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Zemfira Hajiyeva

THE HISTORY OF THE YEREVAN KHANATE

IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIA, GEORGIA, IRAN

AND OTHER COUNTRIES

In the modern history of Russia, the Kingdom, along with the Ganja and the ninth volume of The Great Soviet
period of the Azerbaijani khanates Nakhchivan khanates. Markova had Encyclopedia, which consists of thir-
is described in the works of I.P. researched the political relations of ty volumes, information is presented
Petrushevsky (1949). The author, the Yerevan khanate with the Kart- about the history of the Yerevan kha-
who researched Azerbaijan's history li-Kakhetia Kingdom, Russia, Iran nate (The Great Soviet Encyclope-
beginning in the late Middle Ages, (South Azerbaijan) and the Otto- dia, vol. 9, 1972). The khanate is
including the history of the khanates man states during the second half presented as the territory of Eastern
period, is not always correct in what of the eighteenth century, at a time Armenia. It is as if the Yerevan kha-
he writes. He affirms that the Arme- when there was a confrontation in nate was founded at the beginning of
nians were destroyed as a nation the interests of the major states in the seventeenth century, while the
during the wars of Amir Teymur the South Caucasus. It should be town of Yerevan is simply called as
(known as Tamerlaine), and their pointed out that the author is not an Armenian city.
territory was settled by Turkic tribes consistent in her attitude to the his-
coming from Central Asia. tory of the Yerevan khanate. She In the encyclopedia, numerous
looks upon the attempts by the Rus- misrepresentations can be identified
For instance, the author describes sian Empire to create an Armenian not only in comments made about
the history of the Yerevan khanate as state, at the expense of Yerevan and the campaign of Nadir Shah3 in the
the history of Armenia (although du- other Azerbaijani khanates, as the South Caucasus, but also about the
ring the khanates period, there was restoration of the Armenian state. conquest of the Yerevan Fortress.
no such thing as an Armenian state), The author assesses the activities of Once again, Hasan Khan is wrongly
and he referred to the events which Joseph Emin,i in accordance with described as the last Yerevan khan.
took place on this territory in the the traditional falsifications of the
name of the Armenians. Petrushevs- Armenians, as the liberation of Ar- In the Georgian-Soviet historiogra-
ky writes: "A large part of Caucasian menia. On the other hand, Markova phy, the attitude towards the Yere-
Armenia consists of the Yerevan or describes the collapse of resistance van khanate was always controver-
Chukhursad province, whereas the in the Yerevan khanate during Agha sial. Totally false assumptions can be
other part (Sharur, Daralayaz and Mahammad Khan Qajar's invasion observed in the second edition of the
Zangezur), together with several nor- of the South Caucasus in 1795,2 textbooks on Georgian history pu-
thern parts, consist of the Karabagh whereas in fact the Yerevan khanate blished in 1946 and 1962. In both of
province". As one can see, in trying strongly resisted the troops of Agha these publications, the events related
to describe the Yerevan khanate the Mahammad Khan during this cam- to the Yerevan khanate are repeated.
researcher attributes Azerbaijani paign. In the first edition, Yerevan is pre-
land to an imaginary Armenian terri- sented as a Muslim, i.e. an Azerbai-
tory, while presenting other ancient The work of H. Ibrahimbeyli exami- jani, khanate, whereas in the second
Azerbaijani lands also as Armenian. ned the occupation of the Azerbaijan edition, a slightly different position
khanates by the Russian Empire du- is adopted. The plans of Armenian
In the works of Petrushevsky, the ring the first thirty years of the nine- politicians for the liberation of "Ar-
fact that all the events connec- teenth century (Ibrahimbeyli, 1969). menia", i.e. the Yerevan khanate,
ted with the Armenians do not go In his book, the first and second and the activities of Joseph Emin
beyond the Echmiadzin Church, and Russo-Persia and Russo-Ottoman connected with the establishment of
all the issues raised are connected wars are described in detail, and a united Georgian-Armenian state,
with this church and the property brief information is given about the are highlighted (The History of
belonging to it, can be clearly traced. battles that took place on the territo- Georgia, vol. I, 1946, P. 432; 1962,
Regardless of these distortions, the ry of the Yerevan khanate. Unfortu- p.391-392; 1946, P. 402-403; 1962,
works of Petrushvsky have a certain nately, lack of knowledge about the P. 359).
significance for the history of the Ye- available sources has resulted in the
revan khanate. expression of the wrong conclusions In the book, the attack of Azad
by the author. He isolates the Yere- Khan,4 ruler of Tabriz (in fact, he
The Russian-Soviet historian Mar- van khanate from the Azerbaijan was in the service of Fatali Khan Afs-
kova (1966), while researching the khanates, describing this khanate as har),5 on Yerevan in 1751, and the
history of the Yerevan khanate, an Armenian state, and mistakenly activities of the Tsar during the wars
adopted a more objective position presents Hasan Khan as the last Ye- with Irakly II are exaggerated and
compared to the Azerbaijani-Soviet revan khan. contradict the historical truth (The
historians. In the map appearing on History of Georgia, 1946, P. 393).
page 311 of her book, she had accepts The misrepresentation of the history It is wrongly stated that Azad Khan
that Yerevan had been an Azerbai- of the Yerevan khanate can also be was defeated and turned back. In
jani khanate, linked to the Georgian found in various encyclopaedias. In fact, Azad Khan won this battle and

1 38 History