Enclaves Of The World

3.7 Sastavci (Bosnia-Herzegovinian enclave within Serbia and Montenegro)

The Bosnia-Herzegovinian village of Sastavci is located in Serbia and Montenegro, west of the Serbian town of Priboj and east of the point formed where the borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro meet. The enclave covers 395 ha and has a population of about 270. In 1999, 135 of these were Bosnian Muslims.
Sastavci is part of the village Medjurecja within the Bosnia-Herzegovinian municipality of the Rudo. Despite this, there is a strong Serbian connection as over 70% of Sastavci’s residents have Serbian citizenship. In addition, all the enclave’s vital infrastructure and services such as education, health, electricity and telecommunications are tied to the nearby Serbian municipality of Priboj.

The Congress of Berlin (1878) enabled Austro-Hungary to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina – an action that subsequently led to the retreat of the Ottoman Empire towards the Raska region of nearby Serbia. This is likely to have left Sastavci as an enclave due to its administrative ties with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sastavci’s future nationality is likely to be allocated during broader discussions held by International Diplomatic Commission to redefine the border between Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia - Herzegovina.

Serbia and Montenegro propose the border be moved to the middle of the river Lim, from Uvac to Sjeverin instead of its current alignment via the ridge of the mountain Bic. This would include Sastavci within a larger piece of Bosnia – Herzegovinian that would change nationality.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Bosnia – Herzegovina rejects this and insists that the current borders remain albeit for a corridor that would be established to connect the enclave with the rest of Bosnia - Herzegovina.

Map of Serbia-Montenegro showing the location of the Sastavci enclave

Map of Serbia showing Sastavci enclave

Sastavci enclave detail

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3.8 San'kova-Medvezh'e (Russian enclave within Belarus)

The Russian exclave villages of San'kova and Medvezh'e are situated east of the Byelorussian city of Homel. It is located north of the M10 highway about five kilometres from the Russian village of Dobrodjevka. The enclave covers 4.5 km² and has no inhabitants. This enclave appeared following the disintegration of the USSR in 1991.
Early in the 1900s, some farmers from Dobrodjevka, a small village of Bryansk province of Russia, were disappointed in their poor land. They decided to leave and went to the United States and worked in coalmines in Pennsylvania.

They saved enough money to return home after a few years and buy land from a landowner over the border in Byelorussia. They moved to Sanina polyana (‘Sanya’s clearing’) and Medvezhya dubrava (‘Bears’ oak wood’) and built their houses there. Two tiny villages emerged.

The Soviet Union was formed after World War 1 with Russia and Belarus as federated republics. At that time, a special committee settled the issues of administrative boundaries between republics. And so it was that San'kova and Medvezh’e were left as Russian enclaves within Belarus.

Although the Nazis burned down the villages in 1943, they were rebuilt and relative prosperity reigned for the next few decades.

Then, in 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded and contaminated a vast surrounding area. San’kova-Medvezh’e was in the midst of this and all inhabitants were permanently evacuated. Today the enclave is still there but it remains uninhabited and deserted. (From Anatoli Vorobyev 2002)

Map of Belarus showing the location of the San’kova-Medvezh’e enclave and Chernobyl

San'kova-Medvezh'e location (Source: Jan Krogh’s Geosite)

San'kova-Medvezh'e detail (Source: Jan Krogh’s Geosite)

San'kova-Medvezh'e photo (Source: Jan Krogh’s Geosite)

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3.9 Krakhoba, Uryanoba (Russian enclaves within Azerbaijan)

There are two enclaves in Azerbaijan’s Khachmaz (or Xacmaz) region that belong to Russia’s Dagestan Republic. The exact locations of the enclaves have not been confirmed but are reported to be relatively distant from the Azerbaijan-Russia border.

Krakhoba is said to be in the centre of Khachmaz and surrounded by the Azerbaijan villages of Naghioba, Barakhun, Dedeli, and Hajiabdurrahimoba. It is administered from the Maharramkand region of neighbouring Dagestan and has an official population of about 300.

Uryanoba is reported to be close to the city of Khachmaz and administered as part of Dagestan’s Akhti region. Wikipedia reports that this enclave is actually a village called Akhty but this seems an unlikely coincidence given its similar name to the region.

The actual size of the enclaves’ population is not known due to inconsistent resident registration requirements. It appears that nearby Azerbaijanis can become citizens in some situations. Russian laws prevail in Krakhoba and Uryanoba, the schools are Russian, people get their salaries and pensions from Dagestan and the young serve in the Russian army.

But the enclaves rely on Azerbaijan to supply electricity, fuel and water. And they often have trouble receiving their salaries and pensions from Dagestan. In 1999 this encouraged a group of Krakhoba residents to seek citizenship of Azerbaijan. Dagestan reacted immediately by sending officials to the enclaves to dissuade them. It seems Russia does not want to lose these territories. (From APA: http://www.apa-az.info/en/view.php?d=632)

Zyugyuloba (Azerbaijani enclave in Russia)

Across the border in Dagestan, there is a mirror-image enclave belonging to Azerbaijan. Khrakhoba resident Malik Shabanov has relatives in the enclave village of Zyugyuloba, and said it suffers similar neglect from its government and bureaucratic problems with the country that surrounds it. Villagers there are not even able to visit the main local town, Gusar, because Russian laws are so strict that they have to get their passport stamped and register with the police as if they were aliens. “Just like the Khrakhoba villagers, the inhabitants of Zyugyuloba try to solve their problems by leaving the village”, said Shabanov. Another Khrakhoba resident, Mustafa, suggested that Russia and Azerbaijan should do a straight swap. “Let Russia take the Azerbaijani enclave, and give its own one to Azerbaijan,” he said. “It’s very difficult to live in these small territories, separated from one’s country as a whole.”

[From IWPR http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=344168&apc_state=henpcrs - "Azerbaijan: Enclaves Fall Between Two Stools" by Sabukhi Mamedli in Khrakhoba, northern Azerbaijan (CRS No. 440 17-Apr-08). Sabukhi Mamedli is a correspondent with the Yeni Musavat newspaper in Baku.]

Map of Azerbaijan showing the approximate location of the Krakhoba and Uryanoba enclaves

Map showing villages surrounding Krakhoba, about 25 km north of Xacmaz

Possible photograph of Uryanoba (Source: http://www.ekspress.com.az/)

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3.10 Artchvašen (Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan)

An exclave of Armenia exists within Azerbaijan around the village of Artchvašen (also known as Bashkend). It is located east of Lake Sevan in north-west Azerbaijan. The enclave is about 9.4 km long. The population is predominately Muslim and the economy is based upon agriculture.

This enclave appeared following the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. Its present status is unclear since the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute in 1992-94 over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. At this time it was unilaterally annexed by Azerbaijan.

Map of Azerbaijan showing the location of the Artchvašen enclave

Artchvašen Map detail (Source: Jan Krogh’s Geosite)

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3.11 Upper Askipara, Azatamut, Karki, Tatly (Azerbaijani enclaves within Armenia)

There are five small Azerbaijani exclaves within Armenia that appeared following the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. Their present status is unclear since the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute in 1992-94 over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. At this time they were unilaterally annexed by Armenia. Their economies are primarily based upon agriculture.

Four enclaves are found in north-eastern Armenia near the town of Kazakh. Upper Askipara (also known as Yukhari Askipara) begins 1 km west of the Armenian village of Voskepar. Azatamut (possibly also known as Barkhudali) begins about 1 km from the Azerbaijan border near the Kazakh to Idshevan highway. The other two enclaves are tiny pieces of farmland southwest of the Azerbaijani town of Tatly (or Tatli). They cover 0.12 and 0.06 km².

Karki (or Kiarki or Tigranashen) is found north of the Nakhichevan area about 4.5 km northeast of the town of Sadarak. It covers about 7 km2.

These enclaves do not include the large Nakhichevan area that is located about 150 km from the rest of Azerbaijan. This autonomous region is landlocked by Armenia, Iran and Turkey. Though interesting, it is not an enclave.

In 1994 Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself an independent republic. If this is recognised by the international community, there may be about half a dozen new international enclaves - both Nagorno-Karabakhian exclaves in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani exclaves in Nagorno-Karabakh.