Kotanli is a village in the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Pashali (Azizbeyov, Vayk) district, and currently in the Vayots Dzor province. The provincial centre lies 40 km to the northeast of the town of Keshishkend (Yeghegnadzor), on the banks of the Kotanlichay River, the right tributary of the Arpa, at a height of 2,030 m above sea level. It was marked as “Kotani” in “The Iravan Province Review Book”, as “Kotanli” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus, and as “Kyotanlu” in the Armenian language.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 256 in 1873, 392 in 1886, 456 in 1897, 611 in 1904, 672 in 1914 and 532 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In 1918 the village was exposed to aggression by Armenian armed forces and the residents were deported, and the Armenians relocated from Türkiye were settled in the village. Following the establishment of Soviet power in present- day Armenia, the surviving villagers managed to return to their ancestral lands. Later, along with the Armenians, the village was inhabited by Azerbaijanis 61 in 1922, 193 in 1926, 351 in 1931, 776 in 1939, 590 in 1959 and 1,157 Azerbaijanis in 1970. On 28 November 1988, the Armenian government forcibly expelled the Azerbaijani villagers from their historical and ethnic lands. At present, the village is inhabited by Armenians.

The toponym was coined by adding the identifying suffix “-li” to the ethnonym “Kotan” of the Kipchak Turkic tribe, meaning “a place of residence belonging to the Kotan tribe”. It is an ethnotoponym. Structurally, it is a derivative toponym.

The name of the village was changed to “Karmrashen” in 1924. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative territory of the Vayots Dzor province.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 39° 48’, longitude: 45° 31’