Zod 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 is located 85 km to the southeast of the town of Kavar (Gavar), near the Zod River and at a height of 2020 m above sea level. The village was noted in “The Iravan Province Comprehensive Data Book” and marked on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. The name of the village is noted as “Zot” and “Sot” in the works of Armenian authors. There are historical monuments of the 9th-12th centuries attributed to Azerbaijanis (the remains of the Alban church and the Oghuz cemetery) in the village.

The village was inhabited by 245 Azerbaijanis in 1831, 905 in 1873, 1,088 in 1886, 1,584 in 1897, 1,717 in 1908, 1,988 in 1914 and 1,717 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In April 1919 the Azerbaijanis were ousted from the village after being exposed to massacre by Armenian armed units. After the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia, the Azerbaijanis who survived were able to return to their village. The village was inhabited by 1,046 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 1,325 in 1926, 1,599 in 1931, 1,946 in 1939, 1,290 in 1959 and 2984 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 Lowlands of the Azerbaijan SSR” dated 23 December 1947, the Azerbaijanis were forcibly deported to Azerbaijan. A part of the deported Azerbaijanis were able to return to their village, however, they were again deported from their native village by the Armenian state in November 1988. At present, the village is inhabited by Armenians.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the Turkic ethnonym “Sotk/Sodk”. The toponym has evolved as Sotk- Sodk-Zod. The substitution of s~z, t~d is common in the Azerbaijani language. The suffix “-k” in the ethnonym expressed plurality in Old Turkic. Later the sound “k” was dropped due to the phonetic changes in the name.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 April 1991, the name of the village “Zod” was changed to “Sotk”. 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°12’N., longitude 45°51’E.