Shahumian

Shahumian Շահումյան
Province
Caipital	Kalbajar (umwhile Shahumian)
Area
• Total	1830 km2 (710 sq mi)
Area rank	Ranked 3rd
Population  (2005)
• Total	2,560
• Rank	Ranked 8th
• Density	1.4/km2 (3.6/sq mi)
Website	www.karabakh.net

Shahumian (Armenie: Շահումյան) is a disputit region, umwhile a destrict o Azerbaijan SSR ootside o Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. Afore the Nagorno-Karabakh War o the 1990s, the region haed a substantial Armenie population. The eastren pairt o the territory remains unner the control o Azerbaijan an is incorporatit intae Goranboy Rayon, but the aurie is claimit bi the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

History

The 9t-13t century Armenie monastery o Dadivank

In antiquity the territory wis a pairt o Artsakh; in the Middle Ages it wis pairt o the principality of Khachen; in the 17-18t centuries the territory formed part of Melik-Abovian dynasty's melikdom o Gulistan, with its capital in the fortress o that name. Durin Soviet times in the aurie wis renamit efter the Armenie Bolshevik Stepan Shahumyan, its admeenistrative center takkin the same name.

Bi the 1990s the population o Shahumian destrict wis amaist exclusively Armenie bi leid an ethnicity, though the aurie wis no includit athin the boondaries o the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast bi the Soviet Union.

In the spring-simmer o 1991, Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev ordered Operation Ring in which the Soviet Red Airmy surrounded some o the aurie's Armenie veelages (notably Getashen an Martunashen) an violently deportit their inhabitants tae Armenie.

Approximately 17,000 Armenies livin in Shahumian's twinty-three veelages wur deportit oot o the region.

In December 1991 wi the Soviet Union implodin, Shahumian wis claimit bi the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic an became the focus for considerable fechtin. This reached a climax in simmer 1992 when maist o the aurie wis retaken bi the Azerbaijan airmy. Damage wis severe an the Armenie population fled.

The historical name o the toun o Shahumian, Aşağı Ağcakənd, wis restored in 1992 an it haes been pairtly re-populatit bi ethnic Azerbaijani refugees an internally displacit persons

Freemit airtins

• Armeniapedia - Rediscovering Armenia - Nagorno-Karabakh