Artsvashen

Artsvashen (Armenian: Արծվաշեն, lit.'Eagle village') or Bashkend (Azerbaijani: Başkənd; Armenian: Բաշքենդ) is a de jure Armenian village in the Chambarak Municipality of the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia. It is a 40 square kilometres exclave of Armenia,[1] and it is surrounded by the territory of Azerbaijan, which has de facto controlled it since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Artsvashen
Արծվաշեն
Lake near Artsvashen
Lake near Artsvashen
Artsvashen is located in Armenia
Artsvashen
Artsvashen
Artsvashen is located in Gegharkunik
Artsvashen
Artsvashen
Artsvashen is located in Azerbaijan
Artsvashen
Artsvashen
Coordinates: 40°38′46″N 45°30′56″E
Country (de jure)Armenia
  ProvinceGegharkunik
  MunicipalityChambarak
Country (de facto)Azerbaijan
  DistrictGadabay
Founded1845
Area
  Total40 km2 (20 sq mi)
Population
 (2009)
  Total127
Time zoneUTC+4 (AMT)
Artsvashen at GEOnet Names Server

History

The present village was founded in 1854 or 1859[2] as Bashkend by Armenians from Choratan in Shamshadin, although an earlier Armenian presence on the site is attested by an inscription dated to 1607 on the Surb Hovhannes church in the town. It was later changed to Hin Bashkend (Armenian: Հին Բաշքենդ), meaning Old Bashkend to differentiate it from New or Nor Bashkend, founded by migrants from the original settlement. The villagers' ancestors were originally from the province of Artsakh who migrated to Tavush.[2] In 1920 the village was also referred to as Bashgyugh.[3]

In 1923–1929, the territorial dispute over Artsvashen was settled by a commission of the "Transcaucasian central executive committee" in favour of Armenia, however, in January 1927, 12,000 hectares (120 square kilometres; 46 square miles) of land surrounding Artsvashen were "gifted" to Azerbaijan. As "compensation", in February 1929 Armenia was transferred a narrow strip of land to serve as a land connection to the village, however, this decision was reversed in the 1930s and Artsvashen became an exclave again.[3]

In May 1991, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Armenian Interior Ministry reported that residents of Artsvashen had averted an army occupation by surrendering their arms.[4] Seen from the Azerbaijani perspective, however, the town became a major headache, blocking access to Shinikh and providing a launching point for military incursions against Azerbaijan's Gadabey province.

After Armenian attacks on Mutudərə and Qasımağalı in the Shinikh area to the west, the Azerbaijanis counter attacked under locally famed commander Cahangir Rüstəmov, whose regiment blockaded Artsvashen. On August 8, 1992 the Armenian defenders decided to surrender.[5] Artsvashen villagers were mostly given alternative shelter in the town of Chambarak whose former Molokan-Russian population had largely left for Russia. According to The New York Times, on 9 August 1992 Azerbaijani side announced that armed forces had "liberated" the town, destroying enemy tanks and weaponry and killing 300 Armenian "brigands", while Armenian reports mentioned no dead but said 29 people were "missing without trace."[6]

Accusing Azerbaijan of mounting an "undeclared war," Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan sent a telegram to leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States saying that "aggression has been committed against a state that is a member of the C.I.S. and the system of collective security".[6]

The village was swiftly renamed to its settler name Bashkend.[7] Today, the village is largely abandoned as the Azerbaijani army expelled its Armenian population after it captured the territory,[8] and is now administered by Azerbaijan as part of the Gadabay District.

Compensation claims

In 2009, former residents of Artsvashen village that were still residents of Chambarak nearly 20 years later were promised six billion drams of Armenian government compensation for their lost property. Two payments of 50 million drams then, in 2011, a bigger one of 708 million drams was given out in 2011, with around 2000 people getting about 360 thousand drams each. However, further payments stalled leading to protests in September 2018 and December 2019, demanding further funds to repair the dilapidated housing stock in Chambarak. Armenian premier Pashinyan claimed that the state had fulfilled all its obligations to refugees with money already disbursed and with the provision of housing certificates to about 112 families.[9]

Artsvashen carpets

In the Soviet times there was a branch of Haygorg ("Armenian carpet" state company) in Artsvashen.[10] After the capture of Artsvashen by the Azerbaijani forces, the residents of Artsvashen migrated to Shorzha, Vardenis, Abovyan and Chambarak, where they continued traditions of this art:

"The women of Artsvashen learned carpet weaving from their mothers and grandmothers. Many of them had worked for Haygorg for decades. “It was shameful for a girl or woman in Artsvashen not to be able to weave carpets. Even if they didn't work for Haygorg, they would have a weaving stand at home and make carpets,”

said Irina Ghalechyan, a former resident of Artsvashen and carpet weaver.[10]

Demographics

The population timeline of Artsvashen since 1831 is as follows:[2]

Year Population Note
1873 1,015
1897 1,847 100% Armenian Apostolic[11]
1908[12] 2,687 Mainly Armenian
1911[13]
1914[14] 3,079 Mainly Tatar[lower-alpha 1]
1915[15]
1926 2,909
1939 4,280
1959 4,112
1970 3,368
1979 2,771
2009 127

Notable people

See also

Notes

  1. Later known as Azerbaijani. Based on previous years' statistics, "Tatar" is likely to be a printing error in the Caucasian Calendar.

References

  1. Azerbaijan, by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Org., 1994
  2. Հայաստանի Հանրապետության բնակավայրերի բառարան [Republic of Armenia settlements dictionary] (PDF) (in Armenian). Yerevan: Cadastre Committee of the Republic of Armenia. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2018.
  3. Hovhannisyan, Samson (20 April 2016). "Armenian-Azeri enclave war: Formula of Armenian land division". PanARMENIAN.Net. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  4. Soviet Army Is Reported to Attack And Occupy 2 Armenian Villages, The New York Times, May 10, 1991
  5. ArmInfo report 2019
  6. Armenia Seeks Help in Fighting Azerbaijan, The New York Times, August 10, 1992
  7. Azerbaijan Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Christopher Panico, Human Rights Watch, Jemera Rone (1994), p.92
  8. Naira Badalian's 2019 article on protests
  9. Carpet Weaving in Armenia, Lena Nazaryan, Hetq Online, 17/9/2007 Archived July 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Religious composition of Russian empire 1897". pop-stat.mashke.org. Retrieved 2022-08-02.
  11. Кавказский календарь на 1910 год [Caucasian calendar for 1910] (in Russian) (65th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1910. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022.
  12. Кавказский календарь на 1912 год [Caucasian calendar for 1912] (in Russian) (67th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1912. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
  13. Кавказский календарь на 1915 год [Caucasian calendar for 1915] (in Russian) (70th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1915. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021.
  14. Кавказский календарь на 1916 год [Caucasian calendar for 1916] (in Russian) (71st ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1916. Archived from the original on 5 February 2022.
  15. "Арамаис Саакян поэт, член СПА с 1958 г. [Aramais Sahakyan poet, member of the SPA since 1958]". Writers' Union of Armenia (in Russian). Archived from the original on 31 May 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
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