ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Arekli 11 Monuments

NKR (Country) / Kashatagh (District) / Arekli (Village)

Location

The, two adjoining villages, which the Kurds called Arekli, are situated on the woody slopes of the gorge, at the left bank of the Ghorchu, the left tributary to the Shalva River, Probably, these are the upper and lower quarters of the same village. The former extends on the southern slope of the gorge, at the altitude of 1600-1680 m.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

Historical Introduction

This probably might be the Arkuget village mentioned by Kaghankatvatsi, who witnessed that “... when the (Arab) commanders reached Syunik and took captives in the town of Baghatsn, they stopped in the province of Aghahej, in the village named Arkuget, and immediately ordered to burn the church, named after Saint Gregory.”

Movses Kaghankatvatsi, History of Albania, Yerevan, 1983, p. 331.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, pp. 161-162.

It could not be also excluded that the Arkuget village was identical to Arko, mentioned by St. Orbelian, the name of which was later distorted by the Kurds as Arekli.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162.

Description

The Lower Arekli quarters are much larger and show no traces of Armenian culture.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162.

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Arkuget
Arko
Upper Arko