Encouraged by the victory in the Russo-Persian war of 1826-1828, the Russian army crossed Arpachay near Gumru and attacked Eastern Anatolia under the command of commander Ivan Paskevich on June 14, 1828, successively taking Kars Fortress, Akhilkalak, Akhiska, Ardahan and Bayazid, and in the spring of 1829, he occupied Erzurum, Mush, Oltun and Bayburd.

In August 1829, as the Russians approached Istanbul from the Balkan front, Sultan Mahmud II sought peace, and the Treaty of Edirne was signed on September 2. According to the treaty, the regions of Akhalkalak and Akhiska were ceded to Russia, and a decision was made to return other occupied territories to Türkiye.

The retreat of the Russians from Kars, Ardahan, Beyazit, Erzurum and other regions left the Armenians who betrayed the Turks during the war in a desperate situation. To save the Armenians from this situation, the command of the Russian troops decided to transfer them to the newly occupied territories and thereby ensure the numerical superiority of the Christians in the territories along the border with Türkiye.

According to Article 13 of the Treaty of Edirne, Armenians remaining in the occupied territories of Türkiye were granted the right to join Russia with their belongings within 18 months. The withdrawal of Russians from Kars, Ardahan, Beyazit, Erzurum, and other regions had left Armenians, who betrayed the Turks during the war, in a desperate situation. To save the Armenians from this situation, the Russian military command decided to resettle them to newly occupied territories, thereby ensuring the numerical superiority of Christians along the border regions with Türkiye. On October 10, 1829, Paskevich reported to Emperor Nicholas I: "2,000 Armenians fought in the ranks of our soldiers in Beyazit, the majority of the Christian population celebrated our religious holiday in Erzurum, a volunteer battalion consisting of 800 Armenians was organized in Kars. Currently, an inevitable threat hangs over their families of 10,000 people. Please turn your attention to these unfortunate victims, do not allow the Ottomans to take revenge on them for the love they showed to Russia. Therefore, I dare to request Your Majesty's permission to settle these families in the provinces of Georgia and Armenia..."

On November 18, the Minister of War Chernyshev responds to Paskevich, stating that the emperor approves of his proposal. Immediately after that Paskevich started to act. On December 3, he wrote a letter to the civil governor of Georgia, indicating that families who want to move from the Türkiye pashaliks (pashalik is a province governed by or under the jurisdiction of a pasha) to Georgia and the provinces of Russia, and who do not request financial assistance for this purpose, have been given permission to travel and have been provided with tickets (passes) by local military commanders. Many families took advantage of this and immediately set out on their journey.

The emigrants from Kars and its surroundings were settled in abandoned villages around Alagoz (Alayaz) that matched the climate conditions of their living areas. General Pankratyev informed Paskevich that 95 families were given tickets (passes) to settle in the Loru valley. Major General Bereman also announced that he had issued tickets to 400 families leaving Kars and heading to Gumru. Paskevich set up a special committee to manage the resettlement of relocated families. The committee had set 12 general rules for its activities, which included the following:

1. Upon entering the territory of Russia, the resettled individuals will receive all necessary instructions and support for their well-being from the Committee on Settlers.
2. The committee should continue its activities until the completion of the resettlement process, all relocated individuals are settled in their places of residence, and the economic concerns of the refugees in the villages are resolved. After that, the General Command should report and stop its activities.
3. The committee should immediately gather information about vacant state lands in Georgia and other provinces.
4. All the migrants should be divided into three groups: 1) merchants and traders, 2) artisans and craftsmen of any kind of production 3) farmers and villagers. During the resettlement, it is necessary to place merchants and craftsmen in cities and urban areas where they can engage in their respective occupations. The peasants should be settled in rural areas, taking into account the climate conditions they were initially accustomed to. There are vacant state houses in Yelizavetpol (Ganja) and other cities and provinces. Therefore, the committee should consider placing artists and merchants in those locations.
5. The Committee on Settlers, when requesting the list of those resettled in the territory of Türkiye from the military, should also demand information about where they were relocated from and the type of occupation they are engaged in.
6. The committee should strive for the resettlement of relocated villages as a whole; if this is not possible, they should be placed in proximity to each other.
7. The committee should ensure that the relocated people are adequately provided with land, considering the number of families in each village and the number of individuals in each family.
8. The settlers should be placed entirely on state lands, and if that is insufficient, they should be settled on church and privately owned lands.
9. The settlers should be exempted from taxes for 6 years and from land taxations for 3 years.
10. It is necessary to avoid mixing newly relocated Christian villages with Muslim villages and instead, organize separate areas and districts for each of them.
11. When selecting locations for settlers, it is important to prioritize comfort, beauty, and the availability of good water resources.
12. Each relocated family should be provided with assistance equivalent to an average of 25 rubles in silver currency.

This instruction was strictly followed during the relocation of settlers. The Armenians relocated both to present-day Armenia, Georgia and the Azerbaijani provinces of Ganjabasar and Karabakh, were settled en masse in regions and cities with natural beauty, a favorable climate, and clean water resources.

The information sent by Paskevich to Chernyshev on January 22, 1830, indicated that 2500 families who had moved from Kars and its surroundings were settled in vacant villages near Alayaz (Pambak province) with climatic conditions similar to their previous place of residence.

The Turkish government was concerned about the mass resettlement of Armenians sparsely populated in its territory by the Russians along the border areas. Therefore, to prevent this resettlement, they decided to pardon the betrayals, atrocities, and violence committed by Armenians against the Turks during the arrival of the Russians and sent "Letters of Forgiveness" to the Armenians in Türkiye on February 17. However, despite the "Letters of Forgiveness" the priest of the Erzurum Armenians, acknowledged the gravity of the crimes they committed and being confident that they would be held accountable for their actions once the Russians withdrew, he expressed their intention to migrate. 

To resolve the issue of selling the property and land left behind by the relocated Armenians, Paskevich sent Mayor Vannikov to Erzurum as a representative. However, the majority of the Armenian-owned villages consisted of Muslim villages the Armenians had acquired through sales when Muslims had been compelled to migrate to safer locations somewhat earlier during the war.    In the Kars region alone, Armenians took control of 80 villages through these means and half of 15 other villages. On the other hand, Russia was not concerned about the funds not reaching the Turks who had fled to Türkiye from the territories it had occupied, mainly in the Akhalkalaki and Akhiska regions, in exchange for the sale of the properties and lands they left behind. Therefore, they were leaving behind real estate, properties, and lands.                                    

As the approaching expiration of the 18-month period designated for migration operations in the Treaty of Edirne and the sluggish progress of these activities became evident, Paskevich sent letters in Russian and Turkish to the governors of Erzurum and Kars on February 29, 1829. In the letters, he informed them that representatives of the Catholic Armenians relocated from Turkey had sent Archimandrite Tatos, Mughdisi Karapet, and Aghajan Karapetyan, as well as representatives of the Franks, Ter-Hovanes Matevosov, Aghajan Osipov, and Hakop Hanakov to Erzurum to organize the sale of the properties and agricultural lands left behind by the Armenians.

During the period leading up to the expiration of the contract, that is, until April 3, 1831, a document was prepared that listed the estimated number of Armenian families transferred from Türkiye and the names of the territories where they were resettled. A total of 14,044 families were resettled in the territory of the Iravan Khanate, with 7,288 from Erzurum, 67 from Ardahan, 2,464 from Kars, and 4,215 from Beyazit.

If an average of six people is considered per family, the result indicates that more than 84 thousand Armenians and Greeks were transferred. Some Armenian historians argue that the number of those transferred was more than 90 thousand, while others suggest it was close to 100 thousand.

On October 20, 1830, Archbishop Karapet was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 1st degree, for his services in the resettlement of Armenians from Erzurum. Later, Emperor Nicholas I visited Akhiska in 1837 met Karapet, and expressed his gratitude for the services he rendered.

On April 24, 1831, four years after the time given to cover the economic needs of the Armenians resettled from Türkiye, by the emperor's decree, 380,000 silver rubles were allocated from the treasury with the condition of returning it without interest for 6 years.

In general, according to the results of the population census conducted by I. Shopen in the Armenian province (formerly the territories of the Iravan and Nakhchivan Khanates) after the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29, the data indicates that 21,666 Armenians (3,682 families) and 324 Yezidi Kurds (67 families) were resettled in the province. The relocated Armenians were settled in 129 villages of Girkhbulaq, Surmali, Talin, Korpubasar, Abaran, Darachichak, and Goycha districts.

Shorayel and Loru-Pambak regions of the present Armenian territory were not included in the Armenian province since they were annexed to Georgia in 1801-1805. Until 1829, that is, until the official resettlement of Armenians after the Russo-Turkish war, 1,536 families (5,425 men) were relocated to the Shoreyel-Pambak distance. Later, 3,148 families (10,575 men) were resettled from Türkiye. At the end of 1832 and early 1833, 182 families (674 men) of Armenians who were transferred from Türkiye to Zalga, were again relocated to the Shorayel-Pambak region. Among the resettled, there were 169 Greeks and 963 Armenian Catholics (Franks). The Armenians resettled from Türkiye were placed in nearly 100 villages in the Shorayel-Pambak region. According to Z. Balayan's book "Ojag," the population of the Shorayel region (Gumru suburb – present-day Akhuryan district) consisted of Armenians resettled from Turkey. He writes: "It can be said that the entire population of this region is composed of unfortunate refugees from Kars, Van, Mush, and Bitlis, from many provinces of Western Armenia. It is estimated that fleeing from the Turkish yataghans (curved swords) the Armenians settled in more than 80 residential settlements in Akhuryan region (formerly Duzkend region) of Western Armenia". By noting that the population of this region consists entirely of Armenians who came from Türkiye, Z. Balayan directly confirms that Turks previously inhabited the area.

The mass influx of Armenians to the territory of present-day Armenia continued even after the Russo-Persian and Russo-Turkish wars in the early 19th century. During that period, along with Armenians, Yezidi Kurds also came and settled in the territories of present Armenia. According to the information of 1834, 1000 Yezidi Kurds (about 300 families) who came from Beyazit had resettled in Iravan province.

Many abandoned Turkish villages in the foothills of Mount Alagoz (Alayaz) were settled by Yezidi Kurds who migrated from Türkiye. Yezidi Kurds initially settled in the villages of Mirak, Guruboghaz, Jarjarchi, and Chobangerekmez in 1839, and later in the villages of Pambak, Gundakhsaz, Boyuk Jamishli, Kichik Jamishli, and Korbulag. Finally, Yezidi Kurds resettled in the villages of Baghdad, Dolu-Takht, and Kichik Jangi in 1877.

The Greeks who were relocated from Türkiye were mainly settled in the villages of Alakilsa, Bayandur, and Sisimadan of Shorayel-Pambak province, as well as in Gumru. Over time, these Greeks underwent complete assimilation in Armenia and gradually Armenianized.

* * *

In general, after the Russo-Persian wars of 1826-1828 and the Russo-Turkish wars of 1828-1829, a total of 57,266 Armenians (10,631 families) were resettled from Iran and Türkiye to the Armenian province (the territories of Iravan and Nakhchivan khanates). Before the resettlements, there were a total of 25,131 Armenians (4,428 families) living in that area. As a result of the wars, a significant portion of Turks had fled from the territories of the Iravan and Nakhchivan khanates, leaving only 81,749 Muslims (17,078 families) there. After the resettlements, the Armenians constituted 82,397 people (15,059 families), outnumbering the Muslims.

The influx of Armenians into the present-day territory of Armenia strengthened once again after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. As a result of the Armenian uprisings in Türkiye in the 1890s, nearly 300,000 Armenians migrated back to the Caucasus.

From all the mentioned, it can be concluded that almost all the ancestors of Armenians living in present-day Armenia are mostly those who migrated from South Azerbaijan and later from Türkiye, as well as from foreign countries in subsequent periods.

 

Nazim Mustafa

Doctor of Philosophy in History