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93-469: Gegharkunik ( Armenian : Գեղարքունիք , Armenian pronunciation: [ɡɛʁɑɾkʰuˈnikʰ] ) is a province ( marz ) of Armenia . Its capital and largest city is Gavar . Gegharkunik is inhabited by approximately 209,669 people and the majority are ethnic Armenians . Gegharkunik Province is located at the eastern part of Armenia , bordering Azerbaijan . It includes the exclave of Artsvashen , which has been under Azerbaijani occupation since

186-532: A de facto population of 211,828 according to the 2011 Armenian census. The largest settlements in the province are: Gavar (20,765), Sevan (19,229), Martuni (12,894), Vardenis (12,685), Vardenik (9,880), Yeranos (6,119), Chambarak (5,660), Lchashen (5,054), Tsovagyugh (4,189). Lake Sevan has the only beaches in Armenia. They are a popular destination for the Armenians. Sevan's beaches provide

279-520: A consistent Proto-Indo-European pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages. The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that

372-620: A dousing of hot honey. The summer presidential residence of Armenia is located at the Sevan Peninsula. Gegharkunik has four regional TV stations: The province is connected with other parts of Armenia through the M-4, M-10 and M-14 Motorways. The M-11 Motorway that passes through Martuni and Vardenis connects the province with the town of Karvachar of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic . The Vardenis- Martakert highway,

465-468: A loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian եւ yev , ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi ). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities. Loan words from Iranian languages , along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led some linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that

558-476: A major potential water resource in the 19th century. Its high altitude location relative to the fertile Ararat plain and limited energy resources attracted engineers to explore ways of usage of the lake's water. In his 1910 book, Armenian engineer Sukias Manasserian proposed using Sevan's water for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. He proposed draining the lake by 50 m (160 ft). Major Sevan would completely dry out, while Minor Sevan would have

651-740: A major summer destination for locals and foreigners with many hotels and resorts. The cultural heritage and the natural monuments of the region attract the tourists too. During the last decade, many new hotels and spa resorts were opened along the coast of Lake Sevan , including the Harsnaqar Hotel and Water Park, the Best Western Bohemian Resort Sevan, the Akhtamar Sevan Hotel, the Tufenkian Avan Marag Hotel of Tsapatagh ,

744-425: A network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened

837-486: A surface area of 240 km (93 sq mi). Manasserian's proposal was adopted by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s when, under Joseph Stalin , the country was undergoing rapid industrialization . Works on the project started in 1933. The riverbed of Hrazdan was deepened through excavation. A tunnel was bored around 40 metres (130 ft) under the lake's surface. The tunnel was completed in 1949 and thereafter

930-631: A unique experience within the landlocked country for Armenians. The beaches adjacent to hotels are usually privatized. Numerous beaches are located along the entire lake shore. The most popular of them is a 2.5-kilometre ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  mi) stretch on the northern shore, extending northwest from the peninsula. Resorts include Harsnaqar Hotel, Best Western Bohemian Resort, and numerous smaller facilities. Activities include swimming, sunbathing, jet skiing, windsurfing, and sailing. The area also includes numerous campgrounds and picnic areas for daytime use. A less-developed beach destination stretches along

1023-469: Is 1,242 km (480 sq mi), and the volume is 32.8 km (7.9 cu mi). It is fed by 28 rivers and streams. Only 10% of the incoming water is drained by the Hrazdan River , while the remaining 90% evaporates. Sevan has significant economic, cultural, and recreational value. Its sole major island (now a peninsula) is home to a medieval monastery . The lake provides some 90% of

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1116-451: Is 65,667 (31.3%) and the rural is 144,002 (68.7%). The province has 5 urban and 87 rural communities. The largest urban community is the provincial centre of Sevan, with a population of 18,705. The other urban centres of are Gavar, Martuni, Vardenis and Chambarak. With a population of 9,880, the village of Vardenik is the largest rural municipality of Gegharkunik. Vardenik is also the largest rural community in Armenia. Gegharkunik Province

1209-552: Is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages . It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological changes within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization , although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian ), Albanian and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian

1302-635: Is attested on an 8th-century BC cuneiform inscription by the Urartian king Rusa I , found in Odzaberd , on the southern shore of the lake. The historical Armenian name of the lake, attested in early medieval texts, is Sea of Gegham ( classical Armenian : ծով Գեղամայ, tsov Geghamay ). The historic Georgian name of the lake is Gelakuni (გელაქუნი), which is essentially the Georgian transcription of Armenian Gegharkuni . In classical antiquity ,

1395-561: Is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the augment and a negator derived from the set phrase in the Proto-Indo-European language * ne h₂oyu kʷid ("never anything" or "always nothing"),

1488-614: Is considered one of the three great "seas" of historic Armenia . It is the only one within the boundaries of present-day Republic of Armenia, while the other two are located in Turkey and Iran, respectively. Lake Sevan is considered the "jewel" of Armenia and is "recognized as a national treasure" in the country. The 2001 Law on Lake Sevan defines the lake as "a strategic ecosystem valuable for its environmental, economical, social, scientific, cultural, aesthetic, medical, climatic, recreational, and spiritual value." Chardin in 1673 noted

1581-468: Is currently divided into 5 municipalities or enlarged communities ( hamaynkner ). Rural communities and included settlements: In recent years, many rural settlements in Gegharkunik have been abandoned, such as the villages of Chapkut , Chichakli , Karakoyun , Karmirkharab , Kizilkharaba , Nshkhark and Zariver . There are cultural palaces and many public libraries in the urban settlements of

1674-474: Is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵipyós , with cognates in Sanskrit (ऋजिप्य, ṛjipyá ), Avestan ( ərəzifiia ), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, aigípios ). Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian eue ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely

1767-807: Is estimated, that due to climate change by year 2030, the outflow of the Arpa river will decrease by 22%. Since the water level in the lake did not rise as fast and as much, on 20 April 1981 the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union made a decision for the construction of the Vorotan–Arpa tunnel. This 21.6 km (13.4 mi) long tunnel was begun from the Spandarian Reservoir on the Vorotan River further south from Kechut. Due to

1860-471: Is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian , although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well. One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian xalam , "skull", cognate to Hittite ḫalanta , "head". In 1985,

1953-417: Is of a major environmental importance for the entire region. Getik , Gavaraget and Masrik are the main rivers of the province. The climate of Gegharkunik is cold and snowy in winter, while the summer is characterized with warm and humid climate. The annual precipitation level ranges between 500 and 600 mm at below 2000 meters, while it may reach up to 1000 mm in the mountainous areas. Historically,

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2046-524: Is the Sevanavank monastery located on the peninsula, which was until the mid-20th century an island. Another prominent monastery at the western shore is Hayravank , and further south, in the village of Noratus , is a field of khachkars ; a cemetery with about 900 khachkars of different styles. Additional khachkars are found at Nerkin Getashen on the south coast. In 2017, a Misplaced Pages globe

2139-605: Is the largest body of water in both Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia . The lake is situated in Gegharkunik Province , at an altitude of 1,900 m (6,234 ft) above sea level. The total surface area of its basin is about 5,000 km (1,900 sq mi), which makes up 1 ⁄ 6 of Armenia's territory. The lake itself

2232-512: Is the working language. Armenian (without reference to a specific variety) is officially recognized as a minority language in Cyprus , Hungary , Iraq , Poland , Romania , and Ukraine . It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . Lake Sevan Lake Sevan ( Armenian : Սևանա լիճ , romanized :  Sevana lich )

2325-466: The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet (" օ " and " ֆ "), bringing the total number to 38. The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of

2418-563: The Armenian genocide , mostly in the diaspora ). The differences between them are considerable but they are mutually intelligible after significant exposure. Some subdialects such as Homshetsi are not mutually intelligible with other varieties. Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC Behistun Inscription and in Xenophon 's 4th century BC history, The Anabasis ),

2511-573: The Armenian gull ( Larus armenicus ) with about 4,000–5,000 pairs. During migration the Lake is visited by wide variety of birds including raptors, such as Montagu's harrier ( Circus pygargus ) and Steppe eagle ( Aquila nipalensis ), waterbirds such as red-crested pochard ( Netta rufina ) and ferruginous duck ( Aythya nyroca ), while during the wintering period the lake hosts another set of species such as Bewick's swan ( Cygnus columbianus ) and great black-headed gull ( Larus ichthyaetus ). Sometimes

2604-609: The First Nagorno-Karabakh War . With an area of 5,348 km (2,065 sq mi), Gegharkunik is the largest province in Armenia. However, approximately 24% or 1,278 km (493 sq mi) of its territory is covered by Lake Sevan , the largest lake in the South Caucasus and a major tourist attraction of the region. The Yerevan-Sevan-Dilijan republican highway runs through the province. The early Armenian history Movses Khorenatsi connected

2697-641: The Greek language , the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages . Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the satem change) but others only with Greek ( s > h ). Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe

2790-643: The Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands , the " Armenian hypothesis ". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection. Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic , splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and Indo-Iranian ). Classical Armenian (Arm: grabar ), attested from

2883-506: The Juniper Woodlands Sanctuary of the mountains of Sevan. The Sevan Botanical Garden is also a major destination for the lovers of ecotourism . As of 2016, Gegharkunik Province has 126 public schools. Two major educational institutions currently operating in Gegharkunik are: During the brief summer of the region, Sevan and the nearby beaches tun into a popular beach resort. Many professionals and amateurs visit

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2976-542: The Mekhitarists . The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar , was published in grabar in 1794. The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages , primarily Parthian , and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian . An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and

3069-466: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the 1988 earthquake in northwestern Armenia construction was halted. The tunnel was inaugurated on 26 April 2004. The Vorotan–Arpa tunnel brings an additional 165 million cubic metres (5.8 billion cubic feet) to the lake annually. After the construction of the two tunnels the water level began rising significantly since the mid-2000s. In 2007 it

3162-453: The "extraordinary sweetness of the water", the "small Island in the middle of it; where stands a Monastery built about 600 years ago, of which the Prior is an Archbishop", and "nine sorts of fish which are there taken; the fairest trouts and carps which are eaten at Erivan being caught in this Lake". Naturalist and traveler Friedrich Parrot , best known for ascending Mount Ararat in 1829 for

3255-408: The 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by Middle Armenian , attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from

3348-481: The Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually,

3441-811: The Blue Sevan Rest-house near Tsovagyugh , the Maria Resort Sevan and the Lavanda City cottages. In February 2011, the Sevan ropeway was opened at the north of the town, in the area known as "mashtotsner", on the way to Tsovagyugh village. It has a length of 1,130 meters. Many forests of the province are listed among the protected areas of Armenia, including the Sevan National Park , the Getik Sanctuary , and

3534-482: The Gegham Mountains with a height of 3597 meters in the western part of the range. Lake Sevan occupies the central part of the province, lying at a height of 1900 meters above sea level and covering an area of 1260 km (around 23.5% of the area of Gegharkunik). The lake is the largest body of fresh water in Armenia and the entire South Caucasus . With a volume of around 32.92 billion m of water, Sevan

3627-467: The Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa. A notable example is arciv , meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian Arṣibi and Northeast Caucasian arzu . This word

3720-669: The Russian Empire), removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian genocide . In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is indigenous , Armenian is spoken among the diaspora . According to Ethnologue , globally there are 1.6 million Western Armenian speakers and 3.7 million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling 5.3 million Armenian speakers. In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki districts where they represent over 90% of

3813-459: The Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul , whereas Tbilisi became

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3906-509: The Sevan's level began to drop significantly, at a rate over 1 metre (3 ft) per year. The water was used for irrigation and the Sevan–Hrazdan Cascade of six hydroelectric power stations on Hrazdan River. During the second half of the 20th century, the ecological condition of Lake Sevan underwent tangible changes and vast degradation due to reduced water level, increased eutrophication , and detrimental impact of human activity on

3999-478: The Sevan-endemic trout have already disappeared. The summer bakhtak occurs rarely; the gegharkuni is still capable of reproducing naturally. In 1980s, the quantity of Sevan koghak significantly decreased. Numerous reasons for this have been identified: The bird fauna of the lake and its vicinity makes over 200 species, out of which 95 species are breeding. The lake is an important breeding ground for

4092-780: The Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages . Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ałaxin "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne ), cov "sea" ( ← Urart. ṣûǝ "(inland) sea"), ułt "camel" ( ← Hurr. uḷtu ), and xnjor "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ḫinzuri ). Some of

4185-453: The average annual concentration of vanadium (64 μg/L) in the samples taken from Lake Sevan exceeded the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) by 6.4 times, while selenium (26 μg/L) exceeded MPC 2.6 times, copper (21 μg/L) 2.1 times, magnesium (60 μg/L) 1.2 times. A 2016 study found that mining and metallurgical industrial activities—namely the Sotk gold mine on the southeastern shore of

4278-417: The biological diversity of the lake. According to Babayan et al. the lake level dropped by 19.88 m (65.2 ft) by 2002, while the volume decreased by 43.8% (from 58.5 to 32.9 km  [14.0 to 7.9 cu mi]). Due to the water level decrease, the quality of the water deteriorated, natural habitats were destroyed that meant loss of biodiversity . Vardanian wrote that drop of the lake level and

4371-434: The center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life. The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to

4464-511: The current territory of the province mainly occupies the Gegharkunik and Sotk cantons of the Syunik province of Ancient Armenia, along with parts of Mazaz and Varazhnunik cantons of Ayrarat province. From 1930 until 1995, modern-day Gegharkunik was divided into 5 raions within the Armenian SSR : Sevan raion , Kamo raion , Krasnoselsk raion , Martuni raion and Vardenis raion . With

4557-455: The eastern shore from Tsovagyugh to Shorzha , with numerous small cabins at Shorzha. The Avan Marak Tsapatagh Hotel, a Tufenkian Heritage Hotel, is a luxury resort on the undeveloped southeastern shore of the lake near Tsapatagh . The Armenian government pledged to "reduce the growing commercialization of rest at Lake Sevan that makes it unaffordable for most citizens struggling to find other beach options during hot Armenian summers." In 2011

4650-421: The economic development in the basin brought about the change in hydro-chemical regime of the lake. The quality of the water deteriorated, water turbidity increased. The inner circulation of the water constituents as well as the circulation of the biological substances altered. According to Babayan et al. "by the 1950s it had become evident that the ecological and economic consequences of extensive exploitation of

4743-580: The existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect. The two modern literary dialects, Western (originally associated with writers in the Ottoman Empire) and Eastern (originally associated with writers in

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4836-422: The first time in history, wrote: It is important for the Armenian economy: being the main source of irrigation water, Sevan provides low-cost electricity, fish, recreation, and tourism. Sevan originated during the early Quaternary when tectonic formation created a Palaeo-Sevan, ten times larger than the present lake. The current lake was formed some 25 to 30 thousand years ago. Sevan was recognized as being

4929-518: The fish and 80% of the crayfish catch of Armenia. Sevan was heavily exploited for irrigation of the Ararat plain and hydroelectric power generation during the Soviet period. Consequently, its water level decreased by around 20 m (66 ft) and its volume reduced by more than 40%. Later, two tunnels were built to divert water from highland rivers, which halted its decline and its level began rising. Before human intervention dramatically changed

5022-630: The government established public beaches in the Sevan National Park's recreational zone. The first two public beaches were opened in July. Some 100,000 people visited the public beaches in summer of 2011. The beaches have free parking space, children's and sports playgrounds, toilets, medical aid stations, and rescue services. They are also equipped with beach couches. By 2014, the number of public beaches reached 11. Some 200,000 people took holiday there in 2014. The most famous cultural monument

5115-425: The hypothetical Mushki language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language. W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages , based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or synapomorphies ), the common retention of archaisms (or symplesiomorphy )

5208-470: The interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or

5301-452: The lake as Sevanga or Sevang , Per folk etymology , Sevan is either a combination of sev ("black") and vank’ ("monastery"), sev ("black") + Van (i.e., Lake Van ), or originates from the phrase sa ē vank'ə ("this is the monastery"). The scholarly explanation, first suggested by Mikhail V. Nikolsky  [ ru ] in 1896, is that Sevan originated from the Urartian word suinia , usually translated as "lake". It

5394-591: The lake is visited by very rare Armenian migrant lesser white-fronted goose ( Anser erythropus ). There are a lot of historical monuments located on the coast of Sevan, ranging from prehistoric petroglyphs to various monasteries. The monasteries include Sevanavank , Vanevan , Kotavank and others. There are also many historical castles and fortresses on the coast, including Berdkunk Fortress , Odzaberd , and others. The rivers feeding Lake Sevan flow through densely populated settlements which produce agricultural, domestic, and industrial waste. It significantly changes

5487-464: The lake was known as Lychnitis ( Ancient Greek : Λυχνῖτις ). John Chardin , who visited the lake in 1673, called it the "Lake of Erivan" and wrote that it was called Deria-Shirin ("sweet lake") by Persians and Kiagar-couni-sou by Armenians. The Turkic name Gokcha or Gökche , which means "blue lake" was also used in Russian and British sources from the 17th to early 20th centuries. Along with Lake Van and Lake Urmia , Sevan

5580-535: The lake's ecosystem, the lake was at an altitude of 1,916 m (6,286 ft) above sea level, 95 m (312 ft) deep, covered an area of 1,416 km (547 sq mi) (5% of Armenia's entire area), and had a volume of 58.5 km (14.0 cu mi). In the Middle Ages, Sevan was solely the name of the island (now peninsula) and the monastery built on it. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Russian and European sources sometimes referred to

5673-483: The lake's ecosystem. According to a 2017 study the lake's water contains concentration of metals such as aluminium , nickel , arsenic , cobalt , and lead . According to Armenian environmental organization EcoLur, the lake is in a critical condition because of the presence of vanadium . Environmental Impact Monitoring Center, an agency of the Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection, reported in 2012 that

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5766-434: The late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by

5859-484: The local "kingdoms" conquered by Urartu in the eighth century BCE. The word "Uel" is believed to be an early ( proto-Armenian ) version of "Gegh" (proto-Indo European u corresponds with g in Armenian, l corresponds with the Armenian gh ). Armenian gull is the symbol of the province. It is depicted on the Gegharkunik coat of arms adopted on 4 May 2011, flying over the Lake Sevan and its peninsula, surrounded by

5952-567: The morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism . In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire , while Western Armenia , containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between

6045-403: The mountains of Sevan. The wheat ears on both sides of the coat of arms represent the agricultural characteristic of the province, while the opened book at the bottom represents the intellectual and cultural heritage of the region. Gegharkunik Province occupies the east of the central part of modern-day Armenia. With an area of 5,349 km (18% of total area of Armenia), it is ranked first among

6138-576: The name of Gegharkunik with Gegham, a 5th-generation descendant of the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation Hayk . Gegham was the father of Sisak (founder of the Siunia dynasty ) and Harma (grandfather of Ara the Beautiful ). The Gegham Mountains and the Lake of Gegham (currently known as Lake Sevan ) were also named after Gegham. The region of Gegharkunik has been connected to Uelikuni/Uelikuhi, attested in Urartian sources as one of

6231-401: The north of the town. The economy of Gegharkunik Province has a predominantly agricultural orientation, including farming and cattle-breeding. It has a share of 18% in the annual total agricultural product of Armenia. Around 65% (3,487 km) of the total area of the province are arable lands , out of which 27.3% (951.5 km) are ploughed. Around 60,000 farms in Gegharkunik are operated by

6324-403: The now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged: Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of

6417-541: The official status of the Armenian language. Eastern Armenian is the official variant used, making it the prestige variety while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, Western Armenian is perceived by some as a mere dialect. Armenian was also official in the Republic of Artsakh . It is recognized as an official language of the Eurasian Economic Union although Russian

6510-639: The oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called Mehenagir . The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet . While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that

6603-483: The parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine (1936). Georg Renatus Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek

6696-407: The path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards. After World War I ,

6789-570: The population. The short-lived First Republic of Armenia declared Armenian its official language. Eastern Armenian was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also russified . The current Republic of Armenia upholds

6882-497: The private sector. The main crops are potato and grains. Fishing and fish farming is also dominant in the province. Recently, beekeeping has significantly developed. Generally, Gegharkunik has a poor industrial index with a small number of operating firms. Currently, the province has a contribution of only 2% in the annual total industrial product of Armenia. Tourism services in Gegharkunik are seasonal. The towns of Sevan, Chambarak and Martuni along with their surrounding beaches are

6975-761: The province shared a border with the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh , when the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan was administered as the Shahumyan Province of Artsakh. The Armenian exclave of Artsvashen in Gegharkunik Province is currently occupied and controlled by Azerbaijan. Gegharkunik has a mountainous landscape. Its territory is dominated by the Gegham Mountains in the west, the Vardenis Mountains in

7068-618: The province. A geological museum operates in Sevan on the basis of the Sevan Botanical Garden . Gavar is home to a history museum as well as drama theatre. The cuisine of Gavar is closely related with the oriental cuisine elements, characterized with various spices, vegetables, fish, and fruits combination. One of the famous sweets of the town is the Kyavar baklava which is a many-layered pastry with tissue-thin sheets of phyllo dough, filled with nuts and sugar and finished with

7161-423: The provinces of Armenia in terms of the total area. Gegharkunik Province is situated at the east of modern-day Armenia, surrounding the Lake Sevan. Within Armenia, it borders Tavush Province to the north, Kotayk and Ararat provinces to the west and Vayots Dzor Province to the south. The Dashkasan , Gadabay and Kalbajar districts of Azerbaijan form the eastern border of the province. From 1993 to 2020,

7254-465: The region to practice their favourite types of sports including beach soccer , beach volleyball and windsurfing . The defunct football teams of FC Akhtamar Sevan and Lernagorts Vardenis FC represented the province at the domestic competitions during the 1990s. Alashkert FC represented town of Martuni between 1990 and 2000 before being relocated to Yerevan. There are football stadiums with small seating capacities in Sevan, Martuni, Vardenis and

7347-436: The representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces". Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family , ancestral to

7440-456: The second highway connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, was opened in September 2017. Part of the highway came under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and currently cannot be used by Armenians. Sevan has a train station that connects the town with Yerevan through railway. The provincial centre Gavar has had an airstrip since the Soviet years, located to

7533-468: The similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family . The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary . He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded

7626-603: The south, the Sevan Mountains in the east, the Miapor Mountains in the northeast and the Kenats Mountains in the north of the province. The height of the mountains ranges between 2500 and 3500 meters. Gegharkunik is separated from Vayots Dzor by the 82 kilometer-long Vardenis Mountains, where the highest point is Mount Vardenis at 3,522 meters. The highest point of the province is Mount Azhdahak of

7719-519: The terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European , he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage. Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan , have rejected many of

7812-517: The territorial administration reform of 1995, the 5 raions were merged to form the Gegharkunik Province. After the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war , the length of the province's border with Azerbaijan increased. Starting on 12 May 2021, Azerbaijani troops advanced into Gegharkunik province and established positions near the villages of Kut and Verin Shorzha , precipitating a border crisis between Armenia and Azerbaijan . On 25 May 2021, an Armenian soldier

7905-508: The village of Lchashen . Natives of the province include: Armenian language Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Armenian

7998-462: The water of Lake Sevan were too undesirable to continue in the same way." In 1964 a project began to divert the Arpa River (from a reservoir near Kechut ) through a 49 km (30 mi) long tunnel to the lake near Artsvanist . The tunnel, called Arpa–Sevan, was completed in 1981. It brings up to 200 million cubic metres (7.1 billion cubic feet) of water to Sevan per year. It

8091-401: Was introduced in the 1970s. Due to anthropogenic impact, changes have occurred in all the biological components of the lake, including bacteria, benthos , and of course fish. Thus, the benthic mass increased tenfold in 1940, due to oligochaetes and chrinomices. Today, the former prevail and multiply the oxygen-rich residue at the bottom of the lake. The bojak and winter bakhtak species of

8184-494: Was killed by Azerbaijani fire in Gegharkunik, and two days later on 27 May, six Armenian soldiers were captured by Azerbaijani forces in Gegharkunik while carrying out engineering work near the border with Azerbaijan. According to the 1989 Soviet census , the Gegharkunik Province (then part of the Vardenis , Kamo , Krasnoselsk , Martuni , and Sevan districts in 1930–1995) had a population of 230,548. 58,185 or 25.24% of which

8277-517: Was reported that the water level had risen by 2.44 metres (8.0 ft) in the previous six years. It reached 1,900.04 m (6,233.7 ft) in October 2010. The government committee on Sevan forecasts that the level will reach 1,903.5 m (6,245 ft) by 2029. Water level stood at 1900.44 m in November 2019. The Gegharkunik Province , which roughly corresponds to the lake's basin, had

8370-405: Was situated between Proto-Greek ( centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian ( satem subgroup). Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages . The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Another text translated into Armenian early on, and also in the 5th-century,

8463-558: Was submerged in the lake to create an artificial reef . Sevan trout ( Salmo ischchan ) is an endemic species of the lake, but it is endangered as some competitors were introduced into the lake, including common whitefish ( Coregonus lavaretus ) from Lake Ladoga , goldfish ( Carrasius auratus ), and crayfish ( Astacus leptodactylus ). If the Sevan trout is likely to become extinct in its "home" lake, it seems that it will survive in Issyk-Kul Lake ( Kyrgyzstan ), where it

8556-682: Was the Armenian Alexander Romance . The vocabulary of the language has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages , particularly Parthian ; its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by language contact with Parthian, but to a lesser extent. Contact with Greek, Persian , and Syriac also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since

8649-429: Was urban, distributed into the cities of Kamo (31,234) and Sevan (26,951), and 172,363 or 74.76% were rural, distributed into the districts of Vardenis (31,282), Kamo (30,555), Krasnoselsk (16,428), Martuni (75,866), and Sevan (18,232). According to the 2022 official census, Gegharkunik has a population of 209,669 (105,084 men and 104,585 women), forming around 7.1% of the entire population of Armenia. The urban population

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