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. It ...

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 ' ...

, 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, 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 es ...

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 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 oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

- 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. 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 Armenian historian and the metropolitan bishop of the province of Sy ...

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

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

'', '' 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 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, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

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 a ...

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