page_title: Syunik Province
section_title: Soviet Syunik
hierarchical_section_title: Syunik Province / History / Soviet Syunik
caption_attribution_description: This is a photo of a monument in Armenia identified by the ID 9.1/16.4
context_page_description: Syunik is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province from the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave from the west, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from the east, and Iran from the south. Its capital and largest city is the town of Kapan. The National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia reported its population was 141,771 in the 2011 census, down from 152,684 at the 2001 census.
context_section_description: Armenian forces eventually secured the region but their efforts were in vain when the Bolsheviks, successful in the Russian Civil War, pushed deep into the Caucasus. Syunik was one of the last major holdouts of the independent Armenian state whose leaders were eventually expelled by incoming Soviet authorities to Iran. During Sovietization, Syunik became part of Soviet Armenia, while the two other disputed territories, Nakhchivan and Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Soviet Azerbaijan.  It then became part of Armenia under the Transcaucasian SFSR and part of the Armenian SSR in 1936.  Under Soviet rule, Syunik suffered a devastating earthquake in April 1931, leaving 80% of its villages destroyed. A subsequent earthquake hit the region in May during the same year, destroying 27 of 38 villages in the Sisian district.
  As an administrative unit, modern-day Syunik was divided into the raions of Meghri, Kapan, Goris and Sisian.
  Despite the region's troubled early years in the Soviet Union, it gradually began to recover with much of the area's infrastructure rebuilt and improved.  During the Soviet era, Syunik was noted as a source of metal and ore production. However, the region was shaken by the renewal of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh with neighbouring Azerbaijan. In 1987–1989, the remaining Azeri inhabitants fled the region as a result of interethnic violence. This exodus of Azeri population made Syunik and Armenia, in general, more homogeneous.
caption: World War II memorial near Kapan built during the 1970s
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 60D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2013:09:17 18:35:33", "Image ExifOffset": "208", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "898", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3920", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:15 11:07:38", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:15 11:07:38", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "995723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "415241/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "23", "EXIF SubSecTime": "96", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "96", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "96", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4661", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1768", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "3511401503", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "000002bf0a"}