Imarat cemetery

Imarat cemetery
Azerbaijani: İmarət qəbristanlığı
View of the complex
Details
Established	18th century
Location	Aghdam
Country	Azerbaijan
Coordinates	39.9928399°N 46.9371745°E / 39.9928399; 46.9371745
Type	cemetery
Owned by	Aghdam City Executive Power

The Imarat Garvand cemetery (Azerbaijani: İmarət Qərvənd qəbristanlığı), or simply as the Imarat cemetery (Azerbaijani: İmarət qəbristanlığı) is a royal cemetery and a complex located in Aghdam, Azerbaijan. It contains the graves of some of the Azerbaijani[1][2] and Turkic[3][4] nobility of the Karabakh Khanate.

History

The Mausoleum of Panah Ali Khan (r. 1748–1760), the founder of the Karabakh Khanate, and the first khan of Karabakh, dates back to the 18th-19th centuries and is located in the complex. It is adjacent to another tomb, that of Panah Ali's son, Ibrahim Khalil Khan (r. 1759–1806). Panah Ali Khan's tomb has an entrance gate. The entrance door has an arched structure. The tomb has a polygonal conical plan structure hosting inside the grave of the deceased. There is also a bust of Khurshidbanu Natavan in front of the tombs.[5]

Modern period

The Armenian forces captured Aghdam in July 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.[6] The heavy fighting forced the entire population to flee eastwards, making Aghdam a ghost town.[7] As part of an agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the town and its surrounding district were returned to Azerbaijani control on 20 November 2020.[8][9]

According to the US Department of State the sacred and historic 18th-century tombs of Imarat Garvand Cemetery, the city's "Martyrs' Alley," were among the cemeteries throughout Aghdam that had been desecrated, looted, or destroyed. Western diplomats who visited Martyrs' Alley reported that there were holes where bodies had formerly been interred and that there was just one damaged tombstone left in the cemetery.[10] However, a report by the Caucasus Heritage Watch of Cornell University states that the mausoleums of Ibrahim Khalil Khan and Mehdi Qoli Khan Javanshir in the cemetery had remained largely unchanged and well-preserved since the Soviet period.[11][12] Furthermore, the mausoleum of Panah Ali Khan sustained major damage sometime before 2004 and the tomb of Khurshidbanu Natavan was destroyed and vandalized.[13]

Notable burials

• Panah Ali Khan, the founder and first ruler of the Karabakh Khanate.[14]
• Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the third khan of Karabakh.[15]
• Mehdi Qoli Khan Javanshir, the fourth and last khan of Karabakh.[14]
• Jafargulu agha Javanshir, Azerbaijani poet and a major-general of the Imperial Russian Army.[16]
• Govhar Agha, Azerbaijani poet and daughter of Ibrahim Khalil Khan.[17]
• Khurshidbanu Natavan, Azerbaijani poet and daughter of Mehdigulu Khan.
• Khanbika Khanum, Azerbaijani poet and daughter of Khurshidbanu Natavan.[18]

References

1. Hewsen, Robert H. (1995). Review of George A. Bournoutian, A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-e Qarabagh, in Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. p. 270. Although written in Persian, the work of Mirza Jamal Javanshir (1773/4–1853) is actually a product of Azeri historiography: its author being an Azeri noble of the Javanshir tribe, who began his lengthy career as a scribe in the service of Ebrahim, the Azeri khan of Karabakh
2. Gvosdev, Nikolas K. (2000). Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia, 1760–1819. Oxford: St. Martin's Press in association with St. Antony's College. ISBN 978-0-312-22990-0. Writing to his adviser Archimandrite Gaioz, Erekle informed him that he had received a communication from the new Shah ordering him to take part in a campaign against Ibrahim, the Azeri khan of Karabagh, who was also asserting his right to independence from Persia
3. Houtsma, M. Th.; Donzel, E. van (1936). "E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936". The Encyclopaedia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples. BRILL. p. 727. ISBN 978-90-04-09790-2. This province was at that time the hereditary fief of the Turkish clan of Djewanshir (...) Its chiefs were called from father to son alternately Panah and Ibrahim Khalil
4. Bayne Fisher, William; Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin (1991). The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. p. 512. ISBN 0-521-20095-4. There were Bayat Turks at Maku, and a further branch of the Qajar in Erivan and Qarabagh, were the Javanshir Turks and the Karachrlu Kurd also lived
5. Mammadli, Nuraddin (20 November 2020). "Günəş şüaları ilə nurlanmış ağ evim..." [My white house irradiated with sunlight...]. Madaniyyat (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
6. "Caucasus City Falls to Armenian Forces". The New York Times. 24 August 1993. Archived from the original on 21 November 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2021. In July, Armenian forces forced out the defenders of Agdam, Azerbaijan.
7. Novikova, Gayane (2004). The Nagorno Karabakh Conflict: In Search of the Way Out: To the Question of the Readiness of Azerbaijani and Armenian Societies to a Compromise Resolution of the Conflict. Amrots Group. p. 138. ISBN 978-9994131273.
8. "Azerbaijanis celebrate Karabakh deal". Anadolu Agency. 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
9. "Azerbaijan Army Enters Agdam As Armenians Flee". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
10. "Armenia". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
11. Lori Khatchadourian; Ian Lindsay; Adam T. Smith; Husik Ghulyan (April 5, 2023). "Ibrahim Khalil Khan Mausoleum". Between the Wars: A Satellite Investigation of the Treatment of Azerbaijani Cultural Heritage in the Unrecognized Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, 1994-2020. Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies: Cornell University. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
12. Lori Khatchadourian; Ian Lindsay; Adam T. Smith; Husik Ghulyan (April 5, 2023). "Mehdigulu Khan Javanshir Mausoleum". Between the Wars: A Satellite Investigation of the Treatment of Azerbaijani Cultural Heritage in the Unrecognized Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, 1994-2020. Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies: Cornell University. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
13. Lori Khatchadourian; Ian Lindsay; Adam T. Smith; Husik Ghulyan (April 5, 2023). "Imarat Cemetery". Between the Wars: A Satellite Investigation of the Treatment of Azerbaijani Cultural Heritage in the Unrecognized Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, 1994-2020. Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies: Cornell University. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
14. Tofigli, Vugar (17 April 2012). "Ağdamın "İmarət"li günləri..." ["Imarat" days of Aghdam...]. 525-ji gazet (in Azerbaijani). p. 2. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
15. Tofigli, Vugar (3 July 2014). "Dağlıq Qarabağ işğaldan əvvəl – FOTOREPORTAJ (I Hissə)" [Nagorno-Karabakh before the occupation - PHOTO (Part I)]. Oxu.az (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
16. Gafarova, Sakina (25 December 2018). "Cəfərqulu xan Nəva" [Jafargulu Khan Nava]. ENS.az (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
17. Chingizoglu, Anvar (2015). Cavanşir eli: Sarıcalılar (in Azerbaijani). Baku: Mutarjim. p. 352.
18. Khalilzadeh, Flora (13 April 2015). "Tək inci kimi parlayan Xan qızı" [Khan's daughter shining like a single pearl]. Kaspiy (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.