Oshakan or Ushayan is a village in the Echmiadzin uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Ashtarak district, and currently in the Aragatsotn province. The provincial centre lies 5 km to the southwest of the town of Aştarak, at a height of 1,020 m above sea level. The first name of the village was “Ushakan”. It was mentioned as “Ushakan” in “The Iravan Province Review Book” dated 1728 and marked as “Ushakan” and “ Oshagan” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. The local Azerbaijanis used the name of the village in the form of “Ushayan”.

Armenian armed groups attacked the village for the first time in 1905 and committed massacres. After the stabilization of the situation, the survivors were able to return to the village. In 1918 Armenian armed groups again committed massacres against the Azerbaijanis and expelled the population from the village.

The toponym was coined by adding the suffix “-an” to the word “usheg” used in Turkic in the meaning “straight, smooth”.

Currently, the name of the settlement is written as “Oshakan” in official documents in Armenian. 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 Aragatsotn province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 40°15’ N., longitude 44°18’ E