Medieval Armenian sources attest to a settlement in the locale called Mayraberd (Armenian: Մայրաբերդ, lit. 'mother fortress'). The modern name Askeran (Armenian: Ասկերան, lit. 'military encampment') refers to the settlement's historic use from the beginning of the 18th-century as an arsenal for various military powers.[3]
Askeran originally belonged to the historic territory of Dizak before becoming part of the Armenian Melikdom of Varanda in the first half of the 16th-century. The Askeran fortress protected the eastern frontier of Varanda from the semi-autonomous Karabakh Khanate,[4][5] which was under the suzerainty of Iran.[6][7] The Askeran Fortress was built upon the foundations of the medieval Armenian village and fortress known as Mayraberd.[3] In 1752, the melik (prince) of Varanda, Shahnazar II, made an alliance with the Karabakh khan Panah Ali Khan,[8][9] who expanded the fortress to its current state.[10] In July 1795, the Askeran fortress was captured by the forces of the Qajarshah (king) Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (r. 1789–1797), who attempted to restore Iranian rule in the southeastern Caucasus.[11]
During the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813, the Russian encampment was near the fortress.[12] In 1810, peace talks between Russia and Iran were conducted at the fortress.[2] Restoration works on the fortress began in 2018.[13] The fortress is situated in the southern part of the town.
Historical heritage sites in and around Askeran include the 18th-century Askeran Fortress, the cave-shrine of Hatsut (Armenian: Հացուտ), and the church of Surb Astvatsatsin (Armenian: Սուրբ Աստվածածին, lit.'Holy Mother of God') built in 2002.[17]
Economy and culture
The population is engaged in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry as well as in different state institutions and other private enterprises. The city is home to factories producing wine, brandy and non-alcoholic drinks, as well as architectural enterprises, secondary and musical schools, a house of culture, a municipal building, a kindergarten, and a hospital. The community of Askeran includes the village of Kyatuk.[17]
Demographics
In the census of 1933, 222 people divided into 48 households were recorded in the village, all of whom were Armenians.[18] Until 2023, Askeran was mostly populated by ethnic Armenians.[19] with around 700 inhabitants in 1970,[20] 1,967 inhabitants in 2005[21] and 2,300 inhabitants in 2015.[1]
^Bournoutian, George; Javanshir Qarabaghi, Jamal (2004). Mirza Jamal Javanshir's Tarikh-e Karabagh and Mirza Adigözal Beg's Karabagh-name [Two Chronicles on the History of Karabagh]. Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers. pp. 120–124. ISBN9781568591797.
^Carney, James. "Former Soviet Union: Carnage in Karabakh." Time. 13 April 1992. "Almost every day for the past three weeks, commanders from Askeran, an Armenian town on Karabakh's border with Azerbaijan, and Agdam, on the Azeri side, have met along a dirt road on the front to negotiate prisoner exchanges."
^Azerbaijan SSR Department of National Economic Accounting (1933). Административное деление АССР [Administrative division of the ASSR] (in Russian). Baku: AzUNKHU Publishing House. p. 107. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021.
Bournoutian, George (1994). A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-e Qarabagh. Mazda Publishers. ISBN978-1-56859-011-0.
Bournoutian, George (2016a). "Prelude to War: The Russian Siege and Storming of the Fortress of Ganjeh, 1803–4". Iranian Studies. Taylor & Francis. 50 (1): 107–124. doi:10.1080/00210862.2016.1159779. S2CID163302882.
Bournoutian, George (2016b). The 1820 Russian Survey of the Khanate of Shirvan: A Primary Source on the Demography and Economy of an Iranian Province prior to its Annexation by Russia. Gibb Memorial Trust. ISBN978-1-909724-80-8.
Bournoutian, George (2021). From the Kur to the Aras: A Military History of Russia's Move into the South Caucasus and the First Russo-Iranian War, 1801–1813. Brill. ISBN978-90-04-44515-4.
Hakobyan, T. Kh.; Melik-Bakhshyan, St. T.; Barseghyan, H. Kh. (1986). "Ասկերան" [Askaran]. Հայաստանի և հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան [Dictionary of Toponymy of Armenia and Adjacent Territories] (in Armenian). Vol. V. Armenia: Yerevan State University Publishing House. p. 336.
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