Knaravan () is a ghost village in the

Kalbajar District Kalbajar District () is one of the 66 Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan, districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Lachin Distric ...

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 ...

. From its inception in 2004 until 2020, it was controlled by the

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbai ...

. It was located in the gorge of the

Levçay The Levçay is one of the tributaries of Tartarchay River in western Azerbaijan. Overview The Levçay is a long river flowing from the mountains in central Kalbajar District into the Tartarchay as its left tributary. The latter proceeds west thr ...

, a tributary of the Tartar south of the Murovdağ ridge, at the foot of Mount Qorovul.

History

The village was founded in 2004 by the Yerkir charitable foundation with money from

Armenian American Armenian Americans () are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immig ...

Karapet Harutyunyan on the territory of Azerbaijan, which came under the control of Armenian troops in 1993 during 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 ...

. It was named in honor of Harutyunyan's deceased wife, Knar Harutyunyan. From 2002 to 2010, 3 million US dollars were invested in rural infrastructure. Knaravan consisted of 18 cottage houses and a school. The village was inhabited by immigrants that came from

Artashat Artashat (), Hellenized as Artaxata () and Artaxiasata (), was a major city and commercial center of ancient Armenia that served as the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia from its founding in 176 BC to 120 AD, with some interruptions. It was fo ...

, Vedi,

Gavar Gavar ( ) is a town in Armenia serving as the administrative centre of the Gavar Municipality and the Gegharkunik Province. It is situated among the high mountains of Gegham range to the west of Lake Sevan, with an average height of 1982 meter ...

and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. According to the administrative-territorial division of the unrecognized

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 ...

, which controlled the area from April 1993 to November 2020, it was located in the

Shahumyan Province Shahumyan Province (, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') was a Administrative divisions of the Republic of Artsakh, province of the political status of Nagorno-Karabakh, breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic ...

. Nearby Knaravan is the ruined fortress of Handaberd. In 2020, during the

Second 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 Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, surrounding occupied territories. It was a major esca ...

, Knaravan was shelled, during which a local resident was wounded. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Armenian troops were withdrawn from the area and the territory on which the village is located returned to Azerbaijani control on 25 November 2020. Residents left the village en masse at the same time, but not before they had destroyed what was impossible to take with them so that the enemy would not get it. In one day telephone poles were knocked down, all houses, a school and abandoned property were burned.

Demographics

The village had 76 inhabitants in 2015.

References

{{Kalbajar Rayon Populated places in Kalbajar District Former Armenian inhabited settlements