Lachin


Lachin or Berdzor is a town de facto controlled by the Republic of Artsakh, a region internationally recognized de jure as part of Azerbaijan. The area has been governed by the ROA, which has renamed the town Berdzor, since the 1992 Nagorno-Karabakh War, and acts as the capital of Kashatagh Region. The government of Azerbaijan considers Lachin to be the regional center of its Lachin Rayon. The town and the surrounding region serve as the strategic Lachin corridor, which connects the ROA with Armenia.

History

It was originally known as Abdalyar or Abdallyar. It was granted town status in 1923 and renamed Lachin in 1926.
In the early 1920s, Vladimir Lenin's letter to Narimanov "had implied that Lachin was to be included in Azerbaijan, but the authorities in Baku and Yerevan were given promises that were inevitably contradictory." The town of Lachin on 7 July 1923 became the administrative center of Kurdistansky Uyezd, often known as Red Kurdistan, before it was moved to Shusha. It was dissolved on 8 April 1929: Kurdish schools and newspapers were closed.
On 15 May 1992, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Armenian military forces took control of the first land-corridor to Armenia. Previously, on 13 May 1992 Turkey threatened Armenia that, "It would intervene militarily if Shusha and Lachin were not restored to Azerbaijan". Russia responded by signing a military agreement with Armenia, pledging military aid if its security was threatened. On 20 May 1992, Turkey reassured Russia that it would not intervene militarily. Thus, after three years of blockade, a land bridge linking Armenia with the territory of Artsakh was established. In the fall of 1992, Azerbaijani forces tried to regain control over Lachin, but were repulsed. All of Lachin's Azerbaijani and Kurdish population fled as a result of the fall of the region to Karabakhs Armenian forces.

Demographics

YearPopulationEthnic groupsSource
192643537.7% Azeri Turks, 25.3% Kurds, 15.2% Armenians, 13.1% RussiansSoviet census
19391,06380.7% Azerbaijani, 11.6% Armenians, 6.4% RussiansSoviet census
19592,32994.5% Azerbaijani, 4.3% Armenians 1% RussiansSoviet census
19704,99095% Azerbaijani, 2.7% Russians & Ukrainians, 1.1% ArmeniansSoviet census
19796,07399.1% AzerbaijaniSoviet census
19897,829Soviet census
20052,190~100% ArmeniansNKR census
20151,900~100% ArmeniansNKR estimate

Terrain

The town is scenically built on the side of a mountain on the left bank of Hakari River.

Nagorno-Karabakh war

Lachin town and the surrounding rayon were the location of severe fighting during the 1990-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war, and the town has not wholly recovered from the destruction of that war. Lachin is the most important town under Armenian control because of the Lachin corridor, which links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Minsk Group co-chairs noted that "Lachin has been treated as a separate case in previous negotiations." This is because Lachin is Nagorno Karabakh's humanitarian and security corridor. Without it, Nagorno-Karabakh would remain an isolated enclave. The Lachin corridor and the Kelbajar district have been at the center of Armenian demands during the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks with Azerbaijan.
On 16 June 2015 European Court of Human Rights passed a judgement in the case of ″Chiragov and Others v. Armenia″, which concerned the complaints by six Azerbaijani ethnically-Kurdish refugees that they were unable to return to their homes and property in the district of Lachin, in Azerbaijan, from where they had been forced to flee in 1992 during the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The Court confirmed that Armenia exercised effective control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories and thus had jurisdiction over the district of Lachin. The Court found that the denial by the Armenian Government of access to the applicants’ homes constituted an unjustified interference with their right to respect for their private and family lives as well as their homes.

Administrative divisions and sister cities

Berdzor is the capital of Kashatagh Region.
Berdzor is twinned with: