Maragha (Armenian: Մարաղա; Azerbaijani: Marağa, also Maraga) or Shikharkh (Azerbaijani: Şıxarx), formerly known as Leninavan (between 1954–1992), is a town in the Tartar District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The town had an ethnic Armenian-majority population in 1989, which had the status of a village at the time.[1] The town was the site of a large massacre of ethnic Armenians by Azerbaijani forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Maragha / Shikharkh Մարաղա / Şıxarx | |
|---|---|
  Maragha / Shikharkh | |
| Coordinates: 40°19′48″N 46°52′48″E / 40.33000°N 46.88000°E | |
| Country |  Azerbaijan |
| District | Tartar |
| Elevation | 15 m (49 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+4 (AZT) |
History
During the Soviet period, the village was a part of the Mardakert District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
On 10 April 1992, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the village, known as Leninavan by then, was the scene of a massacre of ethnic Armenians by Azerbaijani forces,[2] which has been described as an act of revenge after the Khojaly Massacre.[3]
Population
| Year | Armenians | Azerbaijanis | Russians | Ukrainians | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970[4] | 3,712 | 95.1% | 109 | 2.8% | 64 | 1.6% | 7 | 0.2% | 3,905 |
| 1979[5] | 3,740 | 93.5% | 172 | 4.3% | 67 | 1.7% | 7 | 0.2% | 3,998 |
| April 1992: Seizure by Azerbaijan. Massacre and Expulsion of Armenian population. | |||||||||
