Nakhichevan
Encyclopedia
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave
of Azerbaijan
. The region covers 5,363 km² and borders Armenia
(221 km) to the east and north, Iran
(179 km) to the south and west, and Turkey
(15 km) to the northwest. The capital is Nakhchivan City.
, the name "Nakhichavan" in Armenian
literally means "the place of descent", a Biblical
reference to the descent of Noah's Ark
on the adjacent Mount Ararat
. Hübschmann notes, however, that it was not known by that name in antiquity. Instead, he states the present-day name evolved to "Nakhchivan" from "Naxčavan". The prefix "Naxč" was a name and "avan" is Armenian
for "town". Nakhchivan was also mentioned in Ptolemy
's Geography and by other classical writers as Naxuana. Modern historian Suren Yeremyan
disputes this assertion, arguing that ancient Armenian
tradition placed Nakhichevan's founding to the year 3669 BC and, in ascribing its establishment to Noah, that it took its present name after the Armenian phrase "Nakhnakan Ichevan" (Նախնական Իջևան), or "first landing."
According to other versions, the name Nakhchivan derived from the Persian Naqsh-e-Jahān ("Image of the World"), a reference to the beauty of the area. The medieval Arab chronicles referred to the area as Nashava.
. The oldest material culture artifacts found in the region date back to the Neolithic Age. The region was part of the states of Mannae, Ararat
and Media
. It became part of the Satrapy of Armenia
under Achaemenid Persia c. 521 BC. After Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC
, various Macedonian
generals such as Neoptolemus
tried to take control of the region, but ultimately failed and a native Armenian dynasty of Orontids
flourished until Armenia
was conquered by Antiochus III the Great
.
In 189 BC
, Nakhchivan was part of the new Kingdom of Armenia established by Artaxias I
. Within the kingdom, the region of present-day Nakhchivan was part of the Ayrarat
, Vaspurakan
and Syunik
provinces. According to the early medieval Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi
, from the 3rd to 2nd centuries, the region belonged to the Muratsyan nakharar
family but after disputes with central power, King Artavazd I
massacred the family and seized the lands and formally attached it to the kingdom. The area's status as a major trade center allowed it to prosper; as a result, it was coveted by many foreign powers.
According to the Armenian historian Faustus of Byzantium
(5th century), when the Sassanid Persians invaded Armenia, Sassanid King Shapur II
(310-380) removed 2,000 Armenian and 16,000 Jewish families in 360-370. In 428, the Armenian Arshakuni monarchy was abolished and Nakhchivan was annexed by Sassanid Persia. In 623, possession of the region passed to the Byzantine Empire
.
Nakhchivan is known to be the place where the Armenian scholar and theologian Mesrob Mashtots finished the creation of the Armenian Alphabet
and opened first Armenian schools. It happened in the province of Gokhtan, which corresponds to Nakhchivan's modern Ordubad district.
From 640 on, the Arabs invaded Nakhchivan and undertook many campaigns in the area crushing all resistance and attacking Armenian nobles who remained in contact with the Byzantines or who refused to pay tribute. In 705, after suppressing a major Armenian revolt, Arab viceroy Muhammad ibn Marwan
decided to eliminate the Armenian nobility. In Nakhchivan, several hundred Armenian nobles and their families were locked up in churches and burnt, while others were crucified.
The violence caused many Armenian princes to flee to the neighboring Kingdom of Georgia
or the Byzantine Empire. Meanwhile, Nakhchivan itself became part of the autonomous Principality of Armenia under Arab control. In the 8th century, Nakhchivan was one of the scenes of an uprising against the Arabs led by Persian revolutionary Babak Khorramdin
of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān
("those of the joyous religion" in Persian). Nakhchivan was finally released from Arab rule in the 10th century by Bagratuni
King Smbat I
and handed over to the princes of Syunik. This region also was taken by Sajids
in 895 and between 909-929, Sallarid
between 942-971 and Shaddadid
between 971-1045.
In the 11th century the region was taken over by the Seljuk Turks
approximately in 1055. In 12th century, the city of Nakhchivan became the capital of the state of Atabegs of Azerbaijan
, also known as Ildegizid state, which included most of Iranian Azerbaijan and significant part of South Caucasus. The magnificent 12th century mausoleum of Momine Khatun
, the wife of Ildegizid ruler, Great Atabeg
Jahan Pehlevan, is the main attraction of modern Nakhchivan. At its heyday, the Ildegizid authority in Nakhchivan and some other areas of South Caucasus was contested by Georgia. The Armeno-Georgian princely house of Zacharids frequently raided the region when the Atabeg state was in decline in the early years of the 13th century. It was then plundered by invading Mongols in 1220 and Khwarezmians in 1225 and became part of Mongol Empire
in 1236 when the Caucasus was invaded by Chormaqan
. In the 13th century during the reign of the Mongol horde ruler Güyük Khan
Christians were allowed to build churches in the strongly Muslim town of Nakhchivan, however the conversion to Islam of Gazan khan brought about a reversal of this favor. The 14th century saw the rise of Armenian Catholicism
in Nakhchivan, though by the 15th century the territory became part of the states of Kara Koyunlu
and Ak Koyunlu
.
of Persia. Because of its geographic position, it frequently suffered during the wars between Persia and the Ottoman Empire
, in the 14th to 18th centuries. Turkish historian Pechevi-Ibrahim described the brutality of the Ottoman army marching from the Ararat plain
to Nakhchivan and Syunik:
In 1604, Shah Abbas I
Safavi, concerned that the lands of Nakhichevan and the surrounding areas would pass into Ottoman hands, decided to institute a scorched earth
policy. He forced the entire local population Muslims, Jews and Armenians alike, to leave their homes and move to the Persian provinces south of the Aras River.
Many of the deportees were settled in the neighborhood of Isfahan that was named New Julfa
since most of the residents were from the original Julfa . The Turkic Kangerli tribe was later permitted to move back under Shah Abbas II
(1642–1666) in order to repopulate the frontier region of his realm. In the 17th century, Nakhchivan was the scene of a peasant movement led by Köroğlu against foreign invaders and "native exploiters". In 1747, the Nakhchivan khanate
emerged in the region after the death of Nadir Shah Afshar
. great
, the Nakhchivan khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828. With the onset of Russian rule, the Tsar
ist authorities encouraged resettlement of Armenians to Nakhchivan and other areas of the Caucasus
from the Persian and Ottoman Empire
s. Special clauses of the Turkmenchay and Adrianople
treaties allowed for this. Alexandr Griboyedov
, the Russian envoy to Persia, stated that by the time Nakhchivan came under Russian rule, only 17% of its residents were Armenians, while the remainder of the population (83%) were Muslims. After the resettlement initiative, the number of Armenians had increased to 45% while Muslims remained the majority at 55%. With such a dramatic increase in population, Griboyedov noted friction arising between the Armenian and Muslim populations. He requested Russian army commander Count Ivan Paskevich
to give orders on resettlement of some of the arriving people further to the region of Daralayaz to quiet the tensions.
The Nakhchivan khanate was dissolved in 1828, its territory was merged with the territory of the Erivan khanate and the area became the Nakhchivan uyezd
of the new Armenian oblast
, which later became the Erivan Governorate
in 1849. According to official statistics of the Russian Empire, by the turn of the 20th century Azerbaijanis made up 57% of the uyezd's population, while Armenians constituted 42%. At the same time in the Sharur-Daralagyoz uyezd, the territory of which would form the northern part of modern-day Nakhchivan, Azeris constituted 70.5% of the population, while Armenians made up 27.5%. During the Russian Revolution of 1905
, conflict erupted between the Armenians and the Azeris, culminating in the Armenian-Tatar massacres
which saw violence in Nakhchivan in May of that year.
, Nakhchivan was the scene of more bloodshed between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who both laid claim to the area. By 1914, the Armenian population had decreased slightly to 40% while the Azeri population increased to roughly 60%. After the February Revolution
, the region was under the authority of the Special Transcaucasian Committee of the Russian Provisional Government
and subsequently of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
. When the TDFR was dissolved in May 1918, Nakhchivan, Nagorno-Karabakh
, Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik
), and Qazakh
were heavily contested between the newly formed and short-lived states of the Democratic Republic of Armenia
(DRA) and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
(ADR). In June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. The Ottomans proceeded to massacre 10,000 Armenians and razed 45 of their villages to the ground. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros
, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for the forthcoming British military presence.
Under British occupation, Sir Oliver Wardrop
, British Chief Commissioner in the South Caucasus, made a border proposal to solve the conflict. According to Wardrop, Armenian claims against Azerbaijan should not go beyond the administrative borders of the former Erivan Governorate (which under prior Imperial Russian rule encompassed Nakhchivan), while Azerbaijan was to be limited to the governorates of Baku
and Elisabethpol
. This proposal was rejected by both Armenians (who did not wish to give up their claims to Qazakh, Zangezur and Karabakh) and Azeris (who found it unacceptable to give up their claims to Nakhchivan). As disputes between both countries continued, it soon became apparent that the fragile peace under British occupation would not last.
In December 1918, with the support of Azerbaijan's Musavat Party
, Jafar Kuli Khan Nakhchivanski declared the Republic of Aras in the Nakhchivan uyezd of the former Erivan Governorate assigned to Armenia by Wardrop. The Armenian government did not recognize the new state and sent its troops into the region to take control of it. The conflict soon erupted into the violent Aras War. British journalist C.E. Bechhofer described the situation in April 1920:
By mid-June 1919, however, Armenia succeeded in establishing control over Nakhchivan and the whole territory of the self-proclaimed republic. The fall of the Aras republic triggered an invasion by the regular Azerbaijani army and by the end of July, Armenian troops were forced to leave Nakhchivan City to the Azeris. Again, more violence erupted leaving some ten thousand Armenians dead and forty-five Armenian villages destroyed. Meanwhile, feeling the situation to be hopeless and unable to maintain any control over the area, the British decided to withdraw from the region in mid-1919. Still, fighting between Armenians and Azeris continued and after a series of skirmishes that took place throughout the Nakhchivan district, a cease-fire agreement was concluded. However, the cease-fire lasted only briefly, and by early March 1920, more fighting broke out, primarily in Karabakh between Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijan's regular army. This triggered conflicts in other areas with mixed populations, including Nakhchivan.
In July 1920, the 11th Soviet Red Army
invaded and occupied the region and on July 28, declared the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with "close ties" to the Azerbaijan SSR
. In November, on the verge of taking over Armenia, the Bolsheviks, in order to attract public support, promised they would allot Nakhchivan to Armenia, along with Karabakh and Zangezur. This was fulfilled when Nariman Narimanov
, leader of Bolshevik Azerbaijan issued a declaration celebrating the "victory of Soviet power in Armenia," proclaimed that both Nakhchivan and Zangezur should be awarded to the Armenian people as a sign of the Azerbaijani people's support for Armenia's fight against the former DRA government:
Vladimir Lenin
, although welcoming this act of "great Soviet fraternity" where "boundaries had no meaning among the family of Soviet peoples," did not agree with the motion and instead called for the people of Nakhchivan to be consulted in a referendum. According to the formal figures of this referendum, held at the beginning of 1921, 90% of Nakhchivan's population wanted to be included in the Azerbaijan SSR "with the rights of an autonomous republic." The decision to make Nakhchivan a part of modern-day Azerbaijan was cemented March 16, 1921 in the Treaty of Moscow
between Bolshevist Russia
and the newly founded Republic of Turkey
. The agreement between the Soviet Russia and Turkey also called for attachment of the former Sharur-Daralagez uyezd (which had a solid Azeri majority) to Nakhchivan, thus allowing Turkey to share a border with the Azerbaijan SSR. This deal was reaffirmed on October 23, in the Treaty of Kars
. Article V of the treaty stated the following:
So, on February 9, 1924, the Soviet Union officially established the Nakhchivan ASSR. Its constitution was adopted on April 18, 1926.
-Tehran
railway line as well as the Baku
-Yerevan
railway. It also served as an important strategic area during the Cold War
, sharing borders with both Turkey (a NATO member state) and Iran (a close ally of the West until the Iranian Revolution
of 1979).
Facilities improved during Soviet times. Education and public health especially began to see some major changes. In 1913, Nakhchivan only had two hospitals with a total of 20 beds. The region was plagued by widespread diseases including trachoma
and typhus
. Malaria
, which mostly came from the adjoining Aras River, brought serious harm to the region. At any one time, between 70% and 85% of Nakhchivan's population was infected with malaria, and in the region of Norashen (present-day Sharur) almost 100% were struck with the disease. This situation improved dramatically under Soviet rule. Malaria was sharply reduced and trachoma, typhus, and relapsing fever were completely eliminated.
During the Soviet era, Nakhchivan saw a significant demographic shift. Its Armenian population gradually decreased as many emigrated to the Armenian SSR
. In 1926, 15% of region's population was Armenian, but by 1979, this number had shrunk to 1.4%. The Azeri population, meanwhile increased substantially with both a higher birth rate and immigration from Armenia
(going from 85% in 1926 to 96% by 1979).
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh noted similar though slower demographic trends and feared an eventual "de-Armenianization" of the area. When tensions between Armenians and Azeris were reignited in the late-1980s by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan's Popular Front managed to pressure the Azerbaijan SSR to instigate a partial railway and air blockade against Armenia, while another reason for disruption of rail service to Armenia were attacks of Armenian forces on the trains entering the Armenian territory from Azerbaijan, which resulted in railroad personnel refusing to enter Armenia. This effectively crippled Armenia's economy, as 85% of the cargo and goods arrived through rail traffic. In response, Armenia closed the railway to Nakhchivan, thereby strangling the exclave's only link to the rest of the Soviet Union.
December 1989 saw unrest in Nakhchivan as its Azeri inhabitants moved to physically dismantle the Soviet border with Iran to flee the area and meet their ethnic Azeri cousins in northern Iran. This action was angrily denounced by the Soviet leadership and the Soviet media accused the Azeris of "embracing Islamic fundamentalism". In January 1990, the Supreme Soviet
of the Nakhchivan ASSR issued a declaration stating the intention for Nakhchivan to secede from the USSR to protest the Soviet Union's actions during Black January
. It was the first part of the Soviet Union to declare independence, preceding Lithuania
's declaration by only a few weeks.
, the future president of Azerbaijan, returned to his birthplace of Nakhchivan in 1990, after being ousted from his position in the Politburo
by Mikhail Gorbachev
in 1987. Soon after returning to Nakhchivan, Aliyev was elected to the Supreme Soviet by an overwhelming majority. Aliyev subsequently resigned from the CPSU
and after the failed August 1991 coup against Gorbachev, he called for complete independence for Azerbaijan and denounced Ayaz Mütallibov
for supporting the coup. In late 1991, Aliyev consolidated his power base as chairman of the Nakhchivan Supreme Soviet and asserted Nachichevan's near-total independence from Baku
.
Nakhchivan became a scene of conflict during the Nagorno-Karabakh War
. On May 4, 1992, Armenian forces shelled the raion
of Sadarak
. The Armenians claimed that the attack was in response to cross-border shelling of Armenian villages by Azeri forces from Nakhchivan. David Zadoyan, a 42-year-old Armenian physicist and mayor of the region said that the Armenians lost patience after months of firing by the Azeris. "If they were sitting on our hilltops and harassing us with gunfire, what do you think our response should be?" he asked. The government of Nakhchivan denied these charges and instead asserted that the Armenian assault was unprovoked and specifically targeted the site of a bridge between Turkey and Nakhchivan. "The Armenians do not react to diplomatic pressure," Nakhchivan foreign minister Rza Ibadov told the ITAR-Tass news agency, "It's vital to speak to them in a language they understand." Speaking to the agency from the Turkish capital Ankara
, Ibadov said that Armenia's aim in the region was to seize control of Nakhchivan. According to Human Rights Watch, hostilities broke out after three people were killed when Armenian forces began shelling the region.
The heaviest fighting took place on May 18, when the Armenians captured Nakhchivan's exclave of Karki
, a tiny territory through which Armenia's main North-South highway passes. The exclave presently remains under Armenian control. After the fall of Shusha
, the Mütallibov government of Azerbaijan accused Armenia of moving to take the whole of Nakhchivan (a claim that was denied by Armenian government officials). However, Heydar Aliyev declared a unilateral ceasefire on May 23 and sought to conclude a separate peace with Armenia. Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossian
expressed his willingness to sign a cooperation treaty with Nakhchivan to end the fighting and subsequently a cease-fire was agreed upon.
The conflict in the area caused a harsh reaction from Turkey, which together with Russia is a guarantor of Nakhchivan's status in accordance with the Treaty of Kars
. Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller
announced that any Armenian advance on the main territory of Nakhchivan would result in a declaration of war against Armenia. Russian military leaders declared that "third party intervention into the dispute could trigger a Third World War
." Thousands of Turkish troops were sent to the border between Turkey and Armenia in early September. Russian military forces in Armenia countered their movements by increasing troop levels along the Armenian-Turkish frontier and bolstering defenses in a tense period where war between the two seemed inevitable. Iran also reacted to Armenia's attacks by conducting military maneuvers along its border with Nakhchivan in a move widely interpreted as a warning to Armenia. However, Armenia did not launch any further attacks on Nakhchivan and the presence of Russia's military warded off any possibility that Turkey might play a military role in the conflict. After a period of political instability, the parliament of Azerbaijan turned to Heydar Aliyev and invited him to return from exile in Nakhchivan to lead the country in 1993.
Today, Nakhchivan retains its autonomy as the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and is internationally recognized as a constituent part of Azerbaijan governed by its own elected parliament. A new constitution for Nakhchivan was approved in a referendum on November 12, 1995. The constitution was adopted by the republic's assembly on April 28, 1998 and has been in force since January 8, 1999. However, the republic remains isolated, not only from the rest of Azerbaijan, but practically from the entire South Caucasus
region. Vasif Talibov
, who is related by marriage to Azerbaijan's ruling family, the Aliyevs, serves as the current parliamentary chairman of the republic. He is known for his authoritarian and largely corrupt rule of the region. Most residents prefer to watch Turkish television as opposed to Nakhchivan television, which one Azerbaijani journalist criticised as "a propaganda vehicle for Talibov and the Aliyevs."
Economic hardships and energy shortages (due to Armenia's continued blockade of the region in response to the Azeri and Turkish blockade of Armenia) plague the area. There have been many cases of migrant workers
seeking jobs in neighboring Turkey. "Emigration rates to Turkey," one analyst said, "are so high that most of the residents of the Besler district in Istanbul
are Nakhchivanis." When speaking to British writer Thomas de Waal
, the mayor of Nakhchivan City, Veli Shakhverdiev, spoke warmly of a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict and of Armenian-Azeri relations during Soviet times. "I can tell you that our relations with the Armenians were very close, they were excellent," he said. "I went to university in Moscow
and I didn't travel to Moscow once via Baku
. I took a bus, it was one hour to Yerevan
, then went by plane to Moscow and the same thing on the way back." Recently Nakhchivan made deals to obtain more gas exports from Iran, and a new bridge on the Aras River between the two countries was inaugurated in October 2007; the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev and the First Vice-President of Iran, Parviz Davoodi
also attended the opening ceremony.
In 2008 the National Bank of Azerbaijan
minted a pair of gold and silver commemorative coin
s for the 85th anniversary of the creation of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
.
s. The capital city (şəhər) of Nakhchivan City is treated separately.
As of 2009, Nakhchivan's population was estimated to be 398,000. Most of the population are Azerbaijanis
, who constituted 99% of the population in 1999, while ethnic Russians
(0.15%) and a minority of Kurds
(0.6%) constituted the remainder of the population.
The 1990s and 2000s saw a large outflow of the Azerbaijani population into Turkey and Azerbaijan proper, due to the economical hardship of the post-Soviet era as well as Nakhichevan's geographical separation from the rest of Azerbaijan.
The Kurds of Nakhchivan are mainly found in the districts of Sadarak and Teyvaz. The remaining Armenians
were expelled by Azerbaijani forces during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the forceful exchange of population
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to a 1932 Soviet estimate, 85% of the area was rural, while only 15% was urban. This urban percentage increased to 18% by 1939 and 27% by 1959.
Nakhchivan has fairly good economic conditions: The Ministry of Finance of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic announced on the outset of 2011 with the official bulletin of Nakhchivan Sharg Gapisi (Şərq Qapısı) that Gross Domestic Product
of Nakhchivan in 2010 was $2.572 billion by nominal terms and $4.357 billion by the terms of Purchasing Power Parity
; taking into account that the mean population of the Autonomous Republic on January 1 and December 31, 2010 was 402,639 we conclude that the GDP (PPP) per capita for 2010 is $10,821. The Ministry of Finance announced, also, that in 2010 the life expectancy at birth was 76.0 years, 73.1 years for male and 78.9 years for female. According to the same source, in 2010 the literacy rate in the region for people not younger than 15 was 99.9%, while the Gross Enrollment Ratio was 84%. Using these, Income Index in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in 2010 was 0.6245, Life Expectancy Index was 0.85, while Education Index
was 0.946, making the Human Development Index
0.807.
make up its border with Armenia while the Aras River defines its border with Iran. Araz reservoir located on that river supplies water for agricultural needs and hydroelectric dam generates power for both Azerbaijan and Iran. It is extremely arid and mountainous. Nakhchivan's highest peak is Mount Kapudzhukh
(3904 m) and its most distinctive is Ilandag (Snake Mountain) (2415 m), which is visible from Nakhchivan City. According to legend, the cleft in its summit was formed by the keel of Noah's Ark as the floodwaters abated. Qazangödağ
(3829 m) is another major peak.
include the mining of mineral
s such as salt, molybdenum
, and lead. Dry irrigation, developed during the Soviet
years, has allowed the region to expand into the growing of wheat
(mostly grown on the plains of the Aras River), barley, cotton, tobacco
, orchard fruits, mulberries, and grapes for producing wine. Other industries include cotton ginning/cleaning, silk spinning, fruit canning, meat packing, and, in the dryer regions, sheep farming.
Processing of minerals, salt, radio-engineering, farm ginning, preserving, silk products, meat and dairy, bottling of mineral waters, clothing, furniture are the principal branches of Nakhchivan's industry.
The economy
suffered a severe blow in 1988 with the loss of access to both raw materials and markets, due to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Although new markets are emerging in Iran
and Turkey
this isolation still persists to this day, impairing development. The economy of Nakhchivan is based on agriculture
, mining and food processing
, however 75% of the republic's budget is supplied by the central government in Baku. Aid is also provided by Turkey and several NGOs.
The Republic is rich in minerals. Nakhchivan possesses deposits of marble
, lime and gypsum. The deposits of the rock salt are exhausted in Nehram, Nakhchivan and Sustin. The important molybdenite mines are currently closed as a consequence of the exclave's isolation. There are a lot of mineral spring
s there such as Badamli, Sirab, Nagajir, Kiziljir where water contains arsenic
.
About 90% of the agricultural land is now in private hands. However agriculture has become a poorly capitalized, backyard activity. Production
has dropped sharply and large-scale commercial agriculture has declined.
Over two thirds of the land are rocky slopes and desert
s, therefore the area of the arable lands is quite limited. The main crops - cotton and tobacco - are cultivated in the PriAraz plain, near of Sharur
and Nakhchivan city. Three quarters of the grain production, especially winter wheat is concentrated on the irrigated lands of the Sharur plain and in the basin of the Nakhchivan river.
Vine growing in Nakhchivan is an ancient tradition, in the Araz valley and foothills. Very hot summers and long warm autumns make it possible to grow such highly saccharine grapes as bayan-shiraz, tebrizi, shirazi. Wines such as "Nakhchivan" "Shahbuz", "Abrakunis", "Aznaburk" are of reasonable quality and very popular. Fruit production is quite important, mainly of quince
, pear, peach, apricot, fig, almonds and pomegranate
.
Cattle
is another traditional branch of Nakhchivan farming. Due to the dry climate, pastures in Nakhchivan are unproductive, therefore sheep breeding prevails over other stockbroking. Winter pastures stretch on the PriAraz plain, on the foothills and mountain sides to the altitude of 1200 m. But the summer pastures go up on the high-mountain area to an altitude of 2300–3200 m. The most widespread sheep variety is 'balbas'. These sheep are distinguished by their productivity and snow-white silky wool which is widely used in carpet manufacture. Horned and small cattle are bred everywhere, especially in environs of Sharur and Nakhchivan. Buffaloes are also bred here.
Although intentions to facilitate tourism
have been declared by the government, it is still at best incipient. Until 1997 tourists needed special permission to visit, which has now been abolished, making travel easier. Facilities are very basic and heating fuel is hard to find in the winter, but the arid mountains bordering Armenia
and Iran are magnificent. In terms of services, Nakhchivan offers very basic facilities and lacks heating fuel during the winter.
The best known incident concerned gravestones at a medieval cemetery in Julfa
, with photographic and video evidence supporting these charges. Azerbaijan has consistently denied these accusations. For example, according to the Azerbaijani ambassador to the US, Hafiz Pashayev
, the videos and photographs "show some unknown people destroying mid-size stones", and "it is not clear of what nationality those people are", and the reports are Armenian propaganda designed to divert attention from what he claimed was a "state policy (by Armenia) to destroy the historical and cultural monuments in the occupied Azeri territories". The Institute for War and Peace Reporting
, meanwhile, reported on April 19, 2006 that "there is nothing left of the celebrated stone crosses of Jugha." On December 8, 2010, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
released a report entitled "Satellite Images Show Disappearance of Armenian Artifacts in Azerbaijan".. The report contained the analysis of high resolution satellite images of the Julfa cemetery, which verified the destruction of the khatckars.
The European Parliament
has formally called on Azerbaijan to stop the demolition as a breach of the UNESCO
World Heritage Convention. According to its resolution regarding cultural monuments in the South Caucasus, the European Parliament "condemns strongly the destruction of the Julfa cemetery as well as the destruction of all sites of historical importance that has taken place on Armenian or Azerbaijani territory, and condemns any such action that seeks to destroy cultural heritage." In 2006, Azerbaijan barred a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) mission from inspecting and examining the ancient burial site, stating that it would only accept a delegation if it also visited Armenian-controlled territory. "We think that if a comprehensive approach is taken to the problems that have been raised," said Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Tagizade, "it will be possible to study Christian monuments on the territory of Azerbaijan, including in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic."
After several more postponed visits, a renewed attempt was planned by PACE inspectors for August 29 - September 6, 2007, led by British MP Edward O'Hara
. As well as Nakhchivan, the delegation would visit Baku, Yerevan, Tbilisi, and Nagorno Karabakh. The inspectors planned to visit Nagorno Karabakh via Armenia, and had arranged transport to facilitate this. However, on August 28, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE released a demand that the inspectors must enter Nagorno Karabakh via Azerbaijan. On August 29, PACE Secretary General Mateo Sorinas announced that the visit had to be cancelled because of the difficulty in accessing Nagorno Karabakh using the route required by Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Armenia issued a statement saying that Azerbaijan had stopped the visit "due solely to their intent to veil the demolition of Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan".
The number of named Armenian churches known to have existed in the Nakhichevan region is over 280. The number still standing in Nakhchivan by the 1980s is estimated to be between 59 and 100. They are believed to have all been subsequently destroyed as part of a campaign by the Government of Azerbaijan to erase all traces of Armenian culture on its soil. When the 14th century church of St. Stephanos at Abrakunis was visited in 2005 it was found to have been recently destroyed, with its site reduced to a few bricks sticking out of loose, bare earth. A similar complete destruction had happened to the 16th century St. Hakop-Hayrapet church in Shurut. The Armenian churches in Norashen, Kirna
, and Gah
that were standing in the 1980s had also vanished.
of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(TRNC) and calling upon Azerbaijan to do so. While sympathetic to the TRNC, Azerbaijan has not followed suit because doing so would prompt the Republic of Cyprus to recognise the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
. Close relations between Nakhchivan and Turkey probably initiated this recognition.
(ARF) states that Nakhchivan should belong to Armenia: its party programme states The borders of United Armenia
shall include all territories designated as Armenia by the Treaty of Sèvres
as well as the regions of Artsakh
(Nagorno-Karabakh
), Javakhk, and Nakhchivan. However, Nakhchivan is not claimed by the government of Armenia. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
reaffirmed this on December 13, 2006, by stating that Armenia, as the legal successor to the Armenian SSR, is loyal to the Treaty of Kars
and all agreements inherited by the former Soviet Armenian government.
, Huseyn Javid
, M.S. Gulubekov, and Huseyn Arablinski
(the first Azerbaijani theatre director) are just a few of the names that have enriched Nakhchivan's cultural heritage. The region has also produced noteworthy Armenian artists too such as Soviet actress Hasmik Agopyan. Nakhchivan has also at times been mentioned in works of literature. Nizami once wrote:
Enclave and exclave
In political geography, an enclave is a territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of another territory.An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally or politically attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous.These are two...
of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. The region covers 5,363 km² and borders Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
(221 km) to the east and north, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
(179 km) to the south and west, and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
(15 km) to the northwest. The capital is Nakhchivan City.
Etymology
Variations of the name Nakhchivan include Nakhichevan, Naxcivan, Naxçivan, Nachidsheuan, Nakhijevan, Nakhchawan, Nakhitchevan, Nakhjavan and Nakhdjevan. According to the 19th-century language scholar, Johann Heinrich HübschmannJohann Heinrich Hübschmann
Johann Heinrich Hübschmann was a German philologist, born at Erfurt. He studied Oriental philology at Jena, Tübingen, Leipzig, and Munich; in 1876 became professor of Iranian languages at Leipzig, and in 1877 professor of comparative philology at Strassburg. He was the first to put the Armenian...
, the name "Nakhichavan" in Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
literally means "the place of descent", a Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
reference to the descent of Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
on the adjacent Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
. Hübschmann notes, however, that it was not known by that name in antiquity. Instead, he states the present-day name evolved to "Nakhchivan" from "Naxčavan". The prefix "Naxč" was a name and "avan" is Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
for "town". Nakhchivan was also mentioned in Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Geography and by other classical writers as Naxuana. Modern historian Suren Yeremyan
Suren Yeremyan
Suren Tigrani Yeremyan was an Armenian historian and cartographer who specialized in the studies concerning the formation of the Armenian nation and pre-medieval Armenia and the Caucasus...
disputes this assertion, arguing that ancient Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
tradition placed Nakhichevan's founding to the year 3669 BC and, in ascribing its establishment to Noah, that it took its present name after the Armenian phrase "Nakhnakan Ichevan" (Նախնական Իջևան), or "first landing."
According to other versions, the name Nakhchivan derived from the Persian Naqsh-e-Jahān ("Image of the World"), a reference to the beauty of the area. The medieval Arab chronicles referred to the area as Nashava.
Early history
Armenian tradition says that Nakhchivan was founded by NoahNoah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
. The oldest material culture artifacts found in the region date back to the Neolithic Age. The region was part of the states of Mannae, Ararat
Urartu
Urartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
and Media
Medes
The MedesThe Medes...
. It became part of the Satrapy of Armenia
Orontid Dynasty
The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty (also known by their native name, Yervanduni was a hereditary Armenian dynasty and the rulers of the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Ararat...
under Achaemenid Persia c. 521 BC. After Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC
323 BC
Year 323 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Longus and Cerretanus...
, various Macedonian
Ancient Macedonians
The Macedonians originated from inhabitants of the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, in the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios...
generals such as Neoptolemus
Neoptolemus (general)
For other uses, see Neoptolemus Neoptolemus was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great....
tried to take control of the region, but ultimately failed and a native Armenian dynasty of Orontids
Orontid Dynasty
The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty (also known by their native name, Yervanduni was a hereditary Armenian dynasty and the rulers of the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Ararat...
flourished until Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
was conquered by Antiochus III the Great
Antiochus III the Great
Antiochus III the Great Seleucid Greek king who became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Antiochus was an ambitious ruler who ruled over Greater Syria and western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC...
.
189 BC
Year 189 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nobilior and Vulso...
, Nakhchivan was part of the new Kingdom of Armenia established by Artaxias I
Artaxias I
Artaxias I was the founder of the Artaxiad Dynasty whose members ruled the Kingdom of Armenia for nearly two centuries....
. Within the kingdom, the region of present-day Nakhchivan was part of the Ayrarat
Ayrarat
Ayrarat was a province of old Armenia . The main city was Oshakan. It is believed that the name Ayrarat is the Armenian equivalent of the toponym Urartu ....
, Vaspurakan
Vaspurakan
Vaspurakan was the first and biggest province of Greater Armenia, which later became an independent kingdom during the Middle Ages, centered around Lake Van...
and Syunik
Syunik
Syunik is the southernmost province of Armenia. It borders the Vayots Dzor marz to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave to the west, Karabakh to the east, and Iran to the south. Its capital is Kapan. Other important cities and towns include Goris, Sisian, Meghri, Agarak, and Dastakert...
provinces. According to the early medieval Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi
Movses Khorenatsi
Moses of Chorene, also Moses of Khoren, Moses Chorenensis, or Movses Khorenatsi , or a 7th to 9th century date) was an Armenian historian, and author of the History of Armenia....
, from the 3rd to 2nd centuries, the region belonged to the Muratsyan nakharar
Nakharar
Nakharar was a hereditary title of the highest order given to houses of the ancient and medieval Armenian nobility.-Nakharar system:Medieval Armenia was divided into large estates, which were the property of an enlarged noble family and were ruled by a member of it, to whom the title of Nahapet...
family but after disputes with central power, King Artavazd I
Artavasdes I of Armenia
Artavasdes I of Armenia was the son of Artaxias I and Queen Satenik....
massacred the family and seized the lands and formally attached it to the kingdom. The area's status as a major trade center allowed it to prosper; as a result, it was coveted by many foreign powers.
According to the Armenian historian Faustus of Byzantium
Faustus of Byzantium
Faustus of Byzantium was an Armenian historian of the 5th century. He wrote a six volume history, of which the first two volumes are lost. He described in details the reign of Arshak II and his son Pap of Armenia...
(5th century), when the Sassanid Persians invaded Armenia, Sassanid King Shapur II
Shapur II
Shapur II the Great was the ninth King of the Persian Sassanid Empire from 309 to 379 and son of Hormizd II. During his long reign, the Sassanid Empire saw its first golden era since the reign of Shapur I...
(310-380) removed 2,000 Armenian and 16,000 Jewish families in 360-370. In 428, the Armenian Arshakuni monarchy was abolished and Nakhchivan was annexed by Sassanid Persia. In 623, possession of the region passed to the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
.
Nakhchivan is known to be the place where the Armenian scholar and theologian Mesrob Mashtots finished the creation of the Armenian Alphabet
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and contained originally 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages...
and opened first Armenian schools. It happened in the province of Gokhtan, which corresponds to Nakhchivan's modern Ordubad district.
From 640 on, the Arabs invaded Nakhchivan and undertook many campaigns in the area crushing all resistance and attacking Armenian nobles who remained in contact with the Byzantines or who refused to pay tribute. In 705, after suppressing a major Armenian revolt, Arab viceroy Muhammad ibn Marwan
Muhammad ibn Marwan
Muḥammad ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam was an Umayyad prince and one of the most important generals of the Caliphate in the period 690–710, completing the Arab conquest of Armenia...
decided to eliminate the Armenian nobility. In Nakhchivan, several hundred Armenian nobles and their families were locked up in churches and burnt, while others were crucified.
The violence caused many Armenian princes to flee to the neighboring Kingdom of Georgia
Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia was a medieval monarchy established in AD 978 by Bagrat III.It flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries, the so-called "golden age" of the history of Georgia. It fell to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by 1327...
or the Byzantine Empire. Meanwhile, Nakhchivan itself became part of the autonomous Principality of Armenia under Arab control. In the 8th century, Nakhchivan was one of the scenes of an uprising against the Arabs led by Persian revolutionary Babak Khorramdin
Babak Khorramdin
Bābak Khorram-Din was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān , which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be a compound analogous to dorustdin and Behdin "Good Religion" , and are considered an offshoot of...
of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān
Khurramites
The Khurramites were an Iranian religious and political movement with its roots in the movement founded by Mazdak. An alternative name for the movement is the Muḥammira "Red-Wearing Ones" , a reference to their symbolic red dress.-Origins and History:The sect was founded by the Persian cleric...
("those of the joyous religion" in Persian). Nakhchivan was finally released from Arab rule in the 10th century by Bagratuni
Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia
The medieval Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia , was an independent state established by Ashot I Bagratuni in 885 following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and Abbasid rule...
King Smbat I
Smbat I
Smbat I , known as "the Martyr", was King of Armenia of the Bagratuni dynasty, son of Ashot I and the father of Ashot II Yerkat and Abas I. His rule was a period of unending wars against the Arab conquerors and the rebellious Armenian nobles...
and handed over to the princes of Syunik. This region also was taken by Sajids
Sajids
The Sajid dynasty was an Islamic dynasty that ruled the Iranian region of Azerbaijan from 889-890 until 929. The Sajids originated from the Central Asian province of Ushrusana and were of Iranian...
in 895 and between 909-929, Sallarid
Sallarid
The Sallarid dynasty was an Islamic Iranian dynasty principally known for its rule of Iranian Azerbaijan and part of Armenia from 942 until 979...
between 942-971 and Shaddadid
Shaddadid
The Shaddadids were a Kurdish dynasty who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951-1174 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal family of Armenia....
between 971-1045.
In the 11th century the region was taken over by the Seljuk Turks
Seljuq dynasty
The Seljuq ; were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries...
approximately in 1055. In 12th century, the city of Nakhchivan became the capital of the state of Atabegs of Azerbaijan
Atabegs of Azerbaijan
The Ildegizids, Eldiguzids or Ildenizids, also known as Atabegs of Azerbaijan were a Turkic dynasty of Kipchak origin which controlled most of northwestern Persia/eastern Transcaucasia, including Arran, most of Azerbaijan, and Djibal...
, also known as Ildegizid state, which included most of Iranian Azerbaijan and significant part of South Caucasus. The magnificent 12th century mausoleum of Momine Khatun
Momine Khatun Mausoleum
The Mausoleum of Momine Khatun is located in Nakhchivan City, the capital of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in Azerbaijan...
, the wife of Ildegizid ruler, Great Atabeg
Atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince...
Jahan Pehlevan, is the main attraction of modern Nakhchivan. At its heyday, the Ildegizid authority in Nakhchivan and some other areas of South Caucasus was contested by Georgia. The Armeno-Georgian princely house of Zacharids frequently raided the region when the Atabeg state was in decline in the early years of the 13th century. It was then plundered by invading Mongols in 1220 and Khwarezmians in 1225 and became part of Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
in 1236 when the Caucasus was invaded by Chormaqan
Chormaqan
Chormaqan was one of the most famous generals of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan. He was also a member of the keshik....
. In the 13th century during the reign of the Mongol horde ruler Güyük Khan
Güyük Khan
Güyük was the third Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. As the eldest son of Ögedei Khan and a grandson of Genghis Khan, he reigned from 1246 to 1248...
Christians were allowed to build churches in the strongly Muslim town of Nakhchivan, however the conversion to Islam of Gazan khan brought about a reversal of this favor. The 14th century saw the rise of Armenian Catholicism
Armenian Catholic Church
|- |The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui juris in union with the other Eastern Rite, Oriental Rite and Latin Rite Catholics who accept the Bishop of Rome as spiritual leader of the Church. It is regulated by Eastern canon law...
in Nakhchivan, though by the 15th century the territory became part of the states of Kara Koyunlu
Kara Koyunlu
The Kara Koyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu, also called the Black Sheep Turkomans , were a Shi'ite Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled over the territory comprising the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, north-western Iran, eastern Turkey and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468.The Kara Koyunlu Turkomans at one...
and Ak Koyunlu
Ak Koyunlu
The Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans , was an Sunni Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled parts of present-day Eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, and Iran from 1378 to 1508.-History:According to chronicles from the Byzantine Empire, the Aq Qoyunlu...
.
Safavid rule
In the 16th century, control of Nakhchivan passed to the Safavid dynastySafavid dynasty
The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...
of Persia. Because of its geographic position, it frequently suffered during the wars between Persia and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, in the 14th to 18th centuries. Turkish historian Pechevi-Ibrahim described the brutality of the Ottoman army marching from the Ararat plain
Ararat plain
The Ararat plain is one of the largest of the Armenian Plateau, stretches west of the Sevan basin, at the foothills of the Gegham mountains. In the north the plain borders on Mount Aragats, and in the south, on Mount Ararat...
to Nakhchivan and Syunik:
In 1604, Shah Abbas I
Abbas I of Persia
Shāh ‘Abbās the Great was Shah of Iran, and generally considered the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He was the third son of Shah Mohammad....
Safavi, concerned that the lands of Nakhichevan and the surrounding areas would pass into Ottoman hands, decided to institute a scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy. He forced the entire local population Muslims, Jews and Armenians alike, to leave their homes and move to the Persian provinces south of the Aras River.
Many of the deportees were settled in the neighborhood of Isfahan that was named New Julfa
New Julfa
New Julfa is the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Iran, located along the south bank of the river Zayandeh River....
since most of the residents were from the original Julfa . The Turkic Kangerli tribe was later permitted to move back under Shah Abbas II
Abbas II of Persia
Shah Abbas II was Shah of Iran from 1642 to 1666. He was the seventh Shah of the Safavid Dynasty. He was the son of Shah Safi I and a Circassian, Anna Khanum, and originally bore the name Sultan Muhammed Mirza before his coronation on May 15, 1642...
(1642–1666) in order to repopulate the frontier region of his realm. In the 17th century, Nakhchivan was the scene of a peasant movement led by Köroğlu against foreign invaders and "native exploiters". In 1747, the Nakhchivan khanate
Nakhchivan khanate
The Khanate of Nakhichevan was a feudal state in the southern Caucasus, nominally subordinate to the Persian Shahs, and named after its chief settlement, the town of Nakhichevan....
emerged in the region after the death of Nadir Shah Afshar
Nader Shah
Nāder Shāh Afshār ruled as Shah of Iran and was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty. Because of his military genius, some historians have described him as the Napoleon of Persia or the Second Alexander...
. great
Imperial Russian rule
After the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of TurkmenchayTreaty of Turkmenchay
The Treaty of Turkmenchay was a treaty negotiated in Turkmenchay by which the Qajar Empire recognized Russian suzerainty over the Erivan khanate, the Nakhchivan khanate, and the remainder of the Talysh khanate, establishing the Aras River as the common boundary between the empires, after its...
, the Nakhchivan khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828. With the onset of Russian rule, the Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
ist authorities encouraged resettlement of Armenians to Nakhchivan and other areas of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
from the Persian and Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
s. Special clauses of the Turkmenchay and Adrianople
Treaty of Adrianople
The Peace Treaty of Adrianople concluded the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was signed on September 14, 1829 in Adrianople by Russia's Count Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov and by Turkey's Abdul Kadyr-bey...
treaties allowed for this. Alexandr Griboyedov
Alexandr Griboyedov
Aleksander Sergeyevich Griboyedov was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. He is recognized as homo unius libri, a writer of one book, whose fame rests on the brilliant verse comedy Woe from Wit , still one of the most often staged plays in Russia...
, the Russian envoy to Persia, stated that by the time Nakhchivan came under Russian rule, only 17% of its residents were Armenians, while the remainder of the population (83%) were Muslims. After the resettlement initiative, the number of Armenians had increased to 45% while Muslims remained the majority at 55%. With such a dramatic increase in population, Griboyedov noted friction arising between the Armenian and Muslim populations. He requested Russian army commander Count Ivan Paskevich
Ivan Paskevich
Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich was a Ukrainian-born military leader. For his victories, he was made Count of Erivan in 1828 and Namestnik of the Kingdom of Poland in 1831...
to give orders on resettlement of some of the arriving people further to the region of Daralayaz to quiet the tensions.
The Nakhchivan khanate was dissolved in 1828, its territory was merged with the territory of the Erivan khanate and the area became the Nakhchivan uyezd
Uyezd
Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...
of the new Armenian oblast
Armenian Oblast
The Armenian Oblast or Armenian Province ) was an oblast of the Russian Empire that existed from 1828 to 1840. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey, and present-day Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave...
, which later became the Erivan Governorate
Erivan Governorate
Erivan Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Erivan . Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometres. It roughly corresponded to what is now most of central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of Turkey, and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave...
in 1849. According to official statistics of the Russian Empire, by the turn of the 20th century Azerbaijanis made up 57% of the uyezd's population, while Armenians constituted 42%. At the same time in the Sharur-Daralagyoz uyezd, the territory of which would form the northern part of modern-day Nakhchivan, Azeris constituted 70.5% of the population, while Armenians made up 27.5%. During the Russian Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
, conflict erupted between the Armenians and the Azeris, culminating in the Armenian-Tatar massacres
Armenian-Tatar massacres
The Armenian–Tatar massacres refers to the bloody inter-ethnic confrontation between Armenians and Azerbaijanis throughout the Caucasus in 1905–1907.The massacres started during the Russian Revolution of...
which saw violence in Nakhchivan in May of that year.
War and revolution
In the final year of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Nakhchivan was the scene of more bloodshed between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who both laid claim to the area. By 1914, the Armenian population had decreased slightly to 40% while the Azeri population increased to roughly 60%. After the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
, the region was under the authority of the Special Transcaucasian Committee of the Russian Provisional Government
Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...
and subsequently of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic
The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic , was a short-lived state composed of the modern-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the South Caucasus.-...
. When the TDFR was dissolved in May 1918, Nakhchivan, Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
, Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik
Syunik
Syunik is the southernmost province of Armenia. It borders the Vayots Dzor marz to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave to the west, Karabakh to the east, and Iran to the south. Its capital is Kapan. Other important cities and towns include Goris, Sisian, Meghri, Agarak, and Dastakert...
), and Qazakh
Qazakh
Qazakh is a rayon of Azerbaijan. It has two exclaves inside Armenia, Yukhari Askipara and Barkhudarli, both of which came under Armenian control during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.- History :In antiquity, this rayon was part of the province of Utik...
were heavily contested between the newly formed and short-lived states of the Democratic Republic of Armenia
Democratic Republic of Armenia
The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...
(DRA) and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
(ADR). In June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. The Ottomans proceeded to massacre 10,000 Armenians and razed 45 of their villages to the ground. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros
Armistice of Mudros
The Armistice of Moudros , concluded on 30 October 1918, ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I...
, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for the forthcoming British military presence.
Under British occupation, Sir Oliver Wardrop
Oliver Wardrop
Sir John Oliver Wardrop, KBE, CMG was a British diplomat, traveller and translator, primarily known as the United Kingdom's first Chief Commissioner of Transcaucasus in Georgia, 1919-21, and also as the founder and benefactor of Kartvelian studies at Oxford University.After traveling to Georgia ...
, British Chief Commissioner in the South Caucasus, made a border proposal to solve the conflict. According to Wardrop, Armenian claims against Azerbaijan should not go beyond the administrative borders of the former Erivan Governorate (which under prior Imperial Russian rule encompassed Nakhchivan), while Azerbaijan was to be limited to the governorates of Baku
Baku Governorate
Baku Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Baku. Area : 34,4000 sq. verstas, population : 789,659. The only foreign border of the governorate was Persia, in the south...
and Elisabethpol
Elisabethpol Governorate
Elisabethpol Governorate or Elizavetpol Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Elisabethpol . Its area was 44,136 sq. kilometres, and it had 878,415 inhabitants by 1897....
. This proposal was rejected by both Armenians (who did not wish to give up their claims to Qazakh, Zangezur and Karabakh) and Azeris (who found it unacceptable to give up their claims to Nakhchivan). As disputes between both countries continued, it soon became apparent that the fragile peace under British occupation would not last.
In December 1918, with the support of Azerbaijan's Musavat Party
Equality Party (Azerbaijan)
The Müsavat Party is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat.-Early Musavat :...
, Jafar Kuli Khan Nakhchivanski declared the Republic of Aras in the Nakhchivan uyezd of the former Erivan Governorate assigned to Armenia by Wardrop. The Armenian government did not recognize the new state and sent its troops into the region to take control of it. The conflict soon erupted into the violent Aras War. British journalist C.E. Bechhofer described the situation in April 1920:
By mid-June 1919, however, Armenia succeeded in establishing control over Nakhchivan and the whole territory of the self-proclaimed republic. The fall of the Aras republic triggered an invasion by the regular Azerbaijani army and by the end of July, Armenian troops were forced to leave Nakhchivan City to the Azeris. Again, more violence erupted leaving some ten thousand Armenians dead and forty-five Armenian villages destroyed. Meanwhile, feeling the situation to be hopeless and unable to maintain any control over the area, the British decided to withdraw from the region in mid-1919. Still, fighting between Armenians and Azeris continued and after a series of skirmishes that took place throughout the Nakhchivan district, a cease-fire agreement was concluded. However, the cease-fire lasted only briefly, and by early March 1920, more fighting broke out, primarily in Karabakh between Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijan's regular army. This triggered conflicts in other areas with mixed populations, including Nakhchivan.
Sovietization
11th Soviet Red Army
The 11th Army of the Red Army was a unit of the then newly created Soviet armed forces. It was formed by the Bolsheviks on October 3, 1918 from the Red Northern Caucasus Army. In February 1919 it was dissolved and was again deployed in March 1919 as a subdivision of the Caspian-Caucasian Front...
invaded and occupied the region and on July 28, declared the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with "close ties" to the Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
. In November, on the verge of taking over Armenia, the Bolsheviks, in order to attract public support, promised they would allot Nakhchivan to Armenia, along with Karabakh and Zangezur. This was fulfilled when Nariman Narimanov
Nariman Narimanov
Narimanov Nariman Karbalayi Najaf oglu was an Azerbaijani revolutionary, writer, publicist, politician and statesman. In 1920, Narimanov headed the Soviet government of Azerbaijan, the Provisional Military-Revolutionary Committee , replacing Mirza Davud Huseynov, then he was the Chairman of the...
, leader of Bolshevik Azerbaijan issued a declaration celebrating the "victory of Soviet power in Armenia," proclaimed that both Nakhchivan and Zangezur should be awarded to the Armenian people as a sign of the Azerbaijani people's support for Armenia's fight against the former DRA government:
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, although welcoming this act of "great Soviet fraternity" where "boundaries had no meaning among the family of Soviet peoples," did not agree with the motion and instead called for the people of Nakhchivan to be consulted in a referendum. According to the formal figures of this referendum, held at the beginning of 1921, 90% of Nakhchivan's population wanted to be included in the Azerbaijan SSR "with the rights of an autonomous republic." The decision to make Nakhchivan a part of modern-day Azerbaijan was cemented March 16, 1921 in the Treaty of Moscow
Treaty of Moscow (1921)
The Treaty of Moscow or Treaty of Brotherhood was a friendship treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Bolshevist Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, signed on 16 March 1921...
between Bolshevist Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
and the newly founded Republic of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The agreement between the Soviet Russia and Turkey also called for attachment of the former Sharur-Daralagez uyezd (which had a solid Azeri majority) to Nakhchivan, thus allowing Turkey to share a border with the Azerbaijan SSR. This deal was reaffirmed on October 23, in the Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
. Article V of the treaty stated the following:
So, on February 9, 1924, the Soviet Union officially established the Nakhchivan ASSR. Its constitution was adopted on April 18, 1926.
Nakhchivan in the Soviet Union
As a constituent part of the Soviet Union, tensions lessened over the ethnic composition of Nakhchivan or any territorial claims regarding it. Instead, it became an important point of industrial production with particular emphasis on the mining of minerals such as salt. Under Soviet rule, it was once a major junction on the MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
-Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
railway line as well as the Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
-Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
railway. It also served as an important strategic area during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, sharing borders with both Turkey (a NATO member state) and Iran (a close ally of the West until the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
of 1979).
Facilities improved during Soviet times. Education and public health especially began to see some major changes. In 1913, Nakhchivan only had two hospitals with a total of 20 beds. The region was plagued by widespread diseases including trachoma
Trachoma
Trachoma is an infectious disease causing a characteristic roughening of the inner surface of the eyelids. Also called granular conjunctivitis and Egyptian ophthalmia, it is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world...
and typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
. Malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, which mostly came from the adjoining Aras River, brought serious harm to the region. At any one time, between 70% and 85% of Nakhchivan's population was infected with malaria, and in the region of Norashen (present-day Sharur) almost 100% were struck with the disease. This situation improved dramatically under Soviet rule. Malaria was sharply reduced and trachoma, typhus, and relapsing fever were completely eliminated.
During the Soviet era, Nakhchivan saw a significant demographic shift. Its Armenian population gradually decreased as many emigrated to the Armenian SSR
Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet...
. In 1926, 15% of region's population was Armenian, but by 1979, this number had shrunk to 1.4%. The Azeri population, meanwhile increased substantially with both a higher birth rate and immigration from Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
(going from 85% in 1926 to 96% by 1979).
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh noted similar though slower demographic trends and feared an eventual "de-Armenianization" of the area. When tensions between Armenians and Azeris were reignited in the late-1980s by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan's Popular Front managed to pressure the Azerbaijan SSR to instigate a partial railway and air blockade against Armenia, while another reason for disruption of rail service to Armenia were attacks of Armenian forces on the trains entering the Armenian territory from Azerbaijan, which resulted in railroad personnel refusing to enter Armenia. This effectively crippled Armenia's economy, as 85% of the cargo and goods arrived through rail traffic. In response, Armenia closed the railway to Nakhchivan, thereby strangling the exclave's only link to the rest of the Soviet Union.
December 1989 saw unrest in Nakhchivan as its Azeri inhabitants moved to physically dismantle the Soviet border with Iran to flee the area and meet their ethnic Azeri cousins in northern Iran. This action was angrily denounced by the Soviet leadership and the Soviet media accused the Azeris of "embracing Islamic fundamentalism". In January 1990, the Supreme Soviet
Supreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...
of the Nakhchivan ASSR issued a declaration stating the intention for Nakhchivan to secede from the USSR to protest the Soviet Union's actions during Black January
Black January
Black January , also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown of the Azerbaijani independence movement in Baku on January 19–20, 1990, pursuant to a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union....
. It was the first part of the Soviet Union to declare independence, preceding Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
's declaration by only a few weeks.
Nakhchivan in the post-Soviet era
Heydar AliyevHeydar Aliyev
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev , also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Geydar Aliyev was the third President of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him.From 1969 till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet...
, the future president of Azerbaijan, returned to his birthplace of Nakhchivan in 1990, after being ousted from his position in the Politburo
Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Politburo , known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.-Duties and responsibilities:The...
by Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
in 1987. Soon after returning to Nakhchivan, Aliyev was elected to the Supreme Soviet by an overwhelming majority. Aliyev subsequently resigned from the CPSU
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
and after the failed August 1991 coup against Gorbachev, he called for complete independence for Azerbaijan and denounced Ayaz Mütallibov
Ayaz Mütallibov
Ayaz Niyazi oğlu Mütallibov was the last leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, and the first President of independent Azerbaijan from October 1991 till May 1992.-Biography:...
for supporting the coup. In late 1991, Aliyev consolidated his power base as chairman of the Nakhchivan Supreme Soviet and asserted Nachichevan's near-total independence from Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
.
Nakhchivan became a scene of conflict during the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
. On May 4, 1992, Armenian forces shelled the raion
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
of Sadarak
Sadarak
Sadarak is a rayon of Azerbaijan in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. It was split from the Ilyich rayon in 1990. It has an exclave in Armenia, Karki which has been under Armenian control since May 1992 when it was captured during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Its capital is Sədərək....
. The Armenians claimed that the attack was in response to cross-border shelling of Armenian villages by Azeri forces from Nakhchivan. David Zadoyan, a 42-year-old Armenian physicist and mayor of the region said that the Armenians lost patience after months of firing by the Azeris. "If they were sitting on our hilltops and harassing us with gunfire, what do you think our response should be?" he asked. The government of Nakhchivan denied these charges and instead asserted that the Armenian assault was unprovoked and specifically targeted the site of a bridge between Turkey and Nakhchivan. "The Armenians do not react to diplomatic pressure," Nakhchivan foreign minister Rza Ibadov told the ITAR-Tass news agency, "It's vital to speak to them in a language they understand." Speaking to the agency from the Turkish capital Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Ibadov said that Armenia's aim in the region was to seize control of Nakhchivan. According to Human Rights Watch, hostilities broke out after three people were killed when Armenian forces began shelling the region.
The heaviest fighting took place on May 18, when the Armenians captured Nakhchivan's exclave of Karki
Karki (Azerbaijan)
Karki or Tigranashen is de jure an exclave of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, itself an exclave; de facto it is part of the Ararat Province of Armenia...
, a tiny territory through which Armenia's main North-South highway passes. The exclave presently remains under Armenian control. After the fall of Shusha
Shusha
Shusha , also known as Shushi is a town in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. It has been under the control of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since its capture in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
, the Mütallibov government of Azerbaijan accused Armenia of moving to take the whole of Nakhchivan (a claim that was denied by Armenian government officials). However, Heydar Aliyev declared a unilateral ceasefire on May 23 and sought to conclude a separate peace with Armenia. Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossian
Levon Ter-Petrossian
Levon Ter-Petrossian , sometimes transliterated Levon Ter-Petrosyan or Ter-Petrosian , was the first President of Armenia from 1991 to 1998...
expressed his willingness to sign a cooperation treaty with Nakhchivan to end the fighting and subsequently a cease-fire was agreed upon.
The conflict in the area caused a harsh reaction from Turkey, which together with Russia is a guarantor of Nakhchivan's status in accordance with the Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
. Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller
Tansu Çiller
Tansu Penbe Çiller is a Turkish economist and politician. She was Turkey's first and only female Prime Minister.- Early career :She is the daughter of a Turkish governor of Bilecik province during the 1950s. She graduated from the School of Economics at Robert College after finishing the American...
announced that any Armenian advance on the main territory of Nakhchivan would result in a declaration of war against Armenia. Russian military leaders declared that "third party intervention into the dispute could trigger a Third World War
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
." Thousands of Turkish troops were sent to the border between Turkey and Armenia in early September. Russian military forces in Armenia countered their movements by increasing troop levels along the Armenian-Turkish frontier and bolstering defenses in a tense period where war between the two seemed inevitable. Iran also reacted to Armenia's attacks by conducting military maneuvers along its border with Nakhchivan in a move widely interpreted as a warning to Armenia. However, Armenia did not launch any further attacks on Nakhchivan and the presence of Russia's military warded off any possibility that Turkey might play a military role in the conflict. After a period of political instability, the parliament of Azerbaijan turned to Heydar Aliyev and invited him to return from exile in Nakhchivan to lead the country in 1993.
Today, Nakhchivan retains its autonomy as the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and is internationally recognized as a constituent part of Azerbaijan governed by its own elected parliament. A new constitution for Nakhchivan was approved in a referendum on November 12, 1995. The constitution was adopted by the republic's assembly on April 28, 1998 and has been in force since January 8, 1999. However, the republic remains isolated, not only from the rest of Azerbaijan, but practically from the entire South Caucasus
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...
region. Vasif Talibov
Vasif Talibov
Vasif Talibov is the current parliamentary chairman of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. He is married and has three children...
, who is related by marriage to Azerbaijan's ruling family, the Aliyevs, serves as the current parliamentary chairman of the republic. He is known for his authoritarian and largely corrupt rule of the region. Most residents prefer to watch Turkish television as opposed to Nakhchivan television, which one Azerbaijani journalist criticised as "a propaganda vehicle for Talibov and the Aliyevs."
Economic hardships and energy shortages (due to Armenia's continued blockade of the region in response to the Azeri and Turkish blockade of Armenia) plague the area. There have been many cases of migrant workers
Foreign worker
A foreign worker is a person who works in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen. The term migrant worker as discussed in the migrant worker page is used in a particular UN resolution as a synonym for "foreign worker"...
seeking jobs in neighboring Turkey. "Emigration rates to Turkey," one analyst said, "are so high that most of the residents of the Besler district in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
are Nakhchivanis." When speaking to British writer Thomas de Waal
Thomas de Waal
Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal , is a British journalist, writer and an expert on the Caucasus. Thomas is the son of Anglican priest Victor de Waal and of writer on religion Esther de Waal, brother of Africa specialist Alex de Waal, John de Waal, barrister and potter and writer Edmund de...
, the mayor of Nakhchivan City, Veli Shakhverdiev, spoke warmly of a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict and of Armenian-Azeri relations during Soviet times. "I can tell you that our relations with the Armenians were very close, they were excellent," he said. "I went to university in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and I didn't travel to Moscow once via Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
. I took a bus, it was one hour to Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, then went by plane to Moscow and the same thing on the way back." Recently Nakhchivan made deals to obtain more gas exports from Iran, and a new bridge on the Aras River between the two countries was inaugurated in October 2007; the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev and the First Vice-President of Iran, Parviz Davoodi
Parviz Davoodi
Parviz Davoodi is an Iranian hardline conservative politician.He was born in Tehran to an Iranian Azeri family from Astara, Ardebil, northern Iran. He served as the First Vice President of Iran from September 11, 2005 to July 17, 2009. He is also an economist at Shahid Beheshti University....
also attended the opening ceremony.
In 2008 the National Bank of Azerbaijan
National Bank of Azerbaijan
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan is the central bank of Azerbaijan Republic. The headquarters of the bank are located in the capital city Baku.-Mission and ownership:...
minted a pair of gold and silver commemorative coin
Commemorative coin
Commemorative coins are coins that were issued to commemorate some particular event or issue. Most world commemorative coins were issued from the 1960s onward, although there are numerous examples of commemorative coins of earlier date. Such coins have a distinct design with reference to the...
s for the 85th anniversary of the creation of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Nakhichevan ASSR was an autonomous republic within the Azerbaijan SSR, which was then a part of the Soviet Union...
.
Administrative subdivisions
Nakhchivan is subdivided into eight administrative divisions. Seven of these are raionRaion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
s. The capital city (şəhər) of Nakhchivan City is treated separately.
| Map ref. | Administrative division | Capital | Type | Area (km²) | Population (1 Jan. 2008 estimate) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Babek Babek (rayon) Babek or Babak is a rayon of Azerbaijan Republic in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. It surrounds but does not include Nakhchivan City and was formerly known as Nakhchivan. The current name honours Babak Khorramdin who led an 23 year long uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate in Iran.... (Babək) |
Babek Babek (city) Babək is a city and municipality in and the capital of Babek Rayon, in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.-History:... |
Rayon | 1,170 | 68,800 | Formerly known as Nakhchivan; renamed after Babak Khorramdin Babak Khorramdin Bābak Khorram-Din was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān , which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be a compound analogous to dorustdin and Behdin "Good Religion" , and are considered an offshoot of... in 1991 |
| 2 | Julfa Julfa (rayon) Julfa is a rayon of Azerbaijan in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Julfa city is the rayon's capital and the names, Jolfa/Julfa are also used for several regions in neighboring Iran.... (Culfa) |
Julfa | Rayon | 1,000 | 39,600 | Also spelled Jugha or Dzhulfa. |
| 3 | Kangarli Kangarli (rayon) Kangarli or Kengerli is the newest rayon of Azerbaijan, in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The area is 682 square km, and the population is 25,379 . It was split off from Sharur rayon in March 2004... (Kəngərli) |
Givraq Qivraq Qıvraq is a village and municipality in, and is the administrative center of, the Kangarli Rayon of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It has a population of 4,444.... |
Rayon | 682 | 26,600 | Split from Babek in March 2004 |
| 4 | Nakhchivan City (Naxçıvan Şəhər) | Municipality | 130 | 71,200 | Split from Nakhchivan (Babek) in 1991 | |
| 5 | Ordubad Ordubad (rayon) Ordubad is a rayon of Azerbaijan in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Ordubad Rayon, was established in 1930. In 1963 it was incorporated in Julfa Rayon. However Ordubad Rayon was reestablished in 1965. Its capital city of the same name is the second largest town in Nakhchivan. In addition... |
Ordubad | Rayon | 970 | 43,600 | Split from Julfa during Sovietization Sovietization Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct meanings:*the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets .*the adoption of a way of life and mentality modelled after the Soviet Union.... |
| 6 | Sadarak (Sədərək) | Heydarabad Heydarabad Heydarabad may refer to:*Hyderabad, India*Hyderabad, Sindh*Heydarabad, Afghanistan*Heydərabad, Azerbaijan... |
Rayon | 150 | 13,600 | Split from Sharur in 1990; de jure includes the Karki Karki (Azerbaijan) Karki or Tigranashen is de jure an exclave of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, itself an exclave; de facto it is part of the Ararat Province of Armenia... exclave Enclave and exclave In political geography, an enclave is a territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of another territory.An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally or politically attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous.These are two... in Armenia, which is de facto under Armenian control |
| 7 | Shakhbuz (Şahbuz) | Shahbuz Sahbuz Şahbuz is a city and municipality in and capital of Shakhbuz Rayon, in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 3,127.... |
Rayon | 920 | 22,000 | Split from Nakhchivan (Babek) during Sovietization Territory roughly corresponds to the Čahuk (Չահւք) district of the historic Syunik region within the Kingdom of Armenia |
| 8 | Sharur (Şərur) | Sharur | Rayon | 478 | 99,000 | Formerly known as Bash-Norashen during its incorporation into the Soviet Union and Ilyich (after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a... ) from the post-Sovietization period to 1990 |
| Total | 5,500 | 384,400 | ||||
Demographics
| Year | Armenians | % | Azeris | % | Others 1 | % | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1831 | 37,000 | 68.4 | 17,1002 | 31.6 | N/A | N/A | 54,100 |
| 1896 | 36,671 | 42.2 | 49,477 | 56,9 | 730 | 0.8 | 86,878 |
| 1897 3 | 34,672 | 34.4 | 64,151 | 63.7 | 1,948 | 1.9 | 100,771 |
| 1917 | 53,900 | 40 | 81,100 2 | 60 | N/A | N/A | 135,000 |
| 1926 | 11,276 | 10.8 | 88,433 | 84.5 | 4,947 | 4.7 | 104,656 |
| 1935 | 13,400 | 10.8 | 104,800 | 84.5 | 5,800 | 4.7 | 124,000 |
| 1959 | 9,500 | 6.7 | 127,900 | 90.2 | 4,400 | 3.1 | 141,800 |
| 1970 | 5,800 | 2.9 | 187,400 | 93.7 | 6,800 | 3.4 | 200,000 |
| 1979 | 3,400 | 1.4 | 233,000 | 95.7 | 6,500 | 2.7 | 242,900 |
| 1999 | 17 | 0 | 350,806 | 99,08 | 3,249 | 0.1 | 354,072 |
| 1 Russians Russians The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.... , Kurds, Turks Turkish people Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania... , Ukrainians Ukrainians Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens... , Georgians Georgians The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.... , Persians etc. 2 Azeris combined with other Muslims. 3 According to mother tongue. |
|||||||
As of 2009, Nakhchivan's population was estimated to be 398,000. Most of the population are Azerbaijanis
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
, who constituted 99% of the population in 1999, while ethnic Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
(0.15%) and a minority of Kurds
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
(0.6%) constituted the remainder of the population.
The 1990s and 2000s saw a large outflow of the Azerbaijani population into Turkey and Azerbaijan proper, due to the economical hardship of the post-Soviet era as well as Nakhichevan's geographical separation from the rest of Azerbaijan.
The Kurds of Nakhchivan are mainly found in the districts of Sadarak and Teyvaz. The remaining Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
were expelled by Azerbaijani forces during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the forceful exchange of population
Forced migration
Forced migration refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region...
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to a 1932 Soviet estimate, 85% of the area was rural, while only 15% was urban. This urban percentage increased to 18% by 1939 and 27% by 1959.
Nakhchivan has fairly good economic conditions: The Ministry of Finance of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic announced on the outset of 2011 with the official bulletin of Nakhchivan Sharg Gapisi (Şərq Qapısı) that Gross Domestic Product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
of Nakhchivan in 2010 was $2.572 billion by nominal terms and $4.357 billion by the terms of Purchasing Power Parity
Purchasing power parity
In economics, purchasing power parity is a condition between countries where an amount of money has the same purchasing power in different countries. The prices of the goods between the countries would only reflect the exchange rates...
; taking into account that the mean population of the Autonomous Republic on January 1 and December 31, 2010 was 402,639 we conclude that the GDP (PPP) per capita for 2010 is $10,821. The Ministry of Finance announced, also, that in 2010 the life expectancy at birth was 76.0 years, 73.1 years for male and 78.9 years for female. According to the same source, in 2010 the literacy rate in the region for people not younger than 15 was 99.9%, while the Gross Enrollment Ratio was 84%. Using these, Income Index in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in 2010 was 0.6245, Life Expectancy Index was 0.85, while Education Index
Education Index
This article contains information based on the pre-2010 Human Development Reports. The HDI and its education component have changed in 2010.The United Nations publishes a Human Development Index every year, which consists of the Education index, GDP Index and Life Expectancy Index...
was 0.946, making the Human Development Index
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...
0.807.
| Country | HDI (2010 data) | Comparable Country (2010 data) |
|---|---|---|
| Nakhchivan | 0.807 | Cyprus Cyprus Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... |
| Iran Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia... |
0.702 | Iran Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia... |
| Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to... |
0.710 | Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to... |
| Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe... |
0.679 | Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe... |
| Armenia Armenia Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia... |
0.695 | Armenia Armenia Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia... |
Geography
Nakhchivan is an atmospheric, semi-desert region that is separated from the main portion of Azerbaijan by Armenia. The Zangezur MountainsZangezur Mountains
The Zangezur Mountains comprise a mountain range that defines the border between Armenia's southern province of Syunik and Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. The second largest tracts of forests in Armenia are located in the Zangezur Mountains where they cover more than 20% of the...
make up its border with Armenia while the Aras River defines its border with Iran. Araz reservoir located on that river supplies water for agricultural needs and hydroelectric dam generates power for both Azerbaijan and Iran. It is extremely arid and mountainous. Nakhchivan's highest peak is Mount Kapudzhukh
Mount Kapudzhukh
Kapudzhukh is a mountain in the Caucasus. It is tall and is on the international border between Armenia and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an exclave of Azerbaijan....
(3904 m) and its most distinctive is Ilandag (Snake Mountain) (2415 m), which is visible from Nakhchivan City. According to legend, the cleft in its summit was formed by the keel of Noah's Ark as the floodwaters abated. Qazangödağ
Qazangödağ
Qazangödağ is a mountain in Nakhchivan, an exclave of Azerbaijan. The mountain rises to 3829 metres and is part of the Zangezur Mountains....
(3829 m) is another major peak.
Industry
Nakhchivan's major industriesIndustry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
include the mining of mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s such as salt, molybdenum
Molybdenum
Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...
, and lead. Dry irrigation, developed during the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
years, has allowed the region to expand into the growing of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
(mostly grown on the plains of the Aras River), barley, cotton, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
, orchard fruits, mulberries, and grapes for producing wine. Other industries include cotton ginning/cleaning, silk spinning, fruit canning, meat packing, and, in the dryer regions, sheep farming.
Processing of minerals, salt, radio-engineering, farm ginning, preserving, silk products, meat and dairy, bottling of mineral waters, clothing, furniture are the principal branches of Nakhchivan's industry.
The economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
suffered a severe blow in 1988 with the loss of access to both raw materials and markets, due to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Although new markets are emerging in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
this isolation still persists to this day, impairing development. The economy of Nakhchivan is based on agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, mining and food processing
Food processing
Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or by the food processing industry...
, however 75% of the republic's budget is supplied by the central government in Baku. Aid is also provided by Turkey and several NGOs.
The Republic is rich in minerals. Nakhchivan possesses deposits of marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, lime and gypsum. The deposits of the rock salt are exhausted in Nehram, Nakhchivan and Sustin. The important molybdenite mines are currently closed as a consequence of the exclave's isolation. There are a lot of mineral spring
Mineral spring
Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce water containing minerals, or other dissolved substances, that alter its taste or give it a purported therapeutic value...
s there such as Badamli, Sirab, Nagajir, Kiziljir where water contains arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
.
About 90% of the agricultural land is now in private hands. However agriculture has become a poorly capitalized, backyard activity. Production
Production (economics)
In economics, production is the act of creating 'use' value or 'utility' that can satisfy a want or need. The act may or may not include factors of production other than labor...
has dropped sharply and large-scale commercial agriculture has declined.
Over two thirds of the land are rocky slopes and desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
s, therefore the area of the arable lands is quite limited. The main crops - cotton and tobacco - are cultivated in the PriAraz plain, near of Sharur
Sharur
Sharur is an rayon of Azerbaijan in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.-History:Sharur formed part of the territory of the Nakhichevan Khanate until its abolition in 1828. In the Russian empire it was made a part of the Armenian Oblast. After the oblast was abolished, it became a part of...
and Nakhchivan city. Three quarters of the grain production, especially winter wheat is concentrated on the irrigated lands of the Sharur plain and in the basin of the Nakhchivan river.
Vine growing in Nakhchivan is an ancient tradition, in the Araz valley and foothills. Very hot summers and long warm autumns make it possible to grow such highly saccharine grapes as bayan-shiraz, tebrizi, shirazi. Wines such as "Nakhchivan" "Shahbuz", "Abrakunis", "Aznaburk" are of reasonable quality and very popular. Fruit production is quite important, mainly of quince
Quince
The quince , or Cydonia oblonga, is the sole member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region...
, pear, peach, apricot, fig, almonds and pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
.
Cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
is another traditional branch of Nakhchivan farming. Due to the dry climate, pastures in Nakhchivan are unproductive, therefore sheep breeding prevails over other stockbroking. Winter pastures stretch on the PriAraz plain, on the foothills and mountain sides to the altitude of 1200 m. But the summer pastures go up on the high-mountain area to an altitude of 2300–3200 m. The most widespread sheep variety is 'balbas'. These sheep are distinguished by their productivity and snow-white silky wool which is widely used in carpet manufacture. Horned and small cattle are bred everywhere, especially in environs of Sharur and Nakhchivan. Buffaloes are also bred here.
Although intentions to facilitate tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
have been declared by the government, it is still at best incipient. Until 1997 tourists needed special permission to visit, which has now been abolished, making travel easier. Facilities are very basic and heating fuel is hard to find in the winter, but the arid mountains bordering Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and Iran are magnificent. In terms of services, Nakhchivan offers very basic facilities and lacks heating fuel during the winter.
International issues
Status of Armenian cultural monuments
Azerbaijan has been accused of destroying historic Armenian monuments in Nakhchivan as part of a policy of erasing all Armenian cultural monuments on Azerbaijani territory.The best known incident concerned gravestones at a medieval cemetery in Julfa
Julfa, Azerbaijan (town)
Julfa , formerly Jugha and also rendered as Djulfa, Dzhul’fa, Jolfa, Dzhulfa, Džulfa, Jolfā, Jolfā-ye Nakhjavān , is the administrative capital of the Julfa Rayon administrative region of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in Azerbaijan.Julfa is separated by the Araks River from its namesake, the...
, with photographic and video evidence supporting these charges. Azerbaijan has consistently denied these accusations. For example, according to the Azerbaijani ambassador to the US, Hafiz Pashayev
Hafiz Pashayev
Hafiz Pashayev Mir Jalal oglu is the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Government of Azerbaijan since 2006.-Early life:Pashayev was born in Baku, Azerbaijan on May 2, 1941. In 1963, he has been graduated from the Physics Faculty of Azerbaijan State University...
, the videos and photographs "show some unknown people destroying mid-size stones", and "it is not clear of what nationality those people are", and the reports are Armenian propaganda designed to divert attention from what he claimed was a "state policy (by Armenia) to destroy the historical and cultural monuments in the occupied Azeri territories". The Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Institute for War & Peace Reporting is an international media development charity, established in 1991. It runs major programmes in Afghanistan, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, the Balkans, Congo DRC, Tunisia and Uganda...
, meanwhile, reported on April 19, 2006 that "there is nothing left of the celebrated stone crosses of Jugha." On December 8, 2010, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
released a report entitled "Satellite Images Show Disappearance of Armenian Artifacts in Azerbaijan".. The report contained the analysis of high resolution satellite images of the Julfa cemetery, which verified the destruction of the khatckars.
The European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
has formally called on Azerbaijan to stop the demolition as a breach of the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Convention. According to its resolution regarding cultural monuments in the South Caucasus, the European Parliament "condemns strongly the destruction of the Julfa cemetery as well as the destruction of all sites of historical importance that has taken place on Armenian or Azerbaijani territory, and condemns any such action that seeks to destroy cultural heritage." In 2006, Azerbaijan barred a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) mission from inspecting and examining the ancient burial site, stating that it would only accept a delegation if it also visited Armenian-controlled territory. "We think that if a comprehensive approach is taken to the problems that have been raised," said Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Tagizade, "it will be possible to study Christian monuments on the territory of Azerbaijan, including in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic."
After several more postponed visits, a renewed attempt was planned by PACE inspectors for August 29 - September 6, 2007, led by British MP Edward O'Hara
Edward O'Hara
Edward O'Hara is a British Labour Party politician who became the Member of Parliament for Knowsley South following the death of Sean Hughes. He held the seat from 1990 until 2010 when the constituency was abolished. During this period his seat was considered the safest Labour seat in the country...
. As well as Nakhchivan, the delegation would visit Baku, Yerevan, Tbilisi, and Nagorno Karabakh. The inspectors planned to visit Nagorno Karabakh via Armenia, and had arranged transport to facilitate this. However, on August 28, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE released a demand that the inspectors must enter Nagorno Karabakh via Azerbaijan. On August 29, PACE Secretary General Mateo Sorinas announced that the visit had to be cancelled because of the difficulty in accessing Nagorno Karabakh using the route required by Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Armenia issued a statement saying that Azerbaijan had stopped the visit "due solely to their intent to veil the demolition of Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan".
The number of named Armenian churches known to have existed in the Nakhichevan region is over 280. The number still standing in Nakhchivan by the 1980s is estimated to be between 59 and 100. They are believed to have all been subsequently destroyed as part of a campaign by the Government of Azerbaijan to erase all traces of Armenian culture on its soil. When the 14th century church of St. Stephanos at Abrakunis was visited in 2005 it was found to have been recently destroyed, with its site reduced to a few bricks sticking out of loose, bare earth. A similar complete destruction had happened to the 16th century St. Hakop-Hayrapet church in Shurut. The Armenian churches in Norashen, Kirna
Kirna
Kırna is a village and municipality in the Julfa Rayon of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It has a population of 1,744....
, and Gah
Gal, Azerbaijan
Gal is a village and the least populous municipality in the Julfa Rayon of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It has a population of 128. The village had a large, 19th century, Armenian church that was standing derelict in the 1980s but which is now destroyed....
that were standing in the 1980s had also vanished.
Recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
In the late 1990s Nakhchivan's parliament issued a non-binding declaration recognizing the sovereigntySovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Northern Cyprus or North Cyprus , officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus...
(TRNC) and calling upon Azerbaijan to do so. While sympathetic to the TRNC, Azerbaijan has not followed suit because doing so would prompt the Republic of Cyprus to recognise the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic , or Artsakh Republic is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. Close relations between Nakhchivan and Turkey probably initiated this recognition.
Policy of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
The Armenian Revolutionary FederationArmenian Revolutionary Federation
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian...
(ARF) states that Nakhchivan should belong to Armenia: its party programme states The borders of United Armenia
Greater Armenia (political concept)
Greater Armenia or United Armenia refers to an irredentist concept of the territory claimed by some Armenian nationalist groups outside the Republic of Armenia which are considered part of national homeland by Armenians, based on the present-day and historical presence of Armenian...
shall include all territories designated as Armenia by the Treaty of Sèvres
Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...
as well as the regions of Artsakh
Artsakh
Artsakh was the tenth province of the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until 387 AD and afterwards a region of Caucasian Albania from 387 to the 7th century. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control...
(Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
), Javakhk, and Nakhchivan. However, Nakhchivan is not claimed by the government of Armenia. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
Vardan Oskanyan
Vartan Oskanian is former Foreign Minister of Armenia and founder of the Civilitas Foundation.-Early life and career:Born into the Armenian diaspora in Syria, Oskanian was educated in the Armenian schools of Aleppo. After graduating from high school in 1973 he left for Armenia, where he attended...
reaffirmed this on December 13, 2006, by stating that Armenia, as the legal successor to the Armenian SSR, is loyal to the Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
and all agreements inherited by the former Soviet Armenian government.
Culture
Nakhchivan is one of the cultural centers of Azerbaijan. In 1923, a musical subgroup was organized at the State Drama Theater (renamed the Mammadguluzadeh Music and Drama Theatre in 1962). The Aras Song and Dance Ensemble (established in 1959) is another famous group. Dramatic performances staged by an amateur dance troupe were held in Nakhchivan in the late 19th century. Theatrical art also greatly contributed to Nakhchivan's culture. The creative work of Jalil MammadguluzadehJalil Mammadguluzadeh
Jalil Huseyngulu oglu Mammadguluzadeh was an Azerbaijani satirist and writer.-Life:Mammadguluzadeh was born in Nakhchivan into an Iranian Azeri merchant family from Khoy...
, Huseyn Javid
Huseyn Javid
Huseyn Javid , born Huseyn Abdulla oglu Rasizadeh , other spellings "," was a prominent Azerbaijani poet and playwright of the early 20th century...
, M.S. Gulubekov, and Huseyn Arablinski
Huseyn Arablinski
Huseyn Arablinski , born Huseynbala Mammad oglu Khalafov , was an Azerbaijani actor.-Life and career:...
(the first Azerbaijani theatre director) are just a few of the names that have enriched Nakhchivan's cultural heritage. The region has also produced noteworthy Armenian artists too such as Soviet actress Hasmik Agopyan. Nakhchivan has also at times been mentioned in works of literature. Nizami once wrote:
-
- که تا جایگه یافتی نخچوان
- Oh Nakhchivan, respect you've attained,
- بدین شاه شد بخت پیرت جوان
- With this King in luck you'll remain.
Famous people from Nakhchivan
Political leaders
- Heydar AliyevHeydar AliyevHeydar Alirza oglu Aliyev , also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Geydar Aliyev was the third President of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him.From 1969 till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet...
, former President of AzerbaijanPresident of AzerbaijanThe country of Azerbaijan is a presidential republic, with the President of Azerbaijan as the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan as head of government...
(1993–2003) and father of the current President of Azerbaijan, Ilham AliyevIlham AliyevIlham Heydar oglu Aliyev is the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party and the head of the National Olympic Committee...
(2003–present). - Abulfaz Elchibey, former President of Azerbaijan (1992–1993)
- Rasul GuliyevRasul Guliyev-Early years:Guliyev was born on December 10, 1947 in the Gazanchy village of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. After completing his secondary education in 1965, he entered the Chemistry-Technology faculty of the Oil And Chemistry Institute of Azerbaijan, graduating in 1970 and...
, former speaker of the National Assembly of AzerbaijanNational Assembly of AzerbaijanThe National Assembly , also transliterated as Milli Majlis is the legislative branch of government in Azerbaijan. The unicameral National Assembly has 125 deputies: previously 100 members were elected for five-year terms in single-seat constituencies and 25 were members elected by proportional...
(1993–1996) and opposition leader - Christapor MikaelianChristapor MikaelianChristapor Mikaelian also known by his noms de guerre Hellen , Topal , and Edward , was one of the three founders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation along Stepan Zorian and Simon Zavarian, also part of Armenian national liberation movement.- Early life :Christapor Mikaelian was born in the...
, founding member of the Armenian Revolutionary FederationArmenian Revolutionary FederationThe Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian... - Stepan Sapah-GulianStepan Sapah-GulianStepan Sapah-Gulian was a prominent Armenian journalist, political scientist, intellectual and leader of the Armenian Social Democrat Hunchakian Party.-Biography:...
, leader of the Armenian Social Democrat Hunchakian PartySocial Democrat Hunchakian PartyThe Social Democrat Hunchakian Party , is the oldest of the Armenian political parties and was the first Socialist party in the Ottoman Empire and in Persia...
(19th-20th century) - Jafar Kuli Khan Nakhchivanski, the founder of the short-lived Republic of Aras
- Ibrahim Abilov, first and only ambassador of Azerbaijan SSR to TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
- Garegin Nzhdeh, famous Armenian revolutionary, military leader and political thinker
Religious leaders
- Alexander Jughaetsi (Alexander I of Jugha), Catholicos of All Armenians (1706–1714)
- Hakob Jughaetsi (Jacob IV of Jugha), Armenian Catholicos (1655–1680)
- Azaria I Jughaetsi, Armenian Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia (1584–1601)
Military leaders
- Abdurahman FatalibeyliAbdurahman FatalibeyliAbdurrahman Fatalibeyli Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli (birth surname Dudanginski, or Abo Alioglu Fatalibeyli-Dudanginsky (Або Алиевич Дудангинский / Əbo Əliyeviç Düdənginski), born Abo Dudanginski (June 12, 1908, Dudangi – November 1954, Munich) was a Soviet army major who...
, Soviet army major who defected to the German forces during World War II - Ehsan Khan Nakhchivanski, Russian military general
- Huseyn Khan Nakhchivanski, Russian cavalryCavalryCavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
general and the only MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
to serve as General-AdjutantAdjutant generalAn Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...
of the Russian Tsar - Ismail Khan Nakhchivanski, Russian military general
- Kelbali Khan Nakhchivanski, Russian military general
- Jamshid Khan NakhchivanskiJamshid NakhichevanskiJamshid Jafarqulu oglu Nakhichevanski , also known as Jamshid Khan Nakhichevanski, was a Russian Imperial, Azerbaijani and Soviet military commander...
, Soviet and Azerbaijani military general
Writers and poets
- M.S. Gulubekov, writer
- Huseyn JavidHuseyn JavidHuseyn Javid , born Huseyn Abdulla oglu Rasizadeh , other spellings "," was a prominent Azerbaijani poet and playwright of the early 20th century...
, poet - Jalil MammadguluzadehJalil MammadguluzadehJalil Huseyngulu oglu Mammadguluzadeh was an Azerbaijani satirist and writer.-Life:Mammadguluzadeh was born in Nakhchivan into an Iranian Azeri merchant family from Khoy...
, writer and satirist - Ekmouladdin Nakhchivani, medieval literary figure
- Hindushah Nakhchivani, medieval literary figure
- Abdurrakhman en-Neshevi, medieval literary figure
- Mammed Said OrdubadiMammed Said OrdubadiMammad Said Ordubadi was Azerbaijani writer, poet, playwright and journalist.He was initially educated at religious school, medrese, and later studied at Mahammad Sidgi's secular school "Əxtər"...
, writer - Heyran Khanum, late medieval poet
- Elşen HudiyevElşen HudiyevElşen Hudiyev is an Azeri-Turkish contemporary poet and essayist. After receiving a degree in Political Science and International Relations from Bosphorus University in Turkey, he held a number of different positions, but never settled down...
, contemporary poet and writer - Mammad ArazMammad ArazMammad Araz , born Mammad Ibrahimov , was an Azerbaijani poet.-Early life:In 1954, he graduated from Azerbaijan's Pedagogical Institute...
, poet
Others
- Vladimir MakogonovVladimir MakogonovVladimir Andreevich Makogonov was a chess player from Azerbaijan. He was born in Nakhchivan but lived in Baku for most of his life. He became an International Master in 1950 and was awarded an honorary Grandmaster title in 1987. Makogonov never became well known outside the Soviet Union, but was...
, chess International Master and Grandmaster - Ajami NakhchivaniAjami NakhchivaniAjami ibn Abubakr Nakhchivani - is a Muslim architect. He is also the founder of the Nakhchivan school of architecture...
, architect and founder of the Nakhchivan school of architecture - Gaik OvakimianGaik OvakimianHaik Badalovich Ovakimian , Major General, USSR , better known as "the puppetmaster" in intelligence circles, was a leading Soviet NKVD spy in the United States....
, Soviet Armenian spy - Ibrahim SafiIbrahim SafiIbrahim Safi was a Turkish painter. He was born in Nakhichevan. His surname is taken from the famous Turkish tribe of Safi which played important role in organization of Safavid dynasty in the beginning of 16th century. He belonged the remniscents of this clan. Later he graduated from Moscow fine...
, Turkish artist - Rza TahmasibRza TahmasibRza Abbasgulu oglu Tahmasib was an Azerbaijani film director and actor.-Early life:Tahmasib was born Rza Tahmasibbeyov to a wealthy merchant family. He received his primary education at Maktab-i Tarbiyya school in Nakhchivan, where he learned Russian, Persian and Arabic languages. He continued his...
, Azerbaijani film director
See also
- List of Chairmen of the Supreme Majlis of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
- Khanagah mausoleum
- Nakhchivan memorial museumNakhchivan Memorial MuseumNakhchivan Memorial Museum is a museum in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It offers 1200 exhibits about residents of Nakhchivan who fought against Armenians. The museum claims that Armenians committed genocide against Azerbaijanis.-External links:*...
- NoahNoahNoah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
- Seven Laws of Noah