Bashkoy is a village in the Alexandropol uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Artik district, and currently in the Shirak province. The provincial centre lies 25 km to the southeast of the town of Gumru, at a height of 1,970 m above sea level. It was marked as “Bashkend” in “The Iravan Province Review Book”, and as “Bash kyog” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

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

The toponym was coined by combining the word “bash” used in the sense of “basic, great, the peak of the mountain” in Azerbaijani and the word “koy” meaning “a village” in Modern Turkish.

The village was renamed “Saralanj” by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 31 May 1946. 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 Shirak province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude: 40°37’ N., longitude: 44°01′ E.