Nagorno Karabakh History

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region in the South Caucasus and forms the northeastern part of the Armenian Highlands. The word Nagorno is derived from the Russian word nagorny, meaning mountainous. Karabakh is a combination of the Turkic word kara meaning black and the Persian word bagh meaning garden - Mountainous Black Garden.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a modern name used to describe a region known historically as Artsakh. Stretching from the mountains of Lake Sevan south to the River Araks, Artsakh was the tenth province of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. Its rich cultural heritage testifies to the millennia-long Armenian character of the region that can be traced as far back as the 5th century BC.¹ Bronze age cuneiform inscriptions from the biblical Kingdom of Urartu describe it as Ardakh, Urdekhe and Atakhuni.² Greek geographer, Strabo (63 – 23 BC), describes the region as Orchistenê, a province of the Kingdom of Armenia known for its superior cavalry force.³

Under the Artaxis dynasty that ruled Greater Armenia from 200 BC until the 1st century AD, the Kingdom of Armenia reached its zenith during the reign of Tigran the Great, 95-55 BC. Tigran founded several cities bearing his name:⁴ the easternmost was recently excavated by archeologists (2005 - 2008) in Artsakh near Agdam, in territory recently taken by Azerbaijan. This Hellenized city Tigranakert boasted a fortress, citadel and basilica and, after the conversion of Armenia to Christianity in 301 AD, became a vibrant regional centre of Christian life. A further Tigranakert is located in the neighboring former Armenian province of Utik, near the town of Shamkir in what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan.⁵

Early Armenian influence: culture and religion

The Kingdom of Armenia faced political instability during the Parthian Arsaciad dynasty (12- 428 AD) when its kings were balanced between the dominant powers of Persia and Byzantium. At this time two significant events occurred that were to become powerful tools in creating an Armenian national identity: the introduction of Christianity through the evangelizing of Saints Bartholomew and Thaddeus (otherwise known as St Jude) leading to its adoption by King Trdat III as the established Armenian religion in 301 AD, and the development of a unique system of writing by the monk and theologian Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD. This meant that the Christian bible, previously read only in Greek and Syriac translation, was able to be taught in the vernacular in both Armenia and Artsakh leading to a strong and rapid growth in its influence. Mashtots also founded several Armenian schools, of which the first is reputed to have been in the monastery of Amaras in Artsakh.

The invention of an exclusive Armenian alphabet ushered in a new era of Armenian culture. Known as the “Golden Age,” it saw extensive work in translations and the creation of an independent literary heritage of illuminated manuscripts, as well as developments in the arts and science.

The Kingdom of Aghvank

When Armenia was finally partitioned in 387 AD between Sassanid Persia to the east and Byzantium to the west, Artsakh fell under the Persian marzpanate (border province) of Caucasian Albania, north of the River Kura. However, this area in practical terms proved ungovernable and the Sassanids agreed to the establishment of a new administrative region south of the river. Known as New Albania⁶ it would hold suzerainty over the Kingdom of Aghvank already established by the rulers of Artsakh and neighbouring Utik.

The New Albanian Christian culture gained in strength after the capital of Caucasian Albania was transferred in the 5th century, from Kabala to Partav (now Barda) in Utik, south of the River Kura. Aghvank King Vachagan II introduced a new constitution in 410 AD which was signed by a group of feudal lords, clan chieftains, gentry, and notable commoners in the settlement called Aghven (spelled Աղուէն in Classical Armenian). This was a landmark agreement and the full text of the Constitution featuring 21 canons can be found in Movses Kaghankatvatsi’s 7th Century History of the Land of Aghvank ⁷. Aghven was located not too far from the present-day site of the region’s foremost religious centre Gandzasar Monastery that from the 13th century was to become the principal seat of ecclesiastical influence and learning.

Persian efforts to convert Armenians to Zoroastrianism led in 451 AD to a powerful revolt, the Vardanants War (Battle of Avarayr) in which Artsakh’s famed cavalry proved once again to be a formidable and effective force. The rebellion was suppressed but the struggle against oppression continued from the shelter of the region’s hidden fortresses and dense forests.

Despite the physical advantages of its mountainous strongholds, Aghvank continued to suffer invasions from the Khazars in the north before falling under Umayyad Arab rule in the 7th century. It regained a semi-autonomous status under the Bagratuni kings of Armenia (9th to 11th centuries) who formed within its boundaries several vassal principalities, the largest of which was Khachen (from the Armenian word khach (Armenian: Խաչ) meaning cross). From the 11th – 13th centuries the region saw a flourishing of arts and spirituality with the founding of over 40 monasteries and scriptoria, producing a great variety of manuscripts with a distinct regional style of book illumination. Valuable architectural structures from this period such as the Hovhannes Mkrtich (John the Baptist) cathedral of Gandzasar Monastery (1216-1260), Dadivank (Dadi Monastery, 1214), and Gtichavank Monastery (1241-1248) were constructed. These churches are considered to be masterpieces of Armenian architectural heritage.

“In its largest extent, as described in detail by Kaghankatvatsi in his History of the Land of Aghvank, the Kingdom of Aghvank stretched from the shores of the Lake Sevan in Armenia in the west all the way to the Caspian Sea in the east, and from the Great Caucasus Mountains in the north to the River Araxes in the south. As such, the Kingdom of Aghvank – ruled from Artsakh and Utik by descendants of the ancient Armenian Arranshahik dynasty – controlled a landmass that by around 80 percent overlapped with the territory of the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan.”⁸

Incursion from the east – Tatar-Mongols and Seljuk Turks

In the early 11th century nomadic Seljuk Turks began to settle in the lowlands of eastern Aghvank migrating seasonally towards the uplands. More dramatically, in a series of raids between 1230-1240 AD, Tatar-Mongols overran Transcaucasia and the region was threatened with destruction. Due to the diplomatic efforts of the prince of Khachen, Hasan-Jalal (1214-1261), Khachen itself was partially spared. However, after his death in 1261, the princedom was laid waste. The situation deteriorated further in the late 13th century with the devastating conquests of the Turco-Mongol Timur (Tamerlane), followed in the 14th century by Turkoman invasions of the Kara-Koyunlu (Black Sheep) and Agh-Koyunlu White Sheep tribes. This led to the destruction of many monuments and architectural masterpieces and the adoption of a new name for the upland region – Karabakh - from Turkish ‘kara’, meaning either ‘black’ or ‘big’ and Persian ‘bagh’, meaning ‘garden’ - a name that has survived into the 21st century in all regional languages, including Armenian.

The Khamsa Melikdoms

In an apparent policy of appeasement, the Turkoman ruler Jahan-Shah in the 15th century confirmed the possessions of the princes of Armenia and Artsakh and appointed them Meliks (kings or princes in Arabic). Under the Safavid Persians In the early 17th century the powers of the Meliks of Karabakh were extended: their lands were regrouped into the melikdoms of Varand, Khachen, Dizaq, Jaraberd, and Gyulistan and hence became known as the Khamsa Melikdoms (from Persian meaning five). With the steady erosion of Armenian statehood in the western regions partly as a result of mass deportation by the Safavid Shah Abbas in 1604 AD, the Meliks of Karabakh came to be seen as the last bastion of Armenian independence, able to look for, but not necessarily rely, on Christian help from Europe and later from Russia.

In the 18th century, to provide a buffer against both an expanding Russia to the north and the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Afsharid Shah Nader Afshar strengthened Karabakh sovereignty further by giving the Meliks greater authority over the surrounding khans (Persian provincial governors) who had supported the ousted Safavid dynasty. However, caught up in old rivalries, the Meliks failed to consolidate their power and within the space of a few years the leader of a tribe of Oghuz Turks, Panah-Ali, was able to take advantage of their internal feuding. He enlisted the help of Shahnazar II the Melik of Varanda, and sought shelter within the fortress of Shushi in Karabakh. Panah-Ali then proclaimed Karabakh to be a khanate and himself a khan. The Persian administration supported this move, and the rights of the Meliks became restricted. The subsequent settlement of Karabakh by incoming tribespeople led to a significant change in its ethnic composition.

Influence of the Russian Empire

Following Persian defeat in 1828, the Russian Empire, expanding southwards under Tsar Alexander I moved to annex Nagorno-Karabakh, incorporating it into the newly created province of Elizavetpol. Crucially, the Empire later assigned the Armenian regions to the west, namely Yerevan and Nakhichevan, to a separate province. In differentiating between east and west, the Russian colonial administrators thus wittingly or unwittingly sowed the seeds of future problems in the region.⁹ Following the overthrow of the Russian monarchy during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, a local government was created in Karabakh in July 1918 – The Assembly of Karabakh Armenians.

Nagorno-Karabagh – an area of ongoing conflict

Following the Russian Revolution and the emergence in 1918 of the independent republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the South Caucasus, Nagorno-Karabakh with its majority Armenian population was briefly occupied by Ottoman Turkish forces. The Turks ordered the Armenians to submit to the rule of the new Azerbaijani government whom the Ottomans viewed as their ethnic allies. The Turkish troops withdrew at the end of World War I and were quickly replaced by the British. The latter, acceding to the demands of sovereignty over Karabakh by the nascent Republic of Azerbaijan, approved the appointment of an Azerbaijani, Khosrov Bey Sultanov, as governor-general, pending a decision on the status of the region at the Paris Peace Conference. British support for the Azerbaijani control of Karabakh further reinforced Tsarist Russia’s earlier administrative separation of this region in spite of its Armenian majority (89% according to the first Soviet census of 1926) from the rest of Armenian-populated areas to the west.

A provisional agreement in August 1919 between the Assembly of Karabakh Armenians and the Azerbaijani authorities granted local autonomy to the Armenians who in turn agreed to conditional Azerbaijani jurisdiction over the territory. The agreement ensured representation and protection for the Armenians, including complete freedom of assembly, speech, press, and financial assistance for the restoration of damaged villages and the right to bear arms¹⁰.

Frequent violations of this agreement by Azerbaijan under Sultanov resulted in a failed Armenian revolt in March 1920. In retribution, Azerbaijani forces sacked the capital Shushi, massacring the Armenian population in their thousands and burning the Armenian quarters of the city.

With the step-by-step sovietisation of the three republics in the South Caucasus between 1920 and 1921, Nagorno-Karabakh was annexed by Stalin to the new Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan as an Autonomous Oblast. Although the majority of the population was ethnically Armenian, the Soviet system did not allow for national identity as a concept, thereby rendering the argument for self-determination irrelevant. Between 1930-1987 the Nagorno-Karabakh oblast made multiple appeals to be transferred to Soviet Armenia. All were firmly suppressed.¹¹

The reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev initiated an era of change. In February 1988, a mass demonstration in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, demanded the unification of the region with Soviet Armenia. In Azerbaijan the reaction to this mass protest was swift: in the same month mobs in the industrial town of Sumgait attacked ethnic Armenians in their homes and in streets, ransacking and burning homes, raping and murdering for a full twenty-four hours before the Soviet forces attempted to intervene.¹² “The roving gangs committed acts of horrific savagery. Several victims were so badly mutilated by axes that their bodies could not be identified. Women were stripped naked and set on fire. Several were raped repeatedly.”¹³ Azerbaijani forces failed to respond – few of the ringleaders were punished.

Russian nuclear physicist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Andrei Sakharov, warned in November of the same year that the threat of genocide hung again over the Armenian people and that whereas “for Nagorno Karabagh this is a question of survival, for Azerbaijan - just a question of ambitions."¹⁴

After 1991 in the post-Soviet power vacuum the conflict between Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijan escalated into an all-out war - drawing in the republic of Armenia, the guarantor of the security of Armenians in Karabakh. It resulted in thousands of casualties and massive movements of refugees on both sides. Ethnic cleansing occurred on both sides with varying degrees of brutality.

In February 1992 Armenian forces overran the Azeri town of Khojali with a population of over 6,300, forcing the evacuation of its inhabitants and causing the official number of deaths reported to be 485 militiamen and civilians, either from gunshot wounds or from the cold. The Azeris sought revenge in two months later. The Armenian village of Maragha was attacked, 45 villagers were decapitated and their homes ransacked and burned. Of the 53 villagers taken hostage, mostly were women and children of whom 19 never returned. A few villagers returned to bury their dead. A Christian Solidarity Worldwide mission was allowed to exhume the buried bodies and to take photos of the decapitated, charred bodies. When the mission arrived, the villagers were “in a state of shock, their burnt-out homes still smouldering, charred remains of corpses and vertebrae still on the ground, where people had their heads sawn off and their bodies burnt in front of their families…. The international media did not cover the massacre of the Armenians at Maragha at all. Consequently, in the eyes of the world, the armed forces of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh have been made to appear more brutal than those of the Azeri-Turks; in reality, evidence suggests that the opposite is more likely to be true.”¹⁵

A fragile ceasefire was reached in 1994, leaving Armenians in control of Karabakh and occupying territories between the region and the Republic of Armenia and in the lowlands to the east as a security zone. The ceasefire resulted in the de facto independence of Nagorno-Karabakh with close, intertwined relations with Armenia. In 2017 the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh renamed itself the Republic of Artsakh.

Despite international efforts of mediation to reach a peace settlement in the region, skirmishes have continued to a higher and lesser degree along the line of ceasefire, erupting into a full-fledged war initiated by Azerbaijan on Sunday, 27 September 2020.

---

1. https://www.apollo-magazine.co… ↩︎

2. https://www.armenianinstitute…. ↩︎

3. https://nagornokarabakh.com/hi… ↩︎

4. https://nagornokarabakh.com/hi… ↩︎

5. https://nagornokarabakh.com/hi… ↩︎

6. Robert Hewsen, Ethno History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians, p. 27, University of Pennsylvania, Proceedings of the First Dr H Markarian Conference on Armenian Culture, 1982 ↩︎

7. Movses Kaghankatvatsi History of the Land of Aghvank Մովսէս Կաղանկատուացի.Պատմութիւն Աղուանից աշխարհի), 1983 critical text and introduction by Varag Arrakelian (in modern Armenian). (Yerevan: “Matenadaran). A 1985 Russian translation by S.V. Smbatian (Yerevan, Matendadaran) is entitled The History of the Country of Aluank ↩︎

8. https://nagornokarabakh.com/history-of-artsakh-nagorno-karabakh/artsakh-antiquity-early-middle-ages/ retrieved 6/4/21 ↩︎

9. https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/viewstext/artsakh-part1 Author Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian Retrieved 6/4/21 ↩︎

10. (Hovannisian, 1996, p. 132-133). (Law & Policy Group 2000, p. 8). (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the ROA, 2006) ↩︎

11. (Fraser et al 1990, 652-677.; retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/174183, p. 656) (Ponomarev 2009, p. 120.) ↩︎

12. https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/viewstext/artsakh-part 2 Author Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian Retrieved 6/4/21 ↩︎

13. De Waal, T. (2003), Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war. New York University Press. (ISBN 9780814719459) p.34 ↩︎

14. (Law & Policy Group 2000, pp. 40-41) ↩︎

15. Cox, C., Bonnėr, E., Eibner, J. (1993). Ethnic cleansing in progress: war in Nagorno Karabakh. Institute for Religious Minorities in the Islamic World. P, 58 ↩︎