40°49′57″N 46°1′35″E / 40.83250°N 46.02639°E / 40.83250; 46.02639

Shamkir District
District
Map of Azerbaijan showing Shamkir District
Map of Azerbaijan showing Shamkir District
Country Azerbaijan
RegionGazakh-Tovuz
Established8 August 1930
CapitalShamkir
Settlements[1]66
Government
 • GovernorRashad Taghiyev
Area
 • Total1,660 km2 (640 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)[2]
 • Total219,500
 • Density130/km2 (340/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+4 (AZT)
Postal code
5700
Websiteshamkir-ih.gov.az

Shamkir District (Azerbaijani: Şəmkir rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the north-west of the country and belongs to the Gazakh-Tovuz Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Gadabay, Tovuz, Samukh, Goygol, and Dashkasan. Its capital and largest city is Shamkir. As of 2020, the district had a population of 219,500.[2]

Overview

There are one city, Shamkir city; seven city-type settlements, of which include Chinarlı settlement, Dallar settlement, Zayam settlement, and Kura settlement; and 58 villages in the district.

There are 59 large and middle-size schools, 53 pre-schools, 81 secondary education schools, 1 technical vocational establishments, 22 hospitals and healthcare offices, and 156 cultural establishments in the raion.

Statistics

General territory 1660.00 km2
General area of the agricultural land 1245.00 km2
Area of the land unfit for agricultural use 415.00 km2
Area of the pastures for cattle-breeding 827.00 km2
General area of the planted land 388.00 km2
General area of the fruit gardens 27.70 km2

Population

The population of the district is 192,900 people with 33.49% being urban and 66.51% living in the country. An estimated population density 113.49 person/km2. Men constitute 49.58% of the population, and women 50.42%. Children make up 11.26% of the population, while 33.18% of overall district population are residents below the age of 18, 57.86% are from 18 to 60 years of age. 5.79% have higher education, 56.1% have secondary education only. The number of refugees and IDPs from Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is 12,240 and 1,897, respectively.

History

In the Middle Ages, Arab and Persian sources mentioned the city name as Şəmkür (Shamkur), Turkish sources varied from Şəmkür (Shamkur) to Şəmkir (Shamkir). In his book on the history of Azerbaijan published in 1924 while he was in Istanbul, Zeynaloğlu argued that name of the city was translated as Şəms (Sun) - Kür (Rayed).

Minaret in Shamkir

Jahangirov explained otherwise referring to Şəm (Bank of) - Kür (Kür river), i.e. on the bank of the Kura River. The ruins of ancient Shamkir city which was in the form of a fortress and was 20 ha big is located on the right bank of the Kura river. The city had two bridges over Kura. In the 7th century the city was occupied by the Arabian Caliphate and was named Mütəvəkkilliyə. It was renamed back to its original name later. The times of prosperity of Shamkir are attributed to 9th-12th centuries when it was conquered by Seljuqs. In the 12th century when Shamkir was a part of Atabek Empire, special attention was given to the city. In the 13th century Shamkir was one of the main points of resistance to Mongol invasion. In the 16th century, the leader of local Zülqədəz tribe took the power. Later, Shamkir was part of Ganja khanate. In 1803, Shamkir was occupied by and annexed to the Russian Empire. During the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, Shamkir was one of the frontlines where Russian troops defeated the Persian army on September 3, 1826. In the first half of the 19th century, Russian Tsar relocated a large number of German colonists to Caucasus, placing a big community in Shamkir. From that time on until 1938, Shamkir was called Anino, after which it was renamed Shamkhor. It was renamed again to Shamkir in 1991.

Architecture monuments

Deutsche Lutherische Kirche in Shamkir

Historic architectural monuments include 9th-12th century Shamkir city ruins, 9th-12th Shamkir bridge, 11th-12th century Shamkir fortress in Muxtariyyət village, Baydar city ruins in Bayramlı village, 9th-12th century Maiden Tower in Seyfali village, 16th-17th-century mosque in Abbaslı village, 11th century Maiden Tower in Tatarlı village, 16th-17th-century bridge in Tahnalı village, 16th-17th century Koroglu fortress in Şəmkir, Qalaboynu Fortress in Atabəy village, Pir monument from early Middle Ages pertaining to Caucasian Albania in Daşbulaq village, a church built in 1909 by German settlers in Şəmkir, 11th-12th century Oghuz cemetery in Yeni Seyfali village, 16th-18th-century bridge over Zəyəm River.

During archaeological excavations carried out by a joint Azerbaijani-German expedition since 2006, ruins of an ancient Achaemenid palace were discovered near Qaracəmirli.[3]

Among the modern built monuments are the Victory Complex built in 1975 in Şəmkir city, mosque in Düyərli village, Victory Complex in Çinarlı settlement built in 1980, memorials to Black January in Sərxan and Naxırçılar neighborhoods of Şəmkir city unveiled in 1990, Ashig Huseyn Shamkirli monument unveiled in 1991, Ali-Agha Shikhlinski bust, mosque built in 1992 in Keçili village, a 1993 Koroglu monument in Muxtariyyə village, bust of Azerbaijani National Hero, Zaur Sarıyev, Alley of Martyrs to people who died from Armenian occupation. mosque built in 1998 in İrmaşlı village, Heydar Aliyev spring built in 1998, a Memorial to Azerbaijani Genocide of March 31, 1918 built in 2001, mosque built in Əliyaqublu village in 1998, Memorial to Azerbaijani Genocide victims in Qapanlı village, a 2001 monument to Yəhyabəy Dilqəm in Dəllər Cırdaxan village, monument to Ashig Alasgar, unveiled in 1997 in Çənlibel village.

Government and economy

One of the vineyards in the Shamkir district

The Shamkir district is one of the largest agrarian districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan, covers 1660.00 km2, and the population is estimated at 213400 according to the official registration data in 2017. The major part of the employed population works in agriculture, industry, construction, trade, and public services. The basis of the economy Shamkir is dependent on agriculture. Poultry raising, cattlebreeding and silkworm breeding are major branches of agriculture. Agricultural machinery production, grape processing plants, construction plants constitute a big part of the economy. Wheat, barley, corn, grapes, onion, cabbage, tomato, cucumber, aubergine, sunflower, potato, viniculture, and livestock provide the main agricultural output. Electricity is received through power generation at Shamkir Hydroelectric Power Station on Shamkir reservoir which processes water from Kura River and also provides Shamkir and surrounding rayons with irrigation water. The new reservoir in the rayon will double that capacity and will come online in 2012. 2nd Shamkir Winery was established and operated in 1860-1896 by Christo Forer brothers and is active at the present. The total value of output in the economy of district during the first half of 2017 was around 219747 thousand AZN, and industrial products alone 22149 thousand AZN. During the first half of 2017, the volume of trade in goods amounted to 65,341 thousand AZN, and the volume of trade turnover increased by 17% compared to the same period of 2016 and amounted to 197030 thousand AZN. Total volume of gross product per person amounted to 315 AZN. “Sharg Ulduzu” Limited Liability Company owns a wine plant with 2000 tons of grape processing capacity, “Shamkir Poultry” farm producing 300,000 eggs per day, bread factory producing 55 tons of flour in a day, and “AzAqro” LLC which specialized in cultivation of Dutch cut rose varieties are the main industrial enterprises operating within the city. During the first period of 2017, through the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support, 112,000 AZN state loans were issued to Shamkir region, creating 17 new jobs at the expense of these loans. According to statistics of 2017, 3149 jobs were created, of which 1984 were permanent and 1165 were temporary jobs. Shamkir Hydroelectric Power Station on Shamkir reservoir provides Shamkir and surrounding rayons with electricity and irrigation water.[4][5][6][7][8] Municipality government was established in 1999. There are 57 municipalities in 64 populated settlements. One city, four settlements and 52 village municipalities function as regional governments The role of the municipalities expands as the renovation and city, village development, laying roads and development of social infrastructure continue.

Industry

The industry of Shamkir region includes food, electricity and production of construction materials. The 8 out of 13 industrial enterprises were small businesses in 2016. “Sharg Ulduzu” LLC which has a capacity of 2000 tons of grape processing capacity, processes 9 varieties of wine products and also produces cognac alcohol from wine products. In the Shamkir district “AzAqro” LLC, a greenhouse complex, grows over two million roses in a year over 2.5 hectares land. Currently, the portfolio is composed of 14 varieties: Red Naomi, Myrna, Peach Avalanche, Avalanche, Candy Avalanche, WoW, Hot bubble, Be-bubble, White bubble, Alegria, Pany Lane, Luxor, Jumilia and Sweet Dolomite. Shamkirchay hydroelectric power station has 25 Megawatt power capacity and built in order to meet local electricity and irrigation water demands.[4][5][6][9][10]

2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Number of operating enterprises total, unit 27 24 20 17 25 23
Industrial product (actual price of the relevant year), thousand AZN 44439 18171 17938 17969 25170 33687
Industrial product, relative to previous year, in percent (at comparable prices) 111,7 75,8 91,3 85,3 146,2 118,8
Share of non-public sector in industrial product, in percent 8,5 17,2 13,0 13,0 31,7 28,7
Remaining balance of finished goods for the year, thousand AZN 257,0 128,2 115,3 65,6 50,6 74,5
Average number of employees - total 948 891 1036 999 1093 1152
Average monthly salary of employees, AZN 276,4 296,0 307,5 337,3 506,4 399,3
Availability of the main industrial and production assets (at the end of the year with the balance sheet) million, AZN 171,8 155,3 156,9 160,8 1766 224,4
Production of basic types of products in natural expression:
Wine, thousand dekaliter 3,2 5,2 4,5 - 1,1 -
Cognac, a thousand dekaliter 2,2 2,0 0,2 - - -
Electricity, million, kilowatt hour 1575,0 887,6 803,3 755,5 917,9 1057,0
Flour, ton 3602,0 4512,0 199,0 375,5 1470,0 6215,0
Soft drinks, min 0,9 - - - 27,0 -
Lean fish and other meat, tons 3,2 - - - - -
Limestone for construction, tons 19951 31352 29214 29063 19523 12174
Construction sand, thousand tons 22,3 19,7 24,6 9,7 7,0 10,7
Gravel, crushed stone, small river stone and flint stone, thousand tons 32,2 56,3 54,4 31,0 50,5 34,7
Structural structures of ferrous metals, thousand manats - - - - 3417 2522

Construction

2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Putted into operation
fixed assets, thousand manat 33069,8 42832,6 54488,8 40659,4 800322,3 109594,3
residential buildings, total area, thousand sq. m 57,9 60,5 61,0 62,8 58,1 39,3
individual houses from total buildings 57,2 57,8 58,4 62,8 58,1 38,4
Investments into fixed capital, thousand AZN 115023,4 269214,8 252545,2 162905,5 79297,7 96433,3
including:
construction and installation works 92672,1 233808,8 215271,5 140881,8 71522,6 85604,7
Number of construction organizations, units 8 10 14 17 14 20
The number of employees working there 126 137 163 152 112 234
Cost of construction works with own capabilities, thousand AZN 4328,5 10760,6 11152,9 7882,2 5840,2 5299,4

Agriculture

Shamkirchay Water Reservoir

Viticulture, grain growing, vegetable growing and livestock constitutes the basis of agriculture in Shamkir district.8. For the current year's harvest, in 14129 hectares of area grain were planted during autumn and spring in 2016. Its 8304 hectares were used to plant wheat, and 5777 hectares were for barley. High-quality vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers have been grown over the 906.7 ha greenhouse area in the district. There are total 5791 greenhouses which are heated by different sources: 285 natural gas, 637 of oil products, 2254 firewood and coal, 2811 are non-heated.[4][11]

2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Total area of sown agricultural crops (ha)
Cereals and cereal legumes 19357 19450 24575 20938 20621 21012
including wheat 12618 12643 16212 13178 10738 11757
Sugar beet - - - - 49 1046
Sunflower for seed production 414 590 592 917 872 968
Potato 6357 6391 6397 6406 6455 6497
Vegetables 6095 6152 6159 6164 6310 6317
viticulture 244 252 254 256 258 259
Fruit and berry 2940 2957 2968 2998 3123 3130
Grape 509 526 526 537 554 556
Production of main crops (in all categories of farms), tons
Cereals and cereal legumes 72012 80916 100685 70496 78927 74949
including wheat 45551 49903 64152 40110 37086 37819
Sugar beet - - - - 1470 32885
Sunflower for seed production 588 857 876 1536 1428 1660
Potato 106556 107572 108350 108447 109130 113655
Vegetables 118518 121928 121996 122082 127253 136769
viticulture 5615 5742 5673 5752 5806 5866
Fruit and berry 59877 59970 60203 60116 60160 60225
Grape 21855 21910 21956 21964 22155 22165
Productivity (in all categories of farming), centner / ha
Grain 37,2 41,6 41,0 33,7 38,3 35,1
including wheat 36,1 39,5 39,6 30,4 34,5 32,2
Sugar beet - - - - 300 348
Sunflower for seed production 15,0 14,9 14,8 16,8 17,0 17,0
Potato 168 168 169 169 169 175
Vegetables 185 189 190 190 194 210
viticulture 230 228 223 225 225 227
Fruit and berry 219,3 218,1 212,4 210,5 210,3 203,7
Grape 195,5 255,2 258,5 256,6 261,4 260,5
Number of livestock (in total)
cattle 59735 60583 60993 61053 61249 61358
including cows and buffaloes 28562 28904 29132 29190 29202 29295
Sheep and goats 278453 282170 285408 288375 290618 298585
Birds 518424 519447 923136 1021777 540200 531711
Bee Families, Unit 7974 7792 7912 8238 8301 8469
Production of animal products, ton
Meat 5050 5276 5383 5613 5928 6114
Milk 45027 47293 48769 51450 54608 56355
Eggs, thousand 41183 41421 101983 135740 73015 41510
Wool (in physical weight) 448 461 477 480 481 482

Sport

As of 2014, the city is hosting Shamkir Chess tournament in honour of the memory of the chess grandmaster Vugar Gashimov.[12]

Notable natives

References

  1. ↑ "İnzibati-ərazi vahidləri" (PDF). preslib.az. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Population of Azerbaijan". stat.gov.az. State Statistics Committee. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  3. ↑ Ancient Achaemenid palace discovered in Azerbaijan’s Shamkir. Azerbaijan Press Agency. 16 August 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 "İqtisadiyyat | Azərbaycan Respublikası Şəmkir Rayon İcra Hakimiyyəti". shamkir-ih.gov.az.
  5. 1 2 "Company". Archived from the original on 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  6. 1 2 "Shamkir Poultry".
  7. ↑ ""AzAgro" MMC".
  8. ↑ "Ganja-Gazakh Economic Region. INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHER". 12 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "ENERJİNİN İSTEHSALI. "Azərenerji" ASC. Su Elektrik Stansiyalari".
  10. ↑ "Şəmkir rayonu. Sənaye".
  11. ↑ "Şəmkir rayonu. Kənd təsərrüfati".
  12. ↑ "Vugar Gashimov Memorial – Press Release". www.chessdom.com. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
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