THE ARMENIAN REBELLION OF THE 1720S AND THE THREAT OF GENOCIDAL REPRISAL
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Endnotes
1. J. Deny, "Ottoman Armenia," in Encyclopeadia of Islam. Vol. 1 (Leiden-London, 1960), p. 641; cf. Mesrop K. Krikorian, Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire, 1860-1908 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977), pp. 107-108.
2. The history of the Armenian liberation attempt of the 1720s is largely a terra incognita even for the academic community in the West. Suffice it to say that the two supposedly best American experts on the 18th century history of Armenia, Robert Hewsen and George Bournoutian, identify general Davit-bek as the commander-in-chief of both Karabakh and Kapan Armenian self-governing areas. See Bournoutian, A History of Qarabagh. An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-e Qarabagh (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 1994); p. 17; idem, The Khanate of Erevan Under Qajar Rule, 1795-1828 (Costa Mesa, CA and New York: Mazda Publishers, 1992), p. 4, note 12; Hewsen, Russian-Armenian Relations, 1700-1828 (Cambridge, Mass.: Society for Armenian Studies, 1984), pp. 13-14.
In fact, Davit-bek was a leader of the Armenian principality of Kapan without exercising any power or additional leverages in the bigger Armenian self-governing area of Karabakh, whose leaders are well-known (see in study). Bournoutian, in addition, confuses the date of the Russian incursion into Iran of August-October 1722, fixing this event at 1723 (Bournoutian, A History of Qarabagh, op, cit., p. 17, note 62). The recent incompetent essay on the rise of Armenian nationalism by another American historian has effectively overlooked this period as well; See Ronald Grigor Suny, Looking toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1993), pp. 52-62.
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3. СARM, I, p. 562, cf. p. 406.
4. LOCK, pp. 176-189, 238-250.
5. See the Introduction of EZOV, pp. I-CXLIX; П. Т. Арутюнян, Освободительное движение армянского народа в первой четверти XVIII века [Р. Т. Arutiunian, The Liberation Movement of the Armenian People in the First Quarter of the XVIIIth Century] (Москва: Изд. АН СССР, 1954); В. П. Лысцов, Персидский Поход Петра I, 1722-1723 [V. P. Listzov, Peter the First's Persian Campaign, 1722-1723] (Москва: Изд. МГУ, 1951), pp. 190-234; LOCK, pp. 189, 259-260; ARO, I, pp. XIV-XXIV.
6. For the details, see AIVAZ, II, pp. 76-85.
7. YESAYI, p. 48; cf. M. Brosset, Collection d'Hisoriens Armeniens. Vol. II (St.-Petersburg: Imprimerie de l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences, 1876), p. 216.
8. YESAYI, p. 48. Cf. Brosset, Collection, op. cit., p. 216.
9.YESAYI, p. 49. Cf. M. Brosset, Collection, op. cit., p. 217.
10. See LOCK, pp. 185-186, 188, 212-235; cf. YESAYI, p. 50.
11. Ibid., pp. 212-235; SHAY, pp. 115-122. 12 See LOCK, pp. 255-258; PAY, p. 41.
13. For example, in 1417 Matteos Monozon, a certain scribe writing in Gandzasar monastery, defined the region as "Artzakh, now known as Khachen" (յերկիրս Արցախական, որ այժմ կոչի Խաչեն); see Լ. Ս. Խաչիկյան, Հայերեն ձեռագրերի հիշատակարաններ, ԺԵ դար (1401-1450) [The Colophons of the Armenian Manuscripts, the XVth century, 1401-1450. Ed. L. S. Khachikian]. Հտ. Ա. Երևան, ԳԱ, 1955, p. 195.
14. The position of the Karabakh Armenians is explicitly stated in their message of 11 May 1725 to the Russians (as related in the Russian summary of that document): "the Armenians pledge... that whenever they have
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Russian aid they will oppose the Persians as well, but to do that at present is just impossible." in ARO, II, doc. 253. On the correction of the date and analysis of important particulars of this document, see AIVAZ, III. pp. 75-76, note 50.
15. This divergence in numbers reflected the tides of the war. See EZOV, docs. 213, 215, 216, 219, 224, 231, 233, 252, 301; CARM, I, p. 578; KRUS, p. 131; Арутюнян, op. cit., pp. 158-162; VOYSKO, pp. 69-72; AIVAZ, III, pp. 68-71.
16. The sudden reemergence of the Armenian armed forces occurred after some two and a half centuries of their relative "invisibility." From the 13th through 15th centuries, the Muslim rulers of Armenia, Mongols, Karakoyunlu and Akkoyunlu Turcomans, conducted deliberate policies aimed at the destruction of the Armenian nobility, who then constituted the Armenian military class. By the 16th century, the Armenian military forces had disintegrated to the extent that they were incapable of undertaking major -- especially offensive -- combat assignments by themselves. Nevertheless, some Armenian forces, headed by the residue of national nobility, managed to survive. Geographically, the military organization persisted in primarily mountainous regions of Armenia, most notably, in Karabakh and Kapan in Eastern/Iranian Armenia, and in Sassun, Zcytun, Baiberd, Hamshen and parts of Vaspurakan in Western/Ottoman Armenia.
17. There is an extensive bibliography on Armenian Meliks and Melikdoms. Consult, for example, Բ. Ա. Ուլուբաբյան, Խաչենի իշխանությունը X-XVI դարերում [В. Ulubabian, The Principality of Khachen in the X-XVIth centuries] (Երևան, ԳԱ, 1975), pp. 416-421; Robert H. Hewsen,"The Meliks of Eastern Armenia, Parts I-III" Revue des Etudes Armeniennes 9-11 (Paris, 1972-1976).
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l8. On Gorgijanidze's works and biography, see Լ. Մելրքսեթ -Բեկ, Վրաց աղբյուրները Հայաստանի և հայերի մասին [The Georgian Sources on Armenia and the Armenians. Ed. Melikset-Bek]. Հ. Բ (Երևան, Գիտհրատ, 1936), pp. 82-86.
19. Н. Т. Накашидзе, Грузино-русские политические отношения в первой половине XVII века [N. Т. Nakashidze, The Georgian-Armenian Political Relations in the First Half of the 18th century] (Тбилиси, 1968), pp. 95-97; Լ. Մելրքսեթ-Բեկ, op. cit., pp. 112-113. In the rendering of this passage into French, these 40,000 Karabakh Armenian soldiers are wrongly referred to as the army of the Georgian prince Teymuraz I (1589-1663). See M. Brosset, Histoire de la Ge'orgie. T. II, liv. 1 (St. Petersburg, 1856), p. 64. Brosset's mistake was later mechanically used by Leo and Ashot Hovhannissian (see Լեո, Խոջայական կապիտալը և նրա քաղաքական-հասարակական դերը հայերի մեջ [Leo, The Capital of Khojas and Its Political-Social Role in the Life of Armenians] Երևան, Պետհրատ, 1934, p. 150 and Աշ. Հովհաննիսյան, Դրվագներ հայ ազատագրական մտքի պատմության [Ashot Ioannissian, The Essays on the Armenian Emancipation Thought] Հտ. Բ. Երևան, ԳԱ, p. 336). I wish to thank here Dr. Pavlik Chobanian of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, who at my request kindly checked and translated the entire aforementioned report by Gorgijanidze from the Georgian original. To summarize, in spring 1632 Teymuraz I of Kakheti, heading (as stressed in Накашидзе, op. cit., p. 95) the "Armeno-Georgian united forces", attacked the southeastern provinces of Iranian Transcaucasia and for a brief period took control over Ganja, Karabakh, Yerevan and some of other territories north of the Arax river. According to Gorgijanidze, when Teymuraz arrived at Barda, the town near Ganja, the "Armenian Catholicos of Gandzasar," Hovhannes Shahmasuretsi Hasan-Jalalian,
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came to him "with a large army (sic) and gifts" and strongly urged him to exploit the success and execute a march to the south of the Arax, on Tabriz, the northern capital of Persia. In particular, the Catholicos argued:
Ghayen (i.e., the Iranian shah) and khontkar (i.e., the Ottoman sultan) have risen against each other. There will never be a time like this again; you have the troops from all seven principalities of Georgia with you, [in addition] I will give you 40,000 musketeers. March with this force on Tabriz and we will seize Tabriz within seven days... .
Bulletin Historique, Livre II, Tiflis: Central Archive Press, 1925, (in Georgian), pp. 238-239.
20. See ARO, II, doc. 167 (written on Aug. 18, 1722); doc. 204 (March 5, 1724); doc. 291 written on Feb. 25, 1724 refers to 30,000 horsemen and 10,000 footmen; see also AVPR, Files entitled "Relations with Persia," inventory I, 1726, file 4, fols. 56b (document written on Nov. 12, 1725); ibid., fol. 213a (document written on Jan. 13, 1726), CARM. I, p. 578; KRUS, p. 131.
21. See ARO, II, doc. 291.
22. On his mission, see Ա. Գ. Աբրահամյան, Մի էջ Անդրկովկասի ժողովուրդների և հայ-ռուսական հարաբերությունների պատմությունից (ուսումնասիրություն և վավերագրեր): [A. G. Abrahamian, A Page from the History of the Peoples of Transcaucasia and Armeno-Russian Relations. A Study and Archival Documents] Երևան, ԳԱ, 1953, pp. 5-139.
23. ARO, II, doc. 318; cf. doc. 319.
24. The document mentions six commanders for four sections of the Karabakh army. The reason is that in 1728, Avan-
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yuzbashi and his brother Tarkhan (who was also his deputy as a commander-in-chief) left Karabakh for the Russian-held Caspian coast in the vain attempt to solicit Russian military assitance. In 1729 they were planning to return to Armenia, which later proved to be impossible.
25. ARO, II, doc. 375.
26. EZOV, pp. XLI-XLIII and docs. 144, 158. 27 YEGHIA, p. 49.
28. VOYSKO. doc. 3. p. 100.
29. A later version on the introduction of modern fire-arms into Karabakh clearly exaggerates the role of the Karabakh Armenian commander-in-chief Avan-yuzbashi (perhaps, because it was originally provided to the source by his immediate family as late as the 1760s and recorded in writing in 1792). According to this, at some time in 1719, after a defeat.of an Iranian force 18,000 strong, "five hundred mule loads of fire-arms were distributed among the subjects of five chiefs of Karabagh, where, by all accounts, there had been no more than two match-lock pieces in each chief's arsenal. It was Avan the First (i.e., Avan-yuzbashi; see note 56 below and its text — A. A.) who introduced complete fire-arms in those mountains. This happened some years before the destruction of Shah Sultan Hus[a]in (i.e., before 1722)." EMIN, pp. 200-201.
30. ԺԵ դարի հայերեն ձեռագրերի հիշատակարաններ, op. cit., pp. 24, 810:
31. Cf. Թ. Խ. Հակոբյան, Ստ. Տ. Մելիք-Բախշյան, Հ. Խ. Բարսեղյան, Հայաստանի և հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան. [Dictionary of Toponymy of Armenia and Adjacent Territories] Հտ. 1, Երևանի Համալսարանի հրատ., 1986, p. 842, Հ. 2, 1988, pp. 34-35.
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32. EZOV, p. 30.
33. ARO, II, doc. 375.
34. After being in Georgia and gaining high esteem and admiration among the Armenians, he was ordered by the Georgian prince Heraclius (1720-1798) to leave the country or face death, since: "The greatest part of his subjects are Armenians, trained up in wars against the Lazguis; he is very suspicious, and even afraid of a revolt from them, the consequence of which may be fatal to him." EMIN, p. 394; cf. p. 233 of the same source, where Heraclius himself stresses that "the best part of my subjects are Armenians." The analysis of these episodes is provided in A. P. Иоаннисян. Иосиф Емин [Joseph Emin]. Ереван, Изд-во Ереванского Госуниверситета, 1945, сс. 251-255.
35. YESAYI, р. 46.
36. For the details, see AIVAZ. II, р. 82, note 27.
37. Ibid., pp. 79-85.
38. YESAYI, p. 53; for the French translation, see M. Brosset. Collection, op. cit., p. 216, 218. The presence of Armenian soldiers in the Georgian troops had also been recorded in other sources written in the 17th century, see Զաքարիա սարկաւագ. Պատմագրութիւն [Zakaria Sarkavag, A Chronicle]. Հ. Բ (Վաղարշաաատ, 1870), pp. 96-98 and Մելիքսեթ- Բեկ, op. cit., pp. 114, 116.
39. Զաքարիա սարկաւագ. Պատմագրութիւն. Հ. Ա (Վաղարշապատ,1870), pp. 85-87; Закарий Канакерци. Хроника [А Chronicle]. Preface, translation from the Armenian into Russian and commentary by M. O. Darbinian-Melikian (Moscow: "Nauka," 1969), pp. 103-105.
40. А. Олеарий, Описание путешествия [Adam Olearius,The Narration of a Travel] (Moscow, 1870), p. 526.
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41. CARM, I, p. 130, n. 2, cf. also pp. 279, 293 (n. 1). See also M. С. Иванов, Очерк истории Ирана [М. S. Ivanov. An Account of the History of Iran] (Москва : Политическая литература, 1952), стр. 64.
42. EMIN, pp. 2-3.
43. For the details, see H. Papasian, "Armeno-Iranian Relations in the Islamic Period," Encyclopedia Irannica, Vol. II (London-New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, \ ,~ 1987), pp. 473-475; cf. Հայ ժողովրդի պատմություն. Հ. 4 [The History of the Armenian People. Vol. 4]. Երևան, ԳԱ, 1972, pp. 183-184.
44. KRUS, p. 141. On Krusinski's life and works, consult LOCK, pp. 516-525 and Karl Estreicher, Bibliografia Polska. Tom XX. (Krakow, 1905), pp. 804-806.
45. KRUS, p. 178.
46. De Sagredo, Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman. Trad. de l'ltal., T. VII (Paris, 1732), pp. 345-346; cf. M. Otter,Voyages en Turkuie et en Perse avec line Relation des Expeditions de Tahmas Kouli-Khan. T. II (Paris, 1748), p. 232; [Louis-Andre de la Mamie de Clairac], Histoire de Perse depuis le Commencement de ce Siecle (Paris, 1750), Vol. II. pp. 164-165.
47. VOYSKO, docs. 112, 167-168.
48. Ibid., doc. 3, pp. 100-101.
49. Ա. Աբրահամյան. Եղիա Կարնեցու դիվանը [A. Abrahamian, The Archive of Yeghia Karnetzi] (Երևան, Միտք հրատ., 1968), docs. 117, 136, 163. However, in late 1724, Rafael and Taghi, probably out of fear of their kinship with Davit-bek, left the Iranian camp and entered the Russian army as senior commanders of the Armenian detachments. After 1724 we have no evidence on Parsadan-bek except that his death and burial occurred in Ardabil; see VOYSKO, doc. 79, pp. 237-238, 451-452.
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50. See DB, p. 143. Exactly the same confusion, although transparent for contemporaries, has puzzled modern historians. Laurence Lockhart's treatment of Joseph (Hovsep) Apisalaimian, an intriguing Armenian personality born in Tiflis, is one such example. The latter, in one document, termed himself a Georgian. This, together with the fact that Joseph omitted his surname in another of his writings, drove Lockhart into a mistaken and definitely bewildered line of thought: "He regarded himself as a Georgian presumably because he was born in Tiflis. One wonders whether he suppressed his obviously Armenian name in order to support his claim to be a Georgian, but in that case he would have had to invent some suitable surname, and that he does not appear to have done." LOCK, p. 508. Lockhart's article on Joseph Apisalaimian is ibid., pp. 504-510.
51. VOYSKO, doc. 79, pp. 237-238, 451-452.
52. PAY, p. 28. A detailed account and analysis of these negotiations is given in П. П. Бушев, Посольство Артемия Волынского в Иране в 1715-1718 гг. (по русским архивам) [P. P. Bushev, The Mission of Artemiy Volinskiy in Iran, 1715-1718 (from the Russian Archives)] (Москва: "Наука," 1978) стр. 220-223.
53. « ժամանակագրութիւն Պետրոս դի Սաոգիս Գիլանէնցի,» Կռունկ Հայոց Աշխարհին no. 3 (Tiflis, 1863), p. 208; for the translation of this source into English, see GILAN, p. 65.
54. YEGHlA,p. 18.
55. Աբբահամ Երեւանցի , op. cit., p. 75, 154. For the documentation firmly placing Gegharkuni within Armenian self-governing areas in the 1720s, see ARO, II, docs. 229, 231, 315, 342. From the 9th century onwards the easternmost part of Gegharkuni was under the political-administrative control of the Artzakh/Khachen/Karabakh Armenian feudals; for the
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details, see Ուլուբաբյւսն, op. cit., pp. 36-38, 403-416.
56. On the biography of Avan-Yuzbashi, see AIVAZ, III, pp. 67-71. See also EMIN, pp. 200-202. It is interesting to note that some Armenians continue to serve in the modern Iranian armed forces, "particularly in technical positions within the air force;" see Nikola B. Schahgaldian, The Iranian Military Under the Islamic Republic (Santa Monica, С A: RAND, March 1987), p. 39.
57. For example, in his 11 May 1727 memorandum to the Empress, Yekaterina I (1725-1727), Prince Vasily V. Dolgorukiy (1667-1746), the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in the Caspian regions from 1726 to 1728, was bewildered at the persistent and effective resistance of the Karabakh and Kapan Armenian troops against, as he wrote, "their powerful enemy, Sari Mustafa pasha [Ottoman Turkish general] with his army....It is beyond the human judgment how does God but himself preserve them, how are they still able to defend themselves against such a powerful enemy?" (только как сам Бог их хранит свыше ума человеческого, как от такого сильного неприятеля могут себя еще содержать?) ARO, II, doc. 355, р. 294.
58. HANW, р. 211; the number of Armenian men fighting in this defense is established by my analysis of the data in Աբրա համ Երեւանցի, Պատմութիւն պատերազմացն 1721-1736 թուի [Abraham Yerevantzi, The History of Wars, 1721-1736]. Աշխատասիրությամբ Սահակ Ճեմճեմյանի (Վենետիկ -Ս. Ղազար, 1977), pp. 26, 28.
59. AIVAZ, V, pp. 102-114.
60. See the Itroduction and documents in VOYSKO.
61. AIVAZ, VI, pp. 88-94. On the military collaboration between Karabakh and Kapan, see AIVAZ, I, pp. 130-133; AIVAZ, III, pp. 63-80; AIVAZ, VI, pp. 88-90.
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62. On this term, see additionally LOCK, p. 260 (note 2), 357; GILAN, pp. 71-72. For the Armenian, Russian, Persian, and Turkish usage of this term, see ARO, I, p. XLI, ARO, II, docs. 240, 246, 301, 324, 353, 373, etc.; ARO, III, docs. 5, 7; Թուրքական աղբյուրները Հայաստանի, հայերի և Անդրկովկասի մյուս ժողովուրդների մասին [Turkish Sources on Armenia, the Armenians, and Other Peoples of Transcaucasia. Ed. A. Kh. Safrastian]. Աշխատասիրությամբ Ա. Խ. Սաֆրաստյանի. Հ. Ա (Երևան, 1961), pp. 158-159.
63. ARO, II, docs. 206; 209; 215, 280. 291, 300, 356, 371, 373, 375; ARO, III, doc. 2.
64. ARO, II, doc. 284, doc. 359; Վ. Ոսկանյան, Վ. Դիլոյան, "Ռուսաստանի քաղաքականությունը Անդրկովկասում XVIII դարի 20-ական թթ. (նոր վավերագրեր)," [V. Voskanian and V. Diloyan, "The Russian Policies in Transcaucasia in the 1720s (New Documents)"] PBH 25:2 (1964), p. 255.
65. Ibid.
66. ARO, HI, doc. 15; cf. docs. 11, 17.
67. Here is the excerpt from Hanway:
These people (i.e., the Armenians) taking advantage of the present circumstances, formed themselves into a kind of republic, which, as we have mentioned, distinguished itself by the total defeat of a body of six thousand men, whom Abdallah Basha had sent against them the preceding summer [of 1725]... .
HANW, p. 252. However, to speak about "a kind of republic" does not seem possible in the case of Kapan, where Davit Bek (1T728), an outstanding military talent, established a strong dictatorial rule. In contrast,
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Karabakh was a coalition of five major Seghnakhs, with the crucial decisions often being made in the Councils of their leaders; for example, on the big Council in Gandzasar at the end of February 1724, see ARO, II, doc. 291. On the five major Seghnakhs, see ARO, I, pp. XXXIX-XLII; Hewsen, "The Meliks of Eastern Armenia," I, op. cit., pp. 300-301.
68. For these battles, see DB, pp. 140-143; ARO, II, doc. 375-379; ARO, III, docs. 5, 7, mentioning that "although three times the Turks attacked them this [1730] summer, they (the Armenians) succeeded in defending themselves." Վ. Մ. Մարտիրոսյան, Հայ և վրաց ժողովուրդների համագործակցությունը ազատագրական պայքարում (VXVIII դարի 20-ական թթ.) [V. M. Martirosian, The Collaboration of the Armenian and Georgian Peoples in the Liberation Struggle of the 1720s]. (Երևան, 1971), pp. 168-172. AVPR, Files entitled "Relations with Persia," inventory 1, 1729, file 1, fol. 20, noting in particular: "the Armenians have destroyed so many Turks, that never in a [previous] battle have so many Turks perished." AVPR, inventory 77/1, file no. 5, fols. 7, 9, fixing the Armenian victory in the beginning of April 1730.
69. This victory was a result of the joint actions by the Iranian Shiite, Armenian and Georgian forces; see AlVAZ, III, pp. 71-73; ARO, II, pp. LXVI-LXXV.
70. HANW, p. 212; J. de Hammer, Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman. Tome XIV (Paris, 1839), p. 128; LOCK, p. 261. Yerevan was defended jointly by the Armenians and the Iranian garrison. However, on August 14, 1724, at the beginning of one of the fiercest Turkish assaults, the Armenians, defending some districts of the city outside the citadel, were abandoned by their Muslim allies who fled into the castle. Nevertheless, in a battle that proceeded for five days the Armenians alone managed to hurl the Turks back. With 6,000 deaths (as against
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3,300 men, killed on the Armenian side) and dismayed at such losses, some Turkish battalions openly mutinied. However, with the arrival of fresh reinforcements the city outside the castle was taken by storm on September 8. For a detailed analysis of the defense of Yerevan, see AIVAZ, IV, pp. 93-100.
71. See above in the text and notes 44-47.
72. Two of the three commanders of the destroyed Turkish division were killed, while the third one, Salah-pasha, was captured; see ARO, docs. 304, 309, 310, 312-325; AIVAZ. VI, p. 87, note 12.
73. AIVAZ, VI, p. 88.
74. Ibid., p. 87, n. 12; Վ. Ոսկանյան, Վ. Դիլոյան, op. cit., pp. 264-265, docs. 17, 19; cf. HANW , p. 252; DB, p. 103 (doc. 30).
75. ARO, II, docs. 335-336. That the Jermuk battle was the fourth major Turkish failure inflicted on them in Karabakh and Kapan could be indirectly confirmed by a 1 August 1726 cipher message by general V. Levashov (1667-1751), head of the Russian administration in the occupied Caspian regions, to A. I. Osterman, Russian vice-chancellor (1686-1747): "More than once, after hard preparations, the Turks marched on the Armenians, but were defeated on [all] four battles, and up to date the Armenians are resisting them." See Ա. Գ. Աբրահամյան, Մի էջ , op. cit., pp. 131-132.
76. On July 26, 1726 Ivan Nepliuyev, the Russian Resident to the Sublime Porte, reported from Constantinople recent news that "...at first the Armenian people agreed to recognize the suzerainty of the Porte on the same conditions as they lived under the Persians, but the Ganjian serasker (commander-in-chief), Sari Mustafa pasha, not satisfied by that sent against them 12,000-strong corps which they defeated." See PAY, p. 56; cf.
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Մարտիրոսյան, op. cit., pp. 163-164.
77. In this eight-day battle two Turkish generals, one of them the Captain of the Jannissaries (Yenkichari-aghasi). were killed, which forced serasker Saru-Mustafa pasha, the commander-in-chief of Turkish troops in the Transcaucasus, to flee rather than march back to Ganja, withdrawing nightly and "covering a two-day road in one day." See ARO, II, doc. 346, p. 286; doc. 350, pp. 290-291. The Armenians counted the Turkish attack force to have 40,000 soldiers, including the troops provided by a Caucasian warlord Ahmad-khan; see ibid., doc. 356, p. 296. A contemporary Turkish account describes this assault on Shushi as a full success, but at the same time registers that "because of the forthcoming winter colds serasker returned to Ganja and embarked on the fortifying of the city's defenses." This indication leaves no doubt that after the military setback serasker decided to be prepared for a possible Armenian counterattack. See Թուրքական աղբյուրները, op. cit.. pp. 158-159. On 30 November 1726, apparently, immediately after receiving the news on the Shushi battle, Prince Vasily Dolgorukiy informed the Russian Empress:
...the Armenians have defeated the Turks on many occasions and entreat us to join them with our troops....They are fighting against the Turks with fortitude and great valor, and, if, at this favorable time, it were possible for our troops to join the Armenians, taking into account the Turkish weakness, it could be hoped that our actions might be highly effective.
С. М. Соловьев. История России с древнейших времён
[page 72]
[The History of Russia since the Ancient Times]. Book X,
Vol. 19-20 (Москва: Изд. социально-экон. литературы, 1963), p. 15.
78. DB, p. 136-137, 170; cf. Միքայէլ Չամչեանց, Պատմութիւն հայոց [Mikael Chamchiantz, History of Armenia] Հտ. Գ (Վենետիկ, 1784), pp. 794-795. The date of this battle has been established in AIVAZ, VI, pp. 88-90, 100. The Armenians counted 148 military banners among the captured materiel. We may compare this figure to the 13,000 casualties of the Ottoman army. Evidently, every century of the Ottoman army had its own banner. Thus the Armenians captured the banners of 130 destroyed centuries as well as 18 additional banners, which belonged to larger Ottoman units and probably to escaped centuries.
79. DB, pp. 138, 171-172; cf. Միքայէլ Զամչեանց, Պատմութիւն հայոց. Հտ. Գ, op. cit., p. 796:
80. HANW, p. 252. The victory over the Turks was obtairied during the Easter-tide 1727 (Easter Sunday was on April 2). Most probably, this was the battle where the Armenians captured the trophy guns, cf. Մարտիրոսյան, op. cit., p. 167.
81. DB, p.139.
82. Stephan H. Astourian, "Genocidal Process: Reflections on the Armeno-Turkish Polarization," in The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics, ed. by Richard G. Hovannisian (New York: St. Martins Press, 1992), pp. 53, 59, 61, 64, 73.
83. DADR, III, p. 395.
84. DADR, II, p. 1; cf. DADR, I, p. XXIII. On the massacres perpetrated against other minorities in the Ottoman Empire, namely, the Greeks, Maronites, Serbs, Bulgarians, Assyrians, see Leila Fawaz, An Occasion for
[page 73]
War. Ethnic Conflict in Lebanon and Damascus (Berkley: University of California Press, 1994); James J. Reid, "The Concept of War and Genocidal Impulses in the Ottoman Empire, 1821-1918," Holocaust and Genocide Studies 4:2 (1989), pp. 180, 189, notes 10-13; Christopher J. Walker, Armenia: The Survival of a Nation. Revised Second edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990), p. 215.
85. ARO, II, doc. 169.
86. On the biography of Minas Pervazian, see Հովհաննես Պատկերահան, Նամականի, 1695-1758 [Hovhannes Patkerahan, The Letters, 1695-1758]. Աշխատասիրությամբ Սահակ Ճեմճեմյանի (Վենետիկ-Ս. Ղազար, 1988), pp. 27-28, note 27.
87. On the biography of Tigranian, consult, for example, GILAN, pp. XVI-XVIII.
88. Gregory the Illuminator, apostle, converted the Armenians to Christianity in 301. He is regarded as the father of the Armenian Church.
89. The high degree of reliability of the data in this journal has been underscored by all the experts in the field; see Петрос ди Саргис Гиланенц, Дневник осады Испагани афганами (1722-1723). Trans, into Russian and commentaries by Prof. K. Patkanov (С. Петербург. Типография Импер. АН, 1870), p. XXIII; Աշոտ Հովհաննիսյան, Պետրոս դի Սարգիս Գիլանենց [Ashot Ioannissian, Petros di Sargis Gilanentz] (U. էջմիածին, 1916), p. 12; LOCK, pp. 506-509; GILAN, pp. X-XII.
90. On his biography, see Հովհաննիսյան, Պետրոս դի Սարգիս Գիլանենց, op. cit.;GlLAN, pp. XIII-XVI. On the Armenian Squadron (1722-1764), see Հ. Խաչատրյան, "Հայկական էսկադրոն," [H. Khachatrian, "The Armenian Squadron"] Հայկական սովատական հանրագիտարան. հ. 6 (Երևան, 1980), pp. 175-176; VOYSKO, docs. 32, 159.
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91. Cf. Doc. 7, authored by Yeghia Musheghian.
92. The persistence of such an attitude just under one and a half centuries later is exposed in the letters of a Turkish soldier (23 November and 23 December 1895): "My brother, if you want news from here, we have killed 1,200 Armenians, all of them as food for dogs..." and "I killed [the Armenians] like dogs: "quoted in DADR, IV, p. 265.
93. Since Minasian's rendering of these passages into English had some clear misreadings of the original, my own translation appears above. See «Ժամանակագրութիւն Պետրոս դի Սարգիս Գիլանէնցի,» Կռունկ Հայոց Աշխարհին no. 3 (Tiflis, 1863), pp. 209, 211-212; cf. GILAN, pp. 65, 68; cf. also Dnevnik osadi Ispagani, op. cit., pp. 53-56.
94. ARO, II, doc. 192.
95. On his biography, see Հ. Սվազյան, "Եսայի Հասան-Ջալալյան," [H. Svazian, "Yesayi Hasan-Ialalian"] Հայկական սովատական հանրագիտարան. հ. 3 (Երևան, 1977), pp.
523-524.
96. Built in 1216, this monastery was the spiritual and political center of Karabakh throughout the 14-18th centuries; for a short account and bibliography on Gandzasar, see B. Ulubabian, M. Hasratian, Gandzasar (Milan: OEMME Edizioni, 1987).
97. ARO, II, doc. 287.
98. See PAY, pp. 70-80.
99. ARO, II, doc. 310; for the translation into Russian, see doc. 304.
100. ARO, II, doc. 309.
101. ARO, II, doc. 214.
102. Ibid., p. 346, note 121.
103. On the Ghajar or Qajar tribe, see James J. Reid, "The
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Qajar Uymaq in the Safavid Period, 1500-1722," Iranian Studies 11 (1978), pp. 117-143; И. Петрушевский, Очерки по истории феодальних отношений в Азербайджане и Армении в XVI-начале XIX вв. (Изд. Ленинград. ГУ, 1949), pp. 95. 122-124.
104. Akhund is a "title given to scholars... In Persian it is current since Timurid times in the sense of "schoolmaster, tutor;" see The Encyclopeadia of Islam. New Edition. Vol. II (Leiden-London, 1965), p. 331. Contemporaries, however, sometimes wrongly applied this term to the Sunni clergy as well, cf. ARO, III, doc. 6.
105. On Cholaq Surkhai khan of Caucasian Qazi-Qumiks, an influential pro-Turkish Sunni warlord, see, LOCK, pp. 127, 177, 267, 356-357.
106. On Luka Shirvanov, a major manufacturer and merchant, see P. Хачатрян, Русская историческая мысль и Армения [R. Khachatrian, The Russian Historical Thought and Armenia] (Ереван: ИЗД. АН Арм. ССР, 1987), pp. 186-188, 203. 204.
107. ARO, II, doc. 215.
108. ARO, 11, doc. 223.
109. On his activities in Constantinople, see Հովհաննես Պատկերահան, op. cit., p. 38, note 41; Սահակ Ճեմճեմյան, Մխիթար աբբահոր հրատարակչական աոաքելությունը [Sahak Chemchemian, The Printing Mission of Mekhitar Abbot General] (Վենետիկ-Ս. Ղազար, 1980), pp. 73, 80, 83.
110. On his biography and the Mekhitarist Congregation, consult Victor Langlois, The Armenian Monastery of St. Lazarus, Venice. Translated by Federic Schoder (Venice-S. Lazzaro: Mekhitarist Press, 1874, 1899) and Philip Roberts, Armenia and San Lazzaro (Venice-S. Lazzaro: Mekhitarist Press, 1977).
111. DB, p. 97.
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112. See Walsh, "Fatwa," op. cir., pp. 866-867; see also E. Tyan, "Judicial Organization," in M. Khadduri and H. J. Liebesny, eds., Law in the Middle East (Washington, 1955), pp. 248-251.
113. See J. R. Walsh, "Fatwa," in Encyclopeadia of Islam. New Ed. Vol. II (Leiden-London, 1965), pp. 866-867.
114. SHAY, p. 91; cf. pp. 34-35, 37, 56-57, 94-95, 103, 114, 130. The ultimate control by the Sultan of the mufti is clearly shown, for example, in the answers given by the latter to the ambassador of the Sunni Afghans in 1726 (these answers were carefully adjusted to the Sultan's current policy); see LOCK, pp. 282-286. Cf. [Ricaut], Монархия Турецкая описанная через Рикота, бывшего английского секретаря посольства при Оттоманской Порте Пер. с польск. на рос. язык (С. Петербург, 1741), p.- 6:"...many muftis were sacked for the opposition to his [the Sultan's] direction..."
115. For details, see, for example, Marius Topin, L'Homme au Masque de Fer. (Paris: E. Dentu-Didier et Cie, 1870), pp. 141-201, 375-410; M. Chamich, History of Armenia. Translated from the original Armenian by Johannes Audall, Vol. II (Calcutta, 1827), pp. 441-456.
116. See Բ. Չուգասզյան, "Եղիա Մուշեղյանի եվրոպական առաքելությունը," PBH 119:4, (1987), pp. 82-91.
117. YEGH1A, pp. 1-67.
118. Ibid.,p. 56.
119. In another passage Musheghian noted: "...though the Armenians have been hated by the Persians from the very beginning...;" Ibid., p. 15.
120. Ibid., p. 16.
121. Мухаммад-Казим, Наме-йи Аламара-йи Надири (Мироукрашающая Надирова книга) [Muhammad-Kazim,
[page 77]
The Book, Glorifying Nadir] [in Farsi] T. 1 Издание текста и предисловие Н. Д. Миклухо-Маклая. Москва: Изд. Вост. Литературы, I960., с. 99 (I would like to thank Prof. Hakob Papazian of the Matenadaran, Yerevan Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, for providing me with a verbatim translation of this passage); cf. also Հ. Դ. Փափազյան, "Դավիթ-բեկի պայքարը օսմանյան ներխուժման դեմ և հարաբերությունները իրանական հակաօսմանյան դիմադրական ուժերի հետ," [H. Papasian, "The Struggle of Davit-bek against the Ottoman Invasion and the Relations with the Iranian Anti-Ottoman Resistance"] PBH 116:1 (1987), p. 92. cf. Հայ ժողովրդի պատմություն: Հ. 4, op. cit., p. 181:
122. After escaping from the besieged Isfahan on 12 June 1722, Prince Tahmasb learned of the fall of Isfahan and the abdication of his father, Shah Sultan-Husain. Tahmasb proclaimed himself Shah at Qazvin on November 10, 1722. This city fell to the Afghans in December 1722. See YESAYl, p. 52; LOCK, p. 193; The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 7 (Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 20.
123. For the details and additional bibliography, see AIVAZ, I-VI.
124. New Julfa was built by Shah Abbas I after the great deportation of Armenians in 1604. See, for example, KRUS, pp. 42-43; John Carswell, New Julfa: The Armenian Churches and Other Buildings (Oxford, 1968); СARM, pp. 99-100.
125. See KRUS, pp. 43-44, 46, 53-55, 61, 72-73.
126. KRUS, p. 53.
127. Ibid., pp. 43-98.
128. Ibid., p. 61-62.
129. See H. Papasian, "Armeno-Iranian Relations in the Islamic Period," op. cit., pp. 473-475; AIVAZ, VI, pp.
[page 78]
94-99. From 1723 to 1735, the only case when Armenian units fought against the Iranian troops alongside the invading Turkish army was in Nakhichevan in July 1724. It was brought about by the previous harsh treatment of local Armenians by the Iranian authorities; for a detailed analysis of this episode, see AIVAZ, V, pp. 102-114.
130. Տե՛ս Առաքել Դաւրիժեցի. Գիրք պատմութեանց [Arakel Davrijetzi, The Book of Histories]. Աշխատասիրությամբ՝ Լ. Ա. Խանլարյանի, Երևան, 1990, pp. 62-76.
131. DB, p. 110.
132. See LOCK, pp. 251-252, 282-286.
133. Ibid., pp. 251-252; J. de Hammer, op. cit., pp. 91-93; Mohammed A. Hekmat, Essai sur I'Histoire des Relations Politiques Irano-Ottomanes de 1722 'a 1747 (Paris, 1937), p. 119. For the Turkish text, see Muhammad Rashid, Tarikhi-i-Rashid Efendi, Vol. Ill, Constantinople, in the year 1153 of Hegira (i.e., in 1740/1741), fols. 16b-17a (the author of this portion is Mustafa Chelebi-zada).
134. DB, 100 (doc. 22); cf. pp. 96 (doc. 9), 98 (doc. 18), 100 (docs. 23, 24), 178;ЛЛ0, II, doc. 335.
135. Մանվել Զուլալյան. Արևմտյան Հայաստանը XVI-XVIII դդ. [Manuel Zulalian, Western Armenia in the XVI-XVIIIth centuries] (Երևան, ԳԱ, 1980), p. 99:
136. ARO, III, doc. 6. On the term akhund, see note 101 above.
137. Cf. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, December 9, 1948, United Nations Treaty Series 78 (New York, UN), p. 277.
138. KRUS, p. 178.
139. Թուրքական աղբյուրները, op. cit., p. 143.
140. СARM , I, p. 579, cf. also pp. 562-563.
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141. ARO, II, doc. 309.
142. A letter written on 1 January 1792; see PBH 131:4 (1990), p. 193.
143. Паруйр Мурадян, История - память поколений: Проблемы истории Нагорного Карабаха [Paruyr Muradian, History is the Memory of the Generations: The Problems of the History of Nagorno Karabakh] (Ереван, Айастан, 1990), стр. 112-113. While counting the population of Karabakh, one should also remember that in the 18th century Karabakh included also some peripheral territories, which, in 1923, were left out of the newly-drawn boundaries of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO). These Armenian territories were situated around NKAO's whole perimeter along the natural geographical border. These comprised Gyulistan, Getashen, Getabek and Karahat regions to the north and north-west, Karavachar to the west as well as the southern part of the Dizak melikdom (currently, Hadrut district) lying to the south as far as Arax river.
144. Աշոտ Աբրահամյան, "Մարտիրոս դի Աոաքելի ժամանակագրությունը," [Ashot Abrahmian, "The Chronicle by Martiros di Arakel"] Մատենադարանի Գիտ. նյութերի ժողովածու I (Երևան, 1941), p. 99. Also a native of Hamadan, Emin wrote on the same event: "after a siege of three months [the Turks] took the place by storm, destroyed 60,000 Mahometan Persians in three days and nights, and killed, in cool (sic) blood, 800 Armenians in their church." EMIN, p. 3. Ivan Nepliuyev, the Russian Resident (ambassador) at Constantinople from 1721 to 1734, also reported that during the taking of Hamadan the Turks "killed everyone indiscriminately, namely, more than 40,000 people." ARO, II, doc. 303.
145. J. Malcolm, History of Persia. Vol. I (London, 1815), p.
374.
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146. ARO, II, doc. 324; cf. doc. 308.
147. Хачатрян, op. cit., pp. 146-147.
148. DB, pp. 98-99 (doc. 18).
149. ARO, II, doc. 315; cf. docs. 337-338; while Minas Tigranian wrote in March 1736; "As is well-known, the Seghnakh Armenian leaders with their troops for many years... by almost daily bloody battles, blocked the Turkish army's passage to the Caspian;" Ibid., doc. 380, p. 326.
150. ARO, II, doc. 324; cf. docs. 333-334.
151. SHAY, p. 128.
152. PAY, pp. 128-132. The successes of Nadir in 1729 are detailed in HANW, pp. 354-360.
153. ARO, II, doc. 358, p. 298; cf. doc. 359.
154. Ibid., pp. 299, 302.
155. DADR, III, p. 406.
156. DADR, II, p. 184.
157. ARO, II, doc. 335.
158. Ibid., doc. 336.
159. Ibid., doc. 308.
160. Ibid.
161. See Nico H. Frijda, "The Lex Talionis: On Vengeance," in Stephanie H. M. van Goozen et. al., eds., Emotions: Essays on Emotion Theory (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994), p. 270. For a review of this insightful study, see Randy J. Larsen, "A Report on the Decade of Emotion," Contemporary Psychology, 1995, Vol. 40, no. 11, pp. 1054-1055.
162. Ibid., p. 283.
163. ARO, II., doc. 318, cf. doc. 319.
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164. DB, p. 104 (doc. 32). The contemporary pictures of these robes can be found in Pars Tuglaci, Women of Istanbul in Ottoman Times. (Istanbul, 1984), pp. 73-74, 126, 171, etc..
165. Cf. DADR, I, pp. 377-378.
166. AIVAZ, II, pp. 83-85; ARO, II, docs. 358-359.
167. GILAN. pars. 89-96, pp. 43-46.
168. On these Armenian institutions, see Kevork Bardakjian, "The Rise of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople;" Hagop Barsoumian, "The Dual Role of the Armenian Amira Class within the Ottoman Government and the Armenian Millet (1750-1850)," in B. Braud and B. Lewis, eds., Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire. Vol. I (New York: Holmes & Meyer, 1982), pp. 89-100 and 171-184.
169. See Ա. Մ. Այվազյան, "Երկու փաստաթուղթ հայ եկեղեցու պատմության դիվանից (1665 և 1693 թթ.)," [A. M. Aivazian, "Two Documents from the Archives of Armenian Church, 1665 and 1693"] Շողակաթ (Shoghakat .annual) New Series, no. 2 (Istanbul, 1996), forthcoming.
170. Astvatsatur I (1715-1725) was actually one of the leaders of the Armenian rebellion (of course, covertly) and kept secret communication with the Armenian troops; see GILAN, pp. 45, 48-49; ARO, II, doc. 291.
171. Սիմէոն Երեւանցի. Ջամբո [Simeon Yerevantzi, The Chamber] (U. էշմիածին, 1873), p. 28.
172. M. O. H. Ursinus, "Millet," in Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Ed., Vol. VII, (Leiden-New York: E. L. Brill), 1993, pp. 61-64. For the impact this system had on the development of ethnic conflicts in the Ottoman Empire, see DADR, I, pp. 3-6, 21-23, 377-379, 396-397; cf. Robert Melson, Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust (Chicago-
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London: University of Chicago Press, 1902), pp. 54-56.
173. Michel Febvre, L'etat present de la Tuquie (Paris, 1675), p. 217.
174. See note 166 above.
175. See Մ. Գ. Ներսիսյան, "Արևմտահայերի 1915-1916 թթ.. ցեղասպանության պատմության մի քանի հարցերի շուրջը," [Concerning Several Problems of the Genocide of the Western Armenians in 1915-1916] PBH 2:142 (1995), pp. 11-20.
176. See James J. Reid, "Total War, the Annihilation Ethic, and the Armenian Genocide, 1870-1918," in The Armenian Genocide, op. cit., pp. 21-52: at 21, 47; cf. idem, "The Concept of War and Genocidal Impulses," op. cit..
177. See DADR, I, pp. 3-6.
178. Michael Freeman, "The Theory and Prevention of Genocide," Holocaust and Genocide Studies 6:2 (1991), p. 190.
179. Roderic H. Davison, "Turkish Attitudes Concerning Christian-Muslim Equality in the Nineteenth Century," American Historical Review 60 (1953-1954), pp. 844-864; DADR, I, pp. 19-20.
180. Quoted in DADR, II, p. 3.
181. Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story (New York: Doubleday page, 1918), p. 307.
182. Gaetano Mosca, The Ruling Class, ed. Arthur Livingstone, trans. Hannah D. Kahn (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1939), p. 41.
| Acknowledgements: |
| Source:
Armen Aivazian The Armenian Rebellion of the 1720s and the Threat
of Genocidal Reprisal Yerevan, 1997 |
| See also: |
|