Boyuk Taghlar

Boyuk Taghlar (Azerbaijani: Böyük Tağlar) or Mets Tagher (Armenian: Մեծ Թաղեր) is a village in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population prior to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, and also had an Armenian majority in 1989.[2]

Boyuk Taghlar / Mets Tagher
Böyük Tağlar / Մեծ Թաղեր
Boyuk Taghlar / Mets Tagher
Boyuk Taghlar / Mets Tagher
Coordinates: 39°37′06″N 46°57′17″E
Country Azerbaijan
 Republic of Artsakh (claimed)
DistrictKhojavend
Elevation
900 m (3,000 ft)
Population
 (2015)[1]
 • Total1,509
Time zoneUTC+4 (AZT)

The Taghlar Cave is located in the southern part of the village.

Toponymy

The village was known as Mets Taghlar (Armenian: Մեծ Թաղլար; Russian: Мец Тагла́р; Azerbaijani: Mets Tağlar) during the Soviet period.[3] The name Mets Tagher derives from two Armenian words, Mets, meaning great, large, or big, and Tagh, meaning quarter (of a city).

History

During the Soviet period, the village was a part of the Hadrut District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. The village came under the control of Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, on October 2, 1992, and subsequently became part of the Hadrut Province of the Republic of Artsakh.

The village was captured by Azerbaijani forces on 9 November 2020 during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.[4]

In early May 2021, satellite images released by Caucasus Heritage Watch, a watchdog group made up of researchers from Purdue and Cornell, revealed that the local early 19th-century Armenian cemetery had been destroyed by Azerbaijani forces. Bulldozer tracks near the vicinity of the village's Holy Savior Church, founded in 1846, indicated that that building was also endangered.[5]

Satellite photography from July 2021 revealed the centre of the town and a large portion of the town's buildings have been bulldozed for the construction of the Fizuli-Shusha highway. They also revealed the destruction of the statue of Sergei Khudyakov that had stood outside his house-museum.[6]

In August 2021, satellite images released by Caucasus Heritage Watch, revealed that the village's Makun Bridge, which was built in 1890, had been destroyed by Azerbaijan between April 8 and July 7, in the course of river engineering and road construction.[7]

Historical heritage sites

Historical heritage sites in and around the village include the cave of Shmanek (Armenian: Շմանեք), a village from between the 9th and 13th centuries, a 12th/13th-century khachkar, a cemetery from between the 17th and 19th centuries, a bridge built in 1835, and the Holy Savior Church (Armenian: Սուրբ Ամենափրկիչ Եկեղեցի, romanized: Surb Amenaprkich Yekeghetsi) built in 1846.[1]

Demographics

The village had 1,503 inhabitants in 2005,[8] and 1,509 inhabitants in 2015.[1]

  • Entrance to the Holy Savior Church, built in 1846
  • Makun Bridge built in 1890
  • Bust of Sergei Khudyakov with MiG-17
  • Garden
  • Makun Bridge stone with construction inscription

Notable people

References
  1. Hakob Ghahramanyan. "Directory of socio-economic characteristics of NKR administrative-territorial units (2015)".
  2. Андрей Зубов. "Андрей Зубов. Карабах: Мир и Война". drugoivzgliad.com.
  3. Landmine Mapper. "Azerbaijan (& Nagorno Karabakh) Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian Soviet Military". GigaPan.
  4. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Xocavənd rayonunun Böyük Tağlar kəndindən videogörüntülər". YouTube.
  5. "ALERT: An Armenian cemetery in the village of Mets Tagher/Böyük Tağlar was recently destroyed...." Twitter. 4 May 2021.
  6. Azerbaijanis destroyed a monument to Marshal of the USSR Sergei Khudyakov
  7. "Between April 8 and July 7, the Makun Bridge in Mets Tagher/Böyük Tağlar was destroyed...." Twitter. 31 August 2021.
  8. "The Results of the 2005 Census of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" (PDF). National Statistic Service of the Republic of Artsakh.
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