Gegharkunik

Gegharkunik is a province of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Gavar. Gegharkunik Province is located at the eastern part of Armenia, bordering Azerbaijan and the Shahumyan Region of de facto Republic of Artsakh. With an area of 5,348 km2, Gegharkunik is the largest province in Armenia. However, approximately 1,278 km2 of its territory is covered by Lake Sevan, the largest lake in Transcaucasia and a major tourist attraction of the region. The Yerevan-Sevan-Dilijan republican highway runs through the province.

From 1930 until 1995, modern-day Gegharkunik was divided into 5 raions within the Armenian SSR: Sevan raion, Kamo raion, Krasnoselsk raion, Martuni raion and Vardenis raion. With the territorial administration reform of 1995, the 5 raions were merged to form the Gegharkunik Province. According to the 2011 official census, Gegharkunik has a population of 235,075, forming around 7.8% of the entire population of Armenia. The urban population is 71,423 and the rural is 163,652. The province has 5 urban and 87 rural communities. The largest urban community is the provincial centre of Gavar, with a population of 20,765. The other urban centres of are Sevan, Martuni, Vardenis and Chambarak.