Yaghdan

Yaghdan is a village in the Borchali uezd of the former Tiflis governorate, later in the former Jalaloghlu (Stepanavan) district, and currently in the Lori province. The provincial centre is located 37 km to the northwest of the town of Boyuk Garakilsa (Vanadzor) and at a height of 1,350 m above sea level. It was marked on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

The village was previously inhabited by Azerbaijanis. In 1818-1821 the Greeks removed from Türkiye were settled in the village. Following that process, the Azerbaijanis gradually abandoned the village.

The toponym was coined by combining the words “yag” used in Turkic in the meaning of “a homeland” and “don” (dan) meaning “a hill” in Turkic. The toponym denotes “a land, homeland on the hill”. It was integrated into the administrative territory of the Lori province according to the law “On the Administrative-Territorial Division of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 41°30’N., longitude 44°30’E.