Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan respecting the District of Zanghezour

Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan respecting the District of Zanghezour

Signing of the agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Tiflis on 23 November 1919
Signed	23 November 1919
Location	Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi)
Signatories	Alexander Khatisian Nasib bey Yusifbeyli
Full text
Mutual Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan (1919) at Wikisource

The Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan respecting the District of Zanghezour ^[1] was a peace agreement between the short-lived Armenian and Azerbaijani republics signed on 23 November 1919 in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) and brokered by Georgia. The peace treaty came as a result of an unsuccessful Azerbaijani military campaign to absorb the Zangezur region controlled by local Armenians, in order to reach and support the Azerbaijanis in control of neighbouring Nakhchivan.

Despite the peace agreement, Azerbaijan in March 1920 again moved its forces westward to attempt to capture Zangezur, however, was stopped due to an Armenian rebellion in Nagorno–Karabakh and the country's sovietisation in April.

Background

Main article: Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920)

In 1918, after attaining independence from Russia, the newly established Armenian and Azerbaijani republics engaged in a two-year war over their territorial ambitions. ^[2] The disputed regions were principally Nakhchivan, Zangezur, and Nagorno-Karabakh. ^{[3] [4]} Nakhchivan was occupied by the Ottoman army during their invasion of the South Caucasus, however, after their withdrawal, the local Muslim-dominated Republic of Aras was established, lasting until its capitulation to Armenian–British forces in May 1919. After two months of Armenian governance, the region fell again to local control during the summer rebellions against Armenian rule, ^{[5] [6]} not being retaken until July of the following year. ^[7] Following the conclusion of the Turkish–Armenian War, Nakhchivan became a protectorate of Soviet Azerbaijan. ^[8]

Zangezur was under the control of a local Armenian council in 1918 which successfully resisted Azerbaijani–Ottoman, and later Azerbaijani–British incursions until its incorporation into Armenia in 1919. In 1920, the region was invaded by units of the Red Army who sought to establish a link with the Turkish Nationalists, ^[4] however, were mostly repelled. In early 1921, shortly after Armenia had been sovietised, an anti-Soviet revolt spread to Zangezur and remained active until July of that year when the rebels fled to neighbouring Iran after receiving assurances that the region "would become a permanent part of Soviet Armenia." ^[9]

Nagorno-Karabakh, similarly to Zangezur, was self-governed by its Armenian population since the collapse of Russian authority, however, its key city of Shusha was occupied by Azerbaijani–Ottoman forces in late 1918. ^[10] After the Ottoman withdrawal from the South Caucasus, the British under the command of General Thomson supplanted their forces in the region and in temporarily assigning Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan helped subjugate the local Armenian council to assent to Azerbaijani authority pending the result of the Paris Peace Conference. ^{[11] [12]} In March 1920, the local Armenians revolted with the support of Armenia, leading to the destruction of the Armenian quarter of Shusha—by April, Armenian forces were in control of the countryside, though were eventually ousted from the region by the Red Army. ^[13] In 1921, the region was set to become an autonomy within Soviet Azerbaijan. ^[14]

Situation in Zangezur

Main articles: Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920) § Fight for Zangezur, November 1919; and Massacres of Azerbaijanis in Armenia in 1917–1921 § In Zangezur

Andranik and his partisans

From 1918, Armenian partisan commanders Andranik Ozanian ^[15] and Garegin Nzhdeh brought about a "re-Armenianization" of Zangezur ^[16] through the expulsion of tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis, ^{[17] [18]} and destruction of tens of villages. ^[19] These factors, coupled with the restrictions imposed by local Armenians on Muslim shepherds taking their flocks into Zangezur, served as the casus belli for Azerbaijan's campaign against Zangezur in late 1919. ^[18]

Following the British withdrawal from the South Caucasus, the Azerbaijani Army and Kurdish militias led by the brother of the Governor-General of Karabakh, Sultan bey Sultanov  [ az ] launched a campaign to capture Zangezur on the dawn of 4 November 1919, ^[20] confident in their success after subjugating the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Mughan Soviet Republic. ^[21] Despite meeting success on all fronts and routing local forces, the Azerbaijanis suffered heavy casualties and retreated on 9 November. ^[20]

Terms of the agreement

In Tiflis on 23 November 1919, prime minister Alexander Khatisian of Armenia and prime minister Nasib bey Yusifbeyli of Azerbaijan under combined British and American diplomatic pressure signed a peace treaty under the auspices of foreign minister Evgeni Gegechkori of Georgia and Colonel James Rhea of the United States. ^[22] UCLA historian Richard G. Hovannisian describes the agreement as "basically a declaration of intent". ^[23] The terms the two states agreed to were as follow:

1. That the government of Armenia and Azerbaijan pledge themselves to stop the present hostilities and not resort to force of arms.
2. That the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to take effective measures for repairing and re-opening, for peaceful traffic, the roads leading into Zangezur.
3. That the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan pledge themselves to settle all controversies, including boundaries, by means of peaceful agreements pending the decisions of the conference convened in the following paragraph. In case this is not possible, then to select a neutral party as arbiter, whose decisions, both governments agree to abide by, said neutral party for the present being col. James C. Rhea, U.S. Army.
4. That the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan pledge themselves to immediately appoint an equal number of delegates to meet in conference in Baku on Wednesday, 26 November, and to sojourn to Tiflis on 4 December, where the meetings of the conference will discuss all questions which are the cause of dispute or friction between the two Governments and will have full authority to settle all such questions by agreement or arbitration.
5. That this agreement becomes effective on the date of signing and becomes permanent when ratified by the parliaments of the two governments, and the prime ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan hereby bind their respective governments to faithfully support and carry out all the details of the above agreement, in evidence of which they place their respective signatures to this agreement, … ^{[23] [24]}

Aftermath

As a result of the agreement, Azerbaijan withdrew its forces from Zangezur, however, alleged that the Armenian army was using artillery to plunder and destroy Muslim villages. ^[25] On 11–12 March 1920, Azerbaijan dispatched to Zangezur some ninety railway trucks of soldiers from Baku to attempt to capture Zangezur again. ^[11] There was "hard evidence" that Azerbaijan planned to move against Zangezur on 25 March ^[26] —days before the attack was set to occur, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh rebelled against Azerbaijan with the aim of uniting themselves to Armenia, however, the uprising resulted in the destruction of the Armenian quarter of Shusha. ^[13]

References

1. Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan respecting the District of Zanghezour, signed at Tiflis, 22 November 1919.
2. de Waal 2003, pp. 127–128.
3. Smele 2015, p. 135.
4. Saparov 2014, p. 95.
5. de Waal 2003, p. 129.
6. Hovannisian 1982, p. 69.
7. Hovannisian 1996a, pp. 317–318.
8. Saparov 2014, p. 9.
9. Der Matossian 2020, p. 49.
10. Saparov 2014, p. 91.
11. Saparov 2014, p. 94.
12. de Waal 2003, p. 128.
13. Saparov 2014, pp. 94–95.
14. Saparov 2014, p. 111.
15. Gerwarth & Horne 2012, p. 179.
16. Broers 2019, p. 4.
17. de Waal 2003, p. 80.
18. Hovannisian 1982, p. 213.
19. Hovannisian 1982, p. 239.
20. Hovannisian 1982, pp. 217.
21. Hovannisian 1982, pp. 210–211.
22. Hille 2010, p. 167.
23. Hovannisian 1982, pp. 223.
24. Hille 2010, pp. 167–168.
25. Gharibyan 2014, p. 226.
26. Hovannisian 1996a, p. 149.

Bibliography

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