Khankendi [key], city (1989 pop. 56,705), capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan. Silk, wine, and food are processed in the city. Khankendi became a town in the 1920s, and from 1923 to 1991, which Azerbaijan declared independence, was known as Stepanakert. The town suffered severe damage from both the 1988 Armenian earthquake and the Armenian-Azeri war for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, and under Armenian rule after the war was again called Stepanakert.
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