Agarak ( hy, Ագարակ) is a village in the

Meghri Municipality Meghri Municipality, referred to as Meghri Community ( hy, Մեղրի Համայնք ''Meghri Hamaynk''), is an urban community and administrative subdivision of Syunik Province of Armenia, at the south of the country. Consisted of a group of sett ...

of the

Syunik Province Syunik ( hy, Սյունիք, ) is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. I ...

in southern

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, founded in 1949. As of 2011, the population of Agarak was 4,429. The village is located on the left bank of river

Araks River , az, Araz, fa, ارس, tr, Aras The Aras (also known as the Araks, Arax, Araxes, or Araz) is a river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan excl ...

, 9 km southwest of

Meghri Meghri ( hy, Մեղրի) is a town and the center of the urban community of Meghri, in Syunik Province in southern Armenia, near the border with Iran. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town was 4,580. According to the 2020 official est ...

on the Armenia–Iran border. The border crossing at Agarak is Armenia's sole border crossing with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, with the Iranian village of

Nurduz Nurduz ( fa, نوردوز, also Romanized as Nūrdūz) is a village in Nowjeh Mehr Rural District, Siah Rud District, Jolfa County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 14, in 4 families. It is situated near Ira ...

being located at the other side of the border. The village had a railway station on the demolished and non-functioning branch of the

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

- Nakhchivan-

Horadiz Horadiz is a city and municipality in the Fuzuli District of Azerbaijan, located on the left bank of the Aras river. As of 2019, it had a population of 7,600 people. History During the Russian Empire, the village of Horadiz was part of the Jebra ...

railway.

History

Modern-day Agarak is located in the ''Arevik'' canton of the historic province of Syunik of

Greater Armenia Greater Armenia ( hy, Մեծ Հայք, translit=Mets Hayk) is the name given to the Armenian state that emerged on the Armenian Highlands during the reign of King Artaxias I at the turn of the 2nd century BC. The term was used to refer princi ...

. The area was mentioned in the 12th and 13th centuries by historian

Stepanos Orbelian Stepanos Orbelian ( hy, Ստեփանոս Օրբելեան, originally spelled hy, Ստեփաննոս, translit=Stepʻannos, label=none; – 1303) was a thirteenth-century Armenians, Armenian historian and the metropolitan bishop of the provi ...

as a rural settlement. However, the region was historically known for its copper and lead mines. The current name of the village is derived from the nearby village of Agarak, literally meaning ''farm'' or ''estate'' in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

. Two churches dating back to the 17th century lie in the vicinity of Agarak. The church of Surp Amenaprkich (the Holy Saviour), located in the nearby village of Kuris, north of Agarak, and the Aknakhach church in Agarak. The Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire, mentions that the village of Agarak, as of 1861, was located in the

Ordubad uezd The Ordubad uezd was a county (''uezd'') of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire with its center in Ordubad from 1849 until 1868. It included the southern part of the Nakhichevan exclave of present-day Aze ...

of the

Erivan Governorate The Erivan Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centеr in Erivan (present-day Yerevan). Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometеrs, roughly correspondin ...

. The village at that time was notable for the mine and factory located there. According to the publication, in 1860, the village produced 500 pounds of copper. Agarak was founded in 1949 as a labour settlement to accommodate the workers at the nearby copper-molybdenum combine. In 1954, it gained the status of an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

. During the first days of its foundation, the settlement was mainly home to 2-storied residential buildings. Later, with the expansion of the copper-molybdenum combine by the end of the 1970s, 3, 4 and 5-storied buildings were also constructed in the settlement. The workers along with their families were brought to Agarak from the nearby villages, turning Agarak into an important industrial centre at the southern region of the

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

.. Following the independence of Armenia in 1991, Agarak became an urban municipality within the newly formed Syunik Province and the first bridge connecting Armenia to Iran was established. However, as a result of the 2016 administrative reforms, Agarak was downgraded from town to village, thus becoming a rural settlement within the

. The village currently has two kindergartens, one secondary school, one art school, a cultural palace, two libraries and a football stadium.

Geography

Agarak is located in semi-desert zone and is surrounded by rocky mountains with high cliffs and deep canyons with an average altitude of 660m. It has a

cold desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(BWk) according to the Köppen climate classification system. The vicinity of the village is designated as a Prime Butterfly Area, having number of rare and endangered species of butterflies, such as ''

Gegenes nostrodamus ''Gegenes nostrodamus'', commonly known as the dingy swift, light pygmy skipper, Mediterranean skipper or veloz de las rieras, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found from the Mediterranean Sea, through Anatolia to Turkest ...

'', ''

Zegris eupheme The sooty orange tip (''Zegris eupheme'') is a Palearctic Pieridae butterfly that has a range that extends through southern Europe, southwest Europe, northern Africa, East Kazakhstan and Asia Minor. Global warming currently seems to be extending ...

'', '' Pieris krueperi'', ''

Chazara briseis ''Chazara briseis'', the hermit, is a butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. It can be found in North Africa, southern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Central Asia through Afghanistan, and north-western China and Tuv ...

'', '' Cupido argiades'', ''

Pseudophilotes vicrama ''Pseudophilotes vicrama'', the eastern baton blue, Retrieved April 23, 2018. is a small butterfly found in Asia, east to Tian Shan and parts of China, west to the Balkans, Turkey, eastern Europe to southern Finland. It belongs to the lycaenids ...

'', and others.

Economy

It is an important centre for

non-ferrous metallurgy In metallurgy, non-ferrous metals are metals or alloys that do not contain iron (allotropes of iron, Ferrite (iron), ferrite, and so on) in appreciable amounts. Generally more costly than ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals are used because of d ...

. In 1853, a copper-molybdenum deposit was discovered, and in 1958 a copper-molybdenum plant was opened in the village, which includes a quarry and a processing plant. The Agarak copper deposit and smeltery have been operating since 1963. The copper-molybdenum industry in Agarak has been recovered since 2001. Currently, the copper-molybdenum plant secures around 1200 jobs for the population of Agarak, which makes around 25% of the entire population of Agarak. The Agarak Copper-Molybdenum mine complex produces copper and molybdenum concentrate through bulk-selective flotation recovery of molybdenum and copper minerals. It was fully acquired by GeoProMining company in 2007. The

custom house and the border checkpoint with

are situated in the territory of Agarak. The construction of the Armenian section of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline started in Agarak on 30 November 2004. The pipeline started operations on 20 December 2006. Agarak Armenia

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

from Iran is a growing industry in Agarak. Many of the Iranian tourists stop in Meghri and Agarak to go to the restaurants, cafes, and stores. The

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...

is in high demand in Agarak with frequent Persian-language signs, and many of the locals engaged in services are proficient in colloquial Persian.

Demographics

Population

The population of Agarak since 1908 is the following:

References

{{portal bar, Geography Populated places in Syunik Province Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Populated places established in 1949 Armenia–Iran border crossings