Deportation of Armenians to Iran

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In 1605, Iranian emperor Shah Abbas I organized the deportation of the Armenian people to central provinces of Iran, after which 500,000 Armenians were forcibly deported from Nakhichevan to Iran. His goal was to pursue a scorched earth campaign against the Ottomans in the Ararat Plain by establishing an uninhabited border area so that the Turkish army has no shelter or food to continue its offensive against Persia and also boos Iranian economy and international silk trade by the Armenian merchants and craftsmen.

Nakhichevan in 16th and 17th centuries

At the beginning of 17th century, the territory of Nakhichevan was one of the ethnically homogeneous regions of Armenia, where the overwhelming majority of the population were Armenians. This is reported by one of European travellers at the end of the 16th century, the missionary Jacobus Villotte (hy), according to which Nakhichevan area used to have a population of 40 thousand households. In 1605 Shah Abbas I forcibly deported more than 150 thousand from the Nakhichevan area central parts of Iran.

The territory of Nakhichevan, Vaspurakan and Syunik provinces of Nakhichevan (hy), Goghtn, Vayots Dzor (hy), Chahuk (hy), Yernjak (hy) and Tsghukk (hy). This area was bordered on the north-west by Yerevan and on the east by Kapan. The natural borders of the region were the Arpa River in the west, the Vardenis Range (de) in the north, Zangezur Range in the east, and the Aras River in the south. Nakhichevan was divided into two large districts, Jugha and Shahaponk, whose main cities were Ordubad and Nakhichevan. These areas, in turn, were divided into districts: Jugha into Azat-Chiran (hy) and Darashamb, Shahaponk into Daralagyaz and Sisakan. The Azat-Chiran district spread in the basin of the Geghi River (hy), including the provinces of Goghtn and Yernjak in Vaspurakan and Syunik provinces of Greater Armenia, bordering the Syunik mountain range in the east. It was bordered on the west by the Darashamb district, from which it was divided by the Yernjak River (hy), and consisted of Vaspurakan, Nakhichevan and Chahuk provinces of Syunik. Darashamb district was spread in the basin of Nakhichevan river (de). It was bordered on the east by the Yernjak River, on the north by the Vayots Dzor Mountains, on the west by the Arpa River, and on the southern border by the Aras River.

Turkish-Persian wars

Due to its strategic significance, Armenia was constantly fought over and passed back and forth between Iran and the Ottomans. At the height of the Ottoman-Persian Wars, Yerevan changed hands fourteen times between 1513 and 1737. Nevertheless, Greater Armenia was annexed in the early 16th century by Shah Ismail I of Iran. Following the Peace of Amasya of 1555, Western Armenia fell into the neighbouring Ottoman hands, while Eastern Armenia stayed part of Iran, until early 19th century.

As a result of the previous Ottoman-Persian War, the Ottomans had gained swaths of the Iranian territories in the northwest and west, including Shirvan, Dagestan, most of Azerbaijan, Kartli, Kakheti, Luristan and Khuzestan.

Pursuing to reaffirm the 1555 Turkish-Iranian border, in 1603 Shah Abbas I started his invasion. The area from the eastern borders of Nakhichevan to Shirak had turned into a military theater. According to contemporary source, these war-torn regions were densely populated, with more than twenty cities and thousands of villages. The Turks responded to these Iranian attacks two and a half months after the capture of Yerevan, when Shah Abbas had already captured Kars. Sinan Pasha was appointed commander of a large Turkish army marching to Yerevan and Nakhichevan. Seriously judging that the quantitative balance of power is not in his favour and that it will be impossible to resist the Turks in an open battle, Shah Abbas retreated. According to Arakel of Tabriz, Shah Abbas had already decided to displace the Armenian population to inner parts of Iran.

Deportation of Armenians from provinces

Deportation started on 11 August 1605. Shah Abbas I retreated and deserted all the towns and villages on the way of his retreat, displacing the population. Starting from the sides of Nakhichevan, Shirak, Nig (hy), Yeghegnadzor, Gegham, Lori, Hamzachiman, Sharapkhana (hy), Zarishat, the plain of Ararat, the city of Yerevan, the province of Kotes, the villages of Tsaghnudzor, Garnagadzor, up to Nakhichevan, most of settlements were deserted. This deportation left a great impression on contemporaries. This deportation, which the contemporaries called the "great exile", was terrible in its size and consequences.

The deportation of Armenians by Shah Abbas I to the inner parts of Iran had a severe impact to the Armenian Catholic community in the Nakhichevan region. However, due to the intervention of the Pope and the ambassadors of European countries, the shah allowed the Armenian Catholic population to return to their places of residence. However, he allowed a small part of the Catholic population to return and settle to their looted and burned down villages. According to Archbishop Azaria Friton (hy), Archbishop of the Armenian Catholics of Nakhichevan, report in 1601, about 1,780 houses or 19,400 Armenians lived in the villages of Azat-Chiran, Krna, Tsghna, Gandzak, Medsshen and Darashamb. After the deportations in 1616, according to a report prepared by Angel María Cittadini from Rome, there remained just about 305 Catholic families in all ten villages of Nakhichevan province.

Deportation of Armenians of Old Julfa

Organization of the deportation of the Armenian population of Nakhichevan was placed on its governor, Maghsud Sultan Kengerlu, and the deportation of the population of Jugha was assigned to Tahmasb Kuli Beg. From this, it is clear that Shah Abbas paid special attention towards rich merchants and their families of Jugha, as they would bear the main burden of reviving the economy of Iran. The history of Julfa was closely connected with trade. The small Armenian town of Julfa, starting from the 15th century, due to its geographical location, it had gained a great reputation as a center connecting the markets of the east and the west. The Armenian Khojas of Jugha were rich and famous merchants who played a great role in the trade of east and west. They were able to accumulate enormous wealth in a very short period of time. However, during its existence, Jugha did not become a world trading city. It remained only as a warehouse for goods. The Armenian merchant was connected with Jugha only by their family living there.

Arakel Davrizhetsi describes the deportation of the people of Jugha in detail. He tells how the Iranian soldiers carried out the Shah's order with the toughest threats, during which about 3 thousand Armenian families were deported. According to Newberi, who visited Jugha on business, in 1581, there were 15,000 to 20,000 people living there. Ten years later, in 1590, according to another merchant, Cartwright, there were 2,000 households in Julfa with a population of 10,000. At the beginning of the 17th century, Jugha had a population of 10,000 to 12,000. The people of Jugha resettled in Isfahan and built the suburb of New Julfa, which in the 17th century, according to European travelogues, was an economically developed settlement with a population of about 30,000.

Later, a small part of the population of Jugha, 200 families avoided deportation and settled again in their hometown. However, in 1606 in spring, Hamdam Agha came to Jugha threatened to deport all the remaining popualtion with fierce violence. After that, Jugha was emptied and destroyed. 68 years after these events in 1673, according to Jean Chardin, 30 families, all Armenians, lived in Jugha.

Settlement of the Armenian population of Nakhichevan in Iran

See also: Iranian Armenians § Central Iran

According to the royal historian of Shah Abbas I, Iskander Munshi, the Armenian population of Nakhichevan were resettled to Dizmar and Karadagh, the urban population of Jugha to Isfahan and the rural population to villages around Isfahan: 7 villages in Alenjan, 10 villages in Lenjan, 5 villages in Gandeman and Cheghakhor and 22 villages in Peria and Bourvari.

500 housholds of Armenian migrants were settled in Shiraz. A part Armenian population deported from Nakhichevan were moved to Farahabad and Gilan.

Armenian historians who witnessed the time do not provide information about the number of deported population in these regions. The following testimony from Chardin is quite valuable for the coverage of the issue in question: "He (Shah Abbas) moved 30,000 Christian families and settled to the provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran."

See also

Iranian Armenians New Julfa

Sources

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