River · Armenia
Akhuryan
Akhuryan is the longest river inside Armenia. It rises at Lake Arpi in the northern highlands, forms much of the border with Turkey and finally joins the Aras, a much larger river.
Picture credit: Ավետիսյան91 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Armenak Margarian (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Akhuryan?
The river starts here: Lake Arpi in the highlands of northern Armenia.
It ends in the Aras river (also called Araks).
Countries on the river: Armenia.
The story behind it
For most of its course this river runs along a closed border, with Armenia on one bank and Turkey on the other. In one deep gorge it passes below Ani, a ruined medieval city of churches and towers that visitors can only look at from a distance. Higher up, the two countries once built a shared reservoir, and its water still helps farmers on both sides grow wheat, apricots and vegetables. Storks nest on poles in the villages, and in spring the meadows fill with wild flowers. Winters on this plateau are bitterly cold and parts of the river freeze over. Because it is a border river, the two neighbours do not use the same name for it, and the figures given for its length do not always match.
Questions children ask
How long is the Akhuryan?
The river is about 186 kilometres long. Because it runs along a border, the two neighbouring countries do not always publish exactly the same figure.
Which countries does the Akhuryan flow through?
It belongs to Armenia and starts there, at Lake Arpi. For a long stretch it then serves as the boundary with Turkey, so both banks belong to different states.
Where does the Akhuryan flow into?
It flows into the Aras, which is also written Araks. That bigger river carries the water eastwards and eventually delivers it to the Caspian Sea.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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