Charektar Explained

Official Name:Charektar
Native Name:Չարեքտար
Çərəkdar
Pushpin Map:Azerbaijan#East Zangezur
Subdivision Type2:Country
Subdivision Type3: District
Subdivision Name3:Kalbajar
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population As Of:2015
Population Total:262
Timezone:AZT
Utc Offset:+4
Coordinates:40.1456°N 46.3444°W

Charektar (Armenian: Չարեքտար; Azerbaijani: Çərəkdar) is a village in the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The village had an Azerbaijani-majority population prior to their exodus during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.[2] Before 2023, it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh as part of its claimed Shahumyan Province.

Etymology

The name Charektar is of Persian origin.[3]

History

During the Soviet period, the village was a part of the Mardakert District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, and was incorporated into the Shahumyan Province of the Republic of Artsakh after the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Historical heritage sites

Historical heritage sites in and around the village include the 12th/13th-century Charektar Monastery and a 12th/13th-century khachkar.[1]

Economy and culture

The population is mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. As of 2015, the village has a municipal building, a secondary school, and a medical centre.[1]

Demographics

In 1912, the village had 199 inhabitants, mostly Caucasian Tatars (Azerbaijanis).[4] In 1993 the village had 202 Azerbaijani inhabitants.[5] The inhabitants of the village fled during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and Charektar was subsequently settled by Armenians.

The village had an Armenian-majority population of 159 inhabitants in 2005,[6] and 262 inhabitants in 2015.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Directory of socio-economic characteristics of NKR administrative-territorial units (2015). Hakob Ghahramanyan.
  2. Web site: Андрей Зубов. Карабах: Мир и Война . Андрей Зубов . drugoivzgliad.com .
  3. Arsène Saparov. 2017-09-01. Contested spaces: the use of place-names and symbolic landscape in the politics of identity and legitimacy in Azerbaijan. Central Asian Survey. 36. 4. 534–554. 10.1080/02634937.2017.1350139. 149221754 .
  4. Caucasian Calendar 1912. p.223
  5. Административное деление АССР. — Баку: Издание АзУНХУ, 1933.
  6. Web site: Population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (2005) . 2021-01-17 . 2011-03-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110302100506/http://census.stat-nkr.am/nkr/1-1.pdf . dead .