Gravestones in the village of Veliagali

In the village of Veliagali, Karanlig district, Goycha district

Garanlig district – Martuni, Veliagali village Since 03.01.1935 Dzoragyug

Architecture

During the deportations and after the last deportation in 1987–1991, most of the ancient tombstones were destroyed, and the rest were given Armenian elements and presented as "Armenian monuments." Currently, only a few of the monuments in the cemetery are where they belong. Many are broken and lying on the ground, while a few are leaning against the only partially intact wall of the temple.

The ancient cemetery with the Albanian tombstones is located 8 km northeast of the center of the Garanlig district, in the village of Veliagali near Lake Goycha. The village is marked on the 5-verst map of the Caucasus.
There were many tombstones belonging to different periods of history in the cemetery. The graves, which are about 1.2 and 50–60 cm high and 50–60 cm wide, were made of white rock stones. The patterns depicted on the tombstones are still used in Azerbaijani architecture, embroidery art, and carpet weaving.
Until 1828, only Azerbaijanis lived here. After the Turkmenchay Treaty, Armenians who were resettled from Turkey in 1828–1829 were settled here.
Since the first group of Armenians brought from Turkey was settled in the village from that year, in the documents of 1831, Veliagali was already characterized as a mixed village. At that time, 184 Turks and 37 Armenians lived in the village. Since the settlement of Armenians was carried out with particular intensity over the next 60 years, in 1897 the demographic balance (in terms of the ethnic composition of the population) had changed sharply in favor of Armenians: while the number of Turks decreased to 47 people, the number of Armenians increased and exceded 300 people.
In 1918, Armenians committed another historical crime in the village of Veliaghali: on the direct order of Andronikos, the Armenians who had settled in Veliaghali brutally murdered all 63 people who had been their neighbors for 90 years - the last representatives of the Turks, the original owners of the village.

The toponym Veliaga was formed by adding the suffix "-lı" to the personal name. It is an anthropotoponym. It is a structurally correct toponym. National patterns, which are also used in Azerbaijani architecture, embroidery and carpet weaving, are located on tombstones. This is a historical source of our national roots.