Olti okrug Ольтинский округ | |
---|---|
Country | Russian Empire |
Viceroyalty | Caucasus |
Oblast | Kars |
Established | 1878 |
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk | 3 March 1918 |
Capital | Olty (present-day Oltu) |
Area | |
• Total | 2,983.17 km2 (1,151.81 sq mi) |
Population (1914) | |
• Total | 40,091 |
• Density | 13/km2 (35/sq mi) |
• Urban | 8.13% |
• Rural | 91.87% |
The Olti okrug [lower-alpha 1] was a district ( okrug ) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire existing between 1878 and 1918. Its capital was the town of Olty (present-day Oltu), presently part of the Erzurum Province of Turkey. The okrug bordered with the Kars okrug to the southeast, the Ardahan okrug to the northwest, the Kagizman okrug to its south, the Batum Oblast to the north, and the Erzurum vilayet of the Ottoman Empire to the west. [1]
The Olti okrug was one of the four territorial administrative subunits (counties) of the Kars Oblast created after its annexation into the Russian Empire in 1878 through the Treaty of San Stefano, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. [2]
During the First World War, the Kars oblast became the site of intense battles between the Russian Caucasus Army supplemented by Armenian volunteers and the Ottoman Third Army, the latter of whom was successful in briefly occupying Ardahan on 25 December 1914 before they were dislodged in early January 1915.
On 3 March 1918, in the aftermath of the October Revolution the Russian SFSR ceded the entire Kars Oblast including the Olti okrug through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to the Ottoman Empire, who had been unreconciled with its loss of the territory since 1878. Despite the ineffectual resistance of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic which had initially rejected the aforementioned treaty, the Ottoman Third Army was successful in occupying the Kars Oblast and forcefully expelling its 100,000 panic-stricken Armenian inhabitants. [3]
The Ottoman Ninth Army under the command of Yakub Shevki Pasha, the occupying force of the district by the time of the Mudros Armistice, were permitted to winter in Kars until early 1919, after which on 7 January 1919 Major General G.T. Forestier-Walker ordered their complete withdrawal to the pre-1914 Ottoman-frontier. Intended to hinder the westward expansion of the fledgling Armenian and Georgian republics into the Kars Oblast, Yukub Shevki backed the emergence of the short-lived South-West Caucasus Republic with moral support, also furnishing it with weapons, ammunition and instructors. [4]
The South-West Caucasus Republic administered the Olti okrug and neighboring formerly occupied districts for three months before provoking British intervention by order of General G.F. Milne, leading to its capitulation by Armenian and British forces on 10 April 1919. [5] [6] Consequently, the Kars Oblast largely came under the Armenian civil governorship of Stepan Korganian who wasted no time in facilitating the repatriation of the region's exiled refugees. [7]
Despite the apparent defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish agitators were reported by Armenian intelligence to have been freely roaming the countryside of Kars encouraging sedition among the Muslim villages, culminating in a series of anti-Armenian uprisings on 1 July 1919. [8]
The Kars Oblast for the third time in six years saw invading Turkish troops, this time under the command of General Kâzım Karabekir in September 1920 during the Turkish-Armenian War. The disastrous war for Armenia resulted in the permanent expulsion of the region's ethnic Armenian population, many who inexorably remained befalling massacre, resulting in the region joining the Republic of Turkey through the Treaty of Alexandropol on 3 December 1920. Turkey's annexation of Kars and the adjacent Surmalu Uyezd was confirmed in the treaties of Kars and Moscow in 1921, by virtue of the new Soviet regime in Armenia. [9]
The prefectures (участки, uchastki ) of the Olti okrug were: [10] [11]
Name | Administrative centre | 1912 population | Area |
---|---|---|---|
Oltinskiy prefecture (Ольтинский участок) | Olty (Oltu) | 10,874 | 1,888.85 square versts (2,149.63 km2 ; 829.98 sq mi ) |
Tauskerskiy prefecture (Таускерский участок) | Olor (Olur) | 6,400 | 732.42 square versts (833.54 km2 ; 321.83 sq mi ) |
According to the Russian Empire Census, the Olti okrug had a population of 31,519 on 28 January [ O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 16,845 men and 14,674 women. The majority of the population indicated Turkish to be their mother tongue, with significant Kurdish, Armenian, and Greek speaking minorities. [12]
Language | Native speakers | % |
---|---|---|
Turkish | 19,719 | 62.56 |
Kurdish | 3,505 | 11.12 |
Armenian | 3,125 | 9.91 |
Greek | 2,704 | 8.58 |
Turkmen | 999 | 3.17 |
Russian | 870 | 2.76 |
Ukrainian | 168 | 0.53 |
Ossetian | 62 | 0.20 |
Polish | 48 | 0.15 |
Persian | 44 | 0.14 |
Georgian | 20 | 0.06 |
Avar-Andean | 11 | 0.03 |
Dargin | 8 | 0.03 |
German | 7 | 0.02 |
Tatar [lower-alpha 2] | 4 | 0.01 |
Karapapakh | 1 | 0.00 |
Other | 224 | 0.71 |
TOTAL | 31,519 | 100.00 |
According to the 1915 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar , the Olti okrug had a population of 40,091 on 14 January [ O.S. 1 January] 1914, including 20,540 men and 19,551 women, 37,553 of whom were the permanent population, and 2,538 were temporary residents. The statistics indicated the town Olti to be overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian in population with a sizeable Yazidi minority, conversely, the rest of the okrug was mainly Yazidi, with sizeable Kurdish, Georgian, Asiatic Christian, and Armenian minorities: [15]
Nationality | Urban | Rural | TOTAL | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
Yazidis | 458 | 14.06 | 21,309 | 57.85 | 21,767[ sic ] | 54.29 |
Kurds | 51 | 1.57 | 5,128 | 13.92 | 5,179 | 12.92 |
Armenians | 2,188 | 67.16 | 2,765 | 7.51 | 4,953 | 12.35 |
Georgians | 78 | 2.39 | 4,017 | 10.91 | 4,095[ sic ] | 10.21 |
Asiatic Christians | 0 | 0.00 | 3,454 | 9.38 | 3,454 | 8.62 |
Russians | 177 | 5.43 | 24 | 0.07 | 201 | 0.50 |
Roma | 134 | 4.11 | 0 | 0.00 | 134 | 0.33 |
North Caucasians | 63 | 1.93 | 61 | 0.17 | 124 | 0.31 |
Jews | 0 | 0.00 | 72 | 0.20 | 72 | 0.18 |
Shia Muslims [lower-alpha 3] | 58 | 1.78 | 3 | 0.01 | 61 | 0.15 |
Sunni Muslims [lower-alpha 4] | 51 | 1.57 | 0 | 0.00 | 51[ sic ] | 0.13 |
TOTAL | 3,258 | 100.00 | 36,833 | 100.00 | 40,091 | 100.00 |
Comparing with previous years' statistics and considering that the district was predominantly Turkish-majority, it is likely that the 1915 publication of the Caucasian Calendar, mistakenly put the number of Sunni Muslims (mainly Turks) in the Yazidis column. The large number of Georgians compared with previous years is also exceptional and likely to be another printing error.
According to the 1897 census, there were 10 settlements in the Olti okrug with a population over 500 inhabitants. The religious composition of the settlements was as follows: [17]
Name | Armenian Apostolic | Muslim | Eastern Orthodox | Male | Female | TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gaziler (Бардус (Бардуз), Bardus (Barduz)) | 519 | 280 | 260 | 540 | ||
Ormanağzı (Каранаваз (Карнаваз), Karanavaz (Karnavaz)) | 799 | 401 | 400 | 801 | ||
Nişantaşı (Кейванк, Keyvank) | 499 | 270 | 229 | 499 | ||
Ünlükaya (Нариман (Нориман Греческое), Nariman (Noriman Grecheskoye)) | 497 | 267 | 239 | 506 | ||
Oltu (Ольты, Olty) | 1,056 [lower-alpha 5] | 405 | 841 | 1,633 | 740 | 2,373 |
Atlı (Ори, Ori) | 783 | 394 | 389 | 783 | ||
Şenkaya (Ортули (Ортулу), Ortuli (Ortulu)) | 627 | 335 | 297 | 632 | ||
Yukarıkaracasu (Панаскерт Верхний, Panaskert Verkhniy) | 516 | 269 | 247 | 516 | ||
Aşağıkaracasu (Панаскерт Нижний, Panaskert Nizhniy) | 764 | 406 | 358 | 764 | ||
Çataksu (Таускер (Тавискар), Tausker (Taviskar)) | 694 | 379 | 315 | 694 | ||
TOTAL | 1,056 | 5,087 | 1,857 | 4,634 | 3,474 | 8,108 |
Oltu is a municipality and district of Erzurum Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,441 km2, and its population is 30,075 (2022). The mayor is Adem Çelebi, from the AKP.
The Kars oblast was a province (oblast) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in Turkey. The oblast bordered the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Batum Oblast to the north, the Tiflis Governorate to the northeast, and the Erivan Governorate to the east. The Kars oblast included parts of the contemporary provinces of Kars, Ardahan, and Erzurum Province of Turkey, and the Amasia Community of the Shirak Province of Armenia.
The Batum oblast was a province (oblast) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with the Black Sea port of Batum as its administrative center. The Batum oblast roughly corresponded to the present-day Adjara autonomous region of Georgia, and most of the Artvin Province of Turkey.
The Surmalu uezd was a county (uezd) of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It bordered the governorate's Etchmiadzin and Erivan uezds to the north, the Kars Oblast to the west, Persia to the east, and the Ottoman Empire to the south. The district made up most of the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey. As part of the Russian Transcaucasus, the Surmalu uezd possessed economical importance for its abundantly rich salt mines in Kulp (Tuzluca), and spiritual importance to Armenians as the location of the culturally significant Mount Ararat. The administrative centre of the county was Igdyr.
The Etchmiadzin uezd was a county (uezd) of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The uezd bordered the Alexandropol uezd to the north, the Nor Bayazet uezd to the east, Erivan uezd to the north, the Surmalu uezd to the south, and the Kars Oblast to the west. It included all of the Armavir Province and most of the Aragatsotn Province of present-day Armenia. The administrative centre of the county was Vagorshapat (Vagharshapat), also referred to as Etchmiadzin—the administrative capital of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The Kars okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1918. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently part of the Kars Province of Turkey and the Amasia District of Armenia. The okrug bordered with the Ardahan okrug in the north, the Kagizman okrug in the south, the Olti okrug in the west, and the Erivan Governorate to its east.
The Ardahan okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1918. The district was eponymously named for its administrative center, the town of Ardagan, presently part of the Ardahan Province of Turkey. The okrug bordered with the Kars okrug to the south, the Olti okrug in the west, the Batum Oblast in the north, the Tiflis Governorate in the northeast, and from 1883 to 1903 the Kutais Governorate whilst the latter included the Artvin and Batum okrugs.
The Kagizman okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire, existing between 1878 and 1918. Its capital was the town of Kagyzman, presently in the Kars Province of Turkey. The okrug bordered with the Kars okrug to the north, the Olti okrug to the northwest, the Erivan Governorate to the east, and the Erzurum Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire to the west.
The Akhalkalaki uezd was a county (uezd) of the Tiflis Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, and then of Democratic Republic of Georgia, with its administrative centre in Akhalkalak. The county bordered the Gori uezd to the north, the Borchaly uezd to the east, the Alexandropol uezd of the Erivan Governorate and the Kars and Ardahan okrugs of the Kars Oblast to the south, and the Akhaltsikhe uezd to the west. The area of the county roughly corresponded to the contemporary Samtskhe–Javakheti region of Georgia.
The Akhaltsikhe uezd was a county (uezd) of the Tiflis Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, and then of Democratic Republic of Georgia, with its administrative center in Akhaltsikh. The uezd bordered the Gori uezd and the Kutaisi Governorate to the north, the Akhalkalaki uezd to the east, the Ardahan Okrug of the Kars Oblast to the south, and the Batum Okrug of the Batum Oblast to the west. The area of the uezd roughly corresponded to the contemporary Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia.
The Artvin okrug was a district (okrug) of the Batum Oblast of the Russian Empire, existing between 1878 and 1918. The district was eponymously named for its administrative centre, Artvin, presently part of the Artvin Province of Turkey. The district bordered with the Olti okrug to the south, the Ardahan okrug to the east, the Batumi okrug to the north, and the Ottoman Empire to the west. Between 1883 and 1903, the Artvin okrug formed a part of the Kutaisi Governorate.
The Batumi okrug was a district (okrug) of the Batum Oblast of the Russian Empire existing between 1878 and 1918. The district was eponymously named for its administrative center, the town of Batum, now part of Adjara within Georgia. The okrug bordered with the Artvin okrug in the south, the Ardahan okrug of the Kars Oblast to the southeast, the Tiflis Governorate to the northeast, the Kutaisi Governorate to the north, and the Trebizond Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire to the west.
The Batalpashinsky otdel was a Cossack district of the Kuban oblast of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It bordered the Stavropol Governorate to the north, the Labinsky and Maykopsky otdels to the west, the Sochi and Sukhumi okrugs to the south, and the Terek Oblast to the east. The area of the Batalpashinsky otdel included most of the contemporary Karachay-Cherkessia region of Russia. The administrative capital was the city of Batalpashinskaya.
The Avarskiy okrug was a district (okrug) of the Dagestan Oblast of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The area of the Avarskiy okrug is included in contemporary Dagestan of the Russian Federation. The district's administrative centre was Khunzakh.
The Andiyskiy okrug was a district (okrug) of the Dagestan Oblast of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The area of the Andiyskiy okrug is included in contemporary Dagestan of the Russian Federation. The district's administrative centre was Botlikh.
The Gunibskiy okrug was a district (okrug) of the Dagestan Oblast of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The area of the Gunibskiy okrug is included in contemporary Dagestan of the Russian Federation. The district's centre was Gunib.
The Kazikumukhskiy okrug was a district (okrug) of the Dagestan Oblast of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The area of the Kazikumukhskiy okrug is included in contemporary Dagestan of the Russian Federation. The district's administrative centre was Kumukh.
The Samurskiy okrug was a district (okrug) of the Dagestan Oblast of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The area of the Samurskiy okrug is included in contemporary Dagestan of the Russian Federation. The district's administrative centre was Akhty.
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The Mozdoksky otdel was a Cossack district of the Terek oblast of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The area of the Mozdoksky otdel makes up part of the North Caucasian Federal District of Russia. The district was eponymously named for its administrative center, Mozdok.
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