SEARCH SYSTEM OF THE ARMENIAN HIGHLAND MONUMENTS

Nakhichevan 385 Monuments

(Country) / Nakhichevan (Province)

Location

Nakhijevan is situated in the middle course of the Arax, between the river and the mountain range of Zangezur. It borders on the Republics of Armenia and Iran. In 1931 Iran and Turkey exchanged some territory, which allowed the latter to share a border with Nakhijevan.

Փափազյան Հ., Ինչպես գոյացավ Թուրքիա-Նախիջևան տասը կիլոմետրանոց սահմանը, «Իրան Նամե», 1995-1996, N 16-17, էջ 6: Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3. Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

Historical Introduction

The unearthed archaeological monuments (Mokhrablur /Kültapa/, Shorblur /Shortapa/) attest that the territory of Nakhijevan has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic Age (7th to 5th millennia B.C.).

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas) Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

7 — 9 cc․

Nakhijevan shared the fate of the other districts of Historical Armenia and did not escape the Arab invasions of the 7th to 9th centuries. After its liberation from the Arab yoke, it became part of the kingdom of the Armenian Bagratids (885 to 1045).

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

During the period between the 11th and early 13th centuries, Nakhijevan was under the domination of the Seljuk-Turks. In the 13th to 14th centuries, it suffered the Tatar-Mongol rule, and from the 15th until the 16th centuries, the Kara Koyunlus (Black Sheep Turkomans) and Ak-Koyunlus (White Sheep Turkomans) reigned there. In the 16th century, the district shifted into the sway of the Persian Safavids, which continued until the 18th century.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

Notwithstanding the severe living conditions in which the indigenous Armenians of Nakhijevan found themselves in the aftermath of these incursions, they succeeded in developing the economy of the district, where a number of canals, aqueducts and numerous stone bridges were built, with the roads undergoing renovation. By the second half of the 15th century, crafts and commerce had reached such a high level of prosperity in the district that new urban places were founded there, while the older ones—such as Nakhijevan, Vordvat, Jugha and others—thrived and became more populous: thus, the inhabitants of Jugha, which was a purely Armenian township, grew to 50,000.

“Брокгауз-Ефрон”: Энциклопедический словарь, т. X/а, СПБ, 1894, с. 557. Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

In 1605 Shah Abbas II, who was retreating from the battle-field after having been defeated by the Ottoman troops, put the indigenous Armenians of Nakhijevan to unprecedented and unspeakably disastrous deportation. In the aftermath of this calamity, most of the Armenian villages and towns of the district were stripped of their populations. Some of them were later re-inhabited by various Muslim tribes of Turkic origin from Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

As reported by German Orientalist Adam Oléarius, in 1636 Persian Shah Sefi issued a decree permitting part of the Armenian deportees to return to their native villages. Thanks to this, the economy of Nakhijevan was rapidly restored and its culture revived.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

1639 y․

On 17 May 1639, the representatives of Persia and Turkey met in Kasr-e-Shirin to sign a peace treaty under which Armenia was to be partitioned between these two states. The former established its rule in Eastern Armenia, where the khanates of Yerevan and Nakhijevan were founded.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

After Nadir Shah’s death (1747), Nakhijevan Khanate became a semi-independent entity. In order to gain trophies, the local khans repeatedly invaded the adjacent khanates and pashalics; moreover, they imposed heavy tributes upon their own subjects, exerting particularly severe pressure on the Christians, namely the Armenians. From time to time the Armenian-inhabited villages of Nakhijevan were also plundered and devastated by the neighbouring Turkish, Kurdish and Persian rulers and chiefs.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yeevan, 2012, p. 1.

In compliance with the Treaty of Turkmenchai signed on 10 February 1828, after the termination of the Russo-Persian war of 1826 to 1828, the khanates of Nakhijevan and Yerevan passed into the rule of Russia. With this respect, special mention should be made of a declaration made by Russian Emperor Nikolai I on 21 March of the same year. It particularly stated: “Our valorous troops ...conquered Yerevan Khanate situated on both banks of the Arax, as well as Nakhijevan Khanate, which is part of ancient Armenia: they shifted into the possession of the victor.”

Собрание актов, относящихся к образованию истории армянского народа, часть 1, Москва, 1833, с. 266. Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, pp. 1-2.

1849 y․

Between 1849 and May 1918, Nakhijevan formed part of Yerevan Province.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1905 y․

In the days of the Armeno-Tartar fights4 of 1905, almost all the Armenian-inhabited villages of the district were plundered and devastated.

1936 թ.-ից Այսրկովկասի թաթարներն անվանակոչվեցին ադրբեջանցիներ (տե՛ս Алекперов А., Исследования по археологии и этнографии Азербайджана, Баку, 1960, ст. 71): Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

After World War I, in 1918 the Turkish troops invaded Nakhijevan, where they continued the genocide of the Armenian nation, ongoing since 1915, together with the local Muslim elements.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1918 y․

On 14 December 1918, the Vicar of Yerevan Diocese, Bishop Khoren, informed Catholicos Gevorg V that 62 churches and 18 schools had been destroyed in Nakhijevan in the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of the district.

Վավերագրեր հայ եկեղեցու պատմության. Խորեն Ա Մուրադբեկյան, կազմ.՝ Բեհբուդյան Ս., գիրք Բ, Երևան, 1996, էջ 59: Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1919 y․

At the beginning of 1919, Nakhijevan was incorporated in the Republic of Armenia with the status of a province, but in the summer of the same year, the Musavatists who could not reconcile themselves with this fact stirred up a rebellion, as a result of which, a Turko-Armenian war broke out in September.

Karaketian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1920 y․

On 30 November 1920, the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan made a statement on the occasion of the Sovietization of Armenia in which they declared Nakhijevan an integral part of the country: “...henceforward no territorial issues should incite bloodshed between the two centuries-old neighbours, i.e. the Armenians and Muslims. The territories of the districts of Zangezur and Nakhijevan are inseparable parts of Soviet Armenia...”

Նախիջևանի հիմնահարցը Մոսկվայի 1921 թ. մարտի 16-ի ռուս-թուրքական պայմանագրում, Երևան, 2001, էջ 116: Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1921 y․

However, on 16 March 1921, without the participation of the Armenian side, Turkey and Russia signed an illegal agreement in accordance with which, Nakhijevan was put under the “protection” of Azerbaijan.

Նախիջևան-Շարուրը 1918-1921 թթ., փաստաթղթեր և նյութեր, «Բանբեր Հայաստանի արխիվների», 1993, N 1-2, էջ 342: Samvel Karapetian, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1923 y․

The year 1923 marked the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan within the borders of Azerbaijan. On 9 February 1924, it was divided into 5 administrative districts (Babek, Ilyichevsk, Shahbuz, Julfa and Ordubad) with a total area of 5,500 square kilometres.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

Between the 9th and 7th centuries B.C., the district was located within the borders of Urartian (Ayraratian) Armenia, after which it was incorporated in the Armenian kingdoms of the Orontids (6th to 2nd centuries B.C.), the Artashessids (189 B.C. to the early 1st century A.D.) and the Arshakids (66 to 428). Over many centuries, it formed an administrative part of the Artzrunies’ and Syunies’ Armenian principalities in the west and east respectively. In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Nakhijevan included the following districts of Metz Hayk (Armenia Maior): Sharur, Ayrarat Province; Yernjak and Jahuk, Syunik Province, as well as Nakhijevan and Goghtan, Vaspurakan Province. Goghtan was the place where Mesrop Mashtots (405 to 406), the inventor of the Armenian alphabet and the father of Armenian translators, introduced the Armenian letters and opened the first schools to disseminate them.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3. Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 1.

Due to its geographical position and location on a transit trade route, Nakhijevan was repeatedly invaded and devastated by the Arabs, Seljuk-Turks, Tatar-Mongols, Ak-Koyunlus (White Sheep Turkomans), Kara Koyunlus (Black Sheep Turkomans), as well as the Persians and Turks.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3.

1828 y․

The treaty of Turkmenchay, signed between Russia and Persia after the Russo-Persian war of 1826 to 1828, shifted Northeastern Armenia, including Nakhijevan, into Russian domination. Nakhijevan was included in the Armenian Province (Armianskaya Oblast) until 1840. It was then part of Yerevan District between 1840 and 1846, and of Yerevan Province from 1849 till May 1918.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3.

During the period between World War I and 1921, Nakhijevan was situated within the borders of the first Republic of Armenia.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3.

1919 — 1920 yy․

Between 1919 and 1920, Turkey, under the auspices of its allies, perpetrated the slaughter of thousands of Nakhijevan Armenians. That carnage was actually the continuation of the Great Armenian Genocide, that had been committed in Turkey since 1915 for the purpose of removing the obstacle the Armenians posed to Turkey’s unification with the Turkic tribes inhabiting what is present-day Azerbaijan.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3.

1921 y․

In compliance with an illegal agreement Soviet Russia and Turkey signed after World War I, on 16 March 1921 without the participation of the Armenian side, Nakhijevan was placed under the “auspices” of Azerbaijan as an autonomous territory; in fact, it was annexed to that country after having formed an inseparable part of Armenia over many centuries.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3.

Throughout the 70 years of Soviet rule, the Azerbaijani authorities consistently implemented a policy of national discrimination against the indigenous Armenian populations of Nakhijevan and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), another Armenian territory annexed to Azerbaijan in 1923 as a result of Lenin’s and Stalin’s policy of dividing nations to facilitate control and domination.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 3.

On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh started a peaceful movement for self-determination. Azerbaijan attempted to suppress it, by mobilizing all its military and civilian forces. Alternately organizing and allowing pogroms against the Armenians living in the Azerbaijani cities of Baku, Sumgait and Gandzak, the Azerbaijani authorities intended to intimidate the Armenians into abandoning Karabakh and Nakhijevan. During the years of armed conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, Northern Karabakh (Northern Artsakh) and Nakhijevan were totally stripped of their indigenous Armenian populations. The last remaining 2,000 Armenians were deported from Nakhijevan in 1989. As a result, Nakhijevan’s centuries-old Armenian cultural heritage was reduced to a state of captivity, and its planned annihilation loomed large.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, pp. 3-5.

Population
1829 y․

According to a source of 1829, Nakhijevan had 5,510 houses, 2,719 of which were inhabited by indigenous and non-native Armenians, and 2,791 by members of various Muslim tribes, both sedentary and nomadic.8 The local population constantly manifested growth, but the number of the native Armenians gradually decreased in the aftermath of the massacres perpetrated between 1918 and 1920, and the policy of discrimination conducted against them in the Soviet years.

Статистическое описание Нахичеванской провинции, составитель В. Г., 1833, СПБ, с. 31. Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1918 y․

A record of 1918 states: “The large territory of the district of Hin (Old - translator) Nakhijevan is inhabited by about 35 thousand Armenians and 48 thousand Turks. The former constitute one-third of the population of the city of Hin Nakhijevan; the rest are Turks.”

Նախիջևան-Շարուրը 1918-1921 թթ., փաստաթղթեր և նյութեր, «Բանբեր Հայաստանի արխիվների», 1993, N 1-2, էջ 30-31: Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

In the first years of the Soviet rule, the national, political and economic pressure exerted on the Armenians of Nakhijevan District intensified. The persecutions became so intolerable that the inhabitants of 15 Armenian-inhabited places (Nakhijevan City, Shekhmahmud, Khalilu, Kültapa, Uzun-Oba, Nazarabad, Ghulibek-Diza, Kyarimbek-Diza, Nazari, Khalkhali, Yarmeja, Aylapat, Jahri, Hajjivar and Gharakhanbeklu) prepared a document in which they stated: “...we have chosen Comrades Grigor Kyureghian and Gegham Avetissian from Shekhmahmud Village to be sent to Yerevan and Tpkhis as our representatives to raise the issue of the deplorable state of the unfortunate and hard-working people of Nakhijevan before the proper bodies to have it settled once and for all so that their family, legal and civil rights will be fully respected. We do not find it unnecessary to declare that we have unanimously decided to abandon the entire region and emigrate...”

Համախոսական և լիազորման թերթ, «Նախիջեւան», 1999, N 1-2, էջ 10: Samvel Karapetian, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

The Armenians of the last purely Armenian-inhabited villages of Nakhijevan and those with mixed populations were finally driven away on 22 November 1988. The only exception was Tseghna, which was left derelict on 13 June 1989: in this way, the region which had always been populated by the Armenians during the long millennia of its existence was stripped of them for the first time in its history.

Վարդանյան Ա., Նախիջեւանի հայաթափումը, «Նախիջեւան», 1999, N 1-2, էջ 12: Samvel Karapetian, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

As for the origin of Nakhijevan’s present-day population called Azerbaijanian, they descend from various Turkic and Kurdish tribes, mainly the Kengerli and Gharajalar. The former, who came to the region from Amid (Diarbekir), constituted 920 families there in 1829 and lived in Nakhijevan City, as well as in the villages of Jahri, Giaurarkh (Kruakk), Khok, Shahtakht, Gerdasar, Vaykher, Nahajir, Kölk, Mahmudova, Kültapa, Kakhap, Bulghan, Trkesh, Selesüz, Gharabaghlar and Kerimbey-Diza. The latter, who chiefly inhabited the district of Vayots Dzor (Daralagyaz), led a semi-nomadic life and comprised 660 families in the same year. Under the Tsarist regime, a common ethnonym, i.e. Tartars, was put into use with reference to all these tribes, but after the establishment of the Soviet regime, it was changed into Azerbaijanians after a newly-founded republic that had never existed in the political and historical arena before. In fact, at first the ethnonym of Azerbaijanians was applied to the representatives of all the nationalities inhabiting the newly-established republic of Azerbaijan: the Tartars, Armenians, Russians, Lezghins and the Talysh (after the example of the USA, where all the nationalities are called Americans). In the course of time, however, it began to be used only with reference to the former Tartars.

Статистическое описание Нахичеванской провинции, с. 31-32. Karaketian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

Monuments

In recent years, Nakhijevan’s Azerbaijani authorities have been perpetrating the premeditated annihilation of a wide variety of Armenian monuments which are reminders of the Armenian presence in the region. In August 2005, European researcher Stephen Sim became witness to the barbarities committed against the Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 5.

The violence against the memory and history of the Armenian people reached its climax with the total destruction of the historical cemetery of Julfa (known as ‘Jugha’ in Armenian) located in Yernjak District.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 7.

A country can gain entry to UNESCO and ICOMOS only if it complies with the laws and principles established in their statutes. Is a member country not to be expelled from these organizations if it later infringes its commitments? Violating the 1948 UN Convention on Cultural Heritage, Nakhijevan’s Azerbaijani authorities demolished thousands of Armenian monuments (churches, monasteries, cemeteries, etc.) in peaceful times, with the complicity of their army. Following the example of the Talibans who destroyed the statues of Buddha in Bamian, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan is obliterating Nakhijevan’s centuries-old historical monuments, thus hoping to prove that the region was never an Armenian territory... The destruction of Nakhijevan’s Armenian cultural heritage at state level is a crime not only against the Armenian nation but against all civilization. The annihilation of such monuments as the cemetery of Julfa is defilement of sacred tenets of all religions. Does a country having committed such vile desecration have any right to remain a member of the Council of Europe?

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 15

The territory of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan is one of those regions of Historical Armenia which abound in a wide variety of monuments of material culture. Unfortunately, the Armenian monuments forming the bulk of its cultural heritage were not fully documented in the Soviet years due to the obstacles deliberately set by the authorities of Azerbaijan. Incomplete as it is, the list of the monuments registered in the territory of Nakhijevan includes 218 buildings of Christian worship (monasteries, churches, chapels); 41 castles; 26 bridges; 86 sites of towns and villages; over 4,500 cross-stones and 23,000 tombstones24 all of which date back to the period preceding the 20th century. The Islamic (Persian, Seljuk, Turkish-Tatar-Azerbaijanian) monuments of the region form a smaller number (about 30), and what is still more important, they do not boast antiquity, most of them being even attributed to the modern era of world history.

Այվազյան Ա., Նախիջևանի ԻՍՍՀ հայկական հուշարձանները, Երևան, 1986, էջ 11: Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

Since the mid-1990s, the Armenian historical monuments situated in the territory of Azerbaijan—including those in the Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan, which is under its “protection”—have become targets of a flagrant anti-Armenian policy exercised at state level. The bigoted intolerance and discrimination manifested against them are getting more and more bitter with every single passing day, as a result of which, they are endlessly subjected to premeditated destruction.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

1998 — 2006 yy․

Between 1998 and 2006, the authorities of Nakhijevan totally annihilated the world-famous cemetery of Jugha (5th to 17th centuries) boasting over 3,000 ornate, inscribed cross-stones and more than 5,000 tombstones, the armed forces of the country being the immediate perpetrators of this crime. Moreover, the churches and monasteries of Agulis, Abrakunis, Shorot, Kerna and Tseghna, as well as many other monuments of Armenian culture, were levelled with the ground being either exploded or pulled down with bulldozers.

Karapetian Samvel, Nakhijevan (Atlas), Yerevan, 2012, p. 2.

The centuries-old cultural monuments the Armenian people created both in Nakhijevan and other territories of Historical Armenia are of universal value. At various periods, they were studied by different foreign scholars.

Hakhnazarian, A. Julfa. The Annihilation of the Armenian Cemetery by Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani Authorities, Beirut, 2006, p. 5.

Population:

Dates	Inhabitants	Armenians		Armenians %		Notes	Source
1897	87370	34672		34,4
1913	135000
1924	90000
1926	104900	11276		14,9	81,4
1931	111600			10,8	84,5
1939	126700
1959	141400
1970	202200	6000	190000	2,9	93,9
1979	230000	3406		1,4
1991	306000