Nuvedi

Nuvedi is a village in the Zangezur uezd of the former Yelizavetpol (Ganja) governorate, later in the former Mehri (Meghri) district, and currently in the Syunik province. The provincial centre lies 99 km to the south of the town of Gapan, at a height of 625 m above sea level. Until 1929 the village of Nuvedi was a part of Zangilan district of Azerbaijan. The official decision of the Azerbaijani government to transfer the village of Nuvedi to the former Mehri (Meghri) district of Armenia in 1929 was approved by the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR in May 1969. The name of the village is noted as “Nuyada” in “The Iravan Province Comprehensive Data Book” compiled in 1590. The local population called the village “Nuyadi” or “Nuadi”.

The village was was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 291 in 1831, 705 in 1873, 1,083 in 1886, 952 in 1897, 771 in 1904 and 1,072 Azerbaijanis in 1914. In 1918 the population of the village was exposed to aggression by Armenian armed groups and deported from their ancestral lands or massacred. After the establishment of Soviet power in the present-day Armenian territory, the surviving Azerbaijanis were able to return to their homes. The village was was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 662 in 1922, 480 in 1926, 590 in 1931, 618 in 1939, 761 in 1959, 1,277 in 1970, 1,539 in 1979 and 1,344 Azerbaijanis in 1989. On 8 August 1991 the residents of the last Azerbaijani village Nuvadi in present-day Armenia were deported from their historical-ethnic territories by a special order of the Armenian state. At present, the village is inhabited only by Armenians.

The toponym was coined by adding the word “di” (de), a variant of the word “deh” used in the Persian language in the meaning of “a village” to the word “nuy”, used in the meaning of “an area with rocks on both sides” derived from the word “nyuyek, nyuk, nuyakh ” used in the meaning of “a hollow at the foot of the mountain”.

By decision of the Armenian parliament dated 4 July 2006, the village was renamed “Nrnadzor”. 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 Syunik province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 38°53’ N., longitude 46°28’ E.