| Laçın | |
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Laçın
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Azerbaijan (de jure) Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (de facto) |
| Rayon | Lachin |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 2,300 |
| Time zone | AZT (UTC+4) |
| • Summer (DST) | AZT (UTC+5) |
Lachin (Azerbaijani: Laçın, Armenian: Բերդձոր Berddzor, Kurdish: Laçîn; also Abdallyar, Datschin) is a town in Azerbaijan and the regional center of the Lachin Rayon. Since 1992 the area has been under the control of the de facto independent unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which has renamed the town Berdzor.[1] The town and its surrounding region serve as the strategic Lachin corridor connecting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with Armenia. With about 1,700 inhabitants in 2009 (down from 2,300 in 2005),[2] population numbers are still declining despite a proactive settlement policy by the authorities.
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Lachin was known as Abdalyar until 1923.[3][4] On 15 May 1992, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Lachin was captured by Nagorno Karabakh forces, opening the first land-corridor to Armenia.[5] Previously, Turkey had threatened Armenia on May 13, 1992, "that it would intervene militarily if Shusha and Lachin were not restored to Azerbaijan".[6] Russia responded by signing a military agreement with Armenia, pledging military aid if its security were threatened. On the May 20, 1992, Turkey reassured Russia, that it would not intervene militarily.[6] Thus, after a three year blockade, a land bridge linking the Republic of Armenia with the territory of Nagorno Karabakh 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 Nagorno-Karabakh forces.
The town was settled by the first Kurdish tribes coming from Iranian Kurdistan in the early 19th century. Eventually, this population became the majority in most parts of the region, particularly around Lachin. 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."[7] The town of Lachin on July 7, 1923, became the capital of Kurdistan Uyezd often known as Red Kurdistan. It was dissolved on April 8, 1929: Kurdish schools and newspapers were closed.[8] According to what Bushkapin wrote, official statistics of 1931 showed that there were 3,322 Kurdish speakers in Lachin. These figures did not include those individuals who did not speak Kurdish but nonetheless defined themselves as Kurds. Most of the Kurdish population in Lachin were Shi'a Muslims and there was a Kurdish minority in the area before the Nagorno-Karabakh war started.
The town is scenically built on the side of a mountain on the left bank of Akera river.[9]
Lachin town and the surrounding rayon were the location of severe fighting during the 1990-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war, and the town has not recovered from the destruction of that war. Lachin is the most important town under Armenian control because of the Lachin corridor which attaches Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The OSCE 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. It is because of Lachin's political and geographic reality and security dimension, that it is viewed differently in the negotiation process. The Lachin corridor and the Kelbajar district have been at the center of Armenian demands during the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks with Azerbaijan.[10]
Before the Nagorno-Karabakh war there were 125 villages, one city-type settlement, Minkend, and the capital city in the Lachin district.
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