Qazax
Qazax (anglicized as "Gazakh") ) is a city in and the capital of the Qazax District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 20,900. History. Early history. In antiquity, the territory of the modern Qazax District was part of the province of Utik, a part of the Kingdom of Armenia until 387 AD. Greco-Roman historians from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD state that Utik was a province of Armenia, with the Kura River separating Armenia and Caucasian Albania. In the 17-18th century, Qazax was the capital of the Kazakh Sultanate. During the Russian Empire , the city was the administrative center of the Kazakh Uyezd of the Elisabethpol Governorate. It is situated 10 km from the Ağstafa station of the Transcaucasus Railway. Conflicts and disputes with Armenia. Qazax was a plurality Armenian city as late as 1897. From 1905 to 1906, during the Armenian–Tatar massacres, many Armenian homes were burned and looted by Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis), as well as the Armenian school and church. Many Armenian inhabitants as a result fled to Tbilisi and other nearby Armenian-populated areas. From an Armenian perspective, these territories were historical Armenian provinces—which had been , factually, incorporated in various Armenian states—and therefore, the Qazax region was initially contested between the Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs. The Armenian name for the city is Ghazakh (), and it is based on the Azerbaijani name itself. When the South Caucasus came under British occupation, Sir John Oliver Wardrop, British Chief Commissioner in the South Caucasus, decided that assigning the Erivan Governorate and the Kars Oblast to Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA) and the Elisabethpol and Baku Governorates to the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) would solve the region's outstanding disputes. However, this proposal was rejected by both Armenians (who  did not wish to give up their claims to Qazax, Syunik, and Nagorno-Karabakh) and Azerbaijanis (who did not wish to give up their claims to Nakhchivan). As conflict broke out between the two groups, the British left the region in mid-1919. In 1930, Qazax became the administrative center of Azerbaijan's Qazax District. The area has major strategic importance for modern-day Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey regional communication and energy projects. Modern history. During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenian troops took control of several villages of the Qazax district. Several Azerbaijani inhabitants were killed during the war, others were  able to flee. In July 2020, Qazax became a site for clashes with Armenia. Demographics. According to the "Caucasian Calendar", the population of the city in 1907 was 732 people, primarily Armenians with Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis) as a minority, and by 1910, the population was 1,050 people. According to the 1926 census of the USSR, 6,767 people lived in the city. In 1970, the city was home to about 13,000 people, in 1991, that number was about 19,300 people. By 2013, there were about 21,000 people living in Qazax (10,200 men and 10,800 women). The main occupations of  the population are carpet making and horse breeding (specifically the Deliboz breed). Economy. The economy of Qazax is partially agricultural, partially tourism-based, with some industries in operation. The Qazax Cement Plant is served by a railway branch off the BTK railway at Agstafa. Culture. A memorial museum dedicated to Molla Panah Vagif and Molla Vali Vidadi is located in the city. Sports. The city has one professional football team, Göyazan Qazakh, currently competing in the second-flight of Azerbaijani football, the Azerbaijan First Division. Transport. Public transport. Qazakh has a large urban transport system, mostly managed by the Ministry  of Transportation. Notable natives. Some of the city's many prestigious residents include: poets Samad Vurgun, Molla Panah Vagif, Mirvarid Dilbazi and Nusrat Kasamanli, scholar Molla Vali Vidadi, lieutenant-general of the Russian imperial army Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, writer Ismayil Shykhly and wrestler Hasan Aliyev.