Map - Artsvashen

Artsvashen (Արծվաշեն) or Bashkend (Başkənd; Բաշքենդ) is a de jure Armenian village in the Chambarak Municipality of the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia. It is a 40 square kilometres exclave of Armenia, and it is surrounded by the territory of Azerbaijan, which has de facto controlled it since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

The present village was founded in 1854 or 1859 as Bashkend by Armenians from Choratan in Shamshadin, although an earlier Armenian presence on the site is attested by an inscription dated to 1607 on the Surb Hovhannes church in the town. It was later changed to Hin Bashkend (Հին Բաշքենդ), meaning Old Bashkend to differentiate it from New or Nor Bashkend, founded by migrants from the original settlement. The villagers' ancestors were originally from the province of Artsakh who migrated to Tavush. In 1920 the village was also referred to as Bashgyugh.

In 1923–1929, the territorial dispute over Artsvashen was settled by a commission of the "Transcaucasian central executive committee" in favour of Armenia, however, in January 1927, 12,000 ha of land surrounding Artsvashen were "gifted" to Azerbaijan. As "compensation", in February 1929 Armenia was transferred a narrow strip of land to serve as a land connection to the village, however, this decision was reversed in the 1930s and Artsvashen became an enclave again.

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. Seen from the Azerbaijani perspective, however, the town became a major headache, blocking access to Shinikh and providing a launching point for military incursions against Azerbaijan's Gadabey province.

After Armenian attacks on Mutudərə and Qasımağalı in the Shinikh area to the west, the Azerbaijanis counter attacked under locally famed commander Cahangir Rüstəmov, whose regiment blockaded Artsvashen. On August 8, 1992 the Armenian defenders decided to surrender. Artsvashen villagers were mostly given alternative shelter in the town of Chambarak whose former Molokan-Russian population had largely left for Russia. According to The New York Times, on 9 August 1992 Azerbaijani side announced that armed forces had "liberated" the town, destroying enemy tanks and weaponry and killing 300 Armenian "brigands", while Armenian reports mentioned no dead but said 29 people were "missing without trace."

Accusing Azerbaijan of mounting an "undeclared war," Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan sent a telegram to leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States saying that "aggression has been committed against a state that is a member of the C.I.S. and the system of collective security".

The village was swiftly renamed to its settler name Bashkend. Today, the village is largely abandoned as the Azerbaijani army expelled its Armenian population after it captured the territory, and is now administered by Azerbaijan as part of the Gadabay District.