Hachati

Hachati or Hajati is a village in the Zangazur uezd of the former Yelizavetpol (Ganja) governorate, later in the former Gafan district, and currently in the Syunik province. It lies 28 km to the northwest of the town of Gafan, on the right bank of the Gighi River, at a height of 2,050 m above sea level. It was marked as “Hajati” in “The Iravan Province Review Book”, as “Hachaati” («Гачааты») on the five-verst map of the Caucasus, as “Hajati” in Azerbaijani sources, and as “Hajatin” in Armenian sources.

In 1918 Armenian armed groups destroyed the village of Hachati, and the villagers crossed the mountains and took refuge in Nakhchivan. Following the establishment of the Zangazur district in the Soviet Armenia on 31 August 1921, the settlement was integrated into the administrative area of Armenia. The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 30 in 1897, 41 in 1922, 51 in 1926, 71 in 1931, 95 in 1939, 125 in 1959, 148 in 1970, 165 in 1979, and 160 Azerbaijanis in 1988. In 1939 the villagers were relocated to the Gihgi village. The people of Hajat reestablished their villages in 1946. The Azerbaijanis living there were deported from their historical and ethnic lands by the Armenian government in November 1988.

The toponym was formed by adding the suffix “-ti” to the Azerbaijani word “hacha” meaning “separated as an angle, cross”.

The village was renamed “Vochetin” by decision of the Armenian Parliament dated 4 July 2006. 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 Sunik province.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 39°12’ N., longitude: 46°08’ E.