Ağstafa

Ağstafa (Aghstafa) is a town, municipality (assigned in 1941) and the capital of the Agstafa District of Azerbaijan.

For a river by same name, see Aghstafa (river).

Ağstafa
City and Municipality
Agstafa agro-industry complex
Coat of arms
Ağstafa
Coordinates: 41°07′08″N 45°27′14″E
Country Azerbaijan
DistrictAgstafa
Elevation
340 m (1,120 ft)
Population
 (2010)[1]
 • Total20,200
Time zoneUTC+4 (AZT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+5 (AZT)
Area code(s)+992 244
Ağstafa

History

Historical reference books of Agstafa indicate that the city appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century, essentially built as a new town around the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi railway. The town was known initially as Elisavetinka, for the Russian royal, though the station did take its name from a pre-existing small village of Agstafa,[2] which grew more important from 1914 as the junction stop for a new branch line to Yerevan. In 1920, with the region still rocked by the fallout of the 1920 Ganja Revolt, the Treaty of Agstafa was negotiated here between the newly Sovietised Republic of Azerbaijan and the then still-independent Democratic Republic of Georgia.[3]

City status was awarded in 1941.

Transport

Public transport

Ağstafa has a large urban transport system, mostly managed by the Ministry of Transportation.

Rail
Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway will directly connect the city with Turkey and Georgia.

The city sits on one of the Azerbaijani primary rail lines running east–west connecting the capital, Baku, with the rest of the country. The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway will run along the line through the city. The railway provides both human transportation and transport of goods and commodities such as oil and gravel.

Ağstafa's Central Railway Station is the terminus for national and international rail links to the city. The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway, which will directly connect Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, began to be constructed in 2007 and is scheduled for completion in 2015.[4] The completed branch will connect the city with Tbilisi in Georgia, and from there trains will continue to Akhalkalaki, and Kars in Turkey.[5]

References
  1. Population by economic and administrative regions of the Azerbaijan Republic, The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  2. Акстафа // Большой Энциклопедический словарь (рус.). — 2000
  3. Saralidze L., "Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921), Encyclopedia-Dictionary", University Press, p. 367-368, Tbilisi, 2018.
  4. "Azerbaijani FM: Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad to be built in 2012". trend.az. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  5. Railway Gazette International February 2009 p54 with map
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