Azerbaijanis in Armenia

This article is about Azeris in Armenia. For Azeris in general, see the respective article.

Template:Totally-disputed The Turkic community in Armenia, which by mostly identified themselves as Azerbaijanis or Azeris for the last two centuries represented a large number but has been virtually non-existent since 1988–1991, when the overwhelming majority of Azeris fled the country as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War and the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. UNHCR estimates the current population of Azeris in Armenia to be somewhere between 30 and a few hundred persons, with majority of them living in rural areas and being members of mixed couples (mostly Azeri women married to Armenian men), as well as elderly and sick, and thus unable to leave the country. Most of them are also reported to have changed their names and maintain a low profile to avoid discrimination.

History

Upon Seljuk conquests in 10th century, the mass of the Oghuz Turkic tribes who crossed the Amu Darya towards the west left the Iranian plateau, which remained Persian, and established themselves more to the west, in Caucasus and Anatolia. Here they divided into Ottomans, who were Sunni and settled, and Turkmens, who were nomads and in part Shiite (or, rather, Alevi). The latter were to keep the name "Turkmen" for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they "Turkised" the Iranian populations of Azerbaijan, thus creating a new identity based on Shiism and the use of Turkish. These are the people today known as Azeris

According to the Armenian-American historian George Bournoutian:

in the first quarter of the 19th century the Khanate of Erevan included most of Eastern Armenia and covered an area of approximately 7,000 square miles. The land was mountainous and dry, the population of about 100,000 was roughly 80 percent Muslim (Persian, Azeri, Kurdish) and 20 percent Christian (Armenian)

After the incorporation of the Erivan khanate into the Russian Empire in 1828, many Muslims (Azeris, Kurds, Lezgis and various nomadic tribes) left the area and were replaced with tens of thousands of Armenian refugees from Persia. Such migrations, albeit on a lesser scale, continued until the end of the 19th century. By 1832 Muslims in what had been the Erivan khanate were already outnumbered by migrating Armenians. According to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, by the beginning of the 20th century a significant population of Azeris still lived in Russian Armenia. They numbered about 300,000 persons or 37.5% in Russia's Erivan Governorate (roughly corresponding to most of present-day central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of Turkey, and Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan exclave). Most lived in rural areas and were engaged in farming and carpet-weaving. They formed the majority in 4 of the governorate's 7 districts, including the city of Erivan (Yerevan) itself where they constituted 49% of the population (compared to 48% constituted by Armenians). At the time, Eastern Armenian cultural life was centered more around the holy city of Echmiadzin, seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Traveler Luigi Villari reported in 1905 that Azeris in Erivan were generally wealthier than the Armenians living in the city.

For Azeris of Armenia, the 20th century was the period of marginalization, discrimination, mass and often forcible migrations resulting in significant changes in the country's ethnic composition, even though they have managed to stay its largest ethnic minority until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In 1905–1907 Erivan Governorate became an arena of clashes between Armenians and Azeris believed to have been instigated by the Russian government in order to draw public attention away from the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Tensions rose again after both Armenia and Azerbaijan became briefly independent from the Russian Empire in 1918. Both quarreled over where their common borders lay. Warfare coupled with the influx of Armenian refugees resulted in widespread massacres of Muslims in Armenia causing virtually all of them to flee to Azerbaijan. Relatively few returned, as according to the 1926 All-Soviet population census of there were only 78,228 Azeris living in Armenia. By 1939, however, the numbers increased to 131,000.

In 1948–1951, with the Council of Ministers of the USSR's adoption of the resolution entitled "Planned measures for the resettlement of collective farm workers and other Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Arax lowlands", the growing Azeri community became partly subject to "voluntary resettlement" (classified by Azerbaijani sources as in fact deportation) into central Azerbaijan to make way for incoming Armenian immigrants from the Armenian diaspora. Some 100,000 Azeris left Armenia within those three years bringing the number of those in Armenia further down to 107,748 in 1959. By 1979, Azeris numbering 160,841 were constituting 6.5% of Armenia's population.

In 1988-90 the remaining Azerbaijanis were forced to flee primarily to Azerbaijan.

Present day

It is impossible to determine the exact population numbers for Azeris in Armenia at the time of the conflict's escalation, since during the 1989 census forced Azeri migration from Armenia was already in progress. UNHCR's estimate is 200,000 persons. Civil unrest in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1987 led to Azeris' being often harassed and forced to leave Armenia. On 25 January 1988 the first wave of Azeri refugees from Armenia settled in the city of Sumgait. Another major wave occurred in November 1988 as Azeris were either expelled by the local authorities or fled fearing for their lives. This ensured the total Azeri emigration by 1991 and them settling primarily in Azerbaijan and Russia.

Hranoush Kharatyan, Head of Department on National Minorities and Religion Matters of Armenia, has made the following statement in February 2007:

Yes, ethnic Azerbaijanis are living in Armenia. I know many of them but I can't give numbers. Armenia has signed a UN convention according to which the states take an obligation not to publish statistical data related to groups under threat or who consider themselves to be under threat if these groups are not numerous and might face problems. During the census, a number of people described their ethnicity as Azerbaijani. I know some Azerbaijanis who came here with their wives or husbands. Some prefer not to speak out about their ethnic affiliation; others take it more easily. We spoke with some known Azerbaijanis residing in Armenia but they haven't manifested a will to form an ethnic community yet.

Prominent Azerbaijanis from Armenia

Ashig Alasgar - 19th century poet and folk singer
Mirza Gadim Iravani, Azeri painter of the mid-19th century
Akbar aga Sheykhulislamov, Minister of Agriculture of Azerbaijan in 1918-1920
Heydar Huseynov, Azerbaijani philosopher
Aziz Aliyev, Soviet politician
Said Rustamov, Azerbaijani composer and conductor
Mustafa Topchubashov, prominent Soviet surgeon and academician
Huseyn Seyidzadeh, Azerbaijani film director
Ahmad Jamil, Azerbaijani poet
Misir Mardanov, Minister of Education of Azerbaijan
Oqtay Asadov, Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan
Mahmud Karimov, current President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan

See also

• Azeris
• Erivan khanate
• Blue Mosque, Yerevan
• List of Azerbaijanis
• Demographics of Armenia