Stepanakert (Armenian Ստեփանակերտ), Khankendi (Azerbaijani Xankəndi) is a city in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the administrative-territorial division of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), which actually controls the city, Stepanakert is a city of republican subordination and the capital of the NKR; according to the administrative-territorial division of Azerbaijan, it is a city of republican subordination of Khankendi, Khojaly region. It is located at the foot of the eastern slope of the Karabakh Range, in the valley of the Karkarchay River. The area is 25.6 km², the population in 2011 is 53,400 people.

Climate
The climate of Stepanakert is subtropical semi-dry. Summers are relatively hot, but extreme heat is rare and moderated by the height of the settlement. The maximum precipitation occurs in spring and early summer. Winters are mild and dry, but sometimes quite severe frosts are possible. The warmest month is July, with an average temperature of +24°C. The coldest month in terms of average temperature is January, but the lowest average lows and highs are in February. However, the greater sunshine time makes February warmer than January in terms of overall average temperature.

History
Previously, there was an Armenian settlement Vararakn, named after the river flowing through it.
At the end of the 18th century, the wintering place of the Karabakh Khan Ibrahim Khalil Khan under the name “Khanabakh” was founded on the site of the settlement. Since 1822 – under the direct rule of the Russian Empire (Shusha district of the Elisavetpol province), at the same time the Karabakh Khanate was abolished. In 1847, the village was named Khankendi, which means “Khan’s village” in Azerbaijani. Thoroughbred horses belonging to the khan were kept in Khankendi.
At the suggestion of the chief manager of the civilian unit in the Caucasus, General A.P. Yermolov, permanent headquarters with farms began to be created in the territories annexed to Russia, in which military units consisting of soldier families were located. Similar headquarters appeared initially in Georgia, and then near Erivan, Shusha, Derbent and Cuba. One of these settlements was Khankendi. The compiler of the description of Russian settlements in the Elizavetpol province I. Segal wrote: “The village of Khan-Kendi (rather tract) was formed from retired soldiers, as well as from members of their families who did not want to return to their homeland after serving their term of service. After 1898, the tsarist government turned Khankendi into a Russian garrison (hence the frequent naming of “headquarters”). The village was a Cossack settlement, which was the camp of the Sunzhensky regiment. There were barracks, hospitals, a regimental church, as well as several houses where officer families and a small population lived, supplying military units with food. The local population consisted of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. In 1918-1920. Musavatist military units were located in Khankendi.
After the establishment of Soviet power by the decree of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR of August 10, 1923, the village of Khankendi was renamed the city of Stepanakert in honor of the head of the Baku commune, Stepan Shaumyan. The city became the center of the newly formed Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh of the Azerbaijan SSR.
At the time of the formation of the NKAR, Stepanakert was a dilapidated settlement, where the number of surviving buildings barely reached 10-15. Some of the buildings were completely destroyed, in others there were no doors and windows, only walls remained from a number of buildings. During the first year, part of the buildings was restored, and many were rebuilt, roads were improved, electricity and telephone communications were brought to the city.

The first project for the planning and arrangement of the city was drawn up in 1926 by architect Alexander Tamanyan, the second in 1938 by architect Slobodyanik, and the third in 1968 by architect Dadashyan. All projects followed the system developed by Tamanyan. The city created the Park of Culture and Leisure named after. M. Azizbekov, a monument to S. Shaumyan was erected in the center of Stepanakert. Stepanakert became the center of the entire industry of the autonomous region, especially silk and wine-making. By the end of the Soviet era, several enterprises were built there, including electrical engineering and asphalt concrete plants. An agricultural technical school, a pedagogical institute, a medical and musical school, a local history museum, and a drama theater functioned. In 1960, the ensemble of the central square of Stepanakert with the building of the regional committee (now the government of the NKR) was built. This square (named after Lenin) in 1988 became the scene of almost continuous rallies in support of the demand for the transfer of the NKAO to the Armenian SSR. In 1968, there was already an outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in Stepanakert. At that time, a trial was taking place in the city over the director of the city school, an Azerbaijani, who was accused of killing an Armenian girl. The Armenians who gathered near the court building considered the Azerbaijani judge’s sentence too lenient and set fire to the car in which the criminal, the judge and several other people were.
The situation of the Azerbaijani population of the city became more complicated due to the growing acute conflict situation in the region. The Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute began to interfere with the conduct of classes at the Azerbaijani department, Azerbaijani students are forced to leave Stepanakert. On September 18-21, pogroms of the Azerbaijani population took place in Stepanakert, accompanied by beatings and arson of houses; Azerbaijanis are expelled from the city. On November 26, 1991, by the decision of the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR, the city was renamed Khankendi. The authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic retained the name Stepanakert. As the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh grew, the struggle around Stepanakert took on an increasingly fierce character. In the winter of 1991-1992, the city was subjected to shelling from the Azerbaijani-controlled Shusha until it passed under the control of the NKR armed forces in May 1992. At the same time, Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces fought stubborn battles around the suburb of Stepanakert – Kerkijahan (English) Russian, populated mainly by Azerbaijanis (these residents left the suburb in the fall of 1991). In January 1992, the Armenians drove the Azerbaijani detachments out of the suburbs, destroying a number of firing positions from which Stepanakert was also fired, while a significant part of the houses of Kerkijahan were burned. On May 9, 1992, Armenian Karabakh forces captured Shusha and suppressed a number of Azerbaijani firing points near it. Thus, the merciless shelling of Stepanakert from Shusha, which lasted for several years, ended, as a result of which not a single building was left in Stepanakert.

Ethnic composition
The population of Khankendi, which was formed from retired soldiers and their descendants, consisted of Russians Orthodox denomination. In 1886, the settlement had 52 houses. The population was engaged in agriculture, as well as various crafts, carting, renting apartments to the military, etc. According to the Transcaucasian Statistical Committee, extracted from the family lists for 1886, 71 dyms and 279 inhabitants were noted in Khankendy, of which 276 were Russians, 2 were Armenians and 1 Tatar (i.e. Azerbaijani), who are Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian and Sunni Muslim by religion. According to the police for 1908, the population of Khankendy consisted only of Russians, who accounted for 282 people. According to the “Caucasian calendar” for 1910, in the village of Khankendy, Shusha district, Elisavetpol province, 362 people lived in 1908, mostly Russians. The Caucasian calendar for 1912 records 1,076 people here, also mostly Russians. However, the next calendar for 1915 noted 1,550 people, mostly Tatars (i.e. Azerbaijanis). According to the Azerbaijan Agricultural Census of 1921, the population of Khankendy (Azerbaijani ﺧﺎﻥ ﻛﻨﺩﻯ) was 1,208 people, mostly Armenians. In 1926, the population of Stepanakert was 3,200 people (of which 85.4% were Armenians and 10.8% were Azerbaijanis). The 1931 Azerbaijani census showed 4,911 inhabitants in the city, of which 4,172 were Armenians, 493 Azerbaijanis and 220 Russians. By 1987, Azerbaijanis accounted for 12.8% of the population (6.8 thousand) of Stepanakert.