Azykh () or Azokh () is a village in the

Khojavend District Khojavend District () is one of the 66 Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan, districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country in the Karabakh Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Lachin District, Lachin, Shush ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, in the region of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

. The village is situated on the river of Ishkhanchay () or Ishkhanaget (), near the

Azykh Cave Azykh Cave (), also referred to as Azokh Cave (), is a six-cave complex in Azerbaijan, known as a habitation site of prehistoric humans. It is situated near the village of Azykh in the Khojavend District. The cave is an important prehistoric sit ...

. The village had an ethnic

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

-majority population prior to the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding occupied territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involvi ...

, and also had an Armenian majority in 1989. The village was part of the

Hadrut Province Hadrut Province () 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 Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Ka ...

of the breakaway

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh cont ...

between 1992 and 2020.

Etymology

According to the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Azerbaijani Toponyms", the name ''Azykh'' originates from

Old Turkic Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...

, meaning "bear den". According to the book "Historical-Architectural Monuments of Nagorno-Karabakh" by Shahen Mkrtchyan, the name ''Azokh'' originates from the

word Ազոխ, ''Azokh'', meaning "unripe grapes".

History

The

, located near the village, is a six-cave complex, known as a habitation site of prehistoric humans. The ancient layers of the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

have yielded

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

fossil remains that may date from around 300,000 years ago. During the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, the village was part of the Hadrut District of the

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was an Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union, autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majori ...

within the

Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent re ...

. After the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

, the village was administrated as part of the

of the

. The village came under the control of Azerbaijan on 9 November 2020, during the

. Subsequently,

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

and

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

reported that Azerbaijani forces committed a

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

by decapitating Yuri Asryan, an 82-year-old Armenian man who remained in Azokh despite the Azerbaijani offensive towards the village.

Historical heritage sites

Azykh contains a number of historical heritage sites, two of which are registered by the

as immovable cultural heritage sites. The registered sites are the

, dating back to the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

, located 700 m to the southeast, as well as the 13th-century bridge of ''Tsiltakhach'' (), located 1 km to the southeast. In addition, the village contains the 17th-century church of ''Surb Astvatsatsin'' (, ) - a 14 m long and 8 m wide stone building built on two arches, and a historical cemetery dating from between the 10th and 19th centuries. Amarkhatun Monastery, Tsitskar Fortress, and Melik Sagam's battlement are also located near the village.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Geography Populated places in Khojavend District Former Armenian communities in Khojavend District