Stepanakert
Encyclopedia
Stepanakert is the largest city and capital
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
, a de facto independent republic, though is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan. The city population comprises about 53,000 ethnic Armenians.
According to medieval Armenian sources, the settlement was first mentioned as Vararakn (Վարարակն, meaning "rapid spring" in Armenian) which it remained until it was renamed Khankendi in 1847. Azerbaijani sources generally say that the settlement was founded in the late eighteenth century by a Karabakh khan
, and was thus called Khankendi (Turkic
for "the khan's village").
In 1923 Khankendi was renamed Stepanakert by the Soviet government to honor Stepan Shahumyan
, leader of the 26 Baku Commissars
, and, after the Shusha pogrom
had resulted in major destruction at Shusha
, the former regional capital, Stepanakert was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
. In time, Stepanakert grew to become the region's most important city (a status it received in 1940). Its population rose from 10,459 in 1939 to 33,000 in 1978.
In 1926, municipal authorities adopted a new city layout designed by the prominent Armenian architect, Alexander Tamanian
; two additional designs for expansion were approved later on in the 1930s and 1960s, both of which retained Tamanian's initial plan. Several schools and two "polyclinics" were established, and an Armenian Dramatic Theatre was founded in 1932 and named after Maxim Gorky
. Stepanakert served as Nagorno-Karabakh's main economic hub, and by the mid-1980s there were nineteen production facilities in the city.
The political and economic reforms that General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev
had initiated in 1985 saw a marked decentralization of Soviet authority. Armenians, in both Armenia proper and Nagorno-Karabakh, viewed Gorbachev's reform program as an opportunity to unite the two together. On February 20, 1988, tens of thousands of Armenians gathered to demonstrate in Stepanakert's Lenin (now Renaissance) Square to demand that the region be joined to Armenia. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to join the Armenian SSR
, a move staunchly opposed by the Soviet Azerbaijani authorities. Relations between Stepankert's Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who supported the Azerbaijani government's position, deteriorated in the following years and as a result, nearly all of the Azerbaijanis fled the city.
After Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Stepanakert was renamed by the Azerbaijani government back to Khankendi as part of a campaign against Communism and of Azerification
. Fighting broke out over control of Nagorno-Karabakh which eventually resulted in Armenian control of the region and a connecting corridor to Armenia to the west. Prior to the conflict, Stepanakert was the largest city of the (NKAO), with a population of 70,000 out of a total 189,000 (Armenians at the time comprised 75% of the region's total population). By early 1992, that figure had dropped to 50,000.
During the war, the city suffered immense damage from Azeri bombardment, especially in early 1992 when the Azeris used the town of Shusha as an artillery firebase to fire GRAD missiles against it. So destructive was the damage caused by the incessant bombardment, that a journalist for Time noted in an April 1992 report that "scarcely a single building [had] escaped damage in Stepanakert." The Azerbaijani military staged several ground attacks against the city, which were, however, successfully repulsed. It was not until May 9, 1992, with the capture of Shusha, that the ground bombardment ceased. The city, nevertheless, continued to suffer aerial bombardment for the remainder of the war.
There has been an unofficial cease-fire observed since 1994.
weaving, and winemaking
. The city's economy was greatly damaged during the war, but in recent years, largely due to the investments of the Armenian diaspora
, economic activity and tourism especially, has picked up in Stepanakert and the rest of the NKR. Several hotels have been opened up by diasporan Armenians, including the Nairi Hotel, which was opened by Jack Abolakian, an Armenian Australian
, in 2000.
. The believers attended the church that is in the building of the House of Culture. There is also one ancient church in the city that was built in the eighteenth century, but it is not operating. On September 15, 2006 the foundation stones of St. James Church in Stepanakert were laid. The church's benefactor, Vache Yepremian, from Los Angeles
, sponsored the construction of the church and on May 9, 2007, the church of St. James was consecrated in honor of the fifteenth anniversary of the capture of Shusha.
In September 2010, representatives from the Los Angeles-based Armenia Fund and officials from Armenia and the NKR presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly opened School № 11. The school expects to see an attendance level of 600 students and consists of three buildings, a playground, a gym and other basic amenities such as a computer lab and first aid clinic. Its construction was funded by money gathered by the Armenian Diaspora.
Stepanakert is also the home of the Artsakh State Museum
.
inaugurated Stepanakert as a sister city. This prompted a complaint by the ambassador of Azerbaijan to the United States
, Hafiz Pashayev, who sent a letter to California leaders, stating that the decision jeopardized peace talks between his country and Armenia. The letter was sent to then-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
, who deferred the letter to Montebello mayor Bill Molinari since it concerned a local, not a state, issue. Molinari responded to Pashayev that the city would go ahead with its plans to inaugurate Stepanakert under the sister city program.
Stepanakert's relationship with Montebello is concentrated in revitalizing the capital's economic infrastructure and to build cultural and educational ties as well as enhance trade and health care between the two cities. Azerbaijan has charged this as a contradictory foreign policy of the United States in supporting the NKR government and Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan.
Montebello
, California
, United States
.
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic , or Artsakh Republic is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, a de facto independent republic, though is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan. The city population comprises about 53,000 ethnic Armenians.
Founding and Soviet era
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
, and was thus called Khankendi (Turkic
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
for "the khan's village").
In 1923 Khankendi was renamed Stepanakert by the Soviet government to honor Stepan Shahumyan
Stepan Shahumyan
Stepan Gevorgi Shahumyan was a Bolshevist Russian communist politician and revolutionary active throughout the Caucasus. Shahumyan was an ethnic Armenian and his role as a leader of the Russian revolution in the Caucasus earned him the nickname of the "Caucasian Lenin", a reference to the leader...
, leader of the 26 Baku Commissars
26 Baku Commissars
The 26 Baku Commissars were Bolshevik and Left Socialist Revolutionary members of the Baku Soviet Commune. The commune was established in the city of Baku...
, and, after the Shusha pogrom
Shusha pogrom
The Shusha pogrom of 1920 or the Massacre of Shusha"In March, 1920 a terrible pogrom took place in Shushi, organized by Azerbaijanis with the support of Turkish forces...
had resulted in major destruction at Shusha
Shusha
Shusha , also known as Shushi is a town in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. It has been under the control of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since its capture in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
, the former regional capital, Stepanakert was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was an autonomous oblast within the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR, mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians and created on July 7, 1923. According to Karl R. DeRouen it was created as an enclave so that a narrow strip of land would separate it from Armenia proper....
. In time, Stepanakert grew to become the region's most important city (a status it received in 1940). Its population rose from 10,459 in 1939 to 33,000 in 1978.
In 1926, municipal authorities adopted a new city layout designed by the prominent Armenian architect, Alexander Tamanian
Alexander Tamanian
Alexander Tamanian was a Russian-born Armenian neoclassical architect, who is remembered today for his work in the city of Yerevan.Born in the city of Yekaterinodar in 1878 in the family of a banker. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1904. His works portrayed sensitive and...
; two additional designs for expansion were approved later on in the 1930s and 1960s, both of which retained Tamanian's initial plan. Several schools and two "polyclinics" were established, and an Armenian Dramatic Theatre was founded in 1932 and named after Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
. Stepanakert served as Nagorno-Karabakh's main economic hub, and by the mid-1980s there were nineteen production facilities in the city.
Independence
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
had initiated in 1985 saw a marked decentralization of Soviet authority. Armenians, in both Armenia proper and Nagorno-Karabakh, viewed Gorbachev's reform program as an opportunity to unite the two together. On February 20, 1988, tens of thousands of Armenians gathered to demonstrate in Stepanakert's Lenin (now Renaissance) Square to demand that the region be joined to Armenia. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to join the Armenian SSR
Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet...
, a move staunchly opposed by the Soviet Azerbaijani authorities. Relations between Stepankert's Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who supported the Azerbaijani government's position, deteriorated in the following years and as a result, nearly all of the Azerbaijanis fled the city.
After Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Stepanakert was renamed by the Azerbaijani government back to Khankendi as part of a campaign against Communism and of Azerification
Turkification
Turkification is a term used to describe a process of cultural or political change in which something or someone who is not a Turk becomes one, voluntarily or involuntarily...
. Fighting broke out over control of Nagorno-Karabakh which eventually resulted in Armenian control of the region and a connecting corridor to Armenia to the west. Prior to the conflict, Stepanakert was the largest city of the (NKAO), with a population of 70,000 out of a total 189,000 (Armenians at the time comprised 75% of the region's total population). By early 1992, that figure had dropped to 50,000.
During the war, the city suffered immense damage from Azeri bombardment, especially in early 1992 when the Azeris used the town of Shusha as an artillery firebase to fire GRAD missiles against it. So destructive was the damage caused by the incessant bombardment, that a journalist for Time noted in an April 1992 report that "scarcely a single building [had] escaped damage in Stepanakert." The Azerbaijani military staged several ground attacks against the city, which were, however, successfully repulsed. It was not until May 9, 1992, with the capture of Shusha, that the ground bombardment ceased. The city, nevertheless, continued to suffer aerial bombardment for the remainder of the war.
There has been an unofficial cease-fire observed since 1994.
Economy
Prior to the war, Stepanakert's economy revolved mostly around food processing, silkSilk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
weaving, and winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
. The city's economy was greatly damaged during the war, but in recent years, largely due to the investments of the Armenian diaspora
Armenian diaspora
The Armenian diaspora refers to the Armenian communities outside the Republic of Armenia and self proclaimed de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic...
, economic activity and tourism especially, has picked up in Stepanakert and the rest of the NKR. Several hotels have been opened up by diasporan Armenians, including the Nairi Hotel, which was opened by Jack Abolakian, an Armenian Australian
Armenian Australian
Armenian Australian are Australians who have ancestry from the country of Armenia. They have become one of the key Armenian diasporas around the world and amongst the largests in the English-speaking world...
, in 2000.
Religion
During the Soviet era, there were no traditional churches in Stepanakert, although most of the population of the city were members of the Armenian Apostolic ChurchArmenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
. The believers attended the church that is in the building of the House of Culture. There is also one ancient church in the city that was built in the eighteenth century, but it is not operating. On September 15, 2006 the foundation stones of St. James Church in Stepanakert were laid. The church's benefactor, Vache Yepremian, from Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, sponsored the construction of the church and on May 9, 2007, the church of St. James was consecrated in honor of the fifteenth anniversary of the capture of Shusha.
Educational and cultural institutions
There exist five schools for higher educational learning in Stepanakert: Artsakh State University and four private universities. Artsakh State was originally established in 1969 as a branch of the Baku Pedagogical Institute. In 1973, it was renamed Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute and following the end of the war, in 1995, it received its current name. The university offers courses spread across seven departments and has an attendance level of 4,500.In September 2010, representatives from the Los Angeles-based Armenia Fund and officials from Armenia and the NKR presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly opened School № 11. The school expects to see an attendance level of 600 students and consists of three buildings, a playground, a gym and other basic amenities such as a computer lab and first aid clinic. Its construction was funded by money gathered by the Armenian Diaspora.
Stepanakert is also the home of the Artsakh State Museum
Artsakh State Museum
Stepanakert State Museum is the historical museum of the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Located at 4 Sasunstsi David Street, in Stepanakert, the museum offers an assortment of ancient artifacts and Christian manuscripts. There's also more modern items, from the 19th century to World War II...
.
Climate
The temperature in Stepanakert typically varies depending on season. In the month of January, the average temperature drops to 0.5 °C. In August, it averages around 22.6 °C. The level of the city's annual precipitation is relatively low, amounting to about 560mm.Demographics
According to national composition, Armenians form 99.6% of Stepanakert's population (49,840), whereas other ethnic groups comprise the remaining 0.4% (160).Sister cities
On September 25, 2005, the city of Montebello, CaliforniaMontebello, California
Montebello is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the southwestern part of the San Gabriel Valley. It is located on of land just east of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities, and the city is a member of the Gateway Cities Council of...
inaugurated Stepanakert as a sister city. This prompted a complaint by the ambassador of Azerbaijan to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Hafiz Pashayev, who sent a letter to California leaders, stating that the decision jeopardized peace talks between his country and Armenia. The letter was sent to then-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, who deferred the letter to Montebello mayor Bill Molinari since it concerned a local, not a state, issue. Molinari responded to Pashayev that the city would go ahead with its plans to inaugurate Stepanakert under the sister city program.
Stepanakert's relationship with Montebello is concentrated in revitalizing the capital's economic infrastructure and to build cultural and educational ties as well as enhance trade and health care between the two cities. Azerbaijan has charged this as a contradictory foreign policy of the United States in supporting the NKR government and Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan.
Montebello
Montebello, California
Montebello is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the southwestern part of the San Gabriel Valley. It is located on of land just east of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities, and the city is a member of the Gateway Cities Council of...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Notable individuals
- AndréAndré (singer)André, born Andrey Hovnanian is an Armenian singer. He won the Best Male Singer trophy at the Armenian Music Awards in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. In addition, he performs as a actor at the local theater in Stepanakert, in the Nagorno-Karabakh.-Early life :At the age of three André started...
- Armenian singer - Vladimir ArzumanyanVladimir ArzumanyanVladimir Arzumanyan is an Armenian singer. He represented Armenia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the entry Mama ....
- Armenian singer, winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the eighth edition of Junior Eurovision Song Contest and took place in Minsk, Belarus. It was held on 20 November 2010.The contest was won by Vladimir Arzumanyan of Armenia with the song Mama... - Armen AbaghianArmen AbaghianArmen Artavazdi Abaghian was a Russian-Armenian specialist on nuclear power, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor , Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences...
- academic - Don AskarianDon AskarianDon Askarian was born in Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh. In 1967 he went to Moscow and studied history and art. He worked as an assistant-director and film critic for a year after his study. In 1975-1977 Don Askarian was imprisoned. In 1978 he emigrated from the USSR to West Berlin...
- filmmaker - Samvel BabayanSamvel BabayanSamvel Babayan was the Commander in Chief of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army from 1994 to 2000 and current leader of the Dashink political party in Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.- Early life and military career :...
- general - Serge Sarkisian - Third president of ArmeniaArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
- Fakhraddin ManafovFakhraddin ManafovFakhraddin Manaf oglu Manafov is an Azerbaijani and Soviet actor.He was born in Stepanakert , capital of Soviet Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. His family moved to Baku when he was around 5. He made his first movie appearance in 1978...
- actor - Nikolay Yenikolopov (Yenikolopyan) - academic
- Zori BalayanZori BalayanZori Balayan born February 10, 1935 in Stepanakert is an Armenian novelist, journalist, sports doctor, traveler and sports expert. He awarded by the "Renowned master of the Arts" Armenian official title.-Biography:...
- writer