The Armenian village of Kaghakik in Nakhijevan

2025-04-25

The Armenian village of Kaghakik[1] in Nakhijevan is now called Kalaki and is located about 10–11 km north of the town of Ordubad, on the right bank of the Vanand River, a left tributary of the Araks, spread out among orchards on a plateau. I. Chopin mentioned the village name as Kyolaki and the church of the village.

The root of the village name is the Armenian word “kaghak” (քաղաք, meaning "city") with the diminutive suffix -ik, while the Azerbaijani form “Kalaki” derives from the Armenian "Kaghakik". Hrachya Acharian connects the origin of the Armenian word kaghak with the renowned Assyrian capital Kalak. “We know that words meaning ‘city’ often have the meaning of ‘elevation or fortress,’ and the Armenian kaghak can be placed alongside Arabic qal‘a, Georgian kalaki, and Middle Persian karāk.”

Perhaps the meaning of the village name “Kaghakik” (little city) was connected to the fact that it served as a summer retreat for the wealthy residents of Agulis. According to Armenian ethnographer Yervand Lalayan, in the 19th century, the ancestral mansions of the Gevorgyan and Santuryan families were built there. Тhe building a summer retreat would have required an elevated location with cool climate.

Between 1829 and 1832, the settlement had 94 Armenian inhabitants; by 1873, the number had grown to 257, and by 1906, it reached 428. The residents were engaged in horticulture, animal husbandry, and sericulture.

In 1873, an Armenian four-year coeducational parish school was opened in the village, which operated intermittently until 1917.

By the end of the 19th century, the Surb Stepanos Church was still standing in Kaghakik. There was also an inscribed khachkar (cross-stone) dating back to 1441, bearing a corresponding dedication. To the northeast of Kaghakik stood the Chapel of St. Sargis.

All of these Armenian Christian monuments no longer exist—they were destroyed by Azerbaijanis.

The Armenians of Kaghakik in Goghtn were forcibly displaced during the 1930s, after which the village was Azerbaijanized.

Bibliography:

Hrachya Acharian, Armenian Etymological Dictionary, Vol. 4, Yerevan, 1979.

Dictionary of Toponyms of Armenia and Adjacent Regions, compiled by T. Kh. Hakobyan, St. T. Melik-Bakhshyan, H. Kh. Barseghyan, Vol. 5, Yerevan, 1986.

I. Chopin, Historical Monument of the State of the Armenian Region in the Era of its Annexation to the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, 1852.

A. Ayvazyan, The Epigraphic Heritage of Nakhijevan, Vol. III, Goghtn District, Yerevan, 2007.

[1] The village is now called Kalaki (Azerbaijani: Kələki).

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