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The Armenian settlement of Kakh was located in the northern part of historical Aghvank (Caucasian Albania). Armenians settled here in the late Middle Ages. As early as the 17th century, Armenians were engaged in commercial activities. In the 18th century (in 1766), Kakh was an Armenian scriptoria, where Sayat-Nova (Ter Stepanos) copied manuscripts. At the beginning of the 20th century, the father of the renowned architect Rafael Israelyan, Sargis Israelyan, taught in Kakh. He wrote: “Back in the 1770s, several Armenians from the district of Old Nakhijevan came to these areas for commercial purposes and, traded in various Georgian and Turkish villages.”
Another report from 1890 states: “Although none of the Armenians of Aghvank remained in Kakh, after 1826 Agulis residents began to come for commercial purposes. Since their trade was profitable in Kakh, they gradually increased in number and settled there.”
According to Makar Barkhutaryants, the Armenians of Kakh were mainly of Aghulis, Artsakh, and Gandzak origin. Another source states that most of the relocated families came from Aghulis and Tsghna.
In Kakh, Armenians were primarily engaged in trade and crafts. In 1872, they owned about 70 shops there.
The Armenians of Kakh initially attended the state (Russian) school opened in 1874. In 1885, through the efforts of the Armenian priest of Kakh, Hovhannes, an attempt was made to start Armenian-language classes for local Armenian children. In 1894, the Hovhannisyan family of Kakh donated a house with its yard to the soon-to-be-opened Armenian St. Mariam Girls’ School. However, the school was opened only in 1906. The school was coeducational, where in 1908 two teachers worked and 82 students studied. Both in 1909 and in 1914, the school had 70 students and 3 teachers.
The further operation of the school was mainly supported by the Zaqatala branch of the Armenian Charitable Society of the Caucasus. There are mentions that Armenian benefactors and charitable organizations donated books to the school's library. In 1914, the chairman of the school's board of trustees was Stepan Anagchyan, and the secretary was senior teacher Arshak Ter-Avagyan. According to 1915 data, the school was still functioning.
In Kakh, there was also an Armenian church, the Holy Mother of God, built in 1840. At different times, clergy such as Grigor Dadyan, Father Hovhannes, and Meliksedek Sahakyan Sldryan served there. In 1887, a merchant from Agulis donated to the church images of the Mother of God and Jesus painted by Gevorg Bashinjaghyan. During the Soviet period, the local Azerbaijani authorities demolished the church. Azerbaijanis also destroyed and wiped out the Armenian cemetery. In the yard of the Georgian church located in Kakh, Armenian tombstones were still preserved as late as the 1980s. One of them bore the inscription: “Yeghisabeth Sargsian Hakhverdyants, // 1883–1910. // Елизавета Сергеевна Ахвердова.”
In the 1890s, the number of Armenian population of Kakh was 382; in 1902 it reached 411. In 1908, 382 Armenians lived in Kakh, and in 1914—335.
During the Armenian–Tatar clashes of 1905, the Armenians of Kakh also suffered, incurring economic losses.
According to data from 1914, the population of Kakh consisted of three ethnic groups: Muslim or Christian Georgian Ingiloys, Tatar Muslims, and Armenians. The settlement was divided accordingly into Georgian and Turkish sections, and between them was the Armenian quarter consisting of 63 houses.
After the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Turkic groups in Eastern Transcaucasia carried out anti-Armenian actions, including pressuring Armenians to convert to Islam. The situation worsened further when Ottoman troops invaded the region in 1918. The Armenians of Kakh were subjected to looting and massacres by local Turkic forces. As a result, the Armenians left Kakh. After the establishment of Soviet rule, some of them returned.
In 1984, 17 Armenians lived in Kakh, but they were later forcibly displaced in 1988.
Bibliography
Bishop Makar Barkhutaryants. The Land of Aghvank and Its Neighbors. Artsakh. Yerevan, 1999, p. 138.
Karapetyan, S., Aghvank Proper, Part 1, Yerevan, 2024, pp. 212-217.
Kochareants, M. “Letter from Zaqatala.” Mshak, No. 21, June 1, 1872, p. 2.
Nor-Dar, No. 185, November 25, 1890, p. 3.
Nor-Dar, No. 15, January 28, 1893, p. 1.
Sarisum, The Parochial School of the Armenian Church of Kakh-Avan, Surhandak [Tiflis], 1909, No. 39, December 6, p. 3.
Iasisum, The Armenian Community of Kakh-Avan, Surhandak [Tiflis], 1909, No. 43, December 16, p. 3.
Sarisum, The Armenian Church of Kakh-Avan, Surhandak, 1910, No. 100, May 5, p. 4.
Arast, The Reality of Kakh-Avan, Horizon, 1913, No. 72, April 2, p. 3.
Rosmak, The Reality of Our Region, Horizon, 1914, No. 142, July 3, p. 3.
Horizon, 1915, No. 198, September 3, p. 3.
Sargis Israelyan, Pages from My Diary, Vardzk, 2012, No. 6, April–June, pp. 47–51.