The district of Kalbajar was granted an administrative district status of the Republic of Azerbaijan on August 8, 1930. It is situated in the central part of the Minor Caucasus. It borders with the Republic of Armenia in the west, Dashkasan, Goygol, Tartar districts in the north-east, Aghdam, Khojali in the east, Lachin district in the south. Its territory is 3054 km2. There was one district centre, one urban-type settlement, and 145 villages. About 20 villages of the Aghdara district were included in Kalbajar administrative division.

The etymology of the word “Kalbajar” was taken from the Turkic origin that means “fortress on the river” (the initial form was “Kevlicher”). “Kevli” means “over the river”, “cher jer” means “fortress”.

All oronomic toponyms in Kalbajar are of Turkic origin. The names of a number of ancient Turkic tribes still live in these toponyms.

Kalbajar is one of the oldest settlements in Azerbaijan. The formation of primitive man in this territory is associated with the fourth geological period, which is more than 4 million years old. Archaeological excavations in cave dwellings in the territory of Kalbajar prove that the first tools of labour of the primitive human community were created in these places.

Ancient settlements with more than 30,000 years of history, rock paintings 6000 years old and samples of the ancient Turkic alphabet in the form of rock paintings, stone monuments from the periods of early Turkism, fire worship, Christianity, and the beginning of the spread of Islam (7th century) were discovered here.

There are several ancient cemeteries in Kalbajar, known as “Turkic cemeteries”. The largest of them are located in the territory of Tirkeshavand, Kalbajar and Zar villages. The cemeteries are rich in tombstones in the form of stone horses, rams, chests, domes, created in different centuries and varying in shape and size.

On April 2, 1993, Armenian aggressors occupied Kalbajar. As a result of the invasion 60,000 residents of Kalbajar were forced to temporarily settle in 770 settlements in 56 districts of the republic, 321 were held hostages, 511 were brutally killed, 97 schools, 9 kindergartens, 116 libraries, 43 clubs, 42 cultural centers, Museum of history, 9 hospitals, 75 medical stations, 23 ambulatories, 9 chemist’s, hundreds of administrative buildings, thousands of flats, 100 thousand cattle, 500 thousand sheep, hundreds of cars and machines were ravaged and billions of wealth of district were carried to Armenia. According to 1993 estimates, the damage to the national economy of Kalbajar totalled 703 billion 528 million roubles.

As the result of hostile attitude towards nature and the continuous policy of ecological terror by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in the course of almost 30 years, a serious threat to the environment of the region has emerged. As the result of the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan by Armenia, biological diversity, including flora and fauna, natural areas under special protection have been severely damaged by Armenia. In the Kalbajar region, the trees included in the “Red Book” covering an area of 968 hectares were also massively cut down by Armenia. The ecological balance has been disturbed as the result of the deliberate looting of natural monuments and illegal exploitation of natural resources.

The subsoil wealth of Kalbajar, the Seyudlu (Zod), Agduzdag and Tuthun gold deposits with commercial reserves of 112.5 tonnes and exploitable reserves of over 13 tonnes were mercilessly plundered by Armenia during the occupation.

Led by President and Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the glorious victory of Azerbaijani army in the Patriotic War has finally put the lid on the long-lasting conflict with Armenia, one of the most tragic in the history of the last decades. As the result of the trilateral peace agreement between Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia that was signed on November 10, 2020, for ending the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Kalbajar district was liberated from the Armenian occupation on November 25, 2020.

Today, thanks to the attention and care of President Ilham Aliyev, reconstruction and construction works in Kalbajar are being carried out at a rapid pace. The foundations of the Kalbajar Complex of Occupation and Victory museums, the Kalbajar Digital Control Centre, the Kalbajar Water Production Plant and the Istisu Sanatorium were laid in the Kalbajar district.

One of the important road infrastructure projects implemented in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions on behalf of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is the Toganali-Kalbajar-Istisu highway with a length of 82 km. The design length of the road connecting the Goygol and Kalbajar regions is 56 km of Toganali-Kalbajar and 26 km of Kalbajar-Istisu. From the 16 km section of the Toganali-Kalbajar project, the Murovdag ridge begins, and the height increases from 1700 m to the top of Murovdag to 3250 m. In this part, the construction of the Murovdag Tunnel continues, which will become one of the longest road tunnels in the world. On 26 June, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the opening of the newly built 4.4 MW “Kalbajar-1” Small Hydroelectric Power Station in Kalbajar district. The station built on the Lev River was the first energy production facility built and commissioned in Kalbajar after the liberation from occupation. In accordance with the “green energy zone” concept, a machine room was built at “Kalbajar-1” HPP, which will produce environmentally friendly energy. New units, generators, control panels and transformers have been installed. In order to connect the liberated territories to the general energy system of Azerbaijan as soon as possible, to provide these territories with stable and uninterrupted power supply in a short period of time, the “Kalbajar” substation with a capacity of 110/35/10 kV was also built.

A master plan of the city of Kalbajar has been prepared and approved by the President Ilham Aliyev. During the development of the master plan of Kalbajar, various architectural traditions were studied in accordance with the geographical location and structure of the district to form a unique image. Suggestions were made on possible examples. The conceptual basis of the master plan is to develop health and mountain tourism opportunities and create a green urban environment in harmony with nature. Multi-apartment buildings will be built in the central part of the city and individual houses with a yard will be constructed in the suburbs. Over the next 20 years, the city of Kalbajar is to cover an area of 237 hectares and have a population of 17,000 people. In general, the population of 77.3 thousand people of Kalbajar district (additional 18 thousand people in the settlements included in the administrative territory of Kalbajar district due to the abolition of the former Aghdara district should be taken into account, the total population of the district is about 95.3 thousand people), will be located in 1 city, 1 settlement and 56 villages.

At the same time, important measures are taken to ensure the inviolability of our state borders and the security of our population.

According to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev dated 31 July 2023 “On the establishment of city days in the liberated territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, the 25th of November is solemnly celebrated as Kalbajar City Day every year.

Recommended literature:

1. Təhməzov, Məzahir Oruc oğlu. Kəlbəcər : ensiklopedik məlumatlar / M. O. Təhməzov ; elmi red. A. Məmmədov ; AMEA Arxeologiya və Etnoqrafiya İnstitutu. - Əlavə və dəyişikliklərlə III nəşri. - Bakı : Elm, 2013. - 504 s.
2. Nərimanoğlu, Məhəmməd. Ağdaban faciələri = Агдабанские трагедии = Agdaban tragedy = Tragedie Agdaban / M. Nərimanoğlu ; red. Y. Hüseyn. - Bakı : Adiloğlu, 2010. - 104 s.
3. Abdullayev, Əsgər İbrahim oğlu. Qarabağ faciəsi : monoqrafiya / Ə. İ. Abdullayev ; elmi red. Ə. Əliyev ; baş red. İ. Səfərov ; red. R. Cəbrayılova ; Azərbaycan Dövlət İqtisad Universiteti. - Bakı : İqtisad Universiteti nəşriyyatı, 2016. - 228 s.
4. Tapdıqoğlu, Nazim. Azərbaycan ərazisinin şəhərləri : respublika ərazisindəki qədim və müasir şəhərlər: ensiklopedik bilgilər / N. Tapdıqoğlu ; elmi red. N. Hüseynov ; red. V. Muradov. - Bakı : Zərdabi Nəşr MMC, 2019. - 520 s.
5. Əliyev, Nurulla Arif oğlu. Vətən müharibəsində Azərbaycanın qələbəsi : informasiya-analitik material / N. A. Əliyev ; layihənin rəh. H. Piriyev ; red. heyəti: R. Tahirov [et al.] ; elmi red. A. Həsənov ; baş red. F. Aşumov ; Azərbaycan Respublikası Silahlı Qüvvələrinin Hərbi Akademiyası. - Bakı : Afpoliqraf, 2021. - 1096 s.
6. Black book of Karabakh = Qarabağın qara kitabı / Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan [et al.]; project manager, ed. M. Marjanli ; trans.: I. Asadov [et al.] ; ed.: Z. Asgarova, G. Lysenko. - Dubai : IRS Publishing House, 2021. - 223 p.