DiscoverScroll article

Aghdam (Azerbaijani: Ağdam) is a town and the nominal capital of the Aghdam District of Azerbaijan.

Founded in the 18th century, it was granted city status in 1828 and grew considerably during the Soviet period. Aghdam lies 26 km (16 miles) from Khankendi at the eastern foot of the Karabakh Range, on the outskirts of the Karabakh plain. Before the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, butter, wine and brandy, machine, and silk factories, and an airport and two railway stations functioned there. As Azerbaijani forces withdrew from Karabakh following political turmoil in the country during the war, Armenian forces captured Aghdam in July 1993. Upon the seizure, Armenian forces sacked the town. Until 2020, it was de facto a part of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and was almost entirely ruined and uninhabited. As part of the agreement that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the town and its surrounding district came under Azerbaijani control on 20 November 2020. The Azerbaijani government opened the town to Azerbaijani tourists in January 2022.

Aghdam lies in the vicinity of Tigranakert of Artsakh, an ancient Armenian city dating to the 2nd–1st centuries B.C. The area where present-day Aghdam is located remained uninhabited till the establishment of the Karabakh Khanate. Aghdam was founded in the middle of the 18th century by Panah Ali Khan Javanshir after taking control of Shusha and ordering the construction of a hunting resort in the area. The first inhabitants of Aghdam were Azerbaijani Turks who came under the incentive of Panah Ali Khan; later various other Turkic tribes from Persia migrated and established a settlement here. In 1868, when the city had 458 residents, a local Sunday fair was opened in Aghdam and the Aghdam Mosque was built. Aghdam had multiple industries such as butter, wine, brandy, and silk factories, as well as hardware and tool factories.

According to journalist Robert Parsons, Azerbaijani forces used Aghdam as a base for attacks on Karabakh, launching BM-21 Grad rockets and bombing raids from there against civilians, while Armenian forces indiscriminately shelled Aghdam. According to Human Rights Watch, Armenian forces exploited the power vacuum in Azerbaijan at the time, and seized Aghdam in July 1993. HRW reported that "during their offensive against Aghdam, Karabakh Armenian forces committed hostage-taking, indiscriminate fire, and the forcible displacement of civilians" and that "after the city was seized, it was intentionally looted and burned under orders of Karabakh Armenian authorities". BBC journalist Roy Parsons reported that "every single Azeri house in the town was blown up to discourage return" as during the war, the Azeris used Aghdam as a base from which to shell Karabakh and Armenians could not trust them not to do it again.

An OSCE Fact-Finding Mission that visited the town in 2005 reported that the entire town of Aghdam was "in complete ruins with the exception of the mosque in the center". The Aghdam mosque, the only building left standing in Aghdam, has been vandalized with graffiti and used as a cowshed. In June 2010, Andrei Galafyev, a photographer who visited Aghdam in 2007, reported that "the floor in the mosque is entirely dirtied with manure of cattle, which wander on the ruins of Aghdam in the daytime." His photographs showed cattle within the Aghdam mosque.

Mugham music, a musical tradition from the Karabakh region, is an important part of Aghdam's musical heritage; the city was home to Aghdam Mugham School and its "Karabakh nightingales" ensemble.

In November 2020, Azerbaijan Railways announced that it was discussing plans to build a 104 km railway line from Yevlakh to Stepanakert via Aghdam. On May 10th, 2025, president of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the newly built Aghdam Railway and Bus Station Complex for its inauguration.

Pictures of the deserted town: "Abandoned War-Torn City of Aghdam, Azerbaijan"

Quick Facts

• As Azerbaijani forces withdrew from Karabakh following political turmoil in the country during the war, Armenian forces captured Aghdam in July 1993.
• Aghdam lies 26 km (16 miles) from Khankendi at the eastern foot of the Karabakh Range, on the outskirts of the Karabakh plain.
• In 1868, when the city had 458 residents, a local Sunday fair was opened in Aghdam and the Aghdam Mosque was built.
• Before the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, butter, wine and brandy, machine, and silk factories, and an airport and two railway stations functioned there.
• According to journalist Robert Parsons, Azerbaijani forces used Aghdam as a base for attacks on Karabakh, launching BM-21 Grad rockets and bombing raids from there against civilians, while Armenian forces indiscriminately shelled Aghdam.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Aghdam". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.