Illi

Illi or Illi Garakilsa is a village in the Gizilgoch area (nahiya) of the Alexandropol uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Amasiya (Aghbaba) district, and currently in the Shirak province. The provincial centre lies 22 km to the northwest of the town of Gumru, at a height of 1,800 m above sea level, in a valley called “Yelli Dere”. It is specified as “Illi Garakilsa” or “Garakilsa Illi” in the works of Armenian authors and official documents.

The village had been inhabited only by Azerbaijanis until the 1930s, and following the settlement of Armenians in the region, the population moved to Türkiye. The Armenians relocated from Türkiye were settled there.

The toponym was coined by combining the toponym “Garakilsa” and the word “il” meaning “a land, territory belonging to a bey” with the suffix “-li”. The word “il” was used in Old Turkic as a synonym for the word “land”. In general, this toponym consists of three components: il (land)+ gara (black) + kilsa (a church).

In the 1920s the village was renamed “Illi”, which was later changed to “Hogmik” by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 25 January 1978. 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 district.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 40°55’ N., longitude: 43°49’ E.