Pambak or Gushchu deresi is a village in the Novo-Bayazid uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Basarkechar (Vardenis) district, and currently in the Gegharkunik province. The provincial centre lies 95 km to the east of the town of (Kavar) Gavar, on the shores of Lake Goycha, at a height of 1,975 m above sea level. The ruins of the Alban religious temple (church) and Oghuz cemeteries still remain in the village.

The village was inhabited only by Azerbaijanis: 166 in 1873, 237 in 1886, 283 in 1897, 352 in 1908, 392 in 1914, 331 in 1916 and 398 Azerbaijanis in 1919. In the spring of 1919 the Azerbijani population of the village, having been exposed to the aggression of Armenian armed groups, were deported or massacred. The Azerbaijanis were able to return to their historical-ethnic land after the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia. The village was inhabited by 390 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 349 in 1926, 512 in 1931 and by 2000 Azerbaijanis in 1987. In late November-early December 1988, the Azerbaijanis were deported from their historical-ethnic territories by the state of Armenia. At present, the village is inhabited by Armenians. The name of the village is noted as Gushchu in “The Iravan Province Review Book” and marked as Gushchu Deresi on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

The toponym was coined by combining the Turkic ethnonym “Guschu” and the word “dere” in the meaning of “a valley, a low area of land between hills or mountains, as well as a long deep hole in the flatland” to denote “a village in the valley where the Guschu tribe lives”.

At present, the name of the settlement is written as “Pambak” 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 Gegharkunik province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 40°23’ N.,longitude 45°31’ E.