Charektar (Armenian: Չարեքտար; Azerbaijani: Çərəkdar) is a village in the Aghdara District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The village had an Azerbaijani-majority population prior to their exodus during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.[2] Before 2023, it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh as part of its claimed Shahumyan Province.
The name Charektar is of Persian origin.[3]
During the Soviet period, the village was a part of the Mardakert District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, and was incorporated into the Shahumyan Province of the Republic of Artsakh after the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Historical heritage sites in and around the village include the 12th/13th-century Charektar Monastery and a 12th/13th-century khachkar.[1]
The population is mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. As of 2015, the village has a municipal building, a secondary school, and a medical centre.[1]
In 1912, the village had 199 inhabitants, mostly Caucasian Tatars (Azerbaijanis).[4] In 1993 the village had 202 Azerbaijani inhabitants.[5] The inhabitants of the village fled during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and Charektar was subsequently settled by Armenians.
The village had an Armenian-majority population of 159 inhabitants in 2005,[6] and 262 inhabitants in 2015.[1]
