It is a 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi) exclave of Armenia,[1] and is surrounded by the territory of Azerbaijan, which has de facto occupied it since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

[4] However, an earlier Armenian presence in the area is attested by an inscription dated to 1607 on the Surb Hovhannes church in the town.

The problem was finally settled through wrestling and a bullfight: the Armenian side won both of them thanks to wrestler Arzuman Dallakian and a bull named Tzaghik that belonged to a certain Sahak’s family.

[5] In May 1991, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Armenian Interior Ministry reported that residents of Artsvashen had averted an army occupation by surrendering their arms.

[13] Artsvashen villagers were mostly given alternative shelter in the town of Chambarak whose former Molokan-Russian population had largely left for Russia.

[15] Today, the village is largely abandoned as the Azerbaijani army expelled its Armenian population after it captured the territory,[16] and is now occupied by Azerbaijan[17][2] as part of its Gadabay District.

[18] As of 2011, there were approximately 8,400 IDPs (Internally displaced people) expelled from Artsvashen and the surrounding regions, living in Armenia.

[18] In the center of the village stood the Nerkin (lower) or Kachal[a] quarter where the palace of culture was located.

[22] However, further payments stalled leading to protests in September 2018 and December 2019, demanding further funds to repair the dilapidated housing stock in Chambarak.

Armenian premier Pashinyan claimed that the state had fulfilled all its obligations to refugees with money already disbursed and with the provision of housing certificates to about 112 families.