Shurnukhu is a village in the Zangezur uezd of the former Yelizavetpol (Ganja) governorate, later in the former Gorus district, and currently in the Syunik province. The provincial centre lies 45 km to the northeast of town of Gapan, on the left bank of the Shuraukhu River, on the right side of the Gorus-Gafan highway, at a height of 1,550 m above sea level. In Armenian literature the name of the village is noted as “Shurnukhi”, “Shurnukh”. After the establishment of the Zangezur uezd in Soviet Armenia on 31 August 1921, the settlement was integrated into the administrative territory of Armenia.

The village was inhabited by 84 Azerbaijanis in 1897, 117 in 1904 and 104 Azerbaijanis in 1914. In 1918 the Azerbaijanis were deported from the village having been exposed to the aggression of Armenian armed units. Following the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia, the surviving villagers were able to return to their historical-ethnic lands. The village was inhabited by 101 in 1926, 123 in 1931, 351 in 1939, 363 in 1959, 363 in 1970 and 324 Azerbaijanis in 1979. 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 the Armenian state deported other Azerbaijani residents of the village. At present, only Armenians live in the village.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the word “shurnukh/shirnikh”, which is a phonetic form of the word “chirnokh” used in Azerbaijani to mean “a cascade”. In the Gazakh dialect of the Azerbaijani language, it is also used as the word “shirnoy”, which means “a rapid flow”. The words “Chirnokh, shirnoy, shurnukh” are synonymous.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 April 1991, it was renamed “Shurnukh”. 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 39°22’ N., longitude 46°23’ E.