Chirakhor

Chirakhor was a village in the territory of the Zangezur uezd of the former Yelizavetpol (Ganja) governorate, later in the former Gafan district, and present-day Syunik province. It was located 12 km to the northwest of Gafan and on the right bank of the Okhchu River. Another name for the village was Shamlar.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 18 in 1897, 20 in 1922, 26 in 1926 and 34 Azerbaijanis in 1931. The Azerbaijanis were attacked, massacre or expelled from the village by Armenian armed units in 1918.

The toponym was coined by combining the words “chirakh”, the phonetic variant of “cherak” meaning “a headwater; a spring; a source or fountain” in Turkic and “or” meaning “a trench, earthworks; a hill; fortifications; a wall”. The village is in ruins.