Goranboy is a
rayon of
Azerbaijan. During the Soviet era the region was best known for the oil-cure
sanatorium resort of
Naftalan, though administratively Naftalan technically counts as an independent city. Naftalan is now starting to operate again following several years of virtual inaction when the resorts were filled with refugees from the
Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. Following fighting during the 1991–1992 a small strip in the south of the rayon is controlled by
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. The southern half of the rayon is claimed by the self-declared
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as the district of
Shahumian.