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Hi. There is nothing I can't debunk in the official Azeri version of history, including their claim that "Armenians never existed in the Caucasus before the Russian Empire."
However, the claim that Armenians were resettled in the Caucasus is a fact, and information about this is scarce.
I know that in the 17th century, the Shah of Persia relocated Armenians in Tehran, where they established "New Julfa." We know that most of these Armenians were from Julfa in Nakhichevan. This was done for three reasons:
1. Armenians were very successful merchants, and the Shah wanted to exploit this talent to help enrich Tehran.
2. Armenians lived in the proximity of Ottoman-Persian wars, and were relocated for their safety.
3. By spreading Armenians around the empire, they effectively eliminated the Christian majority and helped the assimilation and conversion of Armenians (this is why Erivan became a predominantly muslim city). Since Armenians were also rebellious, this effectively ended rebellions and liberation ambitions.
When Russia conquered the South Caucasus, Armenians were encouraged to return to the new "Armenian Oblast" (Erivan & Nakhichevan regions) they established.
However, Armenians in Karabakh were never affected by the relocation by the Shah, and slightly affected by the resettlement by Russians.
So my question is, is there an objective source where I can verify exactly how the Armenians were resettled in the Caucasus? How many, where, from where, their fate, etc. From English sources, I can't find much, and I can't read/speak Russian, nor Persian, and Turkish sources are too biased toward the Azerbaijani version of the events for me to consider.
I know there was only 1 census ever done by the Russian Empire, in 1897, in which Armenian Christians were counted at 1,218,081* and muslims at 13,906,972* (throughout the entire empire, not just the Caucasus), so since there is no census prior to this, and Caucasian Tatars are considered part of the huge muslim population of the empire, we can't really use this.
Is there a way to verify the Russian archives to see the population of regions at certain dates? Or is there a source that gives this information?
(let it be in Russian, Google Translate will fix this problem).
*http://www.archipelag.ru/ru_mir/reli...tatistics-imp/
However, the claim that Armenians were resettled in the Caucasus is a fact, and information about this is scarce.
I know that in the 17th century, the Shah of Persia relocated Armenians in Tehran, where they established "New Julfa." We know that most of these Armenians were from Julfa in Nakhichevan. This was done for three reasons:
1. Armenians were very successful merchants, and the Shah wanted to exploit this talent to help enrich Tehran.
2. Armenians lived in the proximity of Ottoman-Persian wars, and were relocated for their safety.
3. By spreading Armenians around the empire, they effectively eliminated the Christian majority and helped the assimilation and conversion of Armenians (this is why Erivan became a predominantly muslim city). Since Armenians were also rebellious, this effectively ended rebellions and liberation ambitions.
When Russia conquered the South Caucasus, Armenians were encouraged to return to the new "Armenian Oblast" (Erivan & Nakhichevan regions) they established.
However, Armenians in Karabakh were never affected by the relocation by the Shah, and slightly affected by the resettlement by Russians.
So my question is, is there an objective source where I can verify exactly how the Armenians were resettled in the Caucasus? How many, where, from where, their fate, etc. From English sources, I can't find much, and I can't read/speak Russian, nor Persian, and Turkish sources are too biased toward the Azerbaijani version of the events for me to consider.
I know there was only 1 census ever done by the Russian Empire, in 1897, in which Armenian Christians were counted at 1,218,081* and muslims at 13,906,972* (throughout the entire empire, not just the Caucasus), so since there is no census prior to this, and Caucasian Tatars are considered part of the huge muslim population of the empire, we can't really use this.
Is there a way to verify the Russian archives to see the population of regions at certain dates? Or is there a source that gives this information?
(let it be in Russian, Google Translate will fix this problem).
*http://www.archipelag.ru/ru_mir/reli...tatistics-imp/
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