Karasubazar / Bilohirsk (Crimea) ¹ 449, Russia 1858
LOT # 30540. MNH. Second edition. 1958, Perf. 12, "SC" # 5, Mi. # 5, Sc. # 5
Bilohirsk (Ukrainian: Į³ėīć³šńüź, Russian: Įåėīćī́šńź, Armenian: Բելոգորսկ, Կարասու-Բազար, Crimean Tatar: Qarasuvbazar), formerly Karasubazar is a town in Crimea, Ukraine, situated 25 miles east-northeast of Simferopol on the Biyuk Karasu river. Both Russian and Ukrainian names mean "white mountains", and original Crimean Tatar name Qarasuvbazar means "bazaar on the Karasu river".
The site is low, but the town is surrounded by hills, which afford protection from the north wind. The dirty streets full of petty traders, the gloomy bazaar with its multitude of tiny shops, the market squares, the blind alleys, the little gates in the dead courtyard walls, all give the place the stamp of a Crimean Tatar or Turkish town. Placed on the high road between Simferopol and Kerch, and in the midst of a country rich in cereal land, vineyards and gardens, Karasubazar used to be a chief seat of commercial activity in Crimea; but it is gradually declining in importance, though still a considerable center for the export of fruit. The caves of Akkaya close by give evidence of early occupation of the area. When in 1736 Khan Fetih Giray was driven by the Russian Empire from Bakhchisaray, he settled at Karasubazar, but next year the town was captured, plundered and burned by the Russian army.
Retreating NKVD shot a number of local people in the streets in 1941 [1].
