Tekeli is a village in the Novo-Bayazid uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Akhta (Hrazdan) district, and currently in the Kotayk province. The provincial centre lies 20 km to the southeast of the town of Hrazdan, on the left bank of the Miskhana River, at the foot of Maymag Mountain, at a height of 1,850 m above sea level. It was mentioned in “The Iravan Province Review Book. It is given also as “Tekerli” in the works of Armenian authors.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 41 in 1831, 335 in 1873, 469 in 1886, 534 in 1897, 641 in 1908, 807 in 1914 and 730 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In 1918 the Azerbaijani population of the village were massacred or expelled by Armenian armed units. After the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia, the surviving Azerbaijanis were able to return to their native village. The village was inhabited by 248 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 303 in 1926, 416 in 1931, 509 in 1939, 944 in 1959, 951 in 1970, 878 in 1979 and about 1,000 Azerbaijanis in 1987. In 1988 the Azerbaijanis were forcibly deported by the state of Armenia from their historical lands or massacred. At present, only Armenians live in the village.

The toponym was formed on the basis of the ethnonym “Tekeli” which belongs to the Turkic tribe Gizilbash. The name of the tribe is also noted as “Teke”.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 April 1991, it was renamed “Artavaz”. 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 Kotayk province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 40°37’ N., longitude 44°34’ E.