This cultural landscape is comprised of the high-mountain Khinalig village in northern Azerbaijan, high-altitude summer pastures and agricultural terraces in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, winter pastures in the lowland plains in central Azerbaijan, and the connecting 200-kilometre-long seasonal transhumance route called Köç Yolu (“Migration Route”). The village of Khinalig is home to the semi-nomadic Khinalig people, whose culture and lifestyle are defined by the seasonal migration between summer and winter pastures, and who retain the ancient way of long-distance vertical transhumance. The organically evolved network including ancient routes, temporary pastures and camping sites, mausoleums, and mosques illustrates a sustainable eco-social system adapted to extreme environmental conditions.

Brief synthesis The Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and “Köç Yolu” Transhumance Route is a continuing cultural landscape comprised of the high-mountain Khinalig village in northern Azerbaijan, high-altitude summer pastures and agricultural terraces in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, winter pastures in the lowland plains in central Azerbaijan, and the connecting 200-kilometre-long seasonal transhumance route called Köç Yolu (“Migration Route”). The village of Khinalig is home to the semi-nomadic Khinalig people, whose culture and lifestyle are defined by the seasonal vertical migration between summer (yaylaqs) and winter (qishlaqs) pastures, and who retain the ancient way of long-distance vertical transhumance. The organically evolved network of ancient routes, land-use features, temporary pastures and camping sites, irrigation systems, springs and wells, mausoleums, mosques, cemeteries, bridges, and infrastructure for animal husbandry illustrate a sustainable eco-social system adapted to extreme and diverse environmental conditions that has served to build and retain transhumance as the dominant economy. Criterion (iii): The Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and “Köç Yolu” Transhumance Route is an exceptional living testimony to the long-distance vertical transhumance cultural tradition of the Khinalig people, a tradition of communal transhumance in the Caucasus geo-cultural region. The property demonstrates a significant degree of preservation of its ancestral semi-nomadic eco-social system. Criterion (v): The Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and “Köç Yolu” Transhumance Route is an outstanding example of a long-standing traditional and sustainable land use that reflects the semi-nomadic Khinalig transhumance culture and lifestyle. Animal husbandry remains the dominant economy, though a highly vulnerable one. The range of physical features across a great diversity of landscapes illustrates an adaptation to extreme environmental conditions and the…