Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

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Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
1923–1991
Location Nagorno-Karabakh2.png
Capital Stepanakert
Area 
• 1989 [1]
4,388 km2 (1,694 sq mi)
Population 
• 1989 [2]
189,085
 • Type Autonomous Oblast
History 
• Established
7 July 1923
• Abolished
26 November 1991
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Flag of Transcaucasian SFSR (1925-1936).svg Transcaucasian SFSR
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Flag of Artsakh.svg
Azerbaijan Flag of Azerbaijan (1991-2013).svg
Today part of Azerbaijan

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) [a] was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. [3] Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majority of the population were ethnic Armenians. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

History

Principal cities of the oblast Nagorno Karabakh03.png
Principal cities of the oblast

The area was disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan during their short-lived independence from 1918 and 1920. After the Sovietization of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Kavbiuro organisation decided to keep the area within the Azerbaijan SSR whilst granting it broad regional autonomy. [7] Initially, the principal city of Karabakh, Shusha, and its surrounding villages were to be excluded from the autonomy as they were predominantly Azerbaijani, particularly after the massacre and expulsion of the majority Armenian population of Shusha—this decision was later reversed in 1923 when Shusha was decided to join the NKAO despite protests from Muslim villages who favoured its inclusion into the Kurdistan uezd instead. [8]

On July 7, 1923, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was created and the capital was moved to Stepanakert. [3] At the time of its formation, its area was 4,161 km2 (1,607 sq mi). [3] According to the 1926 Soviet census, the population of the oblast was 125,200 people, among whom Armenians accounted for 89.2 percent. However, by the 1989 census, the share of Armenians dropped to 76.9 percent of the population. [9] Reasons for this include the policy of Soviet Azerbaijani authorities to settle Azerbaijanis in the region and some out-migration of Karabakh Armenians, as well as the generally higher birthrate among Azerbaijanis than among Armenians. [10]

Although the question of Nagorno-Karabakh's status did not become a major public issue until perestroika, Karabakh Armenian activists, Armenian intellectuals, and Soviet Armenian leaders periodically appealed to Moscow for the oblast's transfer to Soviet Armenia. In November 1945, Armenian First Secretary Grigory Arutinov appealed to Joseph Stalin to attach the NKAO to Soviet Armenia, a proposal vetoed by Azerbaijan's Mir Jafar Baghirov. [11] [12] Following Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" in 1956, Armenian Catholicos Vazgen I raised the matter of the NKAO's status in a letter to Nikolai Bulganin. [11] In 1962, Karabakh Armenian residents appealed to Khrushchev, "enumerating their grievances with official Baku and requesting the transfer of their territories from the jurisdiction of Soviet Azerbaijan to that of either Soviet Armenia or the Russian SFSR." [11] The demands from the NKAO were boosted in 1966 by an appeal signed by 1,906 Soviet Armenian intellectual and cultural figures, including Martiros Saryan, Yervand Kochar, Hamo Sahyan, and Paruyr Sevak. [11] Although their appeal was endorsed by Armenian First Secretary Anton Kochinyan and Badal Muradyan, it was vetoed by Baku, "reportedly with backstage support from Mikhail Suslov." [11]

The rise of Heydar Aliyev to the leadership of the Azerbaijani SSR in 1969 saw increasing attempts to tighten Baku's control over the autonomous oblast. In 1973–74, Aliyev purged the entire leadership of the NKAO, who were regarded as Armenian nationalists. He appointed Boris Kevorkov, an Armenian from outside Karabakh, as the First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. [10] In 1977, the prominent Armenian author Sero Khanzadyan wrote an open letter to Leonid Brezhnev calling for Nagorno-Karabakh's annexation to Soviet Armenia. [13]

Conflict between the Armenians in the oblast and the government of the Azerbaijan SSR broke out in 1987. The fighting escalated into the First Nagorno-Karabakh War by the end of 1991. On 26 November 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan abolished the autonomous status of the oblast. Its internal administrative divisions were also abolished, and its territory was split up and redistributed amongst the neighbouring administrative rayons of Khojavend, Tartar, Goranboy, Shusha, and Kalbajar. [14] In response, the majority Armenian population of the oblast declared their independence as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic which was supported by Armenia. [15] [16] [17]

Administrative divisions

There were five administrative divisions or raions in the NKAO:

Demographics

Historical ethnic composition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in 1921–1989
Ethnic group1921 [18] [19] 1923 [20] [18] 1925 [20] 1926 [20] [21] 1939 [20] [22] 1959 [20] [23] 1970 [20] [24] 1979 [20] [25] 1989 [26]
Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%
Armenians 122,71588.62149,60094.8142,47090.28111,69489.24132,80088.04110,05384.39121,06880.54123,07675.89145,45076.92
Azerbaijanis [b] 15,44411.157,7004.915,2619.6712,59210.0614,0539.3217,99513.8027,17918.0837,26422.9840,68821.52
Russians 3070.225000.3460.035960.483,1742.101,7901.371,3100.871,2650.781,9221.02
Ukrainians 300.02350.034360.292380.181930.131400.094160.22
Belarusians 120.01110.01320.02350.02370.02790.04
Greeks 680.05740.05670.05330.02560.03720.04
Tatars 60.00290.02360.03250.02410.03640.03
Georgians 50.00250.02160.01220.01170.01570.03
Others1510.122350.161790.144480.302850.183370.18
TOTAL138,466100.00157,800100.0157,807100.00125,159100.00150,837100.00130,406100.00150,313100.00162,181100.00189,085100.00

First Secretaries

The First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan was the Communist Party of Azerbaijan's head and highest executive power within the oblast. The position was created in July 1923, and abolished on August 27, 1990. The position of First Secretary was de facto appointed by the Politburo of the Soviet Union or by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Below is a list of office-holders:

NameTerm of OfficeLifespan
StartEnd
First Secretaries of the Oblast Committee of the Communist Party
Sero Manutsyan July 1923December 1923
Akop Bendzhanyan December 1923April 1924
Nikolai Sarkisov April 1924October 1924
Hayk Silanyan October 19241925?–1938
Artvazd Saakyants 192519291895–1939
M.K. Danilyan 1929December 1929
Ashot Karamyan 1929May 19301898–?
?May 19301937
Mikhail Manukyants 193719401909–1968
?19401942
Yegishe Grigoryan October 194219461902–?
Tigran Grigoryan 1946?
Yegishe Grigoryan 1952December 19581902–?
Nikolay Shakhnazarov December 1958October 19621908–
Gurgen Melkumyan October 1962June 19731915–
Boris Kevorkov June 1973February 24, 19881932–1998
Genrikh Poghosyan February 24, 1988January 20, 19891931–2000
Vagan Gabrielyan January 20, 1989August 27, 19901936–

See also

Notes

  1. ↑
    • Russian: Нагорно-Карабахская автономная область (НКАО), romanized: Nagorno-Karabakhskaya avtonomnaya oblast' (NKAO)
    • Azerbaijani: Dağlıq Qarabağ Muxtar Vilayəti (DQMV)
    • Armenian: Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ (ԼՂԻՄ), romanized: Lerrnayin Gharabaghi Ink’navar Marz (LGhIM)
  2. ↑ Until 1936, Azerbaijanis were registered as Tyurki.

References

  1. ↑ (in Russian) НАГОРНО-КАРАБАХСКАЯ АО (1989 г.) Archived September 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ (in Russian) НАГОРНО-КАРАБАХСКАЯ АО (1989 г.) Archived September 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 3 Атлас Союза Советских Социалистических Республик[Atlas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]. Moscow: Central Executive Committee of the USSR. 1928. The Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of the SSR of Azerbaijan, was formed by the decree of the AzCEC 7 / VI 1923 from Armenian parts of the former Jevanshir, Shulgan, Karyaginsky, and Kubatly uyezds. The territory of the Region is 4.161 sq. km. According to the administrative division on 1 / I of 1927, it is divided into 5 sections or parishes. Its administrative and political center is mountains. Stepanakert (formerly the village of Khankendy). Another city of the Region is Shusha.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  4. ↑ Ardillier-Carras, Françoise (2006). "Sud-Caucase: conflit du Karabagh et nettoyage ethnique" [South Caucasus: Nagorny Karabagh conflict and ethnic cleansing]. Bulletin de l'Association de Géographes Français (in French). 83 (4): 409–432. doi:10.3406/bagf.2006.2527. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Conflicts in the Caucasus". UNHCR publication for CIS Conference (Displacement in the CIS). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 1996. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  6. ↑ Yamskov, A. N. (1991). "Ethnic Conflict in the Transcausasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh". Theory and Society. Vol. 20, no. 5. p. 659.
  7. ↑ Saparov, Arsène (2015). From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the Making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh. London: Routledge. pp. 110–111. ISBN   978-1-317-63783-7.
  8. ↑ Həmid, Tural (December 15, 2020). "Dağlıq Qarabağın sərhədləri necə cızılırdı?" [How were the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh drawn?]. Azlogos. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  9. ↑ "All-Union Population Census of 1926. Ethnic composition of the population by regions of the republics of the USSR". demoscope.ru. 1926. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  10. 1 2 de Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War. New York and London: New York University Press. pp. 3, 137–140. ISBN   0-8147-1944-9.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Shakarian, Pietro A. (2025). Anastas Mikoyan: An Armenian Reformer in Khrushchev's Kremlin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 104–106. ISBN   978-0253073556.
  12. ↑ Goff, Krista A. (2020). Nested Nationalism: Making and Unmaking Nations in the Soviet Caucasus. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 81. ISBN   978-1-5017-5327-5.
  13. ↑ Sanjian, Ara (January 6, 2021). "The Armenian Diasporan Press on Mountainous Karabagh, 1923-1985". entriessas.com. Entries of the Society for Armenian Studies. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2021. This 'silence' was only broken in the Diaspora with the publication of Yerevan-based novelist Sero Khanzadyan's open letter to the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1977, demanding Mountainous Karabagh's annexation to Soviet Armenia.
  14. ↑ Svante Cornell, Turkey and the Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh: A Delicate Balance Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , in Middle Eastern Studies Journal Vol 34, No. 1 (London: Frank Cass Publications, January 1998), pp. 51–72
  15. ↑ Oskanian, Kevork (September 29, 2020). "Nagorno-Karabakh: are Armenia and Azerbaijan sliding towards all-out war?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  16. ↑ Minasyan, Karen (October 2, 2020). "Why Nagorno-Karabakh? The history (both ancient and modern) that fuels the deadly conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan". meduza.io. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  17. ↑ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. "1993 UN Security Council Resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh". 2001-2009.state.gov. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  18. 1 2 Cory D., Welt (2004). Explaining ethnic conflict in the South Caucasus: Mountainous Karabagh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia (PDF). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. p. 77. OCLC   59823134. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 11, 2022. Out of a population of approximately 20,000, at least several hundred were killed; the rest were forced to flee. In the fighting that followed, several nearby villages were also razed.
  19. ↑ "Перепись населения АзССР в 1921 г." [Census of the population of the AzSSR in 1921]. karabagh.am. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Beglaryan, Ashot. "The population of Nagorno-Karabakh for a year. Union of Armenians of Russia - Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Excursion into history". losevskaya.ru. Stepanakert. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  21. ↑ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года. Национальный состав населения по регионам республик СССР Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  22. ↑ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года. Распределение городского и сельского населения областей союзных республик по национальности и полу Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  23. ↑ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1959 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  24. ↑ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1970 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  25. ↑ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1979 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  26. ↑ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года.Распределение городского и сельского населения областей республик СССР по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп

39°48′55″N46°45′07″E / 39.8153°N 46.7519°E / 39.8153; 46.7519

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