Qazax District (Gazakh District; Azerbaijani: Qazax rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. Located in the northwest of the country, it belongs to the Gazakh-Tovuz Economic Region. The district borders the district of Aghstafa, and the Tavush Province of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is Gazakh. As of 2020, the district had a population of 98,400.
It has two exclaves inside Armenia, which include the villages of Yukhari Askipara, Barkhudarly, Sofulu. Both of the exclaves and parts of mainland Qazax District (the villages of Baghanis Ayrum, Ashaghi Eskipara, Gyzylhajily, and Kheyrimli) were captured by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh war.
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History
The region was conquered by a succession of neighboring powers or invaders, including Armenians, Sassanid Persians, the Byzantine Empire, the Arabs, the Seljuq Turks, the Georgians, the Mongols, the Timurids, the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu Turkoman tribes, and finally Safavid Iran. It was also ruled by Ottoman Empire between 1578 and 1607 and again 1722 and 1735.
By the end of the XV century, the Kazakh Sultanate was established as a sovereign geopolitical entity in the region. Though it was part of the Karabakh principality during the Safavid Empire, Sultan Shamsaddin of Gazakh was given the rank of Khan by the decree of Abbas the Great in 1605.
After the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813), the Russian Empire gained control of the area by virtue of the Treaty of Gulistan. Under Russian rule, it was part of Tiflis Governorate before forming the northeastern part of the Kazakh Uyezd of the Elisabethpol Governorate in 1868. A contemporary military historian noted the following ethnographic detail: "Abbas Mirza's route lay through the country of the great tribe of the Casaks, which is extremely strong and thickly wooded." He further notes that: "These have no connection with the Russian Cossacks. "
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 Gazakh, Zangezur (today 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.
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenian troops took control of several villages of the Gazakh District. Several Azerbaijani inhabitants were killed during the war although some of them were able to flee.
In July 2020, Gazakh became a site for clashes with Armenia.
In April 2024, Armenia and Azerbaijan reached an agreement whereby Armenia handed over four abandoned villages within Qazax District to Azerbaijan: Bağanis Ayrum, Aşağı Əskipara, Xeyrimli, and Qızılhacılı.
List of historic and tourist sites
There are 112 protected monuments in the region of Gazakh, of which 54 are archaeological, 46 are architectural, 7 are historical, and 5 are of artistic significance. Historic and tourist sites in this region include:
The House of the Poet Samad Vurgun in Yukhari Salahli village, since 1976.
The Museum of History and Ethnography, since 1984.
The Gazakh State Picture Gallery by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, since 1986.
The Memorial museum of Molla Panah Vagif and Molla Vali Vidadi, since 1970.
The House of Teachers Seminary of Gazakh, built in 1910, functioned between 1918 and 1959.
The Bath House of Israfil Agha, built in the first decade of the 20th century by Israfil Agha Kerbelayev from the village of Kasaman.
The Damjili Caves, in the village of Dash Salahli, south-east of the mount Avey, cover an area of 360 km2 and refer to Middle and Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic eras.
Sining Korpu (The Broken Bridge) (Azerbaijani: Sınıq körpü), a 12th-century bridge built over the Ehram (Khram) river in the village Ikinji Shikhli.
Didevan Castle (Azerbaijani: Didəvan qalası), a 6th-7th century monument in the village of Khanliglar.
Mount Goyazan (Azerbaijani: Göyəzən dağı), a rare archaeological monument in the village of Abbasbeyli, rises 857.9 metres above sea level.
Prominent people from Gazakh
Molla Panah Vagif - (1717–1797) prominent poet of Azerbaijan and social figure.
Aliagha Shikhlinski - (1865–1943) general-lieutenant of the artillery, known as "God of Russian artillery".
Samad Vurgun - (1906–1956) National Poet of Azerbaijan. (the first who deserved this title).
Farrukh Gayibov - (1889–1916) the first Azerbaijani pilot, was awarded the 4th class order of "Saint Georgi".
Mehdi Huseyn - (1909–1964) National Writer of Azerbaijan, Prominent writer-dramatist, critic.
Ibrahim agha Vekilov - (1853–1934) general, the first Azerbaijani military topographer.
Mammadrza agha Vakilov (1864-1944) was a member of the Parliament of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic, full member of the Transcaucasian Medical Society, and founder of the Baku Medical Society.
Ibrahim Rahimov - (1850-1927) Azerbaijan's first psychiatrist.
Sona Valikhan - ( 1883-1982) the first female Azerbaijani doctor.
Javad bey Shikhlinski - (1876–1940) general-mayor, the commander of the division.
Ibrahim bey Usubov - (1872–1920) general-mayor, the commander of the division.
Mirza Huseyn Afandi Qayibov - (1830–1917) the Chair of the Ecclesiastical Department of Transcaucasia.