Molla Goycha is a town in the Alexandropol uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Aghin (Ani) district, and currently in the Shirak province. The provincial centre lies 27 km to the south of the town of Gumru, at a distance of 10 km from the Gumru-Iravan highway, on the left bank of the Garangu River, at a height of 1750 m above sea level. It is marked in “The Iravan Province Review Book” and on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

The village was first inhabited by Azerbaijanis, and following the settlement of Armenians in the area, the population gradually left the village. The Armenians relocated from the Kars, Erzurum, Alashkert and Mush provinces of Türkiye in 1828- 1829 were settled in the village.

The toponym was coined by combining the religious concept “molla” (mullah) and the Turkic ethnonym “Goycha”.

On 3 January 1935 it was renamed “Maralik“. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, the village was integrated into the administrative territory of the Shirak province.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 40°34’ N., longitude: 43°52’ E.