Jabrayil

Jabrayil ( az, Cəbrayıl, ) is a ghost city in Azerbaijan, nominally the administrative capital of Azerbaijan's Jabrayil District.

A town with Azerbaijani majority and Armenian plurality at various times during the Russian imperial era, and Azerbaijani majority since the Soviet times, it is abandoned since its destruction by local Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

History

Russian Empire

In tsarist times, Jabrayil was a village in the Dzhebrail Uyezd (created in 1868) within the Elisabethpol Governorate of the Russian Empire. According to the annual reference book ''Caucasian Calendar'', the population of Jabrayil in 1855 consisted of Shia Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis). According to the 1897 Russian census, the population of the Uyezd was 66,360, of which 49,189 (74%) were Turko-Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis), 15,746 (24%) were Armenians, 893 (1.3%) were Russians, 398 (0.6%) were Kurds and other minorities. The village of Jabrayil itself, with a population of 520, had an Armenian plurality: 228 Armenians; 186 Turko-Tatars; 76 Russians.Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи, 1897 г. т.63 Елисаветопольская губерния. Н.А.Тройницкий, С.-Петербург, 1904. стр. 138

Soviet Union

According to the 1926 Soviet census, the population of Jabrayil District in was 10,653. No ethnic breakdown is listed for the village itself. Of those in the district 97.2% were Turks (i.e. Azerbaijanis), 105 (1%) were Russians, 57 (0.5%) were Armenians and 24 (0.2%) were Persians. The 1979 Soviet census registered 4,825 inhabitants, almost all (99,5 %) ethnic Azerbaijanis. As the administrative center of the eponymous district, Jabrayil developed considerably during the Soviet era and by the beginning of the 1950s, there were two seven-year schools, a secondary school, a cultural centre, summer and winter cinemas, two libraries and a club. The town's main economic products were butter, cheeses and carpets.

Armenian control

On 23 August 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the city was occupied by the forces of Armenia and the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, causing the displacement of its population. Like most other cities in the seven districts of Azerbaijan captured by Armenian forces, Jabrayil was looted and destroyed and remained a ghost town following its capture. Within Artsakh, it was renamed Jrakan (Ջրական), and also called Mekhakavan (Մեխակավան) and was administered as a part of the Hadrut Province.

Restoration of Azerbaijani control

After 27 years, on 9 October 2020, Azerbaijan regained control of the city during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

In the context of the war, on 4 October 2020, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces had taken control of the city following a day-long battle; however, Shushan Stepanyan, the Press Secretary of the Minister of Defence of Armenia denied this. On 5 October, the Artsakhian President, Arayik Harutyunyan, claimed that he had visited the city. However, on 9 October 2020, footage released by Azerbaijan Ministry of Defence showed Azerbaijani soldiers raising the flag of Azerbaijan in the centre of the ruined city. Reporters from Euronews visited the city on 17 October, confirming that it had come under Azerbaijani control.

In November 2020 Azerbaijani media visited the recently recaptured city and reported that except for a newly built military base, no building was left intact since the capture of the city in 1993. Several ambassadors who visited the ruined city in February 2021 expressed their shock at the state of the city and added that a number of graves had been defaced or dug up. A BBC report noted that the homes and graves of Azerbaijanis had been completely destroyed during the Armenian occupation.

In 2017, the Zoravor Surb Astvatsatsin (St. Mary's) Armenian church was opened at the Armenian military base in Jabrayil. Construction of the church drew condemnation from Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In March 2021, BBC
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