Stepanakert
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Image:Azerbaijan-Khankendi.png Image:Mamikyevbabik.jpg Stepanakert (Armenian: Ստեփանակերտ; officially known as Xankəndi in Azerbaijan, transliterated as Xankendi or Khankendi) is the capital city of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, with a population of about 40,000 people. Control of the area has been the subject of dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia, including war, ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As of 2006, Stepanakert, like the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh, remains under Armenian military control, and much of the former local Azeri population has been displaced eastwards.
History
The city was founded in 1917 after the October revolution in place of a village called Khankendi (Xankəndi). In 1923 it was renamed to Stepanakert, to honor Stepan Shahumyan, an Armenian communist leader from Baku. After Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union, it was renamed by the Azeri governmant back to Xankəndi as part of a campaign of Azerification of what had been the autononomous oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh with a majority Armenian population. Fighting broke out over control of Nagorno-Karabakh which resulted in Armenian control of the region and a connecting corridor to Armenia to the west. There has been an unoffical but observed cease-fire in place since 1994.
Economy
Prior to the war, Stepanakert's economy revolved mostly around food processing, silk weaving, and winemaking. After the war, the city's economy was greatly damaged, but in recent years, largely due to the investments of the Armenian Diaspora, economic activity has picked up in Stepanakert.
External links
Image:Stepanakert-square-P1003098.JPG Image:Stepanakert-road-P1003102.JPGde:Stepanakert fa:استپاناکرت fr: Stepanakert id:Stepanakert pl:Stepanakert ru:Степанакерт sl:Stepanakert sv:Chankändi
