“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2024
2024
On February 6, 1905, the Armenian-Tatar interethnic clashes that began in Baku also spread to Nakhijevan, where Turkish and Tatar leaders were actively operating. The Armenian population of Nakhichevan was seen by them as a natural obstacle to the implementation of Pan-Islamic and Pan-Turkic projects, and therefore intended to erase Armenians. The organization of the massacres was also facilitated by Alikhanov-Avarsky, appointed by the tsarist authorities as governor of Nakhijevan[1].
The latter, in collaboration with the khans and beks of Makou, carried out three-day massacres of Armenians from May 12-15, 1905. During those days, the rioters set fire to numerous houses, robbed, and killed a large number of Armenians. About 400 Armenians were killed, and there were many wounded[2]. According to official data, during the massacres, 47 Armenian villages in the Nakhijevan region alone were attacked, of which only 5 remained unharmed. 18 villages "lost part of their livestock," 10 were partially destroyed, and 19 were completely destroyed, burned, and depopulated... 2240 houses and shops belonging to Armenians were looted, of which 138 were burned, and 20 churches were destroyed and desecrated. The material damage caused to the Armenians in Nakhijevan was estimated at 1,285,366 rubles[3].
The situation in Transcaucasia began to stabilize only in the first half of 1906. Fighters of Dashnaktsutyun party had taken decisive measures against the Tatar perpetrators. Sargis, Murad of Sebastia, Khecho, and others sent by the party to the region had organized self-defense, thanks to which further massacres were halted and the enthusiasm of Pan-Turkist agents and Tatar masses was temporarily dampened.
Following the massacres, a trial was held in Nakhijevan on January 15-16, 1908. Despite the widespread atrocities, only 24 individual were convicted, only to be acquitted at a later date. The impunity of the perpetrators created a precedent in the region, which led to the organization of larger-scale massacres of Armenians by Turkish-Tatar perpetrators.
Photo by Gordon Brown. The house of an Armenian rich man caught fire in Nakhijevan
[1] M. Varandyan, in his "History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation," identifies Ali Khanov-Avarkin as a Tatar. However, Russian sources describe him as a Lieutenant General of Avar origin.
[2] For a more detailed account, refer to Mikayel Varandyan's "History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation," Yerevan, 1992, pp. 313-320.
[3] V. Ivanov, De-Armenization of Nakhichevan in the 20th Century, "Noah's Ark" newspaper No. 22 (228), December (1-15) 2013.