AVSHAR

The village is situated in the central part of Vedibasar region,­ in Agrydagh valley, 12 km to the south-west of the Boyuk Vedi village, the center of Vedi district, on the watershed of the Vedi river and the Irevan-Nakhchivan highway­, on the Irevan-Nakhchivan-Baku railway, ­847 m above sea level.

Until 1919 the village was populated only by Azerbaijani Turks, and from 1922 to 1988 it became an assimilated village where Azerbaijanis and Armenians lived together.

In 1832 there were 80 (42 men, 38 women) in 13 families, in 1873 there were 886 (500 men, 386 women) in 115 families, and in 1886 there were 1059 Azerbaijanis (542 men, 517 women) in 149 families. In subsequent ­censuses, the population changed as follows: in 1897 - 1166, in 1905 - 1094, in 1914 - 1107 Azerbaijanis.

In 1918-1920, like other villages in the Vedibasar region, Avshar village was severely attacked by the Armenian Dashnaks, and there was courageous resistance against ­ Armenian aggression. During these events, some of the village's civilians were brutally murdered­ by the Armenians, and those who survived fled the village.

After the Sovietization of Vedibasar, refugees from Avshar ­returned to their village. By this time the first Armenian families who fled the Van region of Turkey had already been settled in the village. The 420 Azerbaijanis who returned from Avshal village were then forced to live next to the Armenians.

In 1926 in the village lived 533 Azerbaijanis, 317 Armenians, and in 1931 - 608 Azerbaijanis, 327 Armenians.

In 1946-1947, new Armenian families from Turkey and Iran settled in the village.

On April 17, 1950 the entire Azerbaijani population of the village of Avshar was forcibly relocated to Azerbaijan. At that time there were 260 Azerbaijanis and only 50 Armenians living in the village of Avshar. The Avshar villagers deported to Azerbaijan were­ distributed here among 6 districts - Salyan, Ali Bayramli, Shamkir, Agjabedi, Sheki, Sabirabad. Taking advantage of­ the political situation after the death of Stalin, 10 families from Avshar in March 1954 returned back to their native village.

Some of these families, unable to withstand the Armenian pressure and persecution, ­returned to Azerbaijan again in 1970.

Several Azerbaijani families who continued to live in the village of Avshar in the Vedi district were completely expelled from Azerbaijan in 1988.