Sotk

Coordinates: 40°12′11″N 45°51′53″E / 40.20306°N 45.86472°E / 40.20306; 45.86472

Sotk (Armenian: Սոթք, until 1991 Zod) is a village in the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia.

History

At the end of the nineteenth century Zod was a village with 1100 Azeri inhabitants, which then named Tatars. It grew into a town during the region's industrialization in the 1960 and 1970s, primarily due to the exploitation of the Zod gold mines. There is now a gold mine and a light metallurgy fabrication in the outskirts of the town. The town has a ruined Armenian basilica church said to date from the 7th century, with 13th century gravestones in its walls. The town was mostly populated by ethnic Azeris until 1988, when they fled to Azerbaijan as a result of ethnic clashes. The refugees from Zod founded the village of Yeni Zod in the Goygol rayon of Azerbaijan.

Famous people from the town