The Azerbaijani state news agency AZERTAC has issued a strong statement in response to a TASS article published on July 31, titled “Aivazovsky Monument Demolished in Stepanakert.”
The statement expresses confusion over TASS’s use of the term “Stepanakert” instead of the official Azerbaijani name “Khankendi”—a name the agency itself had used as recently as July 19 and 24.
AZERTAC reminded readers that the name Khankendi dates back to the 18th century and is associated with Ibrahim Khalil Khan. In 1923, the Soviet authorities renamed the city Stepanakert after Stepan Shaumyan, whom the statement refers to as “a bloodstained executioner of the Azerbaijani people.” The historical name was officially restored in 1991, and in 2023, the Azerbaijani national flag was raised over the city.
The agency emphasized that such actions by TASS undermine friendly relations and send a troubling signal to the entire Russian media landscape. AZERTAC urged the Russian side to refrain from such steps and to correct the error.
Failing that, the statement says, Azerbaijan reserves the right to begin using the historical names of various Russian cities and locations: Kaliningrad (Königsberg), Orenburg (Orınbor), Volgograd (Sarysu), Grozny (Solzha-Gala), Novorossiysk (Sudzhuk-Kale), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Toyohara), Yuzhno-Kurilsk (Furukamappu), Petrozavodsk (Petroskoy), Izhevsk (Izhkar), and the Volga River (Itil), among others.
