Jul is a village in the Sharur- Daralayaz uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Pashali (Azizbeyov, Vayk) district, and currently in the Vayots Dzor province. The provincial centre lies 32 km to the southeast of the town of Keshishkend (Yeghegnadzor), by the Julchay, the right tributary of the Arpachay, at a height of 1,880 m above sea level. It was mentioned in “The Iravan Province Review Book”, in the five-verst map of the Caucasus. The historical sources have referred to it since 13th century.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 117 in 1831, 708 in 1873, 899 in 1886, 1,214 in 1897, 1,222 in 1904, 1,344 in 1914 and 1,607 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In 1918 the inhabitants of the village, the Azerbaijanis, who had been exposed to the aggression of Armenian armed units, were deported. The surviving Azerbaijanis managed to return to their historical-ethnic village, after Soviet power had been established in the present-day Armenian territory. The village was inhabited by 717 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 431 in 1926 and 950 Azerbaijanis in 1931. By the special order of the USSR government, the inhabitants of the village, the Azerbaijanis, were forced to move to Azerbaijan in 1948–1949. Since 1950 Armenians have lived there.

The toponym was formed on the basis of the Turkic ethnonym “Chul”. It is an ethnotoponym.

The villahe was renamed “Hartavan” by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dating 19 April 1950. 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 Vayots Dzor province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude: 39°39′ E., longitude: 45°37′ E.