Ashaghi Garachiman

Ashaghi Garachiman is a village in the Zangezur uezd of the former Yelizavetpol (Ganja) governorate, later in the former Gafan district, and currently in the Syunik province. The provincial centre lies at a 5 km distance from the town of Gafan, at a height of 840 m above sea level. The settlement was integrated into Armenia’s administrative area following the establishment of the Zangezur uezd in Soviet Armenia on 31 August 1921.

The village was inhabited by 11 Azerbaijanis in 1831, 63 in 1873, 225 in 1886, 34 in 1897 and 216 Azerbaijanis in 1904. In late December 1918 the Armenians massacred or ousted the Azerbaijani inhabitants. Only after Soviet power had been established in the present-day Armenian territory, the inhabitants of the village managed to return to their land. The village was inhabited by 210 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 154 in 1926 and 212 Azerbaijanis in 1931. After 1926 Yukhari Garachiman was abolished and merged with the village of Ashaghi Garachiman to form the village of Garachiman. In November 1988 the Armenians completely drove out the Azerbaijanis from the village where Armenians live now.

Being coined by combining the word “gara” used in Turkic in the sense of “big, large” and the word “chiman” (the dialectal form of the word “chaman”) used in the sense of “greenery, meadow”, the toponym denotes “a large meadow”.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 April 1991, the village was renamed “Ditsmayri”. 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 Syunik province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude: 39°12’ N., longitude: 46°28’ E.