Ashtarak is a village in the Echmiadzin uezd of the former Iravan governorate, in the former Ashtarak, district, and currently in the Aragatsotn province. Now it is a town in the province of Aragatsotn and the centre of the province. It lies 20 km to the northwest of the city of Iravan, by the Kasag River. It was under the Arshakis in the 1st-5th centuries, under the Arabs in the 8th-10th centuries, under the subordination of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th-16th centuries, within the Karbibasar area in the 16th–19th centuries. Following the Russian invasion in 1828, it was transferred to the subordination of the Iravan uezd of the former Iravan governorate, further to the subordination of the Echmiadzin uezd. On 9 September 1930 it began to bear the name of the district established in the Armenian SSR. It was mentioned as “Ashtarak” in “The Iravan Province Comprehensive Data Book” compiled in 1590, as “Ashtarak within the area of Karbi in “The Iravan Province Review Book” compiled in 1728, as “Ashtarak” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. In everyday speech it is used as “Hashtarak”.

The village was initially inhabited by Azerbaijanis who left it after Armenians had been settled in the region.

Armenian scholars state that the toponym “Ashtarak” was coined from the word “ashtarak” used in the sense of “a tower”. However, this toponym was coined by combining the word “ashu” (aş – authors) used in Turkish in the sense of “a high mountainous passage” and the word “tarak” used in Turkish in the sense of “a folded mountainous peak”, “broken particles of stone” (çınqıl), “a high, jagged mountain”.

At present, the name of the settlement is written in Armenian as “Ashtarak” in official documents. 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 Aragatsotn province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude: 40°18′ N., longitude: 44°24′ E.