Qarakənd

• Name — Karakend / Berdashen • Native Name — Qarakənd / Բերդաշեն • Pushpin Map — Azerbaijan#Karabakh • Pushpin Map Size — 300 • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Azerbaijan • Subdivision Type1 — District • Subdivision Name1 — Khojavend • Population As Of — 2015 • Population Total — 1,606 • Time Zone — AZT • Utc Offset — +4 • Elevation M — 656 Karakend (Qarakənd), or Berdashen is a village in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population until the expulsion of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

During the Soviet period, the village was a part of the Martuni District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, on November 20, 1991, an Azerbaijani MI-8 military helicopter, carrying a peacekeeping mission team consisting of 13 Azerbaijani government officials, 2 Russian and 1 Kazakhstani Ministry of Internal Affairs officials, 3 Azerbaijani journalists and 3 helicopter crewmen was shot down by Armenian forces near the village. All 22 people (19 passengers and 3 crew) on board were killed in the crash.

Historical heritage sites in and around the village include a 12th-century khachkar, the 17th-century church of Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God), the chapel of Mets Nahatak built in 1676, a 17th/18th-century shrine and the fortress of Kusaberd, also known as Aghjkaberd.

As of 2015, the village has a municipal building, a house of culture, a secondary school, a kindergarten, six shops, and a medical centre.

The village had 1,498 inhabitants in 2005, and 1,606 inhabitants in 2015.

• Illustration — "Pitsi Nahatak" chapel • Illustration — Kusaberd-Aghjkaberd monument