Bayburd

Bayburd was a village in the territory of the Iravan uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Gamarli (Artashat) district, and present-day Ararat province. It was located 24 km to the southeast of Gamarli, on the bank of the Milli Branch of the Azad River. It was noted in “The Iravan Province Review Book”.

The village was inhabited by 96 Azerbaijanis in 1831, 143 in 1873, 183 in 1886, 224 in 1897, 201 in 1904, 284 in 1914 and 465 Azerbaijanis in 1916. The Azerbaijanis were attacked, massacred or ousted from the village by Armenian armed units in 1918. After the establishment of Soviet power in present-day Armenia in 1920, the Azerbaijanis who survived were able to return to their village. The village was inhabited by 55 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 49 in 1926, 140 in 1931, 151 in 1959 and 150 Azerbaijanis in 1979. In accordance with the decision of the USSR Council of Ministers “On the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kur-Araz lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR” dated 23 December 1947, the Azerbaijanis were deported from their historical and ethnic lands to Azerbaijan in 1948–1949.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the ethnonym “Bayburt” of the Oghuz tribe. At present, the village is in ruins.