Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

Coordinates: 39°48′55″N 46°45′07″E / 39.8153°N 46.7519°E / 39.8153; 46.7519
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
1923–1991

CapitalStepanakert
Area 
• 1989[1]
4,388 km2 (1,694 sq mi)
Population 
• 1989[1]
189,085
 • TypeAutonomous Oblast
History 
• Established
7 July 1923
• Abolished
26 November 1991
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Transcaucasian SFSR
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
Azerbaijan

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO)

First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. The majority of the population were ethnic Armenians.[2][3][4]

History

Principal cities of the Oblast

The area was disputed between

Kurdistan uezd instead.[6]

On July 7, 1923, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was created and the capital was moved to Stepanakert.[7] At the time of its formation, its area was 4,161 km2 (1,607 sq mi).[7] According to the 1926 census, the population of the region was 125,200 people, among whom the Armenians accounted for 89.2 percent. However, by 1989, the share of Armenians dropped to 76.9 percent of the population of the autonomous region.[8] Reasons for this include the policy of Soviet Azerbaijani authorities to settle Azerbaijanis in the region and some out-migration of Karabakh Armenians, as well as the generally higher birthrate among Azerbaijanis than among Armenians.[9]

Although the question of Nagorno-Karabakh's status did not become a major public issue until the mid-1980s, Armenian intellectuals, Soviet Armenian and Karabakh Armenian leadership periodically made appeals to Moscow for the region's transfer to Soviet Armenia.

First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan.[9]

In 1977, the prominent Armenian author Sero Khanzadyan wrote an open letter to Leonid Brezhnev calling for Nagorno-Karabakh's annexation to Soviet Armenia.[10]

Administrative divisions

There were five administrative divisions or raions in the NKAO :

Demographics

Historical ethnic composition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in 1921–1989
Ethnic group 1921[11][12] 1923[13][11] 1925[13] 1926[13][14] 1939[13][15] 1959[13][16] 1970[13][17] 1979[13][18] 1989[19]
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Armenians 122,715 88.62 149,600 94.8 142,470 90.28 111,694 89.24 132,800 88.04 110,053 84.39 121,068 80.54 123,076 75.89 145,450 76.92
Azerbaijanis[b] 15,444 11.15 7,700 4.9 15,261 9.67 12,592 10.06 14,053 9.32 17,995 13.80 27,179 18.08 37,264 22.98 40,688 21.52
Russians 307 0.22 500 0.3 46 0.03 596 0.48 3,174 2.10 1,790 1.37 1,310 0.87 1,265 0.78 1,922 1.02
Ukrainians 30 0.02 35 0.03 436 0.29 238 0.18 193 0.13 140 0.09 416 0.22
Belarusians 12 0.01 11 0.01 32 0.02 35 0.02 37 0.02 79 0.04
Greeks 68 0.05 74 0.05 67 0.05 33 0.02 56 0.03 72 0.04
Tatars 6 0.00 29 0.02 36 0.03 25 0.02 41 0.03 64 0.03
Georgians 5 0.00 25 0.02 16 0.01 22 0.01 17 0.01 57 0.03
Others 151 0.12 235 0.16 179 0.14 448 0.30 285 0.18 337 0.18
TOTAL 138,466 100.00 157,800 100.0 157,807 100.00 125,159 100.00 150,837 100.00 130,406 100.00 150,313 100.00 162,181 100.00 189,085 100.00

First Secretaries

The First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan was the

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

Name Term of Office Lifespan
Start End
First Secretaries of the Oblast Committee of the Communist Party
Sero Manutsyan July 1923 December 1923
Akop Bendzhanyan December 1923 April 1924
Nikolai Sarkisov April 1924 October 1924
Hayk Silanyan October 1924 1925 ?–1938
Artvazd Saakyants 1925 1929 1895–1939
M.K. Danilyan 1929 December 1929
Ashot Karamyan 1929 May 1930 1898–?
? May 1930 1937
Mikhail Manukyants 1937 1940 1909–1968
? 1940 1942
Yegishe Grigoryan October 1942 1946 1902–?
Tigran Grigoryan 1946 ?
Yegishe Grigoryan 1952 December 1958 1902–?
Nikolay Shakhnazarov December 1958 October 1962 1908–
Gurgen Melkumyan October 1962 June 1973 1915–
Boris Kevorkov June 1973 February 24, 1988 1932–1998
Genrikh Poghosyan February 24, 1988 January 20, 1989 1931–2000
Vagan Gabrielyan January 20, 1989 August 27, 1990 1936–

Abolition

Location of the Oblast within the area claimed by the Republic of Artsakh.

A conflict between the Armenians in the oblast and the government of the Azerbaijan SSR broke out in 1987. The fighting escalated into the

Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan Republic abolished the autonomous status of the oblast. Its internal administrative divisions were also abolished, and its territory was split up and redistributed amongst the neighbouring administrative rayons of Khojavend, Tartar, Goranboy, Shusha, and Kalbajar.[20] In response, the majority Armenian population of the oblast declared their independence as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic which was supported by Armenia.[21][22][23]

See also

Notes

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

References

  1. ^ (in Russian) НАГОРНО-КАРАБАХСКАЯ АО (1989 г.) Archived September 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  3. ^ "Conflicts in the Caucasus". UNHCR publication for CIS Conference (Displacement in the CIS). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 1996. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  4. ^ Yamskov, A. N. (1991). "Ethnic Conflict in the Transcausasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh". Theory and Society. Vol. 20, no. 5. p. 659.
  5. ^ "Q&A with Arsène Saparov: No Evidence that Stalin 'Gave' Karabakh to Aхerbaijan". armenian.usc.edu. December 10, 2018. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2023. Of all the documents I have seen, there is no direct evidence of Stalin doing or saying something in those 12 days in the summer of 1921 that [resulted in this decision on Karabakh]. A lot of people just assume that since Stalin was an evil person, it would be typical of someone evil to take a decision like that.
  6. ^ Həmid, Tural (December 15, 2020). "Dağlıq Qarabağın sərhədləri necə cızılırdı?" [How were the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh drawn?]. Azlogos. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Атлас Союза Советских Социалистических Республик [Atlas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]. Moscow: Central Executive Committee of the USSR. 1928. The Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of the SSR of Azerbaijan, was formed by the decree of the AzCEC 7 / VI 1923 from Armenian parts of the former Jevanshir, Shulgan, Karyaginsky, and Kubatly uyezds. The territory of the Region is 4.161 sq. km. According to the administrative division on 1 / I of 1927, it is divided into 5 sections or parishes. Its administrative and political center is mountains. Stepanakert (formerly the village of Khankendy). Another city of the Region is Shusha.
  8. ^ "All-Union Population Census of 1926. Ethnic composition of the population by regions of the republics of the USSR". demoscope.ru. 1926. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  9. ^ .
  10. ^ Sanjian, Ara (January 6, 2021). "The Armenian Diasporan Press on Mountainous Karabagh, 1923-1985". entriessas.com. Entries of the Society for Armenian Studies. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2021. This 'silence' was only broken in the Diaspora with the publication of Yerevan-based novelist Sero Khanzadyan's open letter to the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1977, demanding Mountainous Karabagh's annexation to Soviet Armenia.
  11. ^ (PDF) from the original on September 11, 2022. Out of a population of approximately 20,000, at least several hundred were killed; the rest were forced to flee. In the fighting that followed, several nearby villages were also razed.
  12. ^ "Перепись населения АзССР в 1921 г." [Census of the population of the AzSSR in 1921]. karabagh.am. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Beglaryan, Ashot. "The population of Nagorno-Karabakh for a year. Union of Armenians of Russia - Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Excursion into history". losevskaya.ru. Stepanakert. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года. Национальный состав населения по регионам республик СССР Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  15. ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года. Распределение городского и сельского населения областей союзных республик по национальности и полу Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  16. ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1959 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  17. ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1970 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  18. ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1979 года. Городское и сельское население областей республик СССР (кроме РСФСР) по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  19. ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года.Распределение городского и сельского населения областей республик СССР по полу и национальности Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Демоскоп
  20. ^ Svante Cornell, Turkey and the Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh: A Delicate Balance Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, in Middle Eastern Studies Journal Vol 34, No. 1 (London: Frank Cass Publications, January 1998), pp. 51–72
  21. ^ Oskanian, Kevork (September 29, 2020). "Nagorno-Karabakh: are Armenia and Azerbaijan sliding towards all-out war?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  22. ^ Minasyan, Karen (October 2, 2020). "Why Nagorno-Karabakh? The history (both ancient and modern) that fuels the deadly conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan". meduza.io. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  23. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. "1993 UN Security Council Resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh". 2001-2009.state.gov. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.

External links

39°48′55″N 46°45′07″E / 39.8153°N 46.7519°E / 39.8153; 46.7519