Garanamaz

Garanamaz or Yeniyol is a village in the Aghbaba area of the Kars uezd of the former Kars province, later in the former Amasiya (Aghbaba) district, and currently in the Shirak province. It lies 27 km to the northeast of the district centre, at a height of 2,027 m above sea level.

The village was inhabited by Azerbaijanis only: 285 in 1886, 406 in 1897, 559 in 1908 and 541 Azerbaijanis in 1914. In May 1918 an Armenian armed group led by Andranik, who retreated to avoid the encounter with the Turkish army, committed a massacre in the village of Garanamaz. The survivors of the massacres fled to the Kars province. The village was subordinated to the Southwest Caucasian Republic established in Kars in 1918–1919. In February 1920, the village was destroyed again being attacked by Armenian armed forces, consequently, a part of the population moved to the Kars province, and another part to the Urmia and Salmas provinces through the Iranian consulate in Gumru. After the Treaty of Kars in 1921, part of the population returned to the village. Following the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia according to the Treaty of Kars signed in 1921, the village was integrated into the Aleksandropol uezd within the Aghbaba area. The village was inhabited by 476 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 451 Azerbaijanis in 1926, and 471 Azerbaijanis in 1931. In 1988 1,272 Azerbaijanis lived in the village and were also exposed to aggression that year and expelled from their native village by Armenian armed groups.

On 3 January 1935 the village was renamed “Yeniyol”, and on 19 April 1991, it was renamed “Aghvorik”. 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.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 41°04’ N., longitude: 43°45’ E.