Babajan

Babajan 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 original name of the village is Babajan deresi (the valley of Babajan). The provincial centre lies 87 km to the northeast of the town of Kavar (Gavar), by Lake Goycha, and at a height of 1,950 m above sea level. Its name was marked in “The Iravan Province Review Book”, on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. Babajan was a village inhabited by Azerbaijanis.

“The Dictionary of Armenia’s Settlements” published in Armenian in 2008 presented the general number of the inhabitants of the village without indicating their ethnic composition. The village was inhabited only by Azerbaijanis: 107 in 1873, 173 in 1886, 244 in 1897, 259 in 1908, 265 in 1914, 290 in 1916 and 265 Azerbaijanis in 1919. In the spring of 1919 the inhabitants of the village were exposed to Armenian aggression, massacred or deported. Following the establishment of Soviet power in the present-day Armenian territory, the Azerbaijanis, who had left the village, managed to return to their ancestral land. The village was inhabited by 309 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 345 in 1926, 373 in 1931, 522 in 1939, 600 in 1959, 839 in 1970, 1,140 in 1979, 775 in 1967 and 880 Azerbaijanis in 1987. In 1988 the Armenians ousted the Azerbaijanis from their native land.

The toponym was coined in association with the name of Baybecan mentioned in “The Book of Dede Korkut”.

It was renamed “Gizilkend” By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 25 January 1978, and further changed and became “Tsapa-tagh” by decision dated 3 April 1991. 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°25′ N., longitude: 45°32′ E.