Reyhanli

Reyhanli is a village in the Iravan uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Vedi (Ararat) district, and currently in the Ararat province. It is located at a distance of 8 km from the settlement of Vedi (Ararat). It was marked in “The Iravan Province Review Book” compiled in 1728, on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. Another name for the village was “Saribash yurdu”. The name of the village is indicated in the works of Armenian authors as “Rehanli”, “Rikanli”, “Reyganlu”.

Initially, only Azerbaijanis lived in the village and after the settlement of the Armenians from Türkiye according to the treaties of Turkmenchay (1828) and Adrianople (1829), the Azerbaijani population gradually left the village. The village was inhabited by 23 Azerbaijanis and 320 Armenians in 1897. In 1919, the Azerbaijanis were deported by Armenian armed groups or massacred, and found shelter in the territory of South Azerbaijan for some time. After the establishment of Soviet power in present- day Armenian territory, the Azerbaijanis returned to their native lands. According to the decision of the USSR Council of Ministers “On the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kur-Araz lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR” dated 23 December 1947, the Azerbaijani population of the village was forcibly deported to Azerbaijan. In 1988 several Azerbaijani families living in the village were deported. At present the village is inhabited by Armenians.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the Turkic ethnonym “Reyhanli”.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 4 April 1946, the village was renamed “Aygavan”. 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 Ararat province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 39°51’ N., longitude 44°40’ E.