Armenians are not an ancient Caucasian people and it’s a known fact by western and Russian historians, governments, and also special services. The more of that is known in Russia and the Vatican. However, it’s the West and Russia who invented the never existed history of the “caucasian Armenians”. But, why did they do that? The answer is very simple — to use them as a tool at later times against the Muslims. Thanks to the Russian empire, or more exactly to Peter Romanov and his descendants who helped Armenians to appear in the Caucasus, and particularly in Azerbaijan.
The appearance of Armenians in the Caucasus — was realized with the help of tsarist Russia. However, the idea of resettling the middle eastern Armenians in the Caucasus didn’t arise out of anywhere. The major role was played by the Armenian-gregorian church and its Ministers. The relations among the Armenian-gregorian church, the Russian empire, and the western countries were established in the seventeenth century. And Armenians tried to make the Europeans believe in their tales. As if, the Muslims oppressed the Armenians who are bounded to Europe by one faith.
In 1699 Yisrael Ori (Armenian) was commissioned by the Armenian church to negotiate with the European countries and Russia. And monk Minas Verdapet was appointed as his assistant. As they arrived in Europe, the Austrian emperor and the king of Florence met with them. They informed the rulers about their desire to create the Armenian state. But they didn’t manage to get any help from Europeans. Thus, Yisrael Ori and his assistant went to Russia. In 1701, Yisrael Ori met with the Russian emperor Peter Romanov and explained to him their plan, on creating a united Christian frontier against the Ottoman Empire. Peter liked this idea a lot and gave him the rank of Colonel. Afterward, the emperor Peter sent him ( Ori ) to Europe to recruit the weapon specialists.
After the death of Yisrael Ori in 1711, his assistant Minas continued his work. More exactly Ori’s fantasy on creating the Armenian State. In 1716 Minas Verdapet went to the possession of Kyzylbash (Safavid Iran, Persia) to deliver a letter to the Russian ambassador Volonsky., which was written by prince Shafirov. The contents of the letter were as the following: Gather information about the Armenian people in Persia that should include the size of the population and the power of attraction to his majesty the King. Help him without arousing suspicion. In 1722 Peter joined the Persian campaign. Russians advancing along the coast of the Caspian Sea, captured Derbent, Baku, Lenkoran, and other Azerbaijani provinces of the Kyzylbash dynasty.
The western coast of the Caspian Sea appeared to under the control of Russia. In October 1724 Peter let to resettling of Armenian to the territories which were captured by Russia. Exactly, from that time Armenians started to settle massively in the Caucasus. According to Peter’s order, Armenians were allowed to settle in Baku, Derbent, and Salyan (the Russian historian Solovyov, XIX century). The emperor Peter didn’t forget to give instructions regarding the local Muslims: “Do every possible thing to call the Armenians if there are any and settle them, but number of Muslims should be silently decreased”.
The new project, to create the Armenian State on the original Azerbaijani lands was made by Shamiryan. According to his plan, the newly created state should be headed by the Armenian tsar. He should have an official representative in Petersburg. And to secure this newly established kingdom, a Russian garrison have to be situated there during the twenty years. However, the Russians left the Western Caspian lands in 1735. Although, not for a long time, the Armenians couldn’t realize their adventurous plans.
The situation changed in 1827 when the Russians conquered the Erivan khanate. The Russian monarchs remembered the precept of their ancestors regarding the Armenians. In turn, the Armenian Catholicos Nerses Ashtaraketsi prepared the special project on resettling. The Russian playwright and ambassador to the Kajar court (the Turkish dynasty that ruled Iran during 1796–1925) A. S. Griboyedov, did everything possible to implement this plan.
Nerses in his letter, which was addressed to the Russian colonel of Armenian origin Yeghizar Lazarev in 1827 wrote that: “Now, I humbly appealed to the devoted defender of our Armenian people, A. S. Griboyedov, with a request to accept the captured Christians under the powerful flag of Russian rule. I also asked his excellency regarding the Armenians from Persia and now I humbly ask about that your excellency: persuade Paskevich not to forget to include an article about the free return of Armenians to Armenia from the Persian villages and cities, under the protection of the great Russian empire”. Griboyedov and Paskevich truly didn’t forget about “humble and oppressed” Armenians. They simply resettled them on the lands of Azerbaijani Turks.
According to the fifteenth article of the Turkmenchay agreement: His majesty Shah… kindly sends the complete forgiveness to the whole people and officials of the region called Azerbaijan. Moreover, starting from this day, he provides a year to the whole officials and people of Azerbaijan, to move freely with their families from these regions to Russia, for transportation, and selling their property without any impediments of local authorities and also without being subjected to any taxes and duties. Griboyedov, personally achieved for the inclusion of a clause to this article about the abolition of punishment and prosecution of that Persian subjects who had committed treachery in favor of Russians. The problem was that they were mostly Armenians.
An agreement called Andrianople with alike conditions was signed with Turks in 1828–1829 as a result of the Turkish-Russian war. The Adrianople agreement let Russia relocate the Turkish Armenians to the Caucasus. In just a few years, Russia relocated to the Caucasus more than one hundred and thirty-thousand Armenians from the regions of Persia and Turkey . The politics of settlement existed in Russia until it’s fall and was revived again during the Soviet period. In 1911 the Russian scientist and researcher Nikolay Shavrov wrote: “More than one million out of one million three hundred and thousand Armenians living in Transcaucasia are not indigenous and are relocated by us.” However, even those three hundred and thousand Armenians which were considered as native inhabitants of this region could hardly be considered aborigine. They were resettled to these regions a little earlier — at the times of Peter the Great. But the Russian empire went further. Peter the Great personally ordered to relocate the Armenians where they want, even in the lands of Muslims, who are needed to decrease in number. In other words, the order meant to give the lands of Muslims to Armenians without standing on ceremony with the locals. The Russian empire not only relocated the Armenians but also rewrote the entire history of the region. The most crucial thing that Russians did for Armenians was the liquidation of the Albanian Apostolic church. Thus, Armenians appropriated what didn’t belong to them. They wrote their history on a foundation that didn’t pertain to them.
It’s worth noting that, the Albanian church was the first church in the Caucasus. It was founded by Apostle Bartholomew, whose remains were buried until the IX century in Baku. Caucasian Albania officially accepted Christianity in 313. The Armenian-gregorian church was founded at later times. It is a written fact. And Armenian Catholicos Avraham was those who wrote a letter to Albanians: The Albanian throne was earlier than ours. (Z. Buniyatov. “On Gevorg Emin’s forced dialogue”). Despite the spread of Islam in Azerbaijan, the Catholicosate wasn’t demolished. Albanians could freely attend the Albanian churches, which were numerous throughout Azerbaijan and especially in Karabakh.
Until the XIX century, those Christians were called Albanians and mainly lived in Karabakh. However, in 1836, the Russian emperor Nikolay I liquidated the Albanian Apostolic Church. All of its properties were given to Armenians, although the Armenian church was lower in rank than the Albanian. At the beginning of the XX century, Albanians of Karabakh assimilated with Armenians and emerged the “Armenian” community of Karabakh.
During the existence of the Russian empire, the Armenian dream of their state (even as a protectorate of Russia) remained as a dream. But it was at that time when emerged a precedent to create an Armenian state on the historical lands of Azerbaijan. The issue is about the renaming of Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates of Azerbaijan to the so-called “Armenian region”. The Russian empire did that as soon as our lands were captured by them. Despite that at later times, the “Armenian region” was abolished by the same Russian colonial administration, all the way, these lands got a kind of connection with the toponym of “Armenia” (although historical Armenia — is a small region in Asia Minor and has never had any relation to the Caucasus ).
Based on that fact, after the fall of the Russian empire, Armenians demanded the creation of their state which we mentioned above. As a result, in 1918 the Armenian State with the capital of Erivan was proclaimed in Tiflis. Armenians put forward their claims regarding also the other regions of Azerbaijan and with the Sovietization of the region with the support of Stalin, Mikoyan, and other turkophobes, Armenians gradually began to achieve their goals.
In 1920 the north-eastern coast of Gokcha, Zangazur, and part of the Sharur-Daralayaz were torn from Azerbaijan and given to Armenian SSR. Then, In Karabakh, bolsheviks created autonomy for Armenians, as it wasn’t possible to separate this region from the Azerbaijani SSR because of economical reasons.
According to the Resolution №4083 of the council of ministers of the USSR, that entered into force on December 23 of 1947, the thousands of Azerbaijani Turks, starting from 1948 up to 1952 were resettled from Zangazur and Gokcha, to the plains of the Azerbaijani SSR. This was done to eradicate the Turkic population of the region.
The eviction of Azerbaijanis from Zangazur and Gokcha was not just an act of ethnic cleansing. The migration policy of Russia continued for creation and reinforcing of the puppet state of Armenia. Thus, in 1948–1952 on the lands of evicted Azerbaijanis were settled the Armenians of Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.
The above-mentioned resolution of the council of ministers of the USSR stated the following: “Allowance to the council of ministers of the Armenian SSR, to use the buildings and houses that vacated by the Azerbaijani population, for settlement of the foreign Armenians.” It is obvious.that, the policy of the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of the lands was carried in Russia at the level of the state, starting from the times of Peter the great up to the Stalin era.
In our time the Armenians, who have been living on the historical lands of Azerbaijan, with the help of their ally have captured the mountainous part of Karabakh (Upper Karabakh) and seven surrounding areas of Azerbaijan. They have exterminated thousands of civilians and over a million Azerbaijani Turks have become refugees on their lands.
There is also another fact which proves that Karabakh is not Armenian. It is about, Brezhnev’s gift to Armenians, the monument which was erected in Karabakh in 1978 in honor of the 150th anniversary of the resettlement of the first Armenians to the historical lands of Azerbaijan. By the way, the monument was redone by Armenians, with the beginning of the Karabakh events. As a result, the word Maraga and date 150 were removed from the surface of the monument.
As you can see, over the last two hundred years with, the support of Europe and Russia the Armenians, have achieved their dreams of creating the Armenian State on the ancient lands of Azerbaijan and acceptance of the Armenians as an indigenous population of the Caucasus.
The local Turkish population has been oppressed, but “long-suffered” Armenians in just over two centuries of residency in the Caucasus have killed more than one million Azerbaijanis ( the massacres in 1905–1906, 1918, 1920, 1992). The Armenians have destroyed the Turkish-Muslim culture of Erivan, Gokcha, Zengezur, and Karabakh. They have demolished our mosques, palaces, cemeteries, monuments and so on…
The Armenians are like a parasite on the body of Azerbaijan. Despite the UN’s resolution on the immediate liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, they continue to terrorize their neighbors and get support from the West and Russia.
Author: Amir Eyvaz
Translated by: Atilla Turk
