MEHMANDAR (SHORLU MEHMANDAR)

Village in Zangibasar district, 11 km northwest of the village of Uluhanli, the center of Zangibasar district, on the right bank of the Zangi river.

Until 1948 in the village lived only Azerbaijani Turks, from 1948 to 1988 - Azerbaijanis and Armenians.

In 1832 there were 406 Azerbaijani Turks (228 men, 178 women) in 69 households, in 1873 - 1573 people (884 men, 689 women) in 160 households, in 1886. - 1,432 persons (835 men, 597 women) in 173 households, in 1897 - 1,824 persons, in 1905 - 1455 persons, in 1914. - 1,632 persons­.

In 1918, the village of Mehmandar, like other Muslim villages in the Iravan district­, was severely attacked by the Armenian Dashnaks, the village was completely destroyed by the Armenians. The surviving population of Araz took refuge in Turkey.

For several years the village was in disrepair, and only after the establishment of Soviet power in the region did the surviving part of the rural population slowly begin to return to their native land. In 1922 the number who returned to the village was 788 people, in 1926 - 1010 people, in 1931 - 778 people. The population once again restored the village, revived the economy, and began to improve their well-being.

In the 1940s, due to the liquidation of the village of Chobankara, residents of this village were forced to move to the village of Mehmandar.

Another genocide of the Azerbaijanis of the village Mehmandar took place in 1948-1949, the population of the village was deported and resettled in ­the Agjabedi district of Azerbaijan. But at the first opportunity, more than 100 families of them gradually returned, trying to settle in their native village.­But by that time, a significant number of Armenians from Agin and Artik­districts of Armenia had already been brought and settled in the village.  Therefore, many returnees were forced to build houses and live in the neighboring village of Rahimabad.

On January 3, 1935 the village was renamed to Shorlu Mehmandar, and on January 25, 1978 it was renamed again to Hovtashat.

In 1988, the population of the village was again subjected to genocide, and everylast person was expelled from their homeland in­ ­a violent manner typical of Armenians. During these events, the Armenians brutally murdered the entire Jafarovs family from the village of Mehmandar - ­four people.

The Haji Abbas Mosque in the village of Mehmandar was built of red brick around the 1840s and is named after the man who built it, ­Haji Abbas. It is said that this mosque was built by masters from Turkey and Iran. This mosque became a place of worship for the entire Muslim population of ­Zangibasar and Uchkilsa districts.

During the Armenian-Muslim massacres of 1915-1918, in the most dangerous moments the Muslim ­population of the village hid their wives and children in the mosque of Haji Abbas, and armed men patrolled around­ the mosque until morning.