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Armenians in Central Asian states: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, were mainly settled there during the Soviet era for various reasons.
According to old historical records, Armenian warriors and traders once moved freely in many parts of Central Asia, often fighting alongside local warlords in return for trading privileges. [1]
The following table shows the number of Armenians in each Central Asian country according to Soviet censuses from 1926 to 1989, and censuses taken place after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
| Country | 1926 | 1939 | 1959 | 1970 | 1979 | 1989 | Post-Soviet (Year) | Latest (Year) | Estimates |
| Uzbekistan | 14,976 | 20,394 | 27,370 | 34,470 | 42,374 | 50,537 | 42,359 (2000) | 42,000 | |
| Turkmenistan | 13,859 | 15,996 | 19,696 | 23,054 | 26,605 | 31,829 | 33,368 (1995) | 22,000 (2010) | 22,000 |
| Kazakhstan | 636 | 7,777 | 9,284 | 12,518 | 14,022 | 19,119 | 14,758 (1999) | 13,776 (2009) | 13,000 |
| Tajikistan | 171 | 1,272 | 2,878 | 3,787 | 4,861 | 5,651 | 995 (2000) | 434 (2010) | 400 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 278 | 728 | 1,919 | 2,688 | 3,285 | 3,975 | 1,364 (1999) | 809 (2009) | 800 |
| TOTAL | 29,920 | 46,167 | 61,147 | 76,517 | 91,147 | 111,111 | 94,977 | 78,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Armenians in Turkmenistan number anywhere from 30,000 to 34,000. According to the Soviet 1989 census there were 31,829 Armenians in Turkmenistan. [2] Their history can be traced back to the Soviet days, particularly after World War II, when diaspora Armenians, encouraged to settle in the Armenian SSR were dispersed by the government across the Soviet Union. Today there are three main groups of Armenians living in the country: ethnic Armenians who are Turkmen citizens, Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, and Armenian citizens from Armenia. Many Armenian nationals and refugees are no longer legally residents and are considered illegal due to a visa regime being implemented in 1999. Approximately 7,000 Turkmen Armenians are considered illegal. With the help of the Norwegian government and other organizations, several hundred of these Armenians were repatriated to Armenia. Most have moved on to live in Russia. [3]
Armenians in Kazakhstan are ethnic Armenians living in the Republic of Kazakhstan. There are an estimated 25,000 Armenians living within the country today. [4]
The first Armenians arrived in Kazakhstan in the 1860s when the Russian Empire, which already controlled Armenian-populated areas in the north Caucasus, moved to conquer the Kazakh Steppe. Immigrants from throughout the empire moved to the frontier, Armenians being among the first, acting as interpreters for the Russians (as many already spoke Turkic languages), consuls and businessmen for the emerging oil industry. [5]
The first mass movement of Armenians into the country, however, occurred in 1937, in which almost 1,121 Armenian and Kurdish families were transplanted from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Kazakh SSR. [5] During the reign of Joseph Stalin, in which forced migration was widely used as a political tool in order to keep vassal nations under control and avoid ethnic conflict, Armenians and many other groups were sent to Kazakhstan when it was found convenient. In 1948, roughly 5800 Armenians and Pontic Greeks from the Black Sea region were deported to southern Kazakhstan, for being suspected sympathizers of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, an anti-Soviet political party. Earlier, in 1944, a number of the Armenian-derived Hamsheni were deported to Kazakhstan from parts of Georgia and other central Asian republics, among other groups. They would later petition the Soviet Government under Mikhail Gorbachev to move them to the Armenian SSR, but were turned down for fears they would spark conflicts with their Christian relatives.[ citation needed ]
Armenians in Kyrgyzstan form one of the country's smaller minority groups. The first Armenian, Shaverdov Mirkur, came to the area of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic which today comprises Kyrgyzstan in 1918; he was engaged in the hotel business. [6] Another pair of early Armenians in Kyrgyzstan were the brothers Nikita and Sergei Bedrosov, whose nephew Emmanuel Simoyants managed the first soft drinks factory of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1996, Eduard Sogomonyants founded the Caravan association, which runs a Sunday school teaching Armenian language and culture to the community's children. [7]
According to the 2009 Census, the Armenian population in Kyrgyzstan was 890, falling from 3,975 in the 1989 census and 1,364 in the 1999 census. [8] Their numbers have actually been bolstered in recent years by new migrants from among the Armenian community in Turkmenistan. Roughly half are Hamshenis, Muslims of Armenian origin. [9]
There is a small community of Armenians in Tajikistan. The 1989 census found 5,630 Armenians in Tajikistan; however, many left the country in the years following due to hardships caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the following civil war in Tajikistan. Another driver for emigration was the fear of anti-Armenian prejudice, as seen in the 1990 Dushanbe riots which were sparked by an unfounded rumour that large numbers of Armenian refugees would be resettled there and get free housing during a period when there was a housing shortage. [10] By the time of the 2000 census, only 995 people identifying themselves as Armenian remained, primarily in Dushanbe, Khujand, Chkalovsk, and Qurghonteppa. 57.6% could speak Armenian, 100% could speak Russian, and 14.8% could speak Tajik. According to interviews with community members, the first Armenians are believed to have arrived in Tajikistan in the 1930s. A number later rose to prominent positions in society, such as the former head of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan Dr. Arutyunov. [11]
Armenians in Uzbekistan refers to ethnic Armenians living in Uzbekistan. They number around 40,000. The Armenian community of Uzbekistan is the largest community in Central Asia, and most of them live in Tashkent. The modern day community formed during the Armenian genocide when many Armenians fled through Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan for safety in the Russian empire, and then made communities in Samarkand, Tashkent, Andijan, Fergana, and many other cities. After the Soviet Union was formed, the Armenians became big contributors to the Uzbekistani economy and agriculture, with many holding high positions in government and skilled labor. [12] After the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, many Armenians moved to mainly to Russia, but also to Armenia and the United States.
There are still many Armenians living in Uzbekistan nevertheless. Their main language is Russian, but some still speak Armenian at home. Instead of seeing the typical "ian" or "yan" at the end of Uzbek-Armenian last names, many will encounter Armenians with "ov" or "ts" at the end. This gives great insight into the heavy amount of Russian influence on Armenians in Uzbekistan. [12] The Armenians still keep their traditions alive by their music, religion, and food however. Additionally, There are many Armenian cafes and restaurants in Tashkent and Samarkand. There are even two Armenian Churches in Uzbekistan, one in Samarkand and the other in Tashkent. The Armenian Church in Samarqand was firstly opened in 1905, but during the Soviet Union era it was closed and in 1995 a Businessman from Samarqand of an Armenian Origin – Artur Martirosyan, donated to re-construct and re-open the Church.
Central Asia is a subregion of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the southwest and Eastern Europe in the northwest to Western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Central Asian nations are colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as the countries all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan", meaning "land of".
Tajiks are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They speak varieties of Persian, a Western Iranian language. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang, who speak the Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages. In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are counted as a separate ethnic group.
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Uzbek branch of the Soviet Communist Party, the legal political party, from 1925 until 1990. From 1990 to 1991, it was a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with its own legislation.
Khujand, sometimes spelled Khodjent and known as Leninabad from 1936 to 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan and the capital of Tajikistan's northernmost Sughd province.
The Uzbekistan national football team represents Uzbekistan in international football and is controlled by the Uzbekistan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uzbekistan.
Russian Turkestan was the western part of Turkestan within the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories, and was administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship. It comprised the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh Steppe, but not the protectorates of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva.
The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union (FSU) or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged out of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they existed as Union Republics — top-level constituents of the Soviet Union. There are 15 post-Soviet states in total: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Each of these countries succeeded their respective Union Republics: the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Estonian SSR, the Georgian SSR, the Kazakh SSR, the Kirghiz SSR, the Latvian SSR, the Lithuanian SSR, the Moldavian SSR, the Russian SFSR, the Tajik SSR, the Turkmen SSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Uzbek SSR. In Russia, the term "near abroad" is sometimes used to refer to the post-Soviet states other than Russia.
National delimitation in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the process of specifying well-defined national territorial units from the ethnic diversity of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its subregions. The Russian-language term for this Soviet state policy was razmezhevanie, which is variously translated in English-language literature as "national-territorial delimitation" (NTD), "demarcation", or "partition". National delimitation formed part of a broader process of changes in administrative-territorial division, which also changed the boundaries of territorial units, but was not necessarily linked to national or ethnic considerations. National delimitation in the USSR was distinct from nation-building, which typically referred to the policies and actions implemented by the government of a national territorial unit after delimitation. In most cases national delimitation in the USSR was followed by korenizatsiya (indigenization).
Soviet Central Asia was the part of Central Asia administered by the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian republics declared independence. It is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan in the Russian Empire. Soviet Central Asia went through many territorial divisions before the current borders were created in the 1920s and 1930s.
Architecture of Central Asia refers to the architectural styles of the numerous societies that have occupied Central Asia throughout history. These styles include a regional tradition of Islamic and Iranian architecture, including Timurid architecture of the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as 20th-century Soviet Modernism. Central Asia is an area that encompasses land from the Xinjiang Province of China in the East to the Caspian Sea in the West. The region is made up of the countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. The influence of Timurid architecture can be recognised in numerous sites in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, whilst the influence of Persian architecture is seen frequently in Uzbekistan and in some examples in Turkmenistan. Examples of Soviet architecture can be found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic or Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. It was also known by the names Kyrgyzstan and Soviet Kyrgyzstan in the Kyrgyz language, and as Kirghizia and Soviet Kirghizia in the Russian language. Landlocked and mountainous, it bordered Tajikistan and China to the south, Uzbekistan to the west and Kazakhstan to the north. The Kirghiz branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union governed the republic from 1936 until 1990.
The Syr-Darya Oblast was one of the oblasts of the Russian Empire, a part of Russian Turkestan. Its center was Tashkent.
The history of the Jews in Central Asia dates back centuries, where Jews have lived in countries which include Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan border is 413 kilometres (257 mi) in length and runs from the Caspian Sea to the tripoint with Uzbekistan. It is the shortest international boundary of both states.
The Turkmenistan–Uzbekistan border is the border between the countries of the Republic of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan. At 1,793 km, it is Turkmenistan's longest border and Uzbekistan's second longest. The border runs from the tripoint with Kazakhstan to the tripoint with Afghanistan.
The Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border is 2,330 km (1,450 mi) long and runs from the tripoint with Turkmenistan to the tripoint with Kyrgyzstan. It is Uzbekistan's longest external boundary. The Uzbek capital Tashkent is situated just 13 km (8.1 mi) from this border.
The Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border is 1,212 kilometres (753 mi) and runs from the tripoint with Uzbekistan to the tripoint with China. Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, is situated just 16 km (10m) to the south of this boundary, and Almaty is situated just 29 kilometres (18 mi) to the north of it.
The Tajikistan–Uzbekistan border is an international border between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is 1,312 kilometres (815 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Kyrgyzstan to the tripoint with Afghanistan.
The Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan border is 1,314 kilometres (816 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Kazakhstan to the tripoint with Tajikistan. It is Kyrgyzstan's longest external boundary.
The 12th Independent Air Defense Army was an army of the Soviet Air Defense Forces based in Soviet Central Asia from 1963, with six years' break in the early 1980s, until 1992.
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