ISBN 978-9939-843-01-8 Prepared for publication with the financial assistance of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia The sponsors of this publication are Mr. and Mrs. Arthur and Lily Seredian, who are continuous and generous supporters of RAA Foundation © Research on Armenian Architecture Foundation, 2012 Location. Nakhijevan is situated in the middle course number of canals, aqueducts and numerous stone bridges of the Arax, between the river and the mountain range of were built, with the roads undergoing renovation. By the THE KINGDOM OF METZ HAYK BETWEEN 298 AND 387 V Zangezur. It borders on the Republics of Armenia and second half of the 15th century, crafts and commerce had R K M R I K A A V MTSKHET S N K I Iran. In 1931 Iran and Turkey exchanged some territory, reached such a high level of prosperity in the district that AG U A T N S E A Tsurtav Shapotran KIN SE P O N T I C GDO which allowed the latter to share a border with new urban places were founded there, while the older H M G A G U A R V 1 Artanuj K Nakhijevan. ones—such as Nakhijevan, Vordvat, Jugha and others— Kur Artahan ANKKapaghak U T Kur thrived and became more populous: thus, the inhabitants Kumayri I Voh T K A Historical Introduction. The unearthed archaeo- A K Kars G Y e Azord gh Parnes of Jugha, which was a purely Armenian township, grew A Aragatz a Partaw logical monuments (Mokhrablur /Kültapa/, Shorblur R m A Baberd R R 2 K A a S a Y Yerevan e T to 50,000. T S Tigranakert A s Y VAGHARSHAPAT S Kur /Shortapa/) attest that the territory of Nakhijevan has t e A H E uph r a Yeraskh Dvin Y Vaykunik K R Karin A ARTASHAT been inhabited since at least the Neolithic Age (7th to 5th In 1605 Shah Abbas II, who was retreating from the Yerznka Z U H D R Metz Masis N A I Vardanakert millennia B.C.). battle-field after having been defeated by the Ottoman B Bagavan Pokr Masis K A R A N E YeraskhP A Y T A K Baghaberd troops, put the indigenous Armenians of Nakhijevan to TURUBERAN Nakhjavan R Between the 9th and 7th centuries B.C., the district was T Z O P K unprecedented and unspeakably disastrous deporta- I Artishat Voghakan Zarishat A K located within the borders of Urartian (Ayraratian) R A N P A i Arshamashat ra t z an U tion. In the aftermath of this calamity, most of the P Armenia, after which it was incorporated in the Armenian Bznuniats P M Sea Van E Her Armenian villages and towns of the district were S AGHDZNIK R E kingdoms of the Orontids (6th to 2nd centuries B.C.), the E MOKK s Zarehavan S te A K a stripped of their populations. Some of them were later r TIGRANAKERT Arzan Moks a h A Artashessids (189 B.C. to the early 1st century A.D.) and AR Amid V p R u ATRPATIJK Eup M T R re-inhabited by various Muslim tribes of Turkic origin E N i g r i s t a I b M I the Arshakids (66 to 428). Over many centuries, it formed N AN Samosat Za n M Ararad tz from Persia and the Ottoman Empire. E M e E S A S O Pinik K O K e P an administrative part of the Artzrunies’ and Syunies’ P R J A Y N Urha O T a M A M I ¥Edessa¤ I A MARATS M Armenian principalities in the west and east respectively. As reported by German Orientalist Adam Oléarius, in A Gandzak O Mtzbin AMUR ASHKHAR E In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Nakhijevan 1636 Persian Shah Sefi issued a decree permitting part of R Mahkert D included the following districts of Metz Hayk (Armenia the Armenian deportees to return to their native villages. I N Maior): Sharur, Ayrarat Province; Yernjak and Jahuk, Thanks to this, the economy of Nakhijevan was rapidly S A S A Syunik Province, as well as Nakhijevan and Goghtan, restored and its culture revived. Vaspurakan Province. Goghtan was the place where On 17 May 1639, the representatives of Persia and MODERN POLITICAL MAP OF THE REGION Mesrop Mashtots (405 to 406), the inventor of the Arme- C Turkey met in Kasr-e-Shirin to sign a peace treaty under O R Mtskhet RF A ì GE ñ S G I A Ï nian alphabet and the father of Armenian translators, intro- Zakatala ³P TBILISI ÝÇ which Armenia was to be partitioned between these two Batum Akhaltskha I Aspindza Aó A Í duced the Armenian letters and opened the first schools to B L A C K S E A Marneul N á states. The former established its rule in Eastern Akhalkalak í S Z disseminate them. Ardvin E Armenia, where the khanates of Yerevan and Nakhijevan Trebizond Rize Kur Artahan Alaverdi Ghazakh A Nakhijevan shared the fate of the other districts of Ijevan E were founded. Gyanja Kur kh Yevlakh ro Gyumri R Historical Armenia and did not escape the Arab invasions Jo Khanlar After Nadir Shah’s death (1747), Nakhijevan Khanate Kars Olti La Dashkesan RA ke S B of the 7th to 9th centuries. After its liberation from the Aragatz e became a semi-independent entity. In order to gain tro- Bayburt van Martakert Arab yoke, it became part of the kingdom of the s Echmiatzin YEREVAN A te Karvajar Kur phies, the local khans repeatedly invaded the adjacent r a Aghdam uph E Yeraskh STEPANAKERT Armenian Bagratids (885 to 1045). Erzrum Igdir NKR I khanates and pashalics; moreover, they imposed heavy Erzijan Shushi Karakyose Yeghegnadzor Metz Masis J Pokr Masis During the period between the 11th and early 13th tributes upon their own subjects, exerting particularly WESTERN Hadrut Yeraskh A Maku centuries, Nakhijevan was under the domination of the severe pressure on the Christians, namely the Armenians. TURKEY Nakhijevan ARMENIA Kapan Lenkoran N Seljuk-Turks. In the 13th to 14th centuries, it suffered the From time to time the Armenian-inhabited villages of Meghri Elyazig Tatar-Mongol rule, and from the 15th until the 16th cen- Nakhijevan were also plundered and devastated by the A Moosh ratz a ni Bzn Datvan uniats S ea Khoy turies, the Kara Koyunlus (Black Sheep Turkomans) and neighbouring Turkish, Kurdish and Persian rulers and Van Ardebil Ak-Koyunlus (White Sheep Turkomans) reigned there. chiefs. Bitlis K Tabriz a In the 16th century, the district shifted into the sway of In compliance with the Treaty of Turkmenchai signed Diarbekir p u Batman T i g Siirt r i s b t the Persian Safavids, which continued until the 18th cen- on 10 February 1828, after the termination of the Russo- a a Z n z Ararad M e t S IRAN tury. Persian war of 1826 to 1828, the khanates of Nakhijevan e a and Yerevan passed into the rule of Russia. With this Notwithstanding the severe living conditions in which Mardin IR respect, special mention should be made of a declaration the indigenous Armenians of Nakhijevan found them- A made by Russian Emperor Nikolai I on 21 March of the Ô³ÙÇßÉÇ selves in the aftermath of these incursions, they succeed- A Q same year. It particularly stated: “Our valorous troops SYRI ed in developing the economy of the district, where a Mosul ...conquered Yerevan Khanate situated on both banks of 1 the Arax, as well as Nakhijevan Khanate, which is part of gradually decreased in the aftermath of the massacres Turkic and Kurdish tribes, mainly the Kengerli and single passing day, as a result of which, they are endless- ancient Armenia: they shifted into the possession of the perpetrated between 1918 and 1920, and the policy of Gharajalar. The former, who came to the region from ly subjected to premeditated destruction. 3 victor.” discrimination conducted against them in the Soviet Amid (Diarbekir), constituted 920 families there in 1829 Between 1998 and 2006, the authorities of Nakhijevan Between 1849 and May 1918, Nakhijevan formed part years. This is evident from the table below: and lived in Nakhijevan City, as well as in the villages of totally annihilated the world-famous cemetery of Jugha of Yerevan Province. year inhabitants Armenians Armenians % Azerb. Azerb. % Jahri, Giaurarkh (Kruakk), Khok, Shahtakht, Gerdasar, 9 (5th to 17th centuries) boasting over 3,000 ornate, In the days of the Armeno-Tartar fights4 of 1905, 1897 87,370 34,672 34.4 Vaykher, Nahajir, Kölk, Mahmudova, Kültapa, Kakhap, 10 inscribed cross-stones and more than 5,000 tombstones, almost all the Armenian-inhabited villages of the district 1913 135,000 Bulghan, Trkesh, Selesüz, Gharabaghlar and Kerimbey- 192411 90,000 the armed forces of the country being the immediate per- were plundered and devastated. Diza.22 The latter, who chiefly inhabited the district of 192612 104,900 11,276 14.9 81.4 petrators of this crime. Moreover, the churches and After World War I, in 1918 the Turkish troops invad- 193113 111,600 10.8 84.5 Vayots Dzor (Daralagyaz), led a semi-nomadic life and monasteries of Agulis, Abrakunis, Shorot, Kerna and 14 23 ed Nakhijevan, where they continued the genocide of the 1939 126,700 comprised 660 families in the same year. Tseghna, as well as many other monuments of Armenian 15 Armenian nation, ongoing since 1915, together with the 1959 141,400 Under the Tsarist regime, a common ethnonym, i.e.