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Stepanakert (Municipality, Nagorno-Karabakh)

Flag and arms of Stepanakert - Images by Jens Pattke, 5 May 2013

Presentation of Stepanakert
Flag of Stepanakert
Former flag of Stepanakert (2007-2012)

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Presentation of Stepanakert

Stepanakert (in Azeri, Khankendi; c. 40,000 inhabitants) is the capital Nagorno-Karabagh. The town received its modern name in 1923, as a tribute to the Armenian Bolshevik leader Stepan Chahoumian. Unsurprisingly, the earlier history of the town is a matter of dispute. The Azeris claimed that it was founded in the late 18th century by an Azeri ruler, therefore its name of Khankendi, "the Khan's Village". The Armenians answered that medieval Armenian sources mention the settlement of Vararakn, lit., "the rapid creek", a name kept by the village until renamed Khankendi in 1847. After the collapse of Soviet Union, the Azerbaijani administration renamed the town Khankendi. The conflict that broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the control of Nagorny Karabagh caused the nearly total destruction of the town by the Azerbaijani artillery in 1992 and by further aerial bombardment, but the Azeri army could never seize the town. An informal ceasefire, observed since 1994, and the help of the Armenian diaspora have allowed the rebuilding of the town, whose population dropped from 70,000 before the war to 40,000. All Azeris left the town.

Ivan Sache, 5 December 2009

Flag of Stepanakert

The flag of Stepanakert (photo, right) is white with the new coat of arms in the middle. The symbols were adopted on 20 July 2012 (presentation, in Russian).

Jens Pattke, 5 May 2013

Former flag of Stepanakert

Former flag of Stepanakert - Image by Eugene Ipavec, 8 December 2009

The Armenian agency De Facto reported on 13 September 2007 the adoption of the municipal flag of Stepanakert by a Decree signed by Mayor Eduard Aghabekian. The flag (photo, left) is 100 x 170 cm, white with in the middle a circle made of thirteen blue triangles, symbolizing eternity and the thirteen historical capitals of Armenia. The circle surrounds the monument "We Are Our Mountains" (Menk enk mer lernere) sculpted by Sargis Baghdasarian, symbolizing longevity. The circle's colours - red, dark blue and orange - are those of the Nagorno-Karabakh national flag (also the colours of the national flag of Armenia).
"We Are Our Mountains" is a monument made of tufa, showing the old traditional Armenian mountain's characters Tatik and Papik (Mamig and Babig, lit. Grandma and Grandpa), also shown on the coat of arms of Nagorno-Karabakh. The local tradition says that the statue, built under the Communist rule, was built facing Armenia as a hidden symbol of the aspiration to reunification of Nagorno-Karabagh with Armenia.

Ivan Sache & Aleksandar Nemet, 5 December 2009