Hin Ablah Village Site :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Hin Ablah Village Site

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Khanlar / Ablah

Location

The village site of Hin (Older) Ablah extends on the south-facing slope of a gorge lying 1.5 kilometres north-east of the present-day village.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.

Historical Introduction

“...it is surrounded by bare mountains on three sides. In times bygone, a huge block of rock stretching all along the southern part of the village used to serve as a solid fortification for the local inhabitants, protecting them from the attacks of the neighbouring barbarians. The eastern part of the village is covered with a fine forest and gardens with all kinds of fruit-bearing trees: Ablah is especially famous for its pears...”

“Nor-Dar,” 1886, No. 144, p. 2.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.

Population
20 c․

In the early 20th century, the residents of Ablah abandoned their ancient village and took up residence in a plateau extending a little south-westward, where they founded a new village of the same name.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.

Historical Introduction

Hin Ablah, now relegated to a village site, was also known among the local people by the name of Ginedzor. We, however, are not convinced that ‘Ginedzor’ and ‘Kinevanuts Dzor,’ mentioned in the colophon of a manuscript Gospel once kept in the local church,’ are identical.

That part of the colophon reads, “In the year 842, I, Vahap, erected this church and purgatory, and had a canal stretched from the gorge of Kinevanuts... The villagers promised to hold divine service in my memory three hours a year: may God bless those who will do so. Besides, I built a bridge, paved a road and had a heifer as well as some sheep, rams and lambs slaughtered for nine hundred people. My estate in Buskhan was arid; that is why, I arranged for water to be conveyed there once a week for the sake of my property (“Ardzagank,” 1886, No. 20, p. 293).
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.

Population
1839 y․

The following list of Ablah Armenians drawn up in 1839 is of great value to the study of the history of their families:

“Abraham Baghdasarian, his wife Shoghi, their daughter Herik as well as their sons Yeghiazar and Sargis; Abraham’s brother Vardan and his spouse Altum;
Sargis Papian, his sister Sona and his mother Anna;
Simeon Khachumian, his wife Mariam, their daughter Shoghi as well as their sons Avag and Mkrtich;
Khachatur Harutiunian, his wife Antaram, his mother Khatun as well as his brothers Hovsep, and Mnatsakan with his wife Heriknaz;
Widow Khanum, her daughter Sona as well as her sons Avetis and Grigor;
Vani Harutiunian, his wife Mariam as well as his brothers Grigor, and Hovakim with his spouse Antaram;
Grigor Harutiunian, his wife Anna as well as their sons Daniel, Aaron and Simeon;
Hovhannes Harutiunian, his wife Margaret, their children Sargis and Varti as well as Hovhannes’ brother Petros;
Sarukhan Ghukassian, his wife Shoghi as well as their sons Thomas, Ghazar and Harutiun;
Avag Grigorian, his mother Nazlukhan, his brother Hovsep and their sister Sona.”

National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3800, pp. 29-30.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.

19 — 20 cc․

These statistical data reveal that the inhabitants of Ablah mostly increased during the aforementioned period. In the course of some years, however, certain reduction could be observed in their number due to resettlement. In 1886 the contemporary press wrote the following with regard to that fact, “Several decades ago, this village boasted greater prosperity than it does today: in the aftermath of an incessant resettlement mainly in Gandzak, the number of the local people has dropped to 25 houses now...”

“Nor-Dar,” 1886, No. 144, p. 2.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

Most of Ablah Armenians were natives of the village, and only a small part of them had moved there from some other places, including Haterk, a village in present-day Martakert District of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh.

Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 267.
Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 317.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

1980 y․

At first the Turkish elements who penetrated into Ablah in the early 1980s comprised merely several families.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

1989 y․

In the summer of 1989, however, it was rapidly inhabited with Turks, in the aftermath of which, it was stripped of its Armenian inhabtants in several months’ time.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Ginedzor

The available statistical records on the population of Ablah between 1804 and 1917 represent the following picture:

Dates	Armenian Houses	Armenians (Male)	Armenians (Female)	Total (Armenians)	Notes	Source
1804	16	32	26	58		Collected Acts of the Caucasian Archaeological Commission, vol. 2, Tiflis, 1868, p. 596; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1839	10	28	21	49		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3800, pp. 29-30. Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1845		62	41	103		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3811, pp. 4-5; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1847		65	42	107		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3814, pp. 95-96; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1849		65	47	112		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3818, pp. 95-96; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1852		71	55	126		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3819, pp. 105-106; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1861	12					National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3835, pp. 147-148; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1866	12	52	44	96		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3848, p. 57; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1872		69	60	129		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3872, pp. 62-63; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1873				78		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3862, pp. 58-59; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1875				81		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3872, pp. 44-45; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1876				83		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3868, pp. 57-58; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1877		46	41	87		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3869, pp. 54-55; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1878		48	40	88		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3870, pp. 22-23; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1881		70	64	134		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3873, pp. 27-28; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1882		69	69	138		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3874, p. 30; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1883		68	68	136		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3875, pp. 56-57; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1885		62	47	109		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3877, p. 29; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1886	34	111	85	196	According to another source, the village had a population of 24 houses (“Ardzagank,” 1886, No. 20, p. 293).	Yelizavetpol Province: A Statistical Survey Based on the Family Lists of Caucasia's Population. Tiflis, 1888, pp. 86-87; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1887		77	47	124		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3880, p. 72; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1888		82	48	130		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3882, p. 130; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1889		83	50	133		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3884, pp. 226-227; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1890		86	48	132		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3887, p. 149; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1891		91	54	145		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3889, p. 148; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1892		99	56	155		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3891, p. 120; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1893		104	58	162		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3895, pp. 77-78; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 328.
1894		105	56	161		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3896, pp. 71-72; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1897		119	74	193		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3899, pp. 146-147; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1898		124	76	200		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3897, p. 168; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1899		131	82	213		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3903 pp. 126-127; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1900		133	86	219		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3905 pp. 90-91; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1901		137	84	221		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3906 pp. 96-97; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1902		142	85	227		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3907, pp. 22-23; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1905		149	92	241		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3912, pp. 265-266; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1906		149	88	237		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3915, p. 24; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1907				257		National Archives of Armenia, fund 56, list 1, file 240, p. 2; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1908	27	157	158	312		National Archives of Armenia, fund 35, list 1, file 559, p. 8; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1909		159	158	317		National Archives of Armenia, fund Պ56, list 18, file 764, p. 116; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1910		166	160	326		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3917, pp. 56-57; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1912	43	174	175	349		National Archives of Armenia, fund 53, list 1, file 3919, pp. 61-62. Also see “Horizon,” 1912, No. 107, p. 3; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1914				371		Caucasian Calendar for 1915, Tiflis, 1914, p. 82; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.
1917	60			324		Avetissian, M. M. A Reference Book on the Settlements and Population Number of Nagorno Karabakh and Zangezur (1917). In: “Banber Hayastani Arkhivneri,” 1991, No. 3, p. 166; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 329.