Duzkend is a village in the Aghbaba area (nahiya) of the Kars uezd of the former Kars province, later in the former Amasiya (Aghbaba) district, and currently in the Shirak province. The provincial centre lies 44 km to the northwest of the town of Gumru, on the right bank of the Arpachai, at a height of 1,980 m above sea level. It was mentioned in “The Iravan Province Review Book” and on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. Historically, there were two villages named Duzkend in the district of Amasiya: Boyuk Duzkend and Kichik Duzkend. In the early 19th century Boyuk Duzkend and Kichik Duzkend were merged and registered as the village of Duzkend.

The original inhabitants of the village were Azerbaijanis. In their works Armenian authors indicate that the Garapapags lived in the village. The village was inhabited by 348 Azerbaijanis in 1886, 520 in 1897, 636 in 1908 and 722 Azerbaijanis in 1914. In May 1918 Andranik’s troops, who had to retreat to avoid confronting the Turkish Army, committed massacre in Duzkend; a part of the survivors fled to the province of Kars. In 1918–1919 the village was within the Republic of South-Western Caucasia established in Kars. In February 1920 the village was devastated as a result of the attack of the Armenian armed groups, a part of the population moved to the province of Kars and The Renamed Settlements on the Territory of the Present Republic of Armenia, Which Were Historically Inhabited by Azerbaijanis another part to the provinces of Urmiya and Salmas through the consulate of Iran located in Gumru. Following the Treaty of Kars dated 1921, a part of the village population returned to it. After the establishment of Soviet power in the present-day Armenian territory, according to the 1921 Treaty of Kars, the village was integrated into the Alexandropol uezd within the area of Aghbaba. The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis 359 in 1922, 402 in 1926, 468 in 1931, 366 in 1959, 528 in 1970, 630 in 1979 and 580 Azerbaijanis in 1987. In November- December 1988 and January 1989 the Azerbaijanis were deported from their historical- ethnic territories by the state of Armenia. At present, Armenians live in the village.

The toponym was coined by combining the word “dyuz” used in Azerbaijani in the sense of “a plain, field, lowland”, “a place without ups and downs, rifts” and the word “kend” used in Old Turkic in the sense of “a settlement, town”.

The village was renamed “Alvar” by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR 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 territory of the Shirak province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude: 41 °03’ N., longitude: 43°44’ E.