Ashaghi Godakli

Ashaghi Godakli is a village in the Zangezur uezd of the Yelizavetpol governorate, later in the former Gafan district, and currently in the Syunik province. It lies 5 km to the north of the town of Gapan, and at a height of 820 m above sea level. Following the establishment of the Zangezur uezd in Soviet Armenia on 31 August 1921, the settlement was integrated into the administrative area of Armenia. It was marked as “Gedaklu” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. The village was inhabited by 26 Azerbaijanis in 1831, 154 in 1873, 206 in 1886, 123 in 1897, 439 in 1904 and 153 Azerbaijanis in 1914. In 1918 the Azerbaijanis were deported from the village having been exposed to massacre by the Armenians. The surviving inhabitants of the village managed to return to their homes following the establishment of Soviet power in the present-day Armenian territory.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 42 in 1922, 60 in 1926, 74 in 1931, 87 in 1939, 95 in 1959, 447 in 1970 and 294 Azerbaijanis in 1979. Although the “The Dictionary of Armenia’s Settlements” published in 2008 indicated the general number of the inhabitants of the village, its ethnic composition was intentionally unrevealed. In late November 1988 the Azerbaijanis were ousted from their native land by the state of Armenia. At present, Armenians live there.

The toponym was coined by combining the word “ashaghi” denoting a distinguishing feature and the name of the ethnonym “Godakli”, one of the branches of the Turkic Gazakhlar tribes.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 4 June 2006, the village was renamed “Bargushad”. 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°13’ N., longitude: 46°27’ E.