Ashaghi Pirtikan

Ashaghi Pirtikan is a village in the Alexandropol uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Talin district, and currently in the Aragatsotn province. It lies 9 km to the north of the town of Talin, 2 km to the northeast of the Mastara village, by the Mastara River, and at a height of 1,900 m above sea level. Another name for the village was Turk Pirtikani (Pirtikan Turk).

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 65 in 1873, 112 in 1886, 140 in 1897, 153 in 1904, 166 in 1914 and 157 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In 1918 the village was exposed to Armenian aggression, its inhabitants, the Azerbaijanis, were massacred or deported, and the Armenians, who had been removed from Türkiye, were settled there. At present, only Armenians live in the village.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the Gipchag ethnonym “Tikan”. The word “ashaghi” at the beginning of the toponym acts as a distinguishing feature in the Azerbaijani toponymy. And the word “pir” is used in the sense of “a religious temple”. It denotes “a village by the pirr built by the Tikan tribe”. İt is an ethnotoponym.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 2 March 1940, the village was renamed “Zoragyugh”. 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°28′ N., longitude: 43°54′ E.