Stepanakert

Stepanakert, or Khankendi, is a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. The city was under the control and the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in the region. The city is located in a valley on the eastern slopes of the Karabakh mountain range, on the left bank of the Karkar/Gargarchay River. The area that would become Stepanakert was originally an Armenian settlement named Vararakn. During the Soviet period, the city was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, becoming a hub for economic and industrial activity. The city became a hotbed for political activity, serving as the center for Armenian demonstrations calling for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Stepanakert suffered extensive damage following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and passed into the hands of local Armenians with the establishment of the Republic of Artsakh. During the Soviet and Artsakh periods, the city was a regional center of education and culture, being home to Artsakh University, musical schools, and a palace of culture. The economy was based on the service industry and had varied enterprises, food processing, wine making, and silk weaving being the most important. In 2021, the population of Stepanakert was 75,000 people, almost entirely Armenians. In September 2023, Azerbaijan captured the Republic of Artsakh and expelled the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, leaving Stepanakert as an empty ghost town. Azerbaijan began settling new residents in the city in September 2024 with the opening of Karabakh University, with the city having a population of 24,000 Azerbaijanis by 2026.