Shahumyan Province

Shahumyan Province (Armenian: Շահումյան, romanized: Shahumyan, also spelled Shaumyan and Shahumian) was a province of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, de jure part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was Karvachar. Shahumyan Province had 17 communities of which one is considered urban and 16 are rural. Its bordered Martakert Province to the east, Kashatagh Province to the south, Gegharkunik and Vayots Dzor provinces of Armenia to the west and Dashkasan, Goygol and Goranboy districts of Azerbaijan to the north.

Shahumyan Շահումյան
Province
Capital	1991–1992 — Shahumyan 1993—2020 — Karvachar
Area
• Total	1,830 km^2 (710 sq mi)
Area rank	Ranked 3rd
Population  (2013)
• Total	3,521
• Rank	Ranked 8th
• Density	1.9/km^2 (5.0/sq mi)

The western part of the province was controlled by the Artsakh, while the northern part, originally the Shahumyan district of the Azerbaijani SSR - now part of the Goranboy District, remained under Azerbaijani control, which was claimed by Artsakh. The Shahumyan district was located outside of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast; however, prior to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, its population was mostly Armenian which was expelled during Operation Ring in 1991. While the Shahumyan Region was not part of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, representatives from Shahumyan declared independence along with the Oblast, and the proclamation of Artsakh includes the Shahumyan region within its borders.[1]

History

Tartar river gorge

The 9th–13th century Armenian monastery of Dadivank

In antiquity the territory was a part of Artsakh; in the Middle Ages it was part of the principality of Khachen; in the 17th and 18th centuries, the territory formed part of Melik-Abovian dynasty's melikdom[2] of Gulistan, with its capital in the fortress of that name.

During Soviet times the area was renamed after the Armenian Bolshevik Stepan Shahumyan, its administrative centre taking the same name. By the 1990s the population of the Shahumyan district was mostly Armenian by language and ethnicity, though the area was not included within the boundaries of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.

In the spring/summer of 1991, Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev ordered Operation Ring[3] in which the Soviet Red Army and Azerbaijani OMON surrounded some of the area's Armenian villages (notably Getashen and Martunashen) and deported their inhabitants to Armenia.

Approximately 17,000 Armenians living in Shahumyan's 23 villages were deported out of the region.[4][5] The operation involved the use of ground troops, military, armored vehicles and artillery.[6] The deportations of the Armenian civilians were carried out with gross human rights violations documented by international human rights organizations.[7][8][9]

The town of Shahumyan was renamed by Azerbaijan to Aşağı Ağcakənd in 1992 and has been partially repopulated by ethnic Azerbaijanis, most of whom are internally displaced persons who were deported from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.[10]

As part of an agreement that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War the town of Kalbajar/Karvachar and its surrounding district was initially to be returned to Azerbaijani control by 15 November 2020, but this deadline was subsequently extended to 25 November 2020.[11][12] In the early hours of November 25, Azerbaijani forces entered the region, it was the second region to be returned to Azerbaijan per the ceasefire agreement after one of Agdam.[13]

Towns in Soviet Shahumyan and Getashen

Former Soviet Shahumyan district and the territory known as "Getashen subdistrict" where the Artsakh Shahumyan Province was originally formed

Armenians constituted 73.2% of the population of the Shahumyan district in 1979,[14] and the majority of the villages within the Shahumyan district and the Getashen subdistrict had an Armenian majority prior to the First Nagorno-Karabakh war and Operation Ring, with the exception for some Azerbaijani-majority villages (as well as some smaller localities), which are mentioned as such in the following list.[15] The Shahumyan district and Getashen subdistrict are claimed by the Republic of Artsakh as part of the Shahumyan Province.

Shahumyan district

City/town/village	In Armenian	Population	Control	Image
Başqışlaq (Azerbaijani majority)			Azerbaijan
Buzluk	Բուզլուկ		Azerbaijan
Erkej	Էրքեջ		Azerbaijan
Gürzallar (Azerbaijani majority)			Azerbaijan
Gyulistan	Գյուլիստան		Azerbaijan
Hay Borisner	Հայ Բորիսներ		Azerbaijan
Karachinar	Կարաչինար		Azerbaijan
Kharkhaput	Խարխապուտ		Azerbaijan
Menashen	Մենաշեն		Azerbaijan
Rus Borisi			Azerbaijan
Shafak	Շաֆակ		Azerbaijan
Shahumyan	Շահումյան		Azerbaijan
Todan (Azerbaijani majority)			Azerbaijan
Verinshen	Վերինշեն		Azerbaijan
Zeiva (Azerbaijani majority)			Azerbaijan

Getashen subdistrict

City/town/village	In Armenian	Population	Control	Image
Getashen	Գետաշեն		Azerbaijan
Kushchi-Armavir	Կուշչի Արմավիր		Azerbaijan
Martunashen	Մարտունաշեն		Azerbaijan
Sarısu (Azerbaijani majority)			Azerbaijan

External links

• Armeniapedia - Rediscovering Armenia - Nagorno-Karabakh

References

1. Archived 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
2. Raffi. Melikdoms of Khamsa.
3. Karabagh Massacres Chronicle
4. Markar Melkonian (2005). My Brother's Road. I. B. Tauris. p. 186. ISBN 1-85043-635-5.
5. Mutalibov stated in this regard, "Я помню, как мы в свое время с помощью русских смогли очистить от армян около 30 сел вокруг Гянджи... Мы были близки даже к освобождению всего Карабаха, но внутренние распри, разногласия, междоусобицы свели на нет наши старания" (I remember how we with the help of Russians managed to cleanse from Armenians 30 villages around Ganja… we were even close to the liberation of the whole Karabakh but our inner disagreements diminished our efforts). 1news.az 18 Nov. 2008 Аяз Муталибов: "Если мы с Москвой будем говорить четко, я думаю, мы сможем завоевать ее расположение по Карабахской проблеме"
6. Michael P. Croissant (23 July 1998). The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications. Praeger. p. 41. ISBN 978-0275962418.
7. Human Rights Watch. Bloodshed in the Caucucasus. Escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. 1992 p. 9
8. Report by Professor Richard Wilson "On the Visit to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Border, May 25–29, 1991" Presented to the First International Sakharov Conference on Physics, Lebedev Institute, Moscow on May 31, 1991.
9. "Отчет Дж. Томаса Бертранда о поездке в село Атерк Мардакертского района Нагорного Карабаха - KarabakhRecords". karabakhrecords.info. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21.
10. Mark Elliott (2004). Azerbaijan with Excursions to Georgia. Trailblazer Publications. p. 245. ISBN 978-1873756492.
11. "Azerbaijanis celebrate Karabakh deal". aa.com.tr. Anadolu Agency. 10 November 2020.
12. https://www.rbc.ru/politics/15/11/2020/5fb109bc9a7947ef26504eb6 Azerbaijan gives Armenia postponement for withdrawal of troops from Kalbajar (Language: Russian)
13. https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijani-forces-enter-second-district-returned-by-armenia-under-nagorno-karabakh-truce/30967755.html
14. "население азербайджана". www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
15. "Карта 33. Зона конфликта в Нагорном Карабахе (1988–1994...)". iriston.com.