Haji Bayram is a village in the Echmiadzin [Eçmiədzin] uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Gurdugulu (Hoktemberyan) district, and currently in the Armavir province. The provincial centre is located 39 km to the southwest of the town of Serdarabad (Hoktemberyan, Armavir), adjacent to the Araz River, at a height of 990 m above sea level. It was marked as “Haji Bayram gishlaghi” (winter camp) in “The Iravan Province Review Book” compiled in 1728, and as “Haji Bayram” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.
The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 332 in 1831, 447 in 1873, 434 in 1886, 476 in 1897, 436 in 1908, 815 in 1914 and 444 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In 1918 the village was invaded by Armenian armed forces, and its inhabitants, the Azerbaijanis, were deported from their historical and ethnic lands through massacres. The Azerbaijanis expelled from the village managed to return to their ancestral lands following the establishment of Soviet power in present-day Armenia. The village was inhabited by 325 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 334 Azerbaijanis and 13 Armenians in 1926, and 403 Azerbaijanis and 8 Armenians in 1931. According to 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 forcibly deported from their historical and ethnic lands to Azerbaijan in 1948–1949. At present, the village is inhabited only by Armenians.
The village was named after its founder Haji Bayram.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 January 1935, the village was renamed “Bakhchalar” (Gardens), and by decision dated 3 July 1968, it was renamed “Bagaran”. 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 Armavir province.
Geographical coordinates: latitude: 40°08’ N., longitude: 43°39’ E.
