: The Middle East, visited "Shushee, in the province of Carabagh, in Armenia Major". Some sources, including Mirza Jamal Javanshir , Mirza Adigozal bey , Abbasgulu Bakikhanov and Mirza Yusuf Nersesov , attest to the foundation of the town in 1750–1752 (according to other sources, 1756–1757) by Panah Ali Khan ( r.  1748–1763 ), the founder and the first ruler of the Karabakh Khanate (1748–1822), which comprised both Lowland and Highland Karabakh . The mid-18th century foundation

12264-530: The Paris Peace Conference. Despite signing the agreement, the Azerbaijani government continuously violated the terms of the treaty, and Sultanov employed severe measures against them, such as terror, blockade and famine. Sultanov gathered troops in the region and on 19 February 1920 issued an ultimatum to the Armenians, demanding they accept unconditional unification with Azerbaijan, and then massacred

12432-628: The Republic of Artsakh and resulted in the flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians . Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic. It is one of six independent Turkic states and an active member of the Organization of Turkic States and the TÜRKSOY community. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 182 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations, including the United Nations,

12600-564: The Republic of Azerbaijan, like those spoken by the Tats , are descended from Old Azeri. Locally, the possessions of the subsequent Seljuk Empire were ruled by Eldiguzids , technically vassals of the Seljuk sultans, but sometimes de facto rulers themselves. Under the Seljuks, local poets such as Nizami Ganjavi and Khaqani gave rise to a blossoming of Persian literature in the region. Shirvanshahs ,

12768-546: The Sasanian marzban (military governor) held most civil, religious, and military authority. In the first half of the 7th century, Caucasian Albania, as a vassal of the Sasanians, came under nominal Muslim rule with the Muslim conquest of Persia . The Umayyad Caliphate repulsed both the Sasanians and Byzantines from the South Caucasus and turned Caucasian Albania into a vassal state after Christian resistance led by King Juansher

12936-506: The Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve was established and the town became one of the major resort-towns in the former USSR. The Armenian quarter continued to lie in ruins until the beginning of the 1960s. In 1961, Baku's communist leadership finally passed a decision to clear away much of the ruins, even though many old buildings still could have been renovated. Three Armenian and one Russian church were demolished and

13104-622: The absolute maximum temperature were observed in Julfa and Ordubad —regions of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic . The maximum annual precipitation falls in Lankaran (1,600 to 1,800 mm or 63 to 71 in) and the minimum in Absheron (200 to 350 mm or 7.9 to 13.8 in). Rivers and lakes form the principal part of the water systems of Azerbaijan, they were formed over a long geological timeframe and changed significantly throughout that period. This

13272-587: The ancient fortress is confirmed by the Russian field marshal Alexander Suvorov in a letter to Prince Grigory Potemkin . Suvorov writes that the Armenian prince Melik Shahnazar of Varanda surrendered his fortress Shushikala to "certain Panah ", whom he called a chief of nomadic Muslims living near the Karabakh borders. When discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevsky writes in his Historical Notes that Shusha fortress

13440-564: The area into the Safavid province of Shirvan . The Sunni Ottomans briefly managed to occupy present-day Azerbaijan as a result of the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590 ; by the early 17th century, they were ousted by Safavid Iranian ruler Abbas I . In the wake of the demise of the Safavid dynasty, Baku and its environs were briefly occupied by the Russians as a consequence of the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723 . Remainder of present Azerbaijan

13608-578: The armed Armenians has not been determined. There are rumors that the Armenians have defeated the Turks in a number of skirmishes in Karabagh … A 1769 letter by Georgian king Heraclius II to Russian diplomat Count P. Panin states that there was "an ancient fortress in the realm of the Khamsa [melikdoms]" which was "conquered, through deceit" by "one Muslim man from the Jevanshir tribe." The same information about

13776-546: The attack on his territory by his major opponent, Karim Khan Zand . His retreat was so hasty that he even left his cannons under the walls of Shusha fortress. Panah Ali Khan counterattacked the retreating troops of Mohammad Hassan khan and even briefly took Ardabil across the Aras River . In 1756 (or 1759), Shusha and the Karabakh Khanate underwent a new attack from Fath-Ali Khan Afshar , ruler of Urmia . With his 30,000 strong army, Fath-Ali Khan also managed to gain support from

13944-523: The attempted bombing of Gandzasar was not of any military importance and that its raid "appeared to be a deliberate attempt to attack the Armenian heritage in Karabakh." On August 31, 1992 Armenia's Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and Serzh Sargsyan , the head of the self-defense committee of Karabakh Armenians, convened the first meeting of the region's commanders in one of the monastic cells of Gandzasar. On January 20, 1993 an air strike conducted by two Azerbaijani attack aircraft caused serious damage to

14112-478: The city during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War following a three-day long battle . The Armenian population of the city fled, and multiple reports emerged that the Armenian cultural heritage of the city was being destroyed. The Azerbaijani government opened the city to tourists from Azerbaijan in 2022 and plans to start resettling the city in 2023. Several historians believe Shusha derives from

14280-500: The city in 1823 suggests the city had an Azerbaijani majority. The Armenian inhabitants of the city steadily grew over time to constitute a majority of the city's population until the Shusha massacre in 1920, in which the Armenian half of the city was destroyed by Azerbaijani forces, resulting in the death or expulsion of the Armenian population, up to 20,000 people. The city has suffered significant destruction and depopulation during

14448-581: The collapsing Soviet Union lasted roughly one year. The most recent country to recognize Azerbaijan was Bahrain, on 6 November 1996. Full diplomatic relations, including mutual exchanges of missions, were first established with Turkey, Pakistan, the United States, Iran and Israel. Azerbaijan has placed a particular emphasis on its " special relationship " with Turkey. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries so far and holds membership in 38 international organizations. It holds observer status in

14616-412: The constitution, the state symbols are the flag , the coat of arms , and the national anthem . The state power is limited only by law for internal issues, but international affairs are also limited by international agreements' provisions. The Constitution of Azerbaijan states that it is a presidential republic with three branches of power – executive, legislative, and judicial. The legislative power

14784-544: The country are secular. Azerbaijan is a developing country and ranks 89th on the Human Development Index . The ruling New Azerbaijan Party , in power since 1993, has been accused of authoritarianism under president Heydar Aliyev and his son Ilham Aliyev , and worsening the country's human rights record , including increasing restrictions on civil liberties, particularly on press freedom and political repression. The term Azerbaijan derives from Atropates ,

14952-408: The country from direct influences of cold air masses coming from the north. That leads to the formation of subtropical climate on most foothills and plains of the country. Meanwhile, plains and foothills are characterized by high solar radiation rates. Nine out of eleven existing climate zones are present in Azerbaijan. Both the absolute minimum temperature ( −33 °C or −27.4 °F ) and

15120-469: The crowd attending." Gandzasar served as seat of the bishop before it was moved to Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shusha (Shushi) in 1998. Gandzasar was attacked several times during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War . On July 6, 1991 Soviet soldiers and OMON (special police) officers raided Gandzasar allegedly in search of guns. They checked papers and conducted a thorough search, including in

15288-428: The cylindrical dome in the interior are decorated with geometrical ornaments such as stars, circles and squares, plants such as spiral shoots , palmettes . Each side of the pendentive has high reliefs depicting head of a sheep, heads of a bull and anthropomorphic figures. According to Yakobson, sheep and bulls were considered holy animals in this period and are used as protectors of the structure. Since its foundation

15456-436: The enemy from returning. A British journalist witnessed Armenian soldiers using minarets of a mosque in Shusha as shooting targets. As of 2002, ten years later after the city's capture by the Armenian forces, some 80% of the town was in ruins. Armenians also dismantled and sold off historic dark bronze busts of three Azerbaijani musicians and poets from Shusha. Another British journalist who visited Shusha in 1997 reported that

15624-459: The entire 19th century, preoccupation with Iranian culture , literature , and language remained widespread among Shia and Sunni intellectuals in the Russian-held cities of Baku, Ganja and Tiflis ( Tbilisi , now Georgia). Within the same century, in post-Iranian Russian-held East Caucasia, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged at the end of the 19th century. As a result of the Russian conquest,

15792-450: The eruption of instability. Numerous khanates with various forms of autonomy emerged. The rulers of these khanates were directly related to the ruling dynasties of Iran and were vassals and subjects of the Iranian shah. The khanates exercised control over their affairs via international trade routes between Central Asia and the West. Thereafter, the area was under the successive rule of

15960-508: The ethnic Armenian majority of the Nagorno-Karabakh region formed the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh , which became de facto independent with the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, although the region and seven surrounding districts remained internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the seven districts and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh were returned to Azerbaijani control. An Azerbaijani offensive in 2023 ended

16128-587: The exploitation of the Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli oil field and Shah Deniz gas field , the Aliyev family rule has been criticized with election fraud, high levels of economic inequality and domestic corruption . In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched an offensive against the breakaway Republic of Artsakh in Nagorno-Karabakh that resulted in the dissolution and reintegration of Artsakh on 1 January 2024 and

16296-521: The fact that Gandzasar is a typical example of Armenian architecture of 10th-13th centuries, as well as the numerous Armenian inscriptions on its walls. Thomas de Waal noted that in a 1997 pamphlet titled "The Albanian Monuments of Karabakh" by Igrar Aliyev and Kamil Mamedzade "carefully left out all the Armenian writing" in the depiction of the façade of Gandzasar on its cover. Rouben Galichian notes that Gandzasar, though presented in Azerbaijan as supposedly an "Albanian-Azerbaijani" historic monastery and

16464-654: The final bout of hostilities between the two, the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 . The resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Qajar Iran to cede sovereignty over the Erivan Khanate, the Nakhchivan Khanate and the remainder of the Talysh Khanate . After the incorporation of all Caucasian territories from Iran into Russia, the border between the two was set at the Aras River. Despite the Russian conquest, throughout

16632-718: The flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as the state flag. As a consequence of the failed 1991 Soviet coup attempt in Moscow, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a Declaration of Independence on 18 October 1991 which was affirmed by a nationwide referendum in December, while the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on 26 December. The country celebrates its Day of Restoration of Independence on 18 October. The early years of independence were overshadowed by

16800-438: The forest area was found within protected areas. In 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership , 0% private ownership and 0% with ownership listed as other or unknown. Azerbaijan's government functions as an authoritarian regime in practice; although it regularly holds elections , these are marred by electoral fraud and other unfair election practices. The government has been ruled by

16968-401: The fortress there were no buildings there and it was used as cropland and pasture by the people of the nearby village of Shoshi. Panah khan resettled to Shusha the population of Shahbulag and some nearby villages and built strong fortifications . Another account is presented by Raffi (1835–1888), an Armenian novelist and historian, in his work The Princedoms of Khamsa , which asserts that

17136-409: The genitive form of shosh / shush , as -a or -ay is a common declensional ending for placenames in pre-modern and dialectal Armenian. Besides the common Armenian name Shushi, the town has historically been referred to in Armenian by various names, including Shoshi/Shushva Berd , Shoshi Sghnakh , Shoshvaghala , which all mean "Shosh/Shushi Fortress". Some Armenian sources identify Shusha with

17304-476: The government has taken measures to preserve the environment of Azerbaijan . National protection of the environment accelerated after 2001 when the state budget increased through revenues provided by the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline . Within four years, protected areas doubled and now make up eight percent of the country's territory. Since 2001 the government has set up seven large reserves and almost doubled

17472-474: The government is the executive power headed by president. The local executive authority is merely a continuation of executive power. The provision determines the legal status of local state administration on local executive authority ( Yerli Icra Hakimiyati ), adopted 16 June 1999. In June 2012, the president approved a regulation which granted additional powers to local executive authorities, strengthening their dominant position in local affairs The Security Council

17640-537: The government, but the constitution requires the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers by Milli Majlis. The New Azerbaijan Party, and independents loyal to the ruling government, currently hold almost all of the Parliament's 125 seats. During the 2010 Parliamentary election , the opposition parties, Musavat and Azerbaijani Popular Front Party , failed to win a single seat. European observers found numerous irregularities in

17808-497: The gravestones in the Azerbaijani cemetery on the edge of town were "methodically smashed and vandalised". After the end of the war, the town was repopulated by Armenians, mostly refugees from Azerbaijan and other parts of Karabakh, as well as members of the Armenian diaspora. The population of the town was significantly less than the pre-war number, and the demographic of the town had changed from mostly Azerbaijani to completely Armenian. The Goris - Stepanakert Highway passes through

17976-425: The graveyard. Fierce fighting took place around Gandzasar in 1992, when Azerbaijan besieged the area. The Armenians broke the siege, which saved Gandzasar and enhanced its spiritual status, wrote Thomas de Waal . On August 16, 1992 some of the outlying buildings within the monastery complex were destroyed as a result of Azerbaijani bombardment by helicopters, which intentionally targeted the church. Corley writes that

18144-493: The historic complex. On October 16, 2008 a mass wedding , sponsored by Levon Hayrapetyan took place in Karabakh. Some 700 couples got married on that day, 500 of whom married at Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi and 200 at Gandzasar. On April 13, 2016 Catholicos Karekin II and Catholicos of Cilicia Aram I delivered a prayer for peace and safety of Nagorno-Karabakh. It came days after

18312-421: The impassable mountains such an inviolable and inaccessible fort, so that no strong enemy could take it." Melik Shahnazar of Varanda, who was the first of the Armenian meliks (dukes) to accept the suzerainty of Panah Ali Khan and who would remain his loyal supporter, suggested a location for the new fortress. Thus, Panahabad-Shusha was founded. According to Mirza Jamal Javanshir, before Panah Ali Khan constructed

18480-507: The important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making ADR the first Muslim nation to grant women equal political rights with men. Baku State University , first modern university founded in the Muslim East, was established during this period. Independent Azerbaijan lasted only 23 months until the Bolshevik 11th Soviet Red Army invaded it, establishing

18648-525: The inscriptions have been "falsified." Armenian archaeologist and historian Hamlet Petrosyan and the organization Monument Watch responded to the claims. Armenia's representative to UNESCO, Christian Ter-Stepanian accused Azerbaijan of an attempt to "appropriate and distort the identity of Gandzasar, one of the most famous medieval Armenian monasteries." In a Time article, Christina Maranci warned that its Armenian inscriptions, khachkars, and tombstones are endangered under Azerbaijani control. The monastery

18816-534: The issue of the disputed territories, including Karabakh, in favour of Armenia. However, on July 5, 1921, the Kavbiuro of the Communist Party adopted the following decision regarding the future status of Karabakh: "Proceeding from the necessity of national peace among Muslims and Armenians and of the economic ties between upper (mountainous) and lower Karabakh, of its permanent ties with Azerbaijan, mountainous Karabakh

18984-558: The lack of control and communication from a central pontificate" and part of various local strategies in an Armenia dominated by foreign and Islamic rule to "preserve some semblance of religious authority among the people". In the 16th century it became subordinate to the Etchmiadzin catholicosate . According to contemporary sources, in early 1700s the patriarch of Gandzasar had authority over some 900 villages with hundreds of households in each, composed of peasant and merchant Armenians. In

19152-573: The length of the widest area of the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea is 456 km (283 mi). The country has a landlocked exclave , the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic . Three physical features dominate Azerbaijan: the Caspian Sea, whose shoreline forms a natural boundary to the east; the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north; and the extensive flatlands at the country's center. There are three mountain ranges:

19320-399: The local Armenian prince ( melik ) of Varanda . In these accounts, the name of the town originated from a nearby Armenian village called Shosh or Shushikent (see § Etymology for alternative explanations). Conversely, some sources describe Shusha as an important center within the self-governing Armenian melikdoms of Karabakh in the 1720s, and others say the plateau was already

19488-529: The local dynasty of Arabic origin that was later Persianized, became a vassal state of Timurid Empire of Timur and assisted him in his war with the ruler of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh . Following Timur's death, two independent and rival Turkoman states emerged: Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu . The Shirvanshahs returned, maintaining for numerous centuries to come a high degree of autonomy as local rulers and vassals as they had done since 861. In 1501,

19656-537: The market-square, there were a lot of people, but there wasn't any Armenian among them; all were Muslims". In 1920, the Bolshevik 11th Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and then Armenia and put an end to the national de facto governments that existed in those two countries. Thereafter, the conflict for the control of Karabakh entered the diplomatic sphere. To attract Armenian public support, the Bolsheviks promised to resolve

19824-468: The monastery was for centuries a center of education and manuscript production. It served as the burial place of Armenian princes of Khachen. Gandzasar is the principal historic tourist attraction in all of Karabakh (Artsakh) and one of the top destinations overall. It is also a center of pilgrimage as the region's main historic cathedral both for Karabakh Armenians and tourists (of Armenian ancestry). Thomas de Waal noted as early as 1997 that Gandzasar,

19992-415: The monastery, killed several people nearby and wounded a priest. Following the war, the monastery was completely refurbished through the funding of Russia-based businessman and philanthropist Levon Hayrapetyan  [ hy ] , a native of Vank. Restoration works, which lasted from 2000 to 2002, included restoration of the altar, gavit, and tiling of the floor. Hayrapetyan also funded the asphalting of

20160-521: The most famous church in Karabakh, "has acquired a mythical status in Karabakh." Felix Corley wrote that it is, along with Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi (Shusha), a powerful symbol of history and identity of Karabakh Armenians regardless their religiosity. A branch of the Matenadaran , the Yerevan-based museum and research institute of manuscripts, was established at the monastery in 2015. During

20328-553: The newly adopted country name. During Soviet rule, the country was also spelled in Latin from the Russian transliteration as Azerbaydzhan (Russian: Азербайджа́н ). The country's name was also spelled in Cyrillic script from 1940 to 1991 as Азәрбајҹан . The earliest evidence of human settlement in the territory of Azerbaijan dates back to the late Stone Age and is related to

20496-545: The north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city. The territory of what is now Azerbaijan was first ruled by Caucasian Albania and later various Persian empires . Until the 19th century, it remained part of Qajar Iran , but the Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 forced the Qajar Empire to cede its Caucasian territories to

20664-567: The oil industry of Azerbaijan were awarded orders and medals. Operation Edelweiss carried out by the German Wehrmacht targeted Baku because of its importance as the energy (petroleum) dynamo of the USSR. A fifth of all Azerbaijanis fought in the Second World War from 1941 to 1945. Approximately 681,000 people (with over 100,000 women) went to the front, while the total population of Azerbaijan

20832-478: The order of … Khosrov-bek Sultanov; the pogroms proceeded for more than six days. Houses in the Armenian part have been partially demolished, plundered and reduced all to ashes, everyone led away women to submit to the wishes of executioner musavatists. During these historically artful forms of punishment, Khosrov-bek Sultanov, spoke about holy war (jihad) in his speeches to the Moslems, and called on them to finally finish

21000-525: The periphery of the Russian Empire, began to seek cultural and territorial autonomy. Political instability within Russia, particularly the 1905 Revolution and 1917 Revolutions , caused these social movements to acquire the character of national liberation movements. The initial clashes between ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis took place in Baku in February 1905. Soon, the conflict spilled over to other parts of

21168-439: The place where Shushi was built was desolate and uninhabited before Panah Ali Khan's arrival. He states, "[Panah-Ali Khan and Melik-Shahnazar of Varanda] soon completed the construction (1762) [of the fortress] and moved the Armenian population of the nearby village of Shosh, called also Shoshi, or Shushi into the fortress.″ Although Panah Ali Khan had been in conflict with Nader Shah , the new ruler of Persia, Adil Shah , issued

21336-476: The population for a long-term defense. The number of militia in Shusha reached 15,000. Women fought together with men. The Armenian population of Karabakh also actively participated in this struggle against the Iranians and fought side by side with the Muslim population, jointly organizing ambushes in the mountains and forests. The siege lasted for 33 days. Not being able to capture Shusha, Agha Mohammad Khan ceased

21504-411: The population of several Armenian villages, including Khankendi ( Stepanakert ). A minority of Karabagh National Council representatives gathered in Shusha to accept Sultanov's demands, while the rest met in nearby Shushikend to reject the ultimatum. The strife culminated in an Armenian uprising, which was suppressed by the Azerbaijani army. In late March 1920, the Armenian half of the police forces

21672-402: The present times. The first information on flora and fauna of Azerbaijan was collected during the visits of naturalists to Azerbaijan in the 17th century. There are 106 species of mammals, 97 species of fish, 363 species of birds, 10 species of amphibians, and 52 species of reptiles which have been recorded and classified in Azerbaijan. The national animal of Azerbaijan is the Karabakh horse ,

21840-423: The previous 1795 attack and also suffered from a serious drought which lasted for three years. The artillery of the attackers also inflicted serious losses on the city defenders. Thus, in 1797 Agha Mohammad Shah succeeded in seizing Shusha and Ibrahim Khalil Khan had to flee to Dagestan . However, several days after the seizure of Shusha, Agha Mohammad Khan was killed in mysterious circumstances by his bodyguards in

22008-485: The recently conquered parts of the Caucasus from Iran were confirmed with the outcome of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 and the ensuing Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828. During the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, the citadel at Shusha held out for several months and never fell. After this Shusha ceased to be a capital of a khanate, which was dissolved in 1822, and instead became an administrative capital first of

22176-533: The region of Zangezur and Turkey agreed to return Gyumri (then known as Alexandropol). During World War II , Azerbaijan played a crucial role in the strategic energy policy of the Soviet Union , with 80 percent of the Soviet Union's oil on the Eastern Front being supplied by Baku. By decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of

22344-504: The region. The Karabakh Khanate eventually came under complete Russian control through the Treaty of Gulistan . Through the 1836 regulation by the Russian authorities, known as Polozhenie , Gandzasar ceased to be the seat of the diocese of Artsakh, which was moved to Shusha. It was gradually abandoned and became dilapidated by the late 19th century. Gandzasar was closed down by the Soviet authorities no later than 1930. The diocese of Artsakh

22512-416: The relatively new western upper quarters of the town. The Muslim part of the town was divided into seventeen quarters. Each quarter had its own mosque , Turkish bath , water-spring and also a quarter representative, who would be elected from among the elders ( aksakals ) and would function similarly to the head of a modern-day municipality. The Armenian part of the town consisted of 12 quarters, five churches,

22680-403: The road leading to the church. Some controversy surrounded the tiling of the wall around the monastery in 2011. It was funded by Hayrapetyan and carried out by a company owned by Vladimir Hayrapetyan, his younger brother. While Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan said the wall was not medieval and did not have much architectural significance, therefore tiling was justified, critics argued it was part of

22848-489: The run-up to the election and on election day. The executive power is held by the president , who is elected for a seven-year term by direct elections, and the prime minister . The president is authorized to form the Cabinet , a collective executive body accountable to both the president and the National Assembly. The Cabinet consists primarily of the prime minister, his deputies, and ministers. The 8th Government of Azerbaijan

23016-542: The sector of the budget earmarked for environmental protection. Azerbaijan is home to a wide variety of landscapes. Over half of the land consists of mountain ridges, crests, highlands, and plateaus which rise up to levels of 400–1,000 meters (including the middle and lower lowlands), in some places (Talis, Jeyranchol-Ajinohur and Langabiz-Alat foreranges) up to 100–120 meters, and others from 0–50 meters and up ( Qobustan, Absheron ). The rest of Azerbaijan's terrain consists of plains and lowlands. Elevations within

23184-462: The siege and advanced to Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi ), which despite desperate resistance was occupied and exposed to unprecedented destruction. Ibrahim Khalil Khan eventually surrendered to Mohammad Khan after negotiations, including the paying of regular tribute and to surrender hostages, although the Qajar forces were still denied entrance to Shusha. Since the main objective was Georgia, Mohammad Khan

23352-624: The site of an Armenian fortification. From the mid-18th century to 1822, Shusha was the capital of the Karabakh Khanate. The town became one of the cultural centers of the South Caucasus after the Russian conquest of the Caucasus region from Qajar Iran in the first half of the 19th century. Over the course of the 19th century, the town grew in size to become a city, and was home to many Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectuals, poets, writers and musicians (including Azerbaijani ashiks , mugham singers and kobuz players). The town has religious, cultural and strategic importance to both groups. Shusha

23520-554: The site. The main church was built between 1216 and 1238 by Hasan-Jalal Dawla, the Armenian prince of Inner Khachen and the patriarch of the House of Hasan-Jalalyan . It was consecrated on July 22, 1240, on the Feast of the Transfiguration ( Vardavar ) in attendance of some 700 priests. The gavit ( narthex ), to the west of the church, was started in 1240 and completed in 1266 by Atabek,

23688-572: The son of Hasan-Jalal and his wife, Mamkan. Kirakos Gandzaketsi , a contemporary historian, described the construction of the church in his History of Armenia . Gandzasar became the seat of the Catholicosate of (Caucasian) Albania , a see of the Armenian Apostolic Church , in the late 14th century. Rouben Paul Adalian considers the foundation of the see a result of an ancient bishopric seeking "ecclesiastical autonomy to compensate for

23856-835: The support of 155 countries. Foreign policy priorities include, first of all, the restoration of its territorial integrity; elimination of the consequences of occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other regions of Azerbaijan surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh; integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structure; contribution to international security; cooperation with international organizations; regional cooperation and bilateral relations; strengthening of defense capability; promotion of security by domestic policy means; strengthening of democracy; preservation of ethnic and religious tolerance; scientific, educational, and cultural policy and preservation of moral values; economic and social development; enhancing internal and border security; and migration, energy, and transportation security policy. Azerbaijan

24024-429: The town was captured by Armenian forces in an operation to lift the siege of Stepanakert and the Azerbaijani population fled. According to Armenian commander Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan , the city was looted and burnt by Armenian citizens from nearby Stepanakert , who had endured months of bombing and shelling from Azerbaijani forces. He also noted it was part of a Karabakh Armenian superstition of burning houses to prevent

24192-669: The town and is a transit and tourist destination for many. There were some hotels in the city, and cultural monuments such as the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral and the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque were restored by Armenian authorities. After the war, a T-72 tank commanded by the Karabakhi Armenian Gagik Avsharian was placed as a memorial. The tank had been hit during the town's capture, killing the driver and gun operator, but Avsharian jumped free from

24360-459: The town, with three-quarters of the inhabitants Azerbaijanis and one-quarter Armenian. He furthermore noted regarding the town; (...) The language is a dialect of the Turkish; but its inhabitants, with the exception of the Armenians, generally read and write Persian. The trade is carried on principally by the Armenians, between the towns of Sheki , Nakshevan , Khoi and Tabriz ." The beginning of

24528-411: The town. Ibrahim Khalil Khan returned to Shusha and ordered that the shah's body be honourably buried until further instructions from the nephew and heir of Agha Mohammad Shah, Baba Khan, who soon assumed the title of Fath-Ali Shah . Ibrahim Khan, in order to maintain peaceful relations with Tehran and retain his position as the Khan of Karabakh, gave his daughter Agha Begom, known as Aghabaji, as one of

24696-495: The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resumed along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact . Both the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia reported military and civilian casualties. The Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement and the end of the six-week war between Azerbaijan and Armenia was widely celebrated in Azerbaijan, as they made significant territorial gains. Despite the much improved economy, particularly with

24864-408: The village Shosh received its name from the fortress, which he considered the older settlement. According to Armenian sources, the name Shusha most likely derives from the dialectal Armenian word shosh / shush (Armenian: շոշ/շուշ), meaning tree sprout or, figuratively, a high place, first applied either to the adjacent village Shosh or to Shusha itself. The form Shusha can also be explained as

25032-477: The villages surrounding Shusha were massacred by Azerbaijani and Kurdish irregulars. Sultanov stated that the irregulars were not under his control. In August 1919, the Karabakh National Council was forced to enter into a provisional treaty agreement with the Azerbaijani government, recognizing the authority of the Azerbaijan government until the issue of the mountainous part of Karabakh was settled at

25200-489: The war with a victory. Following Qajar Iran's loss, it was forced to concede suzerainty over most of the khanates, along with Georgia and Dagestan to the Russian Empire, per the Treaty of Gulistan . The area to the north of the Aras River was Iranian territory until Russia occupied it in the 19th century. About a decade later, in violation of the Gulistan treaty, the Russians invaded Iran's Erivan Khanate . This sparked

25368-437: The wives of the new shah. From the early 19th century, Russian ambitions in the Caucasus to increase its territories at the expense of neighbouring Qajar Iran and Ottoman Turkey began to rise. Following the annexation of Georgia in 1801, some of the khanates agreed to become Russian protectorates in the immediate years afterwards. In 1804, the Russian general Pavel Tsitsianov directly invaded Qajar Iran , initiating

25536-518: Was occupied by the Ottomans from 1722 to 1736. Despite brief intermissions such as these by Safavid Iran's neighboring rivals, the land remained under Iranian rule from the earliest advent of the Safavids up to the course of the 19th century. After the Safavids, the area was ruled by the Iranian Afsharid dynasty . After the death of Nader Shah in 1747, many of his former subjects capitalized on

25704-506: Was 3.4 million at the time. Some 250,000 people from Azerbaijan were killed on the front. More than 130 Azerbaijanis were named heroes of the Soviet Union . Azerbaijani Major-General Azi Aslanov was twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union. Following the politics of glasnost initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev , civil unrest and ethnic strife grew in various regions of the Soviet Union, including Nagorno-Karabakh , an autonomous region of

25872-436: Was a possession of the Melik-Shahnazarian clan, which was given to Panah Ali Khan in return for aid against the other Armenian meliks of Karabakh. Russian historian P. G. Butkov (1775–1857) writes that "Shushi village" was given to Panah Ali Khan by the Melik-Shahnazarian prince after they entered into an alliance, and that Panah Ali Khan fortified the village. The missionary Joseph Wolff (1795–1862), during his mission in

26040-547: Was a tribute to Panah Ali Khan , the first ruler of the Karabakh Khanate . According to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary , published in the final decades of the Russian Empire , the town's name comes from the nearby village Shushikent (called Shosh in Armenian), which literally means "Shusha village" in the Azerbaijani language . Conversely, the Armenian historian Leo (1860–1932) considered it more likely that

26208-456: Was arrested and charged with treason. In 1995 another coup was attempted against Aliyev, this time by the commander of the Russian OMON special police unit, Rovshan Javadov . The coup was averted, resulting in the death of Javadov and disbanding of Azerbaijan's OMON units. At the same time, the country was tainted by rampant corruption in the governing bureaucracy. In October 1998, Aliyev

26376-437: Was first adopted by the government of Musavat in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire , when the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established. Until then, the designation had been used exclusively to identify the adjacent region of contemporary northwestern Iran , while the area of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was formerly referred to as Arran and Shirvan . On that basis Iran protested

26544-455: Was first mentioned in written records by the tenth century Catholicos Anania of Moks (r. 946-968), who listed Sargis, a monk from Gandzasar, among the participants of a 949 council convened in Khachen to reconcile Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Armenians. Khachkars dated 1174, 1182, and 1202 have been found around the monastery, which also point to the existence of a church or monastery at

26712-477: Was re-elected for a second term. Ilham Aliyev , Heydar Aliyev's son, became chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party as well as President of Azerbaijan when his father died in 2003. He was re-elected to a third term as president in October 2013. In April 2018, Aliyev secured his fourth consecutive term in the election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties as fraudulent. On 27 September 2020, clashes in

26880-420: Was reestablished in 1989. Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan was named its primate. Due to his efforts, Gandzasar reopened on October 1, 1989 after six months of renovations. The Soviet government had given permission, while that of Soviet Azerbaijan had not. Gandzasar became the first church to be reopened after decades of suppression. According to Zori Balayan several KGB agents "could [have been] spotted among

27048-526: Was reported by a British journalist to have murdered the Azerbaijani half during the latter's traditional Novruz Bayram holiday celebrations. The Armenian surprise attack was organised and coordinated by the forces of the Armenian Republic. Azerbaijani outrage for this surprise attack ultimately led to the massacre and expulsion of the Armenian population in March 1920, in which 500 –8,000 to 20,000 Armenians were killed, others were forced to flee, and

27216-468: Was sent back to Karabakh as governor. Under him, the Karabakh Khanate became one of the strongest state formations and Shusha grew. According to travellers who visited Shusha at the end of 18th-early 19th centuries the town had about 2,000 houses and approximately 10,000 population. In summer 1795, Shusha was subjected to a major attack by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar , son of Mohammad Hassan Khan who had attacked Shusha in 1752. Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar's goal

27384-518: Was suppressed in 667. The power vacuum left by the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate was filled by numerous local dynasties such as the Sallarids , Sajids , and Shaddadids . At the beginning of the 11th century, the territory was gradually seized by the waves of migrating Oghuz Turks from Central Asia, who adopted a Turkoman ethnonym at the time. The first of these Turkic dynasties established

27552-406: Was the Seljuk Empire , which entered the area by 1067. The pre-Turkic population spoke several Indo-European and Caucasian languages, among them Armenian and an Iranian language , Old Azeri , which was gradually replaced by a Turkic language , the early precursor of the Azerbaijani language of today. Some linguists have also stated that the Tati dialects of Iranian Azerbaijan and

27720-408: Was the seat of the Albanian Catholicosate of the Armenian Apostolic Church. This theory was adopted and promoted by other Azerbaijani historians, such as Davud Akhundov, and since been adopted by Azerbaijan's authorities. For instance, in 2017, Hikmet Hajiyev , Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, stated that Gandzasar is an "Albanian Christian temple, occupied by the Armenian armed forces in

27888-424: Was to be decided at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference . Trusting Thomson, Andranik left, and British troops occupied Karabakh. The British command provisionally affirmed Sultanov (appointed by the Azerbaijani government) as the governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur , pending the final decision by the Paris Peace Conference. Ethnic conflict began to erupt in the region. Оn 5 June 1919, 600 Armenian inhabitants of

28056-469: Was to end with the feudal fragmentation and to restore the old Safavid State in Iran. By early 1795, he had already secured mainland Iran and was directly afterwards poised to bring the entire Caucasus region back within the Iranian domains. For this purpose he also wanted to proclaim himself Shah of Iran. However, according to the Safavid tradition, the shah had to take control over the whole of South Caucasus and Dagestan before his coronation. Therefore,

28224-455: Was willing to have Karabakh secured by this agreement for now, for he and his army subsequently moved further. In 1797, Agha Mohammad Shah Qajar, having successfully resubjugated Georgia and the wider Caucasus and having declared himself shah, decided to carry out a second attack on Karabakh. Trying to avenge his previous humiliating defeat, Agha Mohammad Shah devastated the surrounding villages near Shusha. The population had not recovered from

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