Nrnadzor ( hy, Նռնաձոր) 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 ...

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 ' ...

, on the bank of the

Aras 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 ...

History

The village of Nrnadzor (meaning "pomegranate canyon" in Armenian, also the name of a nearby tributary of the Aras) was previously called Nyuvadi (; ). During the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, the village was a part of the

Zangezur uezd The Zangezur uezd was a county (''uezd'') of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Gerusy (present-day Goris) from 1868 until its formal abolition and partition between the Soviet republics of Armen ...

of the

Elizavetpol Governorate The Elizavetpol Governorate, also known after 1918 as the Ganja Governorate, was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yelisavetpol (present-day Ganja). The area of the governorate st ...

. The village was transferred from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR in 1928. The Azerbaijani-speaking population of the village fled in the summer of 1991 in the context of the

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaij ...

, after which the village was repopulated by Armenians who fled from different parts of Azerbaijan. The exact date the Azerbaijani population departed was 8 August 1991 – the local administration ensuring their peaceful departure without violence. On 4 July 2006, the village was renamed to its current name.

Demographics

The population is engaged with viticulture, fruit growing, animal husbandry and beekeeping. At its height, the local school consisted of about 1,000 students.

Sevan Nişanyan Sevan Nişanyan ( hyw, Սեւան Նշանեան; born 21 December 1956) is a Turkish-Armenian writer and linguist. An author of a number of books ("The Wrong Republic", "The Etymological Dictionary" and others), Nişanyan was awarded the Ayşe ...

describes that the population of the village was "Turkish" until 1988, "Muslim Tat" until 1991, and adds that the local population was not of Tat origin, mentioning that the population is described as "Tatar" (later known as Azerbaijani) in Russian records since 1831. Whilst

Tatul Hakobyan __NOTOC__ Tatul Ashiki Hakobyan ( hy, Թաթուլ Աշիկի Հակոբյան; born December 29, 1969) is an Armenian reporter and an independent political analyst. Early life and education Hakobyan was born in the village of Dovegh in northe ...

says that the Muslims who lived in Nrnadzor were actually Tats who over time, like thousands of Tats in Soviet Azerbaijan, became Azeri. The Tats were counted and enumerated in various ways between 1831 and 1931: as Muslims, Tatars, Turko-Tatars, and a Turkish group. Russian records of 1894 describe the village's population of consisting of 1,094 Tats. After the exodus of the local Azerbaijanis, Armenian families from

Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

, Kapan,

Goris Goris ( hy, Գորիս) is a town and the centre of the urban community of Goris, in Syunik Province at the south of Armenia. Located in the valley of the Goris (or Vararak) River, it is 254 km from the Armenian capital Yerevan and 67 ...

, Armavir, and Getashen ( Çaykənd, Goygol) settled in the village. As of 2020, most of the population lives in former-Azerbaijani homes—the administrative head of the village, Aleksan Boyajyan, claims that the village consists of "42 households, 128 inhabitants", also mentioning that "Because of the past 15 years, many of the settlers left the village." The population of Nrnadzor since 1831 is as follows:

References

Populated places in Syunik Province Former Azerbaijani inhabited settlements {{Syunik-geo-stub