Turtskh :: ARMENIAN LOCATIONS

19 Monuments

Georgia (Country) / Javakhk (District) / Akhalkalak (District) / Turtskh (Village)

Location

Turtskh lies 17 kilometres north of Akhalkalak in a straight line, at an average altitude of 1,740 metres above sea level.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 502.

Historical Introduction
1595 y․

One of the earliest sources bearing reference to the village is the გურjისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარიmade up by the Turkish Government in 1595.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 502.

1595 y․

According to it, Turtskh—most probably, then a purely Armenian-inhabited village—comprised 10 houses and paid 15,000 akches to the state. A considerable part of the local house proprietors bore either Armenian names or others which were wide-spread in the Armenians’ midst: Avag, Sargis, Umek, etc.

”გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი”, էջ 198: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 502.

18 — 19 cc․

Sharing the fate of numerous other villages of the district, it was stripped of its Armenian population in the 18th century and was re-inhabited in 1830.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 502.

1918 y․

During the Turkish invasion of 1918, the residents of Turtskh, over 900 in number, moved to the village of Tsikhisjvari situated in the neighbourhood of Borzhom. Several months later, only 300 emaciated peasants returned to their homes, for the rest of their fellow villagers had fallen victim to famine and various infectious diseases. Almost half of these people died away within a short time.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 502.

Population

Turtskh participated in World War II with 150 of its residents, 54 of whom lost their lives on the front.

Դավթյան Ա., Ջավախք, Երևան, 1994, էջ 102: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 502.

1829 — 1831 yy․

Most of the forefathers of the present-day residents of Turtskh moved to its territory from Vel and other villages of Artahan District (forming the community of Gyole together) between 1829 and 1830. As attested by the elderly inhabitants of the village, the newly-arrived Armenians constituted 26 houses. Some of the resettlers, such as the Grigorians, the Gasparians and the Hovhannissians came from Kampir (the last of the families mentioned first took up residence in Zak and thence moved to Turtskh in 1831); the Aparians and Khachatrians were from Rabat; the Okroyans from Gori, and the Elazians from Kars, Kars Region, Eastern Armenia.

Vel Village (Artahan District) is situated on the left bank of the river Kur, 14 kilometres east of the district centre of Artahan. A record of 1504 mentions it as a town. At present the once Armenian village lies uninhabited and reduced to a heap of ruins. Two kilometres east of its site, on the same bank of the river Kur extends a new Turkish village of the same name which is officially registered as Sevimli. «Արձագանք», 1894, N 118, էջ 3-4: For information about Kampir, see page 170 (note 5) of the present work. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, pp. 502-503.

Priests
1915 y․

In 1915 Hakob Grigorian served as parish priest of the community of Turtskh.

«Օրացոյց և պատկեր տօնից», Թիֆլիս, 1915, էջ 82: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 505.

Construction Activity

The recent several decades have been marked with large-scale construction activity in the village of Turtskh so that at present it mostly comprises newly-erected buildings. Nevertheless, remarkable specimens of folk architecture can still be found there. With this respect, special mention should be made of the finely-preserved glkhatun (a type of ancient, hipped-roof dwelling in the mountainous regions of Armenia representing a stone building of stepped wooden roofing with a yerdik (an opening in the ceiling used as a chimney and for the purpose of illumination) in its centre) belonging to poet and prose writer Nazaret Kirakossian, and the sculptured hearthstone of Hakob Avetissian’s house.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 507.

Mother Tongue
18 c․

At first the inhabitants of Turtskh were mainly Turkish-speaking—a lamentable “legacy” that was the consequence of the violence exerted against these people under Turkish tyranny in the 18th century: “In the past century, the Bey of Artahan banned Vel and the neighbouring Armenian-speaking villages from using the Armenian language: every time they spoke it, they had to pay a fine of 50 baghdads.”18 Apart from this record, the territory of Turtskh preserves cemeteries and cross-stones attesting that the present-day village has been inhabited by Armenians since at least the Middle Ages.

«Արձագանք», 1894, N 118, էջ 3-4: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.

Type Photo
View General
Direction From the north
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 2004 y․

Type Photo
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

The available statistical records relating to the number of the inhabitants of Turtskh show that in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was one of the medium-size villages in Javakhk from the standpoint of populousness:

Dates	Armenian Houses	Armenians (Male)	Armenians (Female)	Total (Armenians)	Notes	Source
1870	26	135	125	260		Сборник материалов для описания Тифлисской губернии, т. 1, вып. 1, Тифлис, 1870, стр. 28. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1884				429		«Արձագանք», 1885, N 26, էջ 368: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1908	88					Հայաստանի ազգային դիվան (National Archives of Armenia), ֆ. 316, ց. 1, գ. 102, թ. 37: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1912				699		Յակոբեան Պ., Հրաւէր ողջմտութեան, Էջմիածին, 1993, էջ 95: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1913	104	420	371	791		Հայաստանի ազգային դիվան (National Archives of Armenia), ֆ. 316, ց. 1, գ. 26, թ. 4: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1914				900		“Кавказский календарь на 1915 г.”, Тифлис, 1914, стр. 190. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1915				800		Հայաստանի ազգային դիվան (National Archives of Armenia), ֆ. 316, ց. 1, գ. 65, թ. 36-37: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1916	106	437	387	824		«Օրացոյց և պատկեր տօնից», Թիֆլիս, 1915, էջ 82: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1987	443			2108		According to the registers of the Village Council. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1991	550			2250		According to the registers of the Village Council. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
1993				627		According to the registers of the Village Council. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.
2001				230		According to the registers of the Village Council. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 503.