Subatan is a village in the Novo-Bayazid uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Basarkechar (Vardenis) district, and currently in the Gegharkunik province. The provincial centre lies 81 km to the southeast of the town of Kavar (Gavar), near the Gizilbulag River, at a height of 2150 m above sea level. It was marked on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

The village was inhabited only by Azerbaijanis: 180 in 1873, 263 in 1886, 306 in 1897, 368 in 1908, 429 in 1914 and 301 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In April 1919 the Azerbaijanis were massacred or deported by Armenian armed units. In 1920, after the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia, the surviving Azerbaijanis were able to return to the village. The village was inhabited by 206 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 349 in 1926 and 259 Azerbaijanis in 1931. The Azerbaijanis were expelled from their historical-ethnic territories by the state of Armenia in November-December 1988. At present, Armenians live in the village.

The toponym was coined by combining the word “su” used in Old Turkic to mean “a river” and the participle “batan” (“the one that is sinking or sunk”).

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 April 1991, it was renamed “Geghakar”. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative area of the Gegharkunik province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 40°07’ N., longitude 45°41’ E.