Kalbajar Rayon

Kəlbəcər
Rayon
Map of Azerbaijan showing Kalbajar Rayon
Country	Azerbaijan / Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Capital	Kalbajar
Area
• Total	1,936 km2 (747 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	53,962
Telephone code	(+994) 26

Kalbajar District (Azerbaijani: Kəlbəcər, Kurdish: Kelbecer‎, Armenian: Քարվաճառի) is a district of Azerbaijan. Kalbajar is a Kurdish word meaning 'Stone market'. Some suggest it to be a Turkic name meaning Castle on the mouth of the river. The entire region is now under the control of Armenian forces who call the western half Karvajar. The eastern half is part of Nagorno-Karabakh, making up part of the province of Martakert. The Kurdish and Azeri population of Kalbajar were displaced by the fighting and currently live as internally displaced persons in other regions of Azerbaijan.

As of 1989:

The Armenian name of the district is Karvachar (Armenian: Քարվաճառ), which corresponds to the ancient district of Vaykunik, one of 12 cantons of Artsakh (historical Nagorno-Karabakh). It was also known as Upper-Khachen or Tsar (after its chief town) and was ruled by one of the branches of the House of Khachen, who held it until the Russian conquest of the Karabakh region in the early 19th century. However, Kalbajar was deliberately excluded from the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in 1923.

As a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the area was liberated by Armenian forces in 1992.

Karvachar is rich in important Armenian cultural monuments, close to 750, which include monasteries, churches, chapels, fortresses, khachkars and inscriptions. The most important of them is the monastery of Dadivank.

The district was made into the Shahumyan Region, one of the 8 regions of NKR. The region remains the least populated of the NKR regions with a total population of 2,800. The town of Karvachar is home to 500 people.

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Wikipedia