Armenians in Azerbaijan
Encyclopedia
Armenians in Azerbaijan are the Armenians who lived in great numbers in Azerbaijan
(120,700 as of 1999 Azerbaijani official statistics). According to the statistics, about 400,000 Armenians lived in Azerbaijan in 1989. Most of the Armenian-Azerbaijanis however had to flee the republic, like Azeris in Armenia, in the events leading up to the Nagorno-Karabakh War
, a result of the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Atrocities directed against the Armenian population have reportedly taken place in Sumgait
(February 1988), Ganja
(Kirovabad, November 1988) and Baku
(January 1990). Today the vast majority of Armenians in Azerbaijan live in territory controlled by the break-away region Nagorno-Karabakh
, which declared its unilateral act of independence in 1991 under the name Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
but has not been recognised by any country, including Armenia.
Non-official sources estimate that the number Armenians living on Azerbaijani territory outside Nagorno-Karabakh is around 2,000 to 3,000, and almost exclusively comprises persons married to Azeris or of mixed Armenian-Azeri descent. The number of Armenians who are likely not married to Azeris and are not of mixed Armenian-Azeri descent are estimated at 645 (36 men and 609 women) and more than half (378 or 59 per cent of Armenians in Azerbaijan outside Nagorno-Karabakh) live in Baku and the rest in rural areas. They are likely to be the elderly and sick, and probably have no other family members. Armenians in Azerbaijan
are at a great risk as long as the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict remains unsettled
In Azerbaijan, the status of Armenians, is precarious. Armenian churches remain closed, because of the large outmigration of Armenians and fear of Azeri attacks.
in 1806. They took up jobs as merchants, industrial managers and government administrators. Due to favourable economic conditions the Imperial Russian government had provided the Christian population with, Armenians took control of almost one-third of the region's oil industry by 1900. The growing tension between Armenians and Azeris (often instigated by the Russian officials who feared nationalist movements among their ethnically non-Russian subjects) resulted in mutual pogroms in 1905–1906, planting a seed of distrust between these two groups in the city and elsewhere in the region for decades to come. Following the proclamation of Azerbaijan's independence in 1918
, the Armenian nationalist Dashnaktsutyun Party became increasingly active in then Bolshevik
-occupied Baku. 70% of the governing body of the Baku Commune consisted of ethnic Armenians
. Despite pledging non-involvement, the Dashnaks mobilised Armenian militia units to participate in the massacres of Baku's Muslim population
in March 1918, killing thousands. Five months later, the Armenian community itself dwindled as thousands of Armenians either fled Baku or were massacred
at the approach of the Turkish–Azeri army (which seized the city from the Bolsheviks), as an act of retaliation for the Armenian participation in the massacres of local Azeris. Regardless of these events, on 18 December 1918, ethnic Armenians (including members of the Dashnaktsutyun) were represented in the newly-formed Azerbaijani parliament, constituting 11 of its 96 members.
Following the Sovietisation of Azerbaijan, Armenians managed to reestablish a large and vibrant community in Baku made up of skilled professionals, craftsmen and intelligentsia and integrated into the political, economic and cultural life of Azerbaijan. The community grew steadily in part due to active migration of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to Baku and other large cities. The mainly-Armenian populated quarter of Baku called Armenikend grew from a tiny village of oil-workers into a prosperous urban community. At the advent of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Baku alone had a larger Armenian population than Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenians were widely represented in the state apparatus. Multiethnic nature of Soviet-era Baku created conditions for active integration of its population and the emergence of a distinct Russian-speaking
urban subculture, to which ethnic identity began losing grounds and with which post-World War II generations of urbanised Bakuvians regardless of their ethnic origin or religious affiliations tended to identify. By the 1980s, the Armenian community of Baku had become largely Russified
. In 1977, 58% of Armenian pupils in Azerbaijan were receiving education in Russian. While in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Armenians often chose to disassociate themselves from Azerbaijan and Azeris, cases of mixed Azeri–Armenian marriages were quite common in Baku. The political unrest in Nagorno-Karabakh remained a rather distant concern for Armenians of Baku until March 1988, when the Sumgait pogrom
took place. The anti-Armenian
feelings were aroused because of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting in the exodus of most Armenians from Baku and elsewhere in the republic. However, many Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan later reported that despite ethnic tensions taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh, the relationships with their Azeris friends and neighbours had been unaffected. The Sumgait events became a shock to both Armenian and Azeri population of the cities, and many Armenian lives were saved as ordinary Azeris sheltered them during the pogroms and volunteered to escort them out of the country, often risking their own lives. In some cases, the Armenians who were leaving entrusted their houses and possessions to their Azeri friends.
(Sourb Grigor Lousavoritch in Armenian). At the height of atrocities against the Armenian minorities in Baku in 1990, the Armenian church in Baku was set on fire, but was restored in 2004 and is not used anymore.
Armenians have lived in the Karabakh region since the period of antiquity. In the beginning of the 2 century B.C. Karabakh became a part of Armenian Kingdom as province of Artsakh
. In the 14th century, a local Armenian leadership emerged, consisting of five noble dynasties led by princes, who held the titles of melik
s and were referred to as Khamsa (five in Arabic). The Armenian meliks maintained control over the region until the 18th century. In the early 16th century, control of the region passed to the Safavid dynasty, which created the Ganja-Karabakh province (beglarbekdom, bəylərbəylik). Despite these conquests, the population of Upper Karabakh remained largely Armenian.
Karabakh passed to Imperial Russia by the Kurekchay Treaty
, signed between the Khan of Karabakh and Tsar Alexander I of Russia
in 1805, and later further formalized by the Russo-Persian Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, before the rest of Transcaucasia was incorporated into the Empire in 1828 by the Treaty of Turkmenchay
. In 1822, the Karabakh khanate was dissolved, and the area became part of the Elisabethpol Governorate
within the Russian Empire
.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917
, Karabakh became part of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
, but this soon dissolved into separate Armenia
n, Azerbaijan
i, and Georgian
states. Over the next two years (1918–1920), there were a series of short wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over several regions, including Karabakh. In July 1918, the First Armenian Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh declared the region self-governing and created a National Council and government. Later, Ottoman troops entered Karabakh, meeting armed resistance by Armenians.
In April 1920, while the Azerbaijani army was locked in Karabakh fighting local Armenian forces, Azerbaijan was taken over by Bolshevik
s. Subsequently, the disputed areas of Karabakh, Zangezur, and Nakhchivan came under the control of Armenia. During July and August 1920, however, the Red Army
occupied mountainous Karabakh, Zangezur, and part of Nakhchivan. Later on, for basically political reasons, the Soviet Union agreed to a division under which Zangezur would fall under the control of Armenia, while Karabakh and Nakhchivan would be under the control of Azerbaijan. In addition, the mountainous part of Karabakh that had come to be named Nagorno-Karabakh
was granted an autonomous status as the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
, giving Armenians more rights than were given to Azeris in Armenia and enabling Armenians to be appointed to key positions and attend schools in their first language.
With the Soviet Union firmly in control of the region, the conflict over the region died down for several decades. The Armenians in Karabakh were not repressed to a substantial extent. Their situation was undoubtedly better than of the Azeris in Armenia who lived in Zangezur
in an equally concentrated manner, though without possessing any autonomy. Local schools offered education in Armenian but taught Azerbaijani history and not the history of the Armenian people; the population had access to Armenian-language television broadcast by a Stepanakert-based channel controlled from Baku, and later directly from Armenia as well, though in an unfavourable manner. The autonomy of Nagorno-Karabakh led to the rise of Armenian nationalism and the Armenians' determination in claiming independence. With the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the question of Nagorno-Karabakh re-emerged.
Armenians allege that this followed the Azerbaijani and Soviet military forces jointly starting "a campaign of violence to disperse Armenian villagers from areas north and south of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territorial enclave in Azerbaijan where Armenian communities have lived for centuries".
"However, the unstated goal was to "convince" the villagers half are pensioners to relocate permanently in Armenia." This military action was officially called "Operation Ring," because its basic strategy consists of surrounding villages (included Martunashen and Chaykand) with tanks and armored personnel carriers and shelling them. Azerbaijani villagers were allowed to come and loot the empty Armenian villages, while more than ten thousand Armenian villagers have been forced to leave Azerbaijan.
The majority Armenian population started a movement that culminated in the unilateral declaration of independence.
Armenians had a historic presence in Nakhchivan (In Armenian
Նախիջևան). According to an Armenian tradition, Nakhchivan was founded by Noah
, of the Abrahamic religions. It became part of the Satrapy of Armenia
under Achaemenid Persia circa 521 BC. In 189 BC
, Nakhchivan was part of the new Kingdom of Armenia established by Artaxias I
. In 428, the Armenian Arshakuni monarchy was abolished and Nakhchivan was annexed by Sassanid Persia. In 623 AD, possession of the region passed to the Byzantine Empire
. Nakhchivan itself became part of the autonomous Principality of Armenia under Arab control. After the fall of the Arab rule in the 9th century, the area became the domain of several Muslim emirates of Arran and Azerbaijan. Nakhchivan became part of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century, followed by becoming the capital of the Atabegs of Azerbaijan
in the 12th century. In the 1220s it was plundered by Khwarezm
ians and Mongols
. In the 15th century, the weakening Mongol rule in Nakhchivan was forced out by the Turcoman
dynasties of Kara Koyunlu
and Ak Koyunlu
.
In the 16th century, control of Nakhchivan passed to the Safavid dynasty
of Persia. In 1604, Shah Abbas I
Safavi, concerned that the lands of Nakhchivan and the surrounding areas would pass into Ottoman hands, decided to institute a scorched earth
policy. He forced the entire local population, Armenians, Jews and Muslims alike, to leave their homes and move to the Persian provinces south of the Aras River. Many of the deportees were settled in the neighborhood of Isfahan that was named New Julfa
since most of the residents were from the original Julfa (a predominantly Armenian town).
After the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay
, the Nakhchivan khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828. The Nakhchivan khanate was dissolved, and its territory was merged with the territory of the Erivan khanate and the area became the Nakhchivan uyezd
of the new Armenian Oblast
, which was reformed into the Erivan Governorate
in 1849. A resettlement policy implemented by the Russian authorities encouraged massive Armenian immigration to Nakhchivan from various parts of the Ottoman Empire
and Persia. According to official statistics of the Russian Empire, by the turn of the 20th century Azerbaijanis made up 57% of the uyezd's population, while Armenians constituted 42%.
During the Russian Revolution of 1905
, conflict erupted between the Armenians and the Azeris, culminating in the Armenian-Tatar massacres
. In the final year of World War I
, Nakhchivan was the scene of more bloodshed between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who both laid claim to the area. By 1914, the Armenian population was at 40% while the Azeri population increased to roughly 60%. After the February Revolution
, the region was under the authority of the Special Transcaucasian Committee of the Russian Provisional Government
and subsequently of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
. When the TDFR was dissolved in May 1918, Nakhchivan, Nagorno-Karabakh
, Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik
), and Qazakh
were heavily contested between the newly formed and short-lived states of the Democratic Republic of Armenia
(DRA) and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
(ADR). In June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros
, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for the forthcoming British military presence.
After a brief British occupation and the fragile peace they tried to impose, in December 1918, with the support of Azerbaijan's Musavat Party
, Jafar Gulu Khan Nakhchivanski declared the Republic of Aras in the Nakhchivan uyezd of the former Yerevan Governorate assigned to Armenia by Wardrop. The Armenian government did not recognize the new state and sent its troops into the region to take control of it. The conflict soon erupted into the violent Aras War. By mid-June 1919, however, Armenia succeeded in establishing control over Nakhchivan and the whole territory of the self-proclaimed republic. The fall of the Aras republic triggered an invasion by the regular Azerbaijani army and by the end of July, Armenian troops were forced to leave Nakhchivan City to the Azeris. In mid-March 1920, Armenian forces launched an offensive on all of the disputed territories, and by the end of the month both the Nakhchivan and Zangezur regions came under stable but temporary Armenian control. In July 1920, the 11th Soviet Red Army
invaded and occupied the region and on July 28, declared the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with "close ties" to the Azerbaijan SSR
. A referendum was called for the people of Nakhchivan to be consulted. According to the formal figures of this referendum, held at the beginning of 1921, 90% of Nakhchivan's population wanted to be included in the Azerbaijan SSR "with the rights of an autonomous republic." The decision to make Nakhchivan a part of modern-day Azerbaijan was cemented March 16, 1921 in the Treaty of Moscow
between Bolshevist Russia
and Turkey. The agreement between the Soviet Russia and Turkey also called for attachment of the former Sharur-Daralagez uyezd (which had a solid Azeri majority) to Nakhchivan, thus allowing Turkey to share a border with the Azerbaijan SSR. This deal was reaffirmed on October 23, in the Treaty of Kars
.
In the years following the establishment of Soviet rule, Nakhchivan saw a significant demographic shift. Its Armenian population gradually decreased as many emigrated. According to statistics published by the Imperial Russian government in 1916, Armenians made up 40% of the population of the Nakhchivan uyezd. The borders of the uyezd were redrawn and in the 1926 all-Soviet census 11% of region's population was Armenian,. By 1979 this number had shrunk to 1.4%. The Azeri population, meanwhile increased substantially with both a higher birth rate and immigration (growing from 85% in 1926 to 96% by 1979). The Armenian population saw a great reduction in their numbers throughout the years repatriating to Armenia
and elsewhere.
Some Armenian political groupings of the Republic of Armenia
and the Armenian diaspora
, among them most notably the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF) claim that Nakhchivan should belong to Armenia. However, Nakhchivan is not officially claimed by the government of Armenia. But huge Armenian religious and cultural remnants are witness of the historic presence of Armenians in the Nakhcivan region (Nakichevan, sometimes Nakhijevan in Armenian). Recently the Medieval Armenian cemetery of Jugha (Julfa) in Nakhchivan, regarded by Armenians as the biggest and most precious repository of medieval headstones marked with Christian crosses – khachkar
s (of which more than 2,000 were still there in the late 1980s), has completely vanished in 2006.
Immigration and naturalization service
report:
A report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
(ECRI) released in May 2011 found that their conditions had barely improved. It found that:
It further expressed concern over the "fact that the constant negative official and media discourse concerning the Republic of Armenia helps to sustain a negative climate of opinion regarding people of Armenian origin coming under the Azerbaijani authorities' jurisdiction." It recommended that the government "work actively to improve the climate of opinion concerning Armenians coming under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction."
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
(120,700 as of 1999 Azerbaijani official statistics). According to the statistics, about 400,000 Armenians lived in Azerbaijan in 1989. Most of the Armenian-Azerbaijanis however had to flee the republic, like Azeris in Armenia, in the events leading up to the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
, a result of the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Atrocities directed against the Armenian population have reportedly taken place in Sumgait
Sumgait Pogrom
The Sumgait pogrom was a pogrom that targeted the Armenian population of the seaside town of Sumgait in Soviet Azerbaijan during February 1988...
(February 1988), Ganja
Kirovabad pogrom
The Kirovabad pogrom or the pogrom of Kirovabad was an Azeri-led pogrom that targeted Armenians living in the city of Kirovabad in Soviet Azerbaijan during November 1988....
(Kirovabad, November 1988) and Baku
Pogrom of Armenians in Baku
The Pogrom of Armenians in Baku was an anti-Armenian pogrom directed against the Armenian inhabitants of Baku, Azerbaijani SSR.From January 13, 1990, a seven-day pogrom broke out against Armenians in Baku. Most of the deaths were caused by beatings and knife wounds; there were no gunshot wounds....
(January 1990). Today the vast majority of Armenians in Azerbaijan live in territory controlled by the break-away region Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
, which declared its unilateral act of independence in 1991 under the name Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic , or Artsakh Republic is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia...
but has not been recognised by any country, including Armenia.
Non-official sources estimate that the number Armenians living on Azerbaijani territory outside Nagorno-Karabakh is around 2,000 to 3,000, and almost exclusively comprises persons married to Azeris or of mixed Armenian-Azeri descent. The number of Armenians who are likely not married to Azeris and are not of mixed Armenian-Azeri descent are estimated at 645 (36 men and 609 women) and more than half (378 or 59 per cent of Armenians in Azerbaijan outside Nagorno-Karabakh) live in Baku and the rest in rural areas. They are likely to be the elderly and sick, and probably have no other family members. Armenians in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
are at a great risk as long as the Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
conflict remains unsettled
In Azerbaijan, the status of Armenians, is precarious. Armenian churches remain closed, because of the large outmigration of Armenians and fear of Azeri attacks.
Armenians in Baku
Baku saw a large influx of Armenians following the city's incorporation into the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in 1806. They took up jobs as merchants, industrial managers and government administrators. Due to favourable economic conditions the Imperial Russian government had provided the Christian population with, Armenians took control of almost one-third of the region's oil industry by 1900. The growing tension between Armenians and Azeris (often instigated by the Russian officials who feared nationalist movements among their ethnically non-Russian subjects) resulted in mutual pogroms in 1905–1906, planting a seed of distrust between these two groups in the city and elsewhere in the region for decades to come. Following the proclamation of Azerbaijan's independence in 1918
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
, the Armenian nationalist Dashnaktsutyun Party became increasingly active in then Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
-occupied Baku. 70% of the governing body of the Baku Commune consisted of ethnic Armenians
Armenian National Council of Baku
Armenian National Council in Baku was a representative body of the Armenians residing on the Azerbaijani territory.When the Yerevan-based Armenian Congress of Eastern Armenians was established at October 1917, it united the Armenian National Councils all around the Russian Empire...
. Despite pledging non-involvement, the Dashnaks mobilised Armenian militia units to participate in the massacres of Baku's Muslim population
March Days
The March Days, or March Events, refer to an inter-ethnic strife and massacres of up to 12,000 Azerbaijanis and other Muslims that took place between March 30 and April 2, 1918 in the city of Baku and adjacent areas of the Baku Governorate of Russian Empire.Facilitated by a political power struggle...
in March 1918, killing thousands. Five months later, the Armenian community itself dwindled as thousands of Armenians either fled Baku or were massacred
September Days
The September Days refers to a period during the Russian Civil War in September 1918 when ethnic Armenians were massacred by Enver Pasha's Army of Islam and their local Azeri allies when they captured Baku, the soon-to-be capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic...
at the approach of the Turkish–Azeri army (which seized the city from the Bolsheviks), as an act of retaliation for the Armenian participation in the massacres of local Azeris. Regardless of these events, on 18 December 1918, ethnic Armenians (including members of the Dashnaktsutyun) were represented in the newly-formed Azerbaijani parliament, constituting 11 of its 96 members.
Following the Sovietisation of Azerbaijan, Armenians managed to reestablish a large and vibrant community in Baku made up of skilled professionals, craftsmen and intelligentsia and integrated into the political, economic and cultural life of Azerbaijan. The community grew steadily in part due to active migration of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to Baku and other large cities. The mainly-Armenian populated quarter of Baku called Armenikend grew from a tiny village of oil-workers into a prosperous urban community. At the advent of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Baku alone had a larger Armenian population than Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenians were widely represented in the state apparatus. Multiethnic nature of Soviet-era Baku created conditions for active integration of its population and the emergence of a distinct Russian-speaking
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
urban subculture, to which ethnic identity began losing grounds and with which post-World War II generations of urbanised Bakuvians regardless of their ethnic origin or religious affiliations tended to identify. By the 1980s, the Armenian community of Baku had become largely Russified
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
. In 1977, 58% of Armenian pupils in Azerbaijan were receiving education in Russian. While in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Armenians often chose to disassociate themselves from Azerbaijan and Azeris, cases of mixed Azeri–Armenian marriages were quite common in Baku. The political unrest in Nagorno-Karabakh remained a rather distant concern for Armenians of Baku until March 1988, when the Sumgait pogrom
Sumgait Pogrom
The Sumgait pogrom was a pogrom that targeted the Armenian population of the seaside town of Sumgait in Soviet Azerbaijan during February 1988...
took place. The anti-Armenian
Anti-Armenianism
Armenophobia is the fear, dislike of, hatred or aversion to the Armenians, Republic of Armenia and the Armenian culture, which can range in expression from individual hatred to institutionalized persecution...
feelings were aroused because of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting in the exodus of most Armenians from Baku and elsewhere in the republic. However, many Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan later reported that despite ethnic tensions taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh, the relationships with their Azeris friends and neighbours had been unaffected. The Sumgait events became a shock to both Armenian and Azeri population of the cities, and many Armenian lives were saved as ordinary Azeris sheltered them during the pogroms and volunteered to escort them out of the country, often risking their own lives. In some cases, the Armenians who were leaving entrusted their houses and possessions to their Azeri friends.
Armenian churches in Baku
The only Armenian church in Baku is the Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory IlluminatorSt. Gregory the Illuminator's Church, Baku
St. Gregory the Illuminator's Church is a former Armenian Apostolic church in downtown Baku, Azerbaijan. It was built in 1887 and survived through the radical atheist age of Sovietization, and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
(Sourb Grigor Lousavoritch in Armenian). At the height of atrocities against the Armenian minorities in Baku in 1990, the Armenian church in Baku was set on fire, but was restored in 2004 and is not used anymore.
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh
Artsakh
Artsakh was the tenth province of the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until 387 AD and afterwards a region of Caucasian Albania from 387 to the 7th century. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control...
. In the 14th century, a local Armenian leadership emerged, consisting of five noble dynasties led by princes, who held the titles of melik
Melik
Мelik , from malik ) was a hereditary Armenian noble title, in various Eastern Armenian principalities known as melikdoms encompassing modern Yerevan, Kars, Nakhchivan, Sevan, Lori, Artsakh, Tabriz and Syunik starting from the Late Middle Ages until the end of the nineteenth century...
s and were referred to as Khamsa (five in Arabic). The Armenian meliks maintained control over the region until the 18th century. In the early 16th century, control of the region passed to the Safavid dynasty, which created the Ganja-Karabakh province (beglarbekdom, bəylərbəylik). Despite these conquests, the population of Upper Karabakh remained largely Armenian.
Karabakh passed to Imperial Russia by the Kurekchay Treaty
Kurekchay Treaty
The Treaty of Kurakchay, also known as the Russo-Karabakhi treaty of May 14, 1805, was a treaty signed between the Russian military commander in the Caucasus Pavel Tsitsianov on behalf of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Ibrahim Khalil Khan of the Karabakh khanate, which made the khanate a...
, signed between the Khan of Karabakh and Tsar Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
in 1805, and later further formalized by the Russo-Persian Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, before the rest of Transcaucasia was incorporated into the Empire in 1828 by the Treaty of Turkmenchay
Treaty of Turkmenchay
The Treaty of Turkmenchay was a treaty negotiated in Turkmenchay by which the Qajar Empire recognized Russian suzerainty over the Erivan khanate, the Nakhchivan khanate, and the remainder of the Talysh khanate, establishing the Aras River as the common boundary between the empires, after its...
. In 1822, the Karabakh khanate was dissolved, and the area became part of the Elisabethpol Governorate
Elisabethpol Governorate
Elisabethpol Governorate or Elizavetpol Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Elisabethpol . Its area was 44,136 sq. kilometres, and it had 878,415 inhabitants by 1897....
within the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, Karabakh became part of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic , was a short-lived state composed of the modern-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the South Caucasus.-...
, but this soon dissolved into separate Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
i, and Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
states. Over the next two years (1918–1920), there were a series of short wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over several regions, including Karabakh. In July 1918, the First Armenian Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh declared the region self-governing and created a National Council and government. Later, Ottoman troops entered Karabakh, meeting armed resistance by Armenians.
In April 1920, while the Azerbaijani army was locked in Karabakh fighting local Armenian forces, Azerbaijan was taken over by Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s. Subsequently, the disputed areas of Karabakh, Zangezur, and Nakhchivan came under the control of Armenia. During July and August 1920, however, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
occupied mountainous Karabakh, Zangezur, and part of Nakhchivan. Later on, for basically political reasons, the Soviet Union agreed to a division under which Zangezur would fall under the control of Armenia, while Karabakh and Nakhchivan would be under the control of Azerbaijan. In addition, the mountainous part of Karabakh that had come to be named Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
was granted an autonomous status as the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was an autonomous oblast within the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR, mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians and created on July 7, 1923. According to Karl R. DeRouen it was created as an enclave so that a narrow strip of land would separate it from Armenia proper....
, giving Armenians more rights than were given to Azeris in Armenia and enabling Armenians to be appointed to key positions and attend schools in their first language.
With the Soviet Union firmly in control of the region, the conflict over the region died down for several decades. The Armenians in Karabakh were not repressed to a substantial extent. Their situation was undoubtedly better than of the Azeris in Armenia who lived in Zangezur
Zangezur
Zangezur may refer to:* Syunik, alternative name of an Armenian geographic-historic region, nowadays one of the provinces of Armenia* Kapan, former name of a city in Armenia...
in an equally concentrated manner, though without possessing any autonomy. Local schools offered education in Armenian but taught Azerbaijani history and not the history of the Armenian people; the population had access to Armenian-language television broadcast by a Stepanakert-based channel controlled from Baku, and later directly from Armenia as well, though in an unfavourable manner. The autonomy of Nagorno-Karabakh led to the rise of Armenian nationalism and the Armenians' determination in claiming independence. With the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the question of Nagorno-Karabakh re-emerged.
Armenians allege that this followed the Azerbaijani and Soviet military forces jointly starting "a campaign of violence to disperse Armenian villagers from areas north and south of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territorial enclave in Azerbaijan where Armenian communities have lived for centuries".
"However, the unstated goal was to "convince" the villagers half are pensioners to relocate permanently in Armenia." This military action was officially called "Operation Ring," because its basic strategy consists of surrounding villages (included Martunashen and Chaykand) with tanks and armored personnel carriers and shelling them. Azerbaijani villagers were allowed to come and loot the empty Armenian villages, while more than ten thousand Armenian villagers have been forced to leave Azerbaijan.
The majority Armenian population started a movement that culminated in the unilateral declaration of independence.
Armenians in Nakhchivan
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
Նախիջևան). According to an Armenian tradition, Nakhchivan was founded by Noah
Noah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
, of the Abrahamic religions. It became part of the Satrapy of Armenia
Orontid Dynasty
The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty (also known by their native name, Yervanduni was a hereditary Armenian dynasty and the rulers of the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Ararat...
under Achaemenid Persia circa 521 BC. In 189 BC
189 BC
Year 189 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nobilior and Vulso...
, Nakhchivan was part of the new Kingdom of Armenia established by Artaxias I
Artaxias I
Artaxias I was the founder of the Artaxiad Dynasty whose members ruled the Kingdom of Armenia for nearly two centuries....
. In 428, the Armenian Arshakuni monarchy was abolished and Nakhchivan was annexed by Sassanid Persia. In 623 AD, possession of the region passed to the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. Nakhchivan itself became part of the autonomous Principality of Armenia under Arab control. After the fall of the Arab rule in the 9th century, the area became the domain of several Muslim emirates of Arran and Azerbaijan. Nakhchivan became part of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century, followed by becoming the capital of the Atabegs of Azerbaijan
Atabegs of Azerbaijan
The Ildegizids, Eldiguzids or Ildenizids, also known as Atabegs of Azerbaijan were a Turkic dynasty of Kipchak origin which controlled most of northwestern Persia/eastern Transcaucasia, including Arran, most of Azerbaijan, and Djibal...
in the 12th century. In the 1220s it was plundered by Khwarezm
Khwarezm
Khwarezm, or Chorasmia, is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, which borders to the north the Aral Sea, to the east the Kyzylkum desert, to the south the Karakum desert and to the west the Ustyurt Plateau...
ians and Mongols
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
. In the 15th century, the weakening Mongol rule in Nakhchivan was forced out by the Turcoman
Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion....
dynasties of Kara Koyunlu
Kara Koyunlu
The Kara Koyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu, also called the Black Sheep Turkomans , were a Shi'ite Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled over the territory comprising the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, north-western Iran, eastern Turkey and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468.The Kara Koyunlu Turkomans at one...
and Ak Koyunlu
Ak Koyunlu
The Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans , was an Sunni Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled parts of present-day Eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, and Iran from 1378 to 1508.-History:According to chronicles from the Byzantine Empire, the Aq Qoyunlu...
.
In the 16th century, control of Nakhchivan passed to the Safavid dynasty
Safavid dynasty
The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...
of Persia. In 1604, Shah Abbas I
Abbas I of Persia
Shāh ‘Abbās the Great was Shah of Iran, and generally considered the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He was the third son of Shah Mohammad....
Safavi, concerned that the lands of Nakhchivan and the surrounding areas would pass into Ottoman hands, decided to institute a scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy. He forced the entire local population, Armenians, Jews and Muslims alike, to leave their homes and move to the Persian provinces south of the Aras River. Many of the deportees were settled in the neighborhood of Isfahan that was named New Julfa
New Julfa
New Julfa is the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Iran, located along the south bank of the river Zayandeh River....
since most of the residents were from the original Julfa (a predominantly Armenian town).
After the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay
Treaty of Turkmenchay
The Treaty of Turkmenchay was a treaty negotiated in Turkmenchay by which the Qajar Empire recognized Russian suzerainty over the Erivan khanate, the Nakhchivan khanate, and the remainder of the Talysh khanate, establishing the Aras River as the common boundary between the empires, after its...
, the Nakhchivan khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828. The Nakhchivan khanate was dissolved, and its territory was merged with the territory of the Erivan khanate and the area became the Nakhchivan uyezd
Uyezd
Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...
of the new Armenian Oblast
Armenian Oblast
The Armenian Oblast or Armenian Province ) was an oblast of the Russian Empire that existed from 1828 to 1840. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey, and present-day Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave...
, which was reformed into the Erivan Governorate
Erivan Governorate
Erivan Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Erivan . Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometres. It roughly corresponded to what is now most of central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of Turkey, and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave...
in 1849. A resettlement policy implemented by the Russian authorities encouraged massive Armenian immigration to Nakhchivan from various parts of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and Persia. According to official statistics of the Russian Empire, by the turn of the 20th century Azerbaijanis made up 57% of the uyezd's population, while Armenians constituted 42%.
During the Russian Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
, conflict erupted between the Armenians and the Azeris, culminating in the Armenian-Tatar massacres
Armenian-Tatar massacres
The Armenian–Tatar massacres refers to the bloody inter-ethnic confrontation between Armenians and Azerbaijanis throughout the Caucasus in 1905–1907.The massacres started during the Russian Revolution of...
. In the final year of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Nakhchivan was the scene of more bloodshed between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who both laid claim to the area. By 1914, the Armenian population was at 40% while the Azeri population increased to roughly 60%. After the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
, the region was under the authority of the Special Transcaucasian Committee of the Russian Provisional Government
Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...
and subsequently of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic , was a short-lived state composed of the modern-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the South Caucasus.-...
. When the TDFR was dissolved in May 1918, Nakhchivan, Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
, Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik
Syunik
Syunik is the southernmost province of Armenia. It borders the Vayots Dzor marz to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave to the west, Karabakh to the east, and Iran to the south. Its capital is Kapan. Other important cities and towns include Goris, Sisian, Meghri, Agarak, and Dastakert...
), and Qazakh
Qazakh
Qazakh is a rayon of Azerbaijan. It has two exclaves inside Armenia, Yukhari Askipara and Barkhudarli, both of which came under Armenian control during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.- History :In antiquity, this rayon was part of the province of Utik...
were heavily contested between the newly formed and short-lived states of the Democratic Republic of Armenia
Democratic Republic of Armenia
The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...
(DRA) and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
(ADR). In June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros
Armistice of Mudros
The Armistice of Moudros , concluded on 30 October 1918, ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I...
, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for the forthcoming British military presence.
After a brief British occupation and the fragile peace they tried to impose, in December 1918, with the support of Azerbaijan's Musavat Party
Equality Party (Azerbaijan)
The Müsavat Party is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat.-Early Musavat :...
, Jafar Gulu Khan Nakhchivanski declared the Republic of Aras in the Nakhchivan uyezd of the former Yerevan Governorate assigned to Armenia by Wardrop. The Armenian government did not recognize the new state and sent its troops into the region to take control of it. The conflict soon erupted into the violent Aras War. By mid-June 1919, however, Armenia succeeded in establishing control over Nakhchivan and the whole territory of the self-proclaimed republic. The fall of the Aras republic triggered an invasion by the regular Azerbaijani army and by the end of July, Armenian troops were forced to leave Nakhchivan City to the Azeris. In mid-March 1920, Armenian forces launched an offensive on all of the disputed territories, and by the end of the month both the Nakhchivan and Zangezur regions came under stable but temporary Armenian control. In July 1920, the 11th Soviet Red Army
11th Soviet Red Army
The 11th Army of the Red Army was a unit of the then newly created Soviet armed forces. It was formed by the Bolsheviks on October 3, 1918 from the Red Northern Caucasus Army. In February 1919 it was dissolved and was again deployed in March 1919 as a subdivision of the Caspian-Caucasian Front...
invaded and occupied the region and on July 28, declared the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with "close ties" to the Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
. A referendum was called for the people of Nakhchivan to be consulted. According to the formal figures of this referendum, held at the beginning of 1921, 90% of Nakhchivan's population wanted to be included in the Azerbaijan SSR "with the rights of an autonomous republic." The decision to make Nakhchivan a part of modern-day Azerbaijan was cemented March 16, 1921 in the Treaty of Moscow
Treaty of Moscow (1921)
The Treaty of Moscow or Treaty of Brotherhood was a friendship treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Bolshevist Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, signed on 16 March 1921...
between Bolshevist Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
and Turkey. The agreement between the Soviet Russia and Turkey also called for attachment of the former Sharur-Daralagez uyezd (which had a solid Azeri majority) to Nakhchivan, thus allowing Turkey to share a border with the Azerbaijan SSR. This deal was reaffirmed on October 23, in the Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
.
In the years following the establishment of Soviet rule, Nakhchivan saw a significant demographic shift. Its Armenian population gradually decreased as many emigrated. According to statistics published by the Imperial Russian government in 1916, Armenians made up 40% of the population of the Nakhchivan uyezd. The borders of the uyezd were redrawn and in the 1926 all-Soviet census 11% of region's population was Armenian,. By 1979 this number had shrunk to 1.4%. The Azeri population, meanwhile increased substantially with both a higher birth rate and immigration (growing from 85% in 1926 to 96% by 1979). The Armenian population saw a great reduction in their numbers throughout the years repatriating to Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and elsewhere.
Some Armenian political groupings of the Republic of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and the Armenian diaspora
Armenian diaspora
The Armenian diaspora refers to the Armenian communities outside the Republic of Armenia and self proclaimed de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic...
, among them most notably the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian...
(ARF) claim that Nakhchivan should belong to Armenia. However, Nakhchivan is not officially claimed by the government of Armenia. But huge Armenian religious and cultural remnants are witness of the historic presence of Armenians in the Nakhcivan region (Nakichevan, sometimes Nakhijevan in Armenian). Recently the Medieval Armenian cemetery of Jugha (Julfa) in Nakhchivan, regarded by Armenians as the biggest and most precious repository of medieval headstones marked with Christian crosses – khachkar
Khachkar
A khachkar or khatchkar is a carved, cross-bearing, memorial stele covered with rosettes and other botanical motifs. Khachkars are characteristic of Medieval Christian Armenian art found in Armenia.-Description:...
s (of which more than 2,000 were still there in the late 1980s), has completely vanished in 2006.
Conditions today
The Armenians still remaining in Azerbaijan practically live in virtual hiding, and have also changed their Armenian names and surnames to Azerbaijani names and surnames because they have to maintain an extremely low profile to avoid harassment and physical attacks. They have continued to complain (in private due to fear of attacks) that they remain subject to harassmant and human rights violations and therefore have to hide their identity. According to a 1993 United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Immigration and naturalization service
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
report:
A report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance. It consists of 47 experts, one from every CoE member state. ECRI publishes...
(ECRI) released in May 2011 found that their conditions had barely improved. It found that:
It further expressed concern over the "fact that the constant negative official and media discourse concerning the Republic of Armenia helps to sustain a negative climate of opinion regarding people of Armenian origin coming under the Azerbaijani authorities' jurisdiction." It recommended that the government "work actively to improve the climate of opinion concerning Armenians coming under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction."
Famous Armenians from Azerbaijan
- Hovhannes BagramyanHovhannes BagramyanIvan Khristoforovich Bagramyan , also known as Hovhannes Khachaturi BaghramyanPronunciation: Bagramyan's name is most commonly written in English as Bagramyan "bahg-rahm-yahn" or Bagramian...
Army Commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union - Hovannes AdamianHovannes AdamianHovhannes Abgari Adamian was an Armenian engineer, an author of more than 20 inventions. The first experimental color television was shown in London in 1928 based on Adamian's tricolor principle, and he is recognized as one of the founders of color television.-Biography:Adamian was born in a...
, designer of color television - Alexander ShirvanzadeAlexander ShirvanzadeAlexander Shirvanzade was an Armenian playwright and novelist...
, playwright and novelist, awarded by the "People's Writer of Armenia" and "People's Writer of Azerbaijan" titles - Boris BabaianBoris BabaianBoris Artashesovich Babayan is an Armenian supercomputer architect, notable as the pioneering creator of supercomputers in the Soviet Union....
, pioneering creator of supercomputers in the Soviet Union - Armen OhanianArmen OhanianArmen Ohanian , born Sophia Pirboudaghian was an Armenian dancer, actress, writer, and translator.-Biography:Armen Ohanian was born in Shamakha, then part of the Russian Empire to an upper-class Armenian family. A devastating earthquake caused her family to move to Baku, where she attended a...
, an Armenian dancer, actress, writer and translator - Alexey EkimyanAlexey EkimyanAlexey Ekimyan also Alexey Gurgenovich Hekimyan was a famous Armenian-Russian composer, and author of popular songs. Ekimyan was also a General of Soviet militsia and was the head of Criminal Investigation Department of Moscow region...
, composer and police general - Garri Kasparov, grandmaster and world champion
- Vladimir Akopian, chess player
- Ashot NadanianAshot NadanianAshot Nadanian is an Armenian chess International Master , chess theoretician and chess coach....
, chess player - Vladimir BagirovVladimir BagirovVladimir Bagirov was a Soviet-Latvian grandmaster of chess, chess author, and trainer. He played in ten USSR Championships, with his best result being fourth place in his debut in 1960. Bagirov was World Senior Champion in 1998...
, chess player - Yevgeny PetrosyanYevgeny PetrosyanYevgeny Vaganovich Petrosyan is a Soviet/Russian comedian of Armenian and Jewish descents. He was named in 2005 among the most influential figures in contemporary Russia, in a survey conducted by independent polling agency The Levada Centre...
, comedian - Georgy ShakhnazarovGeorgy ShakhnazarovGeorgy Khosroevich Shakhnazarov was a Soviet-Armenian politician and political scientist. He was one of the half-dozen aides closest to Mikhail Gorbachev both while he was Soviet leader and after his fall from power at the collapse of the Soviet Union...
, political scientist - Rafael KapreliantsRafael Ivanovich KapreliantsRafael Ivanovich Kapreliants was a Soviet Armenian first class pilot, Honorary test-pilot of USSR, a Hero of the Soviet Union and the holder of 10 world records for helicopters....
, Hero of the Soviet Union. - Avet TerterianAvet TerterianAvet Terterian was an Armenian composer, awarded the Konrad Adenauer Prize. He was a friend and colleague of Giya Kancheli, Konstantin Orbelyan, and Tigran Mansuryan...
, composer - Sergey PetrosyanSergey PetrosyanSergey Petrosyan is an Armenian weightlifter representing Russia.Petrosyan participated in the European Weightlifting Championships of 2007 and 2008, and winning gold in both years.Since 2007 Jun till now Sergey Petrosyan is director of Linus in Armenia...
, weightlifter - Karina AznavourianKarina AznavourianKarina Borisovna Aznavourian is a Russian épée fencer. She won two gold medals in the team épée event at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. Also won bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics....
, épée fencer
See also
- List of Azerbaijani Armenians
- Armenian–Azerbaijani War
- Kirovabad pogromKirovabad pogromThe Kirovabad pogrom or the pogrom of Kirovabad was an Azeri-led pogrom that targeted Armenians living in the city of Kirovabad in Soviet Azerbaijan during November 1988....
- Pogrom of Armenians in BakuPogrom of Armenians in BakuThe Pogrom of Armenians in Baku was an anti-Armenian pogrom directed against the Armenian inhabitants of Baku, Azerbaijani SSR.From January 13, 1990, a seven-day pogrom broke out against Armenians in Baku. Most of the deaths were caused by beatings and knife wounds; there were no gunshot wounds....
- Sumgait pogromSumgait PogromThe Sumgait pogrom was a pogrom that targeted the Armenian population of the seaside town of Sumgait in Soviet Azerbaijan during February 1988...
- Armenian National Council of BakuArmenian National Council of BakuArmenian National Council in Baku was a representative body of the Armenians residing on the Azerbaijani territory.When the Yerevan-based Armenian Congress of Eastern Armenians was established at October 1917, it united the Armenian National Councils all around the Russian Empire...
- Anti-Armenianism#Persecution in the Republic of Azerbaijan