Armavir Province

Armavir ( [ɑɾmɑˈviɾ], Armenian Արմավիրի մարզ, scientific transliteration Armaviri marz) is an Armenian province with the provincial capital Armavir. It is located in the Aras Valley between the mountains Ararat and Aragaz.

The province has an area of 1242 km² and a population of 256,639 (2011). In the south and west, the province has a border of about 60 kilometers with Turkey.

Other towns besides Armavir are the larger Vagharshapat (known by its official name of Echmiadzin until 1992) and the former urban-type settlement of Mezamor, which was elevated to city status in the 1990s. In addition to these three urban municipalities, there are 94 rural municipalities with a total of 95 villages; the largest villages (with over 4000 inhabitants each) are Arshalujs, Karakert, Mrgashat, Nalbandjan, Parakar and Sardarapat (as of 2011).

The province was formed during the administrative reorganization in the framework of decentralization in 1995 from the rajons Armavir (until 1992 Hoktemberjan) and Echmiadzin, which had existed in the Armenian SSR of the Soviet Union since 1930, as well as the rajon Baghramjan, which was separated in 1983, and the rajon-free towns of Armavir and Vagharshapat.

Administration breakdown

The province of Armawir is divided into 97 municipalities, of which three are urban municipalities and 94 are rural municipalities:

Rural communities and contained settlements: