page_title: Agdam
section_title: Nagorno-Karabakh War
hierarchical_section_title: Agdam / History / Nagorno-Karabakh War
caption_attribution_description: English: 17 years after it was abandoned, nature is slowly reclaiming Agdam, a ghost town and the former home of some 40.000 people.
context_page_description: Ağdam is a ghost town in the southwest part of Azerbaijan and the capital of Agdam District, today controlled by the de facto Republic of Artsakh, but de jure internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Founded in the early 19th century, it grew considerably during the Soviet period and had 28,000 inhabitants by 1989. Armenian forces captured Agdam in July 1993 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. The heavy fighting forced the entire population to flee eastwards. Upon seizing the city, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic forces destroyed much of the town to discourage Azerbaijanis from returning. More damage occurred in the following decades when locals looted the abandoned town for building materials. It is currently almost entirely ruined and uninhabited.
  According to the United Nations Security Council's resolution #853 that 'Demands the immediate cessation of all hostilities, calls on withdrawal of Armenian troops from Agdam and other recently occupied areas of the Azerbaijani Republic and reaffirms UN Resolution 822'.
  In November 2010 it was renamed by the NKR government to Akna. It is administratively part of the town of Askeran, which is located some 10 km away.
context_section_description: Agdam was the scene of fierce fighting during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. According to journalist Robert Parsons, Azerbaijani forces used Agdam as a base for attacks on Karabakh, launching BM-21 Grad rockets and bombing raids from there against civilians.  As the city fell, almost its entire population fled eastward.
  The Armed Forces of Armenia still use the city as a buffer zone, meaning that Ağdam remains empty and decaying, and usually off-limits for sightseeing.
caption: Nature slowly reclaiming the ruins
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