ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Ghoshabulagh 12 Monuments

Azerbaijan (Country) / Northern Artsakh (Area) / Getabek (District) / Ghoshabulagh (Village)

Location

The village is situated on the left bank of the river Legharak (Bada), 22 kilometres north of the district centre, between 1,220 and 1,350 metres of altitude above sea level.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 253.

Historical Introduction
1770 y․

Folklorist S. Kamalian is the only topographer to have visited the site of this ancient village, which was stripped of its inhabitants in the 1770s (some of them resettlet in Shulaver, i.e. the present-day township of Shahumian in Marneul District of the Republic of Georgia); that is why, we are presenting his most valuable records on Korkh without any abridgement: “Walking above the Aziziants’ dwelling sites and some demolished houses, we headed south-east through mountain slopes, pastures and a gorge and reached the village site of Korkh comprising some 8 to 10 Turkish families with their cattle (its former inhabitants lived in Shulaver). Korkh, that is located in a steep southeast-facing area, lies opposite Okuz Dara or Mount Yokizlu. It has a large, magnificent cemetery with fine grave-stones whose epitaphs, however, are distorted. Over a 100 years, the local tombstones, decorated with superb reliefs, have been serving as “trays” of salt for landowner Zulghadarov, who is in the habit of driving his cattle to this grave-yard and feeding them here. The following is what I managed to make out in the surviving epitaphs...”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, pp. 13-14.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 253.

These epitaphs and a legend handed down from generation to generation among the local people led Kamalian to the following conclusion, “This much about the cemetery. Thus, Jalal was a famous prince in Korkh. Common people called him Agh Melik, obviously, due to the whiteness of his face skin. As legend has it, Jalal was a prominent wealthy person: according to the inhabitants of Legharak, he owned seven ploughs, his draft animals being of seven distinct colours. The villagers ascribed this fact to Hormat’s family: probably, this was the name of Melik Jalal’s family. His cattle, which generally grazed on the slopes of Mount Palttu (Kaghnut), was said to be so great in number that he found it senseless to drive them back to the village every day. Instead, he built a clay pipeline (the local people showed me the underground pipes), through which the milk yielded by the animals reached his house, where it was churned and matzoon [sour clotted milk] was prepared. I attempted to make some inquiries about Agh Melik, but all that was known about him from the aforementioned legend was restricted to his tragic death. “Once Agh Melik was having a talk with Keohna Ghalaum (he was either a sultan or khan: those telling me the legend were not sure about his rank) near Mount Memertlu. At that time, a Persian ambassador, who had arrived from Persia, came to introduce himself to the latter, but he mistakenly took Agh Melik for him and bowed before him. When the sultan (or khan) asked him why he had done so, he apologized for his mistake and said that anyone unacquainted with him could not remain indifferent to the magnificent appearance of the melik and, indeed, would not bow before the khan, leaving him aside. He also added that Keohna Ghalaum had better not receive guests in the melik’s presence in the future. A short time later, the treacherous, envious sultan poisoned Melik Jalal. Nobody knew where his remains were interred. According to the common people, the person talking to him on that day was sultan Allahyar, Mamarzabek’s father and the head of the Zulghadarovs’ family. Mamarzabek was the grandfather of Allahyar Bey, whose father was Mamad.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, pp. 14-15.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 254.

19 c․

In the late 19th century, some cattle-breeding Turkish tribes shifted to a sedentary life in the village site of Korkh, serving them as a summer encampment, and founded the present-day settlement there.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 254.

Population
1977 y․

In 1977 it had a population of 1,636.

Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia, vol. 3, Yerevan, 1977, p. 221.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 254.

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Korkh