FROM THE HISTORY OF THE KARS OBLAST՛ (1878-1918) Melkonyan A. A. Academician of NAS RA Historically a part of the province of Ayrarat in Great Armenia, gavar of Vanand had been captured by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and was made a part of a large military-governorship known as the eyalet of Kars1. During the 19th century, the Kars region - the historic gavar of Vanand-along with other Western Armenian districts, became an important factor in Russian foreign policy. When the Russian Empire expanded into the Caucasus, the conquest of Kars and the adjoining pashalik of Akhaltskh2 (Akhaltsikh) to the northeast became an immediate objective as a way to consolidate imperial power in the region. In the treaty concluding the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-29, Akhaltskha and neighboring Akhalkalak (in Javakhk) were ceded to the Russian Empire. Kars, on the other hand, although captured on June 23, 1828 (old style, Julian calendar)3, was ceded to the Ottoman Empire because of certain circumstances and over the objections of the Russian commander-in-chief, Count Ivan Paskevich. Russia captured Kars for the second time in 1855 during the Crimean War. That operation ensured the Russian victory on the Caucasus front, but this time Kars was ceded to the sultan in exchange for the withdrawal from the Crimea of the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire’s British and French allies. The question of annexing Kars and other districts in Western Armenia again arose in the next Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. The Russian generals of Armenian origin, Mikhail Loris-Melikov, Hovhannes (Ivan) Lazarev, Arshak Ter-Ghukasov, Behbut Shelkovnikov, and Hakob Alkhazov, played a major role in the campaign. At the beginning of the war, the Russian forces commanded by General Loris-Melikov liberated Kaghzvan (Kaghisman) and Ardahan (Ardagan), which had long threatened the security of Akhaltskha and Akhalkalak. Initially Russian military administrations were set up in these garrison towns the area of Ardahan was divided into three military sub-districts known as okrugs; Ardahan, Childer, and Potskhov 4 . After capturing Bayazet (Kogovit) and Alashkert in the spring and registering a decisive victory at Dahar on June 9, 1877, the Russian forces besieged the strategic fortress-city of Kars, which soon surrendered to General Lazarev. The next year in February 1878, the Turkish army also surrendered the great fortress of Karin-Erzrum in the heart of Upper Armenia (Bardzr Hayk) without fight. 1 See: Melkonyan A.A., The Kars Oblast', 1878-1918, Establishment of Russian Rule. – see in: Armenian Kars and Ani, Edited by R. G. Hovannisian, California, 2011, pp. 223-241. 2 Historically a part of the province of Gugark of Great Armenia (Հակոբյան Թ.Խ., Մելիք-Բախշյան Ստ.Տ., Բարսեղյան Հ.Խ., Հայաստանի և հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան, Երևան, 1986, էջ 108). 3 Most dates in this chapter until 1918 are given according to the Julian calendar, which in the 19th century and early 20th century was in use in both the Russian and Ottoman empires and was thirteen days behind the Gregorian calendar used in the West. 4 Российский государственный военно-исторический архив, ф. 485, д. 1250, л. 39, cited hereafter as РГВИА. 295 Melkonyan A. A. FUNDAMENTAL ARMENOLOGY № 2, 2015 By provisions of the Russo-Turkish Treaty of San Stefano in February 1878, the districts of Bayazet, Alashkert (Vagharshakert), Kars, Ardahan, and Batum were ceded to the Russian Empire. Although Bayazet and Alashkert had to be ceded to the Ottoman Empire and the Russian army was required to withdraw from Karin-Erzrum as the result of the subsequent European-imposed Treaty of Berlin in July 1878, Kars (including Olti and Kaghzvan), Ardahan (including Artvin), and Batum were retained by Russia5. The said territories were of great importance also from the point of view of control of the trade routes from Europe and Russia to Persia and other Asian countries. The formation of the administrative structure of the province of Kars (Russian: oblast'; Armenian: marz) began shortly after the outbreak of the war. A civil administration for the county (okrug) of Ardahan was first set up on May 20, 1877 and gradually began to replace the temporary military board. The Kars oblast' was formed with three okrugs, which increased to five after the victorious battle of Alaja on June 11,1877 and the liberation from Ottoman rule of the fortress of Kars itself6. By statutes adopted on the latter date, a military governorship was established for the province of Kars as a whole. Aside from the governor general, there were to be county governors, staff officers, and other personnel who were to administer the area according to the military and civil regulations that were issued. By the "Regulations for the Administration of the Kars Oblast'," dated December 27, 1878, the province was attached to the Кавказский Военный Округ (Caucasian Military District) and placed under the supreme military command of the Caucasus army for both military and administrative affairs7. In civil matters, the rights and duties of the military governor general as well as the county governors were to be fixed by the supreme commander-in-chief 8 . This meant that, despite the initial steps to introduce a civil governance system in the Oblast', the Russian Empire, as a military-autocratic system, preferred military governance, especially in newly-annexed territories. In fact, the provincial governor general was accorded only limited domestic administrative-economic powers. Administratively, the Kars Oblast' was divided into the following units: the provincial center of Kars; the counties of Kars, Ardahan, Zarishat, Shoragial (Shuragial), Kaghisman (Kaghzvan), Olti, and Potskhov; and the two police districts or pristavs of Childer and Khorasan9. As it happened, Armenian historical traditional divisions were maintained in significant measure, forming the basis of the administrative boundaries, just as they had in the 16th century when the Ottoman rulers formed the Kars eyalet10. The 5 For the Russian-Turkish border according to the Treaty of Berlin, see: Русско-турецкая граница в Малой Азии по Берлинскому трактату 1878 года: Известия Кавказского Отдела Имперского Российского Географического Общества, т. 7:1, Тифлис, 1881, с. 148-53, cited hereafter as ИКО ИРГО. 6 Central State Archives of the Republic of Georgia, fund 558, file 13, p. 1. See also the Russian-language newspaper Карс, N 34, 1890. 7 Հայաստանի Հանրապետության պատմության կենտրոնական պետական արխիվ, ֆ. 49/113, ց. 1, գ. 186, թ. 7, cited hereafter as ՀՀ ՊԿՊԱ; А.М. Погосян, Карсская область в составе России, Ереван, 1983, с. 63. 8 Карс, N 38, 1890. 9 ՀՀ ՊԿՊԱ, ֆ. 49/113, ց. 1, գ.186, թ. 8; Карс, N 38, 1890. 10 Հ.Մուրադյան, Կարսի մարզի վարչաժողովրդագրական նկարագիրը XIX դարի առաջին երեսունամյակին, Երևան, 2006, էջ 122. 296 FUNDAMENTAL ARMENOLOGY № 2, 2015 Melkonyan A. A. Kars okrug conformed largely to the Vanand gavar of historic Great Armenia as well as the western part (the right bank of the Akhurian River) of Ashotsk and Shirak; the Ardahan okrug corresponded with the Gugark gavar; Kaghzvan, with Arsharunik-and Olti, with Vokaghe or Ukhtik in the region of Tayk11. The military governor general had two assistants: one for judicial affairs and the other for military affairs. Attached to the president of the court was a military inspectorate (kontora) and a special committee for military-civilian affairs. The administration of the provincial center at Kars itself was placed under officials of a police administration. The towns of Ardahan, Olti, and Kaghzvan were granted no self-government and remained directly dependent on Kars. The nomadic Kurds, who had been free of any administrative control under Turkish dominion, were now expected to submit to the respective okrug governors. In 1881, a new administrative division was implemented, as several of the counties were enlarged and the province was consolidated into four okrugs: Kars, Ardahan, Kaghisman, and Olti.12 The okrugs were divided into fourteen sub-districts (участки) with 148 village clusters. In January 1892, there were five towns in the Oblast': Kars, Kaghzvan, Ardahan, Olti, and Sarikamish, and 791 villages.13 The Kars okrug, which covered almost the entire Kars River basin, was the most important of the four because of the size of its population and its economic role. The Kaghzvan okrug, which extended along both sides of the Arax River in the region of historic Eraskhadzor and along the lower current of the Akhurian River, also had a strategic military-economic position. The Ardahan okrug occupied the northern part of the Oblast՛, while Olti in the sparsely-populated northwest was the smallest of the four counties. Okrug Uchastok Administrative Number of Area Center Villages, in square versts 1902 I. Kars l.Kars Kars 51 2. Shoragial Kizil-Chakhchakh 56 3. Zarishat Grenaderskoe 58 4. Aghbaba Amasia 36 5.Soghanlugh Soghanlung sSSogSoghanlugh Sarikamish 56 Total 257 5,094 11 For a somewhat detailed report on the Armenian settlements of the Kars region shortly after their annexation to the Russian Empire in 1878, see: Ա.Ադամյան, Մի տեղեկագիր Կարսի մարզի վերաբերյալ, - Բանբեր Հայաստանի արխիվների , 1970, N 2, էջ 90-123. 12 ИКО ИРГО, т. 7:1, с. 175-176. 13 Кавказский календарь на 1894, Тифлис, с. 122. 297 Melkonyan A. A. FUNDAMENTAL ARMENOLOGY № 2, 2015 In the late 19th and early 20th century, no further significant administrative reorganization occurred. There was a remarkable increase in the number of village communes because of the rapid growth of population and brisk economic activity. According to the official almanac, Кавказский календарь (Caucasian Calendar), the composition for the year 1902 was as follows14: 2. Kaghisman 1. Kaghisman Kaghisman 45 2. Nakhjevan Tekor 63 3. Khorasan Karakurt 34 Total 142 3,843 3. Ardahan 1. Ardahan Ardahan 79 2.