{{Short description|City and municipality in Oghuz, Azerbaijan}} {{other uses|Oghuz (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Oğuz | settlement_type = City & municipality | native_name = | image_skyline = OghuzCollection67.jpg | imagesize = 350px | caption = Clockwise from top: Houses in Oghuz; AFRA Hotel; Ashaghi Mahalla Synagogue; Street in Oghuz; History museum (former Church of Saint Elisæus); View of Oghuz | image_shield = | pushpin_map = Azerbaijan#Shaki-Zagatala | pushpin_mapsize = 300 | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{AZE}} | subdivision_type1 = District | subdivision_name1 = Oghuz | leader_title = | leader_name = | established_title = Established | established_date = 1968 | area_total_km2 = | area_footnotes = | population_as_of = 2010 | population_total = 7002 | population_footnotes = <ref>[http://world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&des=wg&geo=-26&srt=npan&col=abcdefghinoq&msz=1500&pt=c&va=x World Gazetteer: Azerbaijan] {{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} – World-Gazetteer.com</ref> | population_density_km2 = | timezone = AZT | utc_offset = +4 | coordinates = {{coord|41|04|15|N|47|27|30|E|region:AZ|display=inline}} | elevation_m = 630 | area_code = +994 024 | website = }}
'''Oğuz''' ({{transliteration|az|Oghuz}}) is a city, municipality and the capital of the Oghuz District of Azerbaijan. The village was mainly populated by Armenians and Udis before the exodus of Armenians from Azerbaijan after the outbreak of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.<ref name="schulze" />
== Etymology == The name '''Oghuz''' comes from the Oghuz Turks, which Azerbaijanis are a part of.
Before 1991 the town was called '''Vartashen''' ({{Langx|hy|Վարդաշեն}}), which means town of roses in Armenian; 'Vard' meaning rose and 'shen' meaning town or village. This is in reference to the abundance of roses that naturally grow in this place.<ref name="Gippert">Jost Gippert «Relative Clauses in Vartashen Udi Preliminary Remarks» «Iran and the Caucasus» Brill Publishers 2011. Стр. 208: The Armenian-based etymology given there (Arm. vard 'rose' and šēn 'village', i.e. 'rose-village') seems first to have been proposed by A. Berger (Berže) as it is also found in Seidlitz 1863: 171 (where, however, the name is spelt 'Wartaschîn'). The Udi pronunciation of today is vartašen.</ref> A colophon on Armenian manuscript dating to 1466<ref>{{Cite web|title=Colophons of Armenian Manuscripts (1466)|url=http://digilib.aua.am/book/1585/1960/15967/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-06-04|website=digilib.aua.am|language=hy|archive-date=2021-06-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605190611/https://digilib.aua.am/book/1585/1960/15967/}}</ref> suggests possibly earlier bilingual variants of the name: '''Giwlstan''' ({{Langx|hy|Գիւլստան}}), and '''Vardud''' ({{Langx|hy|Վարդուդ}}).
The town was renamed to Oghuz in 1991 during the expulsion of the Armenian and autochthonous Udi-speaking population.<ref name="schulze" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Azərbaycan Respublikasının Bakı, Gəncə və Sumqayıt şəhərlərinin, Abşeron, Ağdaş, Ağsu, Ağcabədi, Balakən, Bərdə, Beyləqan, Vartaşen, Quba, Qutqaşen, Daşkəsən, İmişli, Yevlax, Kəlbəcər, Kürdəmir, Gədəbəy, Goranboy, Laçın, Lerik, Lənkəran, Mirbəşir, Puşkin, Saatlı, Füzuli, Cəbrayıl və Şamxor rayonlarının, Dağlıq Qarabağ Muxtar Vilayəti Şuşa rayonunun inzibati ərazi bölgüsündə qismən dəyişikliklər edilməsi haqqında AZƏRBAYCAN RESPUBLİKASI ALİ SOVETİNİN QƏRARI |url=http://www.e-qanun.az/framework/10264 |website=www.e-qanun.az |access-date=2 June 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602214328/http://www.e-qanun.az/framework/10264 |url-status=live}}</ref>
== Population == Until 1991, Vartashen was mainly a Udi village, where the Vartashen dialect of the Udi language was spoken by about 3000 people in the 1980s. The Udis of Vartashen belonged to the Armenian and Gregorian Church and had Armenian surnames.
During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, most Udis of the town were expelled by the local activists of Popular Front of Azerbaijan. The Udis, bearing Armenian names and belonging to both the Armenian and the Gregorian Church, had been viewed as Armenians and hence suffered the same fate as other Armenians in Azerbaijan. Some 50 Udi people remained in the town.<ref name="schulze">Wolfgang Schulze: ''[http://udilang.narod.ru/papers/Schulze_History-of-Udi.pdf Towards a History of Udi.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204172146/http://udilang.narod.ru/papers/Schulze_History-of-Udi.pdf |date=2020-12-04 }}'' International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics 1, 2005, pp. 55–91.</ref>
There were also Tat-speaking Mountain Jews in Vartashen. Most of them have emigrated to Israel, but possibly 80 have stayed.<ref>Sarah Marcus: ''[http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/253314/unorthodox-episode-120-jeffrey-masters-lgbtq-and-a-podcast-anne-edelstein-memoir Mountain Jews.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119235227/http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/253314/unorthodox-episode-120-jeffrey-masters-lgbtq-and-a-podcast-anne-edelstein-memoir |date=2018-01-19 }}'' Tablet, Tbilisi, 18. Januar 2018.</ref><ref>Michael Zand: ''Language and Literature.'' In: Liya Mikdash-Shamailov: ''Mountain Jews: Customs and Daily Life in the Caucasus.'' The Israel Museum (Muzeon Yisrael), Jerusalem 2002, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rm59_Rb3SCkC&dq=Oguz+Mountain+Jews+Tat&pg=PA37 p. 37.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119235019/https://books.google.de/books?id=rm59_Rb3SCkC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=Oguz+Mountain+Jews+Tat&source=bl&ots=20pMl6-p3P&sig=QANQFy-H_f2FDb9w5-TFt7AM9Ko&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIpODgxuPYAhUFfFAKHTx1AMsQ6AEIZTAL#v=onepage&q=Oguz%20Mountain%20Jews%20Tat&f=false |date=2018-01-19 }}</ref>
==Climate== {{Weather box | name = | width = auto | collapsed = | open = | metric first = yes | single line = yes | trace = | location = Oghuz<small>(WMO ID: 37668, normals for 1964-1991)</small> | precipitation colour = green | Jan precipitation mm =44.6 | Feb precipitation mm =50.6 | Mar precipitation mm =80.9 | Apr precipitation mm =94.2 | May precipitation mm =102.5 | Jun precipitation mm =96.8 | Jul precipitation mm =60.4 | Aug precipitation mm =54.5 | Sep precipitation mm =65.6 | Oct precipitation mm =95.9 | Nov precipitation mm =64.7 | Dec precipitation mm =45.9 | year precipitation mm = | unit precipitation days = 0.01 in | precip days colour = | Jan precipitation days =9.2 | Feb precipitation days =10 | Mar precipitation days =14.7 | Apr precipitation days =12.4 | May precipitation days =12 | Jun precipitation days =8.9 | Jul precipitation days =6.4 | Aug precipitation days =6.3 | Sep precipitation days =8 | Oct precipitation days =10.4 | Nov precipitation days =9 | Dec precipitation days =8 | year precipitation days =
|source = NCEI<ref>{{cite web |title=Global Summary of the Month (GSOM): Vartashen, AJ |url= https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/global-summary-of-the-month/access/AJ000037668.csv |website=ncei.noaa.gov |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date=4 December 2025 |page=1 |format=CSV}}</ref> |date=December 2025 }}
== Notable people == *Movses Silikyan (1862–1937), Armenian general *Agiya Nakhchivanli (1950), Azerbaijani politician *Stepan Pachikov (1950), Russian software engineer *Anwar Seyidov (1949–2025), Azerbaijani lawyer
==See also== * Ashaghi Mahalla Synagogue * Yukhari Mahalla Synagogue
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{GEOnet2|32FA8814FFA03774E0440003BA962ED3}}
{{Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan}} {{Authority control}} {{coord|41|04|15|N|47|27|30|E|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oguz}} Category:Populated places in Oghuz District Category:Elizavetpol Governorate Category:Places of settlement of Mountain Jews
{{Oghuz-geo-stub}}