Slavyanka :: ARTSAKH LOCATIONS

4 Monuments

Azerbaijan (Country) / Northern Artsakh (Area) / Getabek (District) / Slavyanka (Village)

Location

The village lies on the highway of Getabek-Shamkhor, 10.5 kilometres north of the district centre, between 1,460 and 1,540 metres of altitude above sea level.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

Historical Introduction

As legend has it, it used to be called Vardanapat, the Turks referring to it by the name of Yengija-Bazar.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

Population
1770 y․

The village, whose historical name is consigned to oblivion, was abandoned between the 1770s and ‘80s. In 1789 its former inhabitants took up residence on the left bank of the river Khram and founded the village of Daghet, which has preserved its Armenian population until today. Between 1837 and 1838, 40 Armenian families attempted to resettle in Slavyanka, but they proved unable to adapt themselves to the new surroundings and returned to Daghet in 1844.407 A researcher writes the following about the ethnic make-up of the village, “Before the arrival of the Russian sectarians, it was inhabited by the Armenians (the latter had two churches standing there even today) who later scattered here and there due to the raids and persecution of the nearby Turkish bandits. A group of Armenians from Daghed tried to move there, but the same reason forced them into leaving it again. The Russian sectarians, however, proved more successful in suppressing these bandits...”

Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 356.
“Ardzagank,” 1888, No. 7, pp. 86-87.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

1890 y․

S. Kamalian, who visited Slavyanka in 1890, writes the following in connection with the same historical events, “As we were told, after the flock of that church had abandoned the village, it had been re-inhabited by some nomadic Turks or Ayrums. When the former inhabitants attempted to return, the newcomers opposed that and the sides entered into an armed conflict, the Turks suffering three victims during the fight. The intimidated Armenians moved away to the bank of the Khram, where they established the village of Daghet. Some time later, certain Dukhobors took possession of their large lands and took up living there.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, pp. 19-20.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

1840 y․

In the 1840s, the site of the ancient Armenian village was inhabited by Russian Dukhobors.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

1864 y․

A traveller who visited the village in 1864 does not hide his admiration for the local residents: “...The locals are quite sociable, industrious, wealthy and neat... They live in cosy houses built of wood, namely in the style of the Russian cabin. ...They are the best people I have ever come across here.”

Meves, V. Articles on Yelizavetpol District. In: “Kavkaz,” 1865, No. 35, p. 199 (the original reads, “...жители опрятны, чисты, добронравны, зажиточны и трудолюбивы... Дома у них уютны, построены из дерева по образцу малороссийских хат... Это лучший здесь народ”).
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

Despite this, however, “...drunkenness seems to have strong roots among them.”

“Ardzagank,” 1888, No. 7, p. 86.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

Historical Introduction
1960 y․

In the late 1960s, the Azerbaijanis usurped Slavyanka “peacefully.”

Yepiskopossov, G. L. On the History of the Present-Day Administrative-Territorial Division of the Transcaucasian Republics and the Ongoing Deviations from the National Policy by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azebaijan. In: White Book: Documents and Materials. Book 1, vol. 2, Yerevan, 1989, p. 794, in Russian.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

Construction Activity
19 c․

In the late 19th century, the village was described as having “...regular long and wide streets...,” an architectural peculiarity which has been preserved intact until the present.

Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, 356.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

Education

In 1888 a two-year male public school was established in Slavyanka.

Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 356.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.

Economic Life

The Russian Dukhobors were good farmers and workers, a visitor writing the following about their farming methods, “While I was in the field, something ordinary attracted my attention: two Dukhobors were working a plough with six oxen yoked to it. One of them was a ploughman, while the other was simply walking beside the animals, shaking a long whip of no handle in the air, whistling and making some noise: in this way, the plough was tilling the soil. If it belonged to an Armenian, Georgian or Turk, we would indeed find five people instead of two, and that sitting lazily on the ox and hitting it from above.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 20.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, pp. 287-288.

Description
1890 y․

Like the Armenians, the Russian Dukhobors suffered constant exploitation and robbery on the part of the Turks who had managed to secure certain high ranks for themselves. A traveller who visited the village in 1890 became witness to an occurrence manifesting this: “I had just stopped at an Armenian shop when a group of horsemen turned up and the word spread that the police officer had arrived. The entire village was permeated with fuss and turmoil. Hardly had a quarter of an hour passed when some commissars started going house after house together with the local messengers: they were collecting food for both the police officer and his commissars. That robbery was the handiwork of Aslanbek Rustambekov, the police officer of Zagam District: we were assured that they committed the same in every single village.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 20.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 288.

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Vardanapat
Yengija-Bazar

The available scanty statistical data regarding the number of the local population represent the following picture:

Dates	Russian Houses	Russians (Male)	Russians (Female)	Total (Russians)	Notes	Source
1874				1383		Caucasian Calendar for 1886, Tiflis, 1885, p. 124; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.
1886	201	759	753	1512	Apart from the Russian Dukhobors, in 1886 the village also comprised 7 Armenian houses with 19 inhabitants; a single Georgian house with 4 residents; a Polish house of a solitary dweller, and a single house inhabited by a Tartar from Kazan.	Yelizavetpol Province: A Statistical Survey Based on the Family Lists of Caucasia's Population. Tiflis, 1888, pp. 86-87; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.
1888	130					“Ardzagank,” 1888, No. 7, p. 86; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.
1894	200					“Ardzagank,” 1894, No. 104, p. 2; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.
1914				1473		Caucasian Calendar for 1915, Tiflis, 1914, p. 181; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 287.