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Minkend

Coordinates: 39°42′34″N 46°15′14″E / 39.70944°N 46.25389°E / 39.70944; 46.25389
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Minkend
Minkənd
Minkend is located in Azerbaijan
Minkend
Minkend
Minkend is located in East Zangezur Economic Region
Minkend
Minkend
Coordinates: 39°42′34″N 46°15′14″E / 39.70944°N 46.25389°E / 39.70944; 46.25389
Country Azerbaijan
DistrictLachin
Population
 (2015)[1]
 • Total
86
Time zoneUTC+4 (UTC)

Minkend (Azerbaijani: Minkənd, pronounced [minˈkænd]; Armenian: Հակ, romanized: Hak[2][3][4][5]) is a village in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan situated along the Minkend tributary of the Hakari River.

Etymology

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Min from the Azerbaijani language is translated as "thousand", while kend derives from old Persian, meaning "village".[6]

According to an Armenian legend, Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur invaded Armenia and destroyed one village after another. Having devastated many villages in Zangezur, he began to count the number of destroyed settlements. After counting to a thousand, Timur said out loud "Min kend" (a thousand villages). Since then, the village has been called "Minkend".[7]

The village was mentioned as Hak in the records of the medieval Armenian Orbelian Dynasty, It was first mentioned by Stepanos Orbelian in the 13th century, and there is an inscription on the walls of the village's St. Minas Church that reads "this newly baptized holy church was built by the people of Hak in 1675".[5][3][4]

History

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Minkend was part of the Zangezur Uyezd of Elisabethpol Governorate during the Russian Empire. According to 1856 census data, Minkend was populated by Shiite Kurds who spoke Kurdish.[8] The village had 70 homes and 600 residents in 1886, 453 of whom were Armenians and 147 of whom were Shiite Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis).[9] According to the 1897 Russian Empire Census, Minkend had 506 Armenian and 396 Muslim residents.[10]

The village was badly damaged during the Armenian–Tatar massacres of 1905–1907. The first attack on the village took place in March 1905, while the second happened from June 5 to 6, during which 50 Armenians were killed. The attacks continued in August when a detachment of Cossacks was sent to protect the Armenians of Minkend, but the bailiff of Zangezur, Melik-Aslanov, convinced them that there was no danger for the Armenians. The Cossacks left Minkend to defend another village. When the Cossacks left, the Tatars killed 140 Armenians and wounded another 40 in front of the bailiff, who did not try to stop the killings.[11] However, according to the August 1905 issue of the Syn otechestva newspaper, over 300 people were killed, and the bailiff did not even report the incident to his superiors.[12][13]

According to the 1912 "Caucasian Calendar", the village of Minkend in 1911 was home to 731 people, the majority of whom were Kurds.[14] However, in the 1915 edition of the "Caucasian Calendar", it was indicated that Minkend in 1914 was predominantly Armenian, with a population of 1,532 people.[15]

Minkend was part of the village council of the same name in the Lachin District of the Azerbaijan SSR during the early Soviet period in 1933. The village had 280 farms and a total population of 1,355 people. The population of the village council was 58.1 percent Kurdish.[16] The village had 2,306 residents in 1981. Its residents' main occupation was animal husbandry. There was a middle school, a club, a library, and a hospital in the village.[17]

During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, in May 1992, Armenian forces occupied the village, forcing the Kurdish and Azerbaijani population to flee. It was later incorporated into the breakaway Republic of Artsakh as part of its Kashatagh Province, where it was known as Hak (Armenian: Հակ). Minkend was returned to Azerbaijan on 1 December 2020 as part of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement.[18]

Historical heritage sites

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A group of scientists in front of the St. Minas Church in Minkend

Historical heritage sites in and around the village include a 13th-century khachkar, a cemetery from the 14th to the 20th centuries, St. Minas Church (Armenian: Սուրբ Մինաս եկեղեցի, romanized: Surb Minas Yekeghetsi) consecrated in 1698,[1] two temples from the 15th century, and two arch bridges from the 19th century.[19]

Demographics

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Year Population Ethnic composition Source
1886 600 75.5% Armenian, 24.5% Tatar (later known as Azerbaijanis) Transcaucasian Statistical Committee[9]
1897 902 56.1% Armenian, 43.9% Muslim Russian Empire Census[20]
1911 731 Mainly Kurdish Caucasian Calendar[14]
1914 1,532 Mainly Armenian Caucasian Calendar[15]
1933 1,355 58.1% Kurdish Statistics of Azerbaijan SSR[16]
1981 2,306 Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia[17]
May 1992: Occupation of Minkend. Expulsion of Kurdish and Azerbaijani population
2015 86 ~100% Armenians NKR estimate[1]

Notable natives

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  • Old image of Minkend
    Old image of Minkend
  • Ruins of Minkend during occupation
    Ruins of Minkend during occupation

References

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  1. ^ a b c Hakob Ghahramanyan. "Directory of socio-economic characteristics of NKR administrative-territorial units (2015)".
  2. ^ Carlotta Gall; Anton Troianovski (2020-12-11). "After Nagorno-Karabakh War, Trauma, Tragedy and Devastation". The New York Times.
  3. ^ a b Վահրամ Բալայան (2020). Արցախի Հանրապետության բնակավայրերի պատմության ուրվագծեր (in Armenian). Զանգակ հրատարակչություն.
  4. ^ a b "St. Minas Church of Hak". Monument Watch.
  5. ^ a b Samvel Karapetyan (2001). Armenian Cultural Monuments In The Region Of Karabakh (PDF). Research on Armenian Architecture.
  6. ^ Гуриев, Тамерлан Александрович; Никонов, Владимир Андреевич (1980). "Названия курдских селений в Закавказье". Ономастика Кавказа: межвузовский сборник статей [Onomastics of the Caucasus: interuniversity collection of articles] (in Russian). North Ossetian State University. p. 95.
  7. ^ Ganalanyan, Aram (1979). Армянские предания [Armenian legends] (in Russian). Yerevan: National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. p. 147.
  8. ^ Кавказский календарь на 1856 год [Caucasian calendar for 1856] (in Russian) (11th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1856. p. 365. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021.
  9. ^ a b Свод статистических данных о населении Закавказскаго края, извлеченных из посемейных списков 1886 г. [A summary of statistical data on the population of the Transcaucasian Territory, extracted from the family lists of 1886]. Tiflis: Transcaucasian Statistical Committee. 1893. p. 250.
  10. ^ Населенные места Российской империи в 500 и более жителей с указанием всего наличного в них населения и числа жителей преобладающих вероисповеданий, по данным первой всеобщей переписи населения 1897 г. [Populated areas of the Russian Empire with 500 or more inhabitants, indicating the total population in them and the number of inhabitants of the predominant religions, according to the first general population census of 1897.]. Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya "Obshchestvennaya pol'za" parovaya tipo-litografiya N. L. Nyrkina. 1905. p. 31.
  11. ^ Villari, Luigi (1906). Fire and Sword in the Caucasus. London. pp. 218–219. ISBN 978-1-294-94544-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ «Сын отечества» 2 October 1905
  13. ^ «Сын отечества», 30 August 1905, вечерн. вып.
  14. ^ a b Кавказский календарь на 1912 год [Caucasian calendar for 1912] (in Russian) (67th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1912. p. 183. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
  15. ^ a b Кавказский календарь на 1915 год [Caucasian calendar for 1915] (in Russian) (70th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1915. p. 158. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021.
  16. ^ a b Административное деление АССР [Administrative divisions of the ASSR] (in Russian). AzUNKHU. 1933. p. 5.
  17. ^ a b "МИНКӘНД". Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. Baku. 1982. p. 578.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ^ "Azerbaijani Forces Enter Third District Under Nagorno-Karabakh Truce". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  19. ^ "Azərbaycan Respublikası ərazisində dövlət mühafizəsinə götürülmüş daşınmaz tarix və mədəniyyət abidələrinin əhəmiyyət dərəcələrinə görə bölgüsünün təsdiq edilməsi haqqında" [On approval of the distribution of immovable historical and cultural monuments taken under state protection in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan according to their degree of importance]. Cabinet of Azerbaijan (in Azerbaijani). 2 August 2001. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013.
  20. ^ Troinitsky, N. A. (1905). Населенные места Российской империи в 500 и более жителей с указанием всего наличного в них населения и числа жителей преобладающих вероисповеданий, по данным первой всеобщей переписи населения 1897 г. [Populated areas of the Russian Empire with 500 or more inhabitants, indicating the total population in them and the number of inhabitants of the predominant religions, according to the first general population census of 1897] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya Obshchestvennaya polza. p. 31. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022.
  21. ^ Həmid, Tural (12 June 2020). "Azərbaycan kürdləri". Azlogos (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 26 June 2022.
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