Administrative divisions of the Republic of Artsakh 1994-2020

Kashatagh Province ( hy, Քաշաթաղի շրջան) was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

of the

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Artsakh controls a part of the former ...

. It was the largest province by area (3,376.60 km²). The population as of 2013 was 9,656. Its capital was Berdzor.

Territorial entities

Kashatagh Region had 54 communities of which 3 were considered urban and 51 were rural.

Geography

Kashtagh bordered the

Shahumyan Province Shahumyan Province ( hy, Շահումյան, Shahumyan, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') is a claimed province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was ...

in the north,

Martakert Province Martakert Province ( hy, Մարտակերտ) is a province of the Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The population is mainly Armenian. The province has 43 communities of which one is considered urban and 42 a ...

in the north-east,

Askeran Province Askeran Province ( hy, Ասկերան) is a province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Khojaly District of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is in the center of Artsakh, surrounding the capital, Stepanakert. It is no ...

Shushi Province Shushi Province ( hy, Շուշիի շրջան) is a province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The province has 7 communities of which 1 is considered urban and 6 are rural. The town of Shushi ...

and

Hadrut Province Hadrut Province ( hy, Հադրութի շրջան) was a province of the Republic of Artsakh. The provincial capital was Hadrut city. The last governor was Valery Gevorkian. The province was captured by the armed forces of the Republic of Azerbai ...

in the east.

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in the south and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

to the west.

History

The territory of the Kashatagh Province was part of the

Syunik Province Syunik ( hy, Սյունիք, ) is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. It ...

of the Kingdom of Armenia. It was one of the many Caucasian areas administrated by a local melikdom known as the

Melikdom of Kashatagh The Melikdom of Kashatagh ( Armenian: Քաշաթաղի մելիքություն) was an Armenian melikdom (principality) which existed in the 15th–18th centuries. It was located along the Hakari River, on the southeastern section of the mod ...

under the

Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

(

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

Afsharid Afsharid Iran ( fa, ایران افشاری), also referred as the Afsharid Empire was an Iranian empire established by the Turkoman Afshar tribe in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan, ruling Iran (Persia). The state was ruled by the A ...

, Zand and

Qajar Iran Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...

). It was later included in the Nakhichevan Khanate. The territory remained predominantly Armenian up until the

Russo-Persian wars The Russo-Persian Wars or Russo-Iranian Wars were a series of conflicts between 1651 and 1828, concerning Persia (Iran) and the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia fought these wars over disputed governance of territories and countries in the Ca ...

and the South Caucasus invasion of the Ottoman army in the 18th century. Russian forces invaded the Caspian provinces of Persia, and in 1723 while simultaneously fighting the Afghans in the east and Turks in the west, Persia was forced to cede the Caspian provinces to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

. Kovsakan was the second largest city in Kashatagh Province after the city of Berdzor. Mher Arakelyan from the ARF, Razmik Mirzoyan, non-partisan, and Hrach Manucharyan were competing in the mayoral election held in June 2008. From 1 December 2020, most of the Kashatagh Province was retaken by or returned to Azerbaijan, with the exception of the Lachin corridor containing the localities of Berdzor, Sus and Aghavno, which are controlled by the Russian peacekeepers.

Demographics

The Kashatagh Province had the highest

birth rate The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...

in the entire Caucasus region. The birth rate was measured at 29.3 per 1,000 in 2010. On the other hand, the Russian republic of Chechnya, which had a birth rate of 28.9 per 1,000 in 2011 could manage only the second spot. * Birth Rate: 29.3 per 1,000 * Death Rate: 3.4 per 1,000 * Natural Growth: 2.60% per year

Resettlement of Syrian refugees

By June 2015, an estimated 17,000 of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

's once 80,000-strong Armenian population had fled the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

and sought refuge in Armenia.

David Babayan David Klimi Babayan (, ''Davit' Klimi Babayan''; born 5 April 1973 in Stepanakert) is the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh. From 28 December 2013 he served as Head of the Central Information Department of the Artsakh Republic. He als ...

, spokesperson of the Artsakh president

Bako Sahakyan Bako Sahaki Sahakyan ( hy, Բակո Սահակի Սահակյան; born 30 August 1960) is an Artsakhi politician who served as the third president of the ''de facto''-independent Republic of Artsakh from 2007 to 2020. He is the longest-serving p ...

, confirmed that some of those refugees had been resettled in Nagorno-Karabakh. In December 2014, Armenian media cited local municipal authorities in stating that "dozens of Syrian Armenian families" had been resettled in Nagorno-Karabakh's Kashatagh Province, specifically the city of

Lachin Lachin ( az, Laçın, , ; hy, Բերձոր, translit=Berdzor; ku, Laçîn) is a town in Azerbaijan and the administrative center of the Lachin District. It is located within the strategic Lachin corridor, which links the disputed region of N ...

(Berdzor in Armenian) and the village of Ishkhanadzor. 38 families, some 200 Syrian-Armenian refugees have resettled in the area.ПОСЕЛИВШИЕСЯ В АРЦАХЕ СИРИЙСКИЕ АРМЯНЕ ГОВОРЯТ О СВОИХ ЧАЯНИЯХ
''NKR News''. 26 December 2014.

References

External links

Kashatagh RegionDemographic CrisisDeclining Population

Map
{{Authority control Regions of the Republic of Artsakh States and territories disestablished in 2020