Resettling the Borderlands: State Relocations and Ethnic Conflict in the South Caucasus 9780773553729

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RE S E T T LING T HE BOR DER LANDS

Resettling the Borderlands State Relocations and Ethnic Conflict in the South Caucasus

farid shafiyev

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2018 isbn 978-0-7735-5352-1 (cloth) isbn 978-0-7735-5353-8 (paper) isbn 978-0-7735-5372-9 (epdf) isbn 978-0-7735-5373-6 (epub) Legal deposit second quarter 2018 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Shafiyev, Farid, 1969–, author Resettling the borderlands : state relocations and ethnic conflict in the South Caucasus / Farid Shafiyev. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. isbn 978-0-7735-5352-1 (hardcover). – isbn 978-0-7735-5353-8 (softcover). – isbn 978-0-7735-5372-9 (pdf). – isbn 978-0-7735-5373-6 (epub) 1. Forced migration – Caucasus, South – History – 19th century. 2. Forced migration – Caucasus, South – History – 20th century. 3. Caucasus, South – Ethnic relations – History – 19th century. 4. Caucasus, South – Ethnic relations – History – 20th century. 5. Ethnic conflict – Caucasus, South – History – 19th century. 6. Ethnic conflict – Caucasus, South – History – 20th century. 7. Caucasus, South – History – 19th century. 8. Caucasus, South – History – 20th century. I. Title. dk509.s524 2018

305.8009475

c2017-907238-2 c2017-907239-0

This book was typeset by True to Type in 10.5/13 Sabon

To the memory of my mother, Kubra Huseynova, and father, Rauf Shafiyev I pay tribute to the memory of all those who perished during the forced resettlements, deportations, and exiles. I also pay personal tribute to the memory of my great-grandfather, Novruz Shafiyev, who was arrested and exiled to Siberia in 1937 and died in a place unknown to my family.

Contents

Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations and Terms

xiii

Notes on Transliteration, Names, and Dates xv Maps xvii Introduction 3 1 Russian Conquest of the South Caucasus 16 2 First Imperial Projects: Foreign Settlers – Germans and Armenians 43 3 Resettlement of Russians 96 4 Locals and Settlers: Conflicts under Russian Rule 121 5 Soviet Population Management and Deportations 145 6 Soviet Postwar Resettlement Projects in the South Caucasus 163 Conclusion 217 Appendix Major Timelines 229 Notes 231 Bibliography 271 Index 313

Tables

2.1 Demographic changes in Karabakh, 1810–2005 93 2.2 Demographic changes in the former Erivan khanate (modernday Armenia) 1828–2001 94 2.3 Germans in Azerbaijan, 1819–1941 95 2.4 Demographic changes in Baku city, 1851–2009 95

Acknowledgments

It is a great pleasure to acknowledge those who made my research journey possible. I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr Jeff Sahadeo, my supervisor and instructor in Russian history, whose insightful suggestions, careful reading, wise criticism, and constant attention to all my issues during the doctoral program made my research not only a bit easier but also enjoyable. I am also very grateful to the leadership of the Carleton University Department of History, particularly Dr Dominique Marshall, department chair, and Dr Jennifer Evans, graduate chair. I also express my heartfelt thanks to Ms Joan White, graduate administrator, for the great assistance she rendered to me. During my work on this manuscript I benefited greatly from many professors and instructors: Danielle Kinsey, for her acute vision of imperialism; James Opp and David Dean, for enlightening me about Michel Foucault, Edward Said, and many other thinkers; Christoph Zuercher from Ottawa University, whose reflections on the nexus between “histories” and conflicts were important guidance. Other Carleton University faculty members, such as Carter Elwood, Susan Whitney, John Walsh, and Paul Litt, provided helpful comments and suggestions. Critical notes from Nicholas Breyfogle at Ohio State University helped me to improve the manuscript. During my previous studies at Baku State University and Harvard University, I learned from many excellent instructors, not all in the field of history but in adjacent disciplines, such as international relations, conflict studies, etc. Dr Eldar Ismayilov from Baku State University, who was one of my first instructors in the beginning of the 1990s – when Azerbaijan was still under the Soviets – encompassed a

xii

Acknowledgments

depth and width of vision on the Soviet imperial legacy in the South Caucasus. American mentors – Joseph Nye, Noam Chomsky, Michael Ignatieff, Todd Pittinsky, and John Thomas – imparted intellectual contributions that broadened my horizons. My high school history teacher Aron Davidovich Vizel had a passion for the science of history that left an indelible imprint. Several people were instrumental throughout my archival research: Mr Atakhan Pashayev, head of the Azerbaijani State Archives, Mr Anar Mamedov, Ms Farida Aslanova, Mr Rustam Aleskerov, and many others. I am grateful to Ms Marguerite Marlin and Mr Michael Haynes for helping me edit my manuscript. I extend my sincere appreciation to McGill-Queen’s University Press, especially to Ms Kyla Madden and anonymous reviewers for their help in improving and publishing my research outcome, as well as to Kate Merriman for her great work of copyediting, Kathleen Fraser, Finn Purcell, Amy Hemond, Ryan Van Huijstee, Filomena Falocco, Paloma Friedman, and others involved in the process. I have dedicated this study to the memory of my parents: my mother, Kubra Huseynova, and father, Rauf Shafiyev; they supported me in every endeavour, including academic studies. My intellectual discussions with my brother Kamran Shafiyev were no less important. So were those with many friends and colleagues. My wife, Ulker Shafiyeva, made my life much easier by taking care of everything at home when I spent endless hours in the office or in front of the computer. She is the main encourager of my scientific adventure, while my daughter Selin is my infinite source of inspiration.

Abbreviations and Terms

CC CP

Central Committee of the Communist Party

GULAG

Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel’no-trudovykh LAGerei (Main Administration of Corrective Camps)

GUZZ

Main Administration of Agriculture and State Domains in Imperial Russia

MRA

Main Resettlement Administration (Glavnoye Pereselencheskoye Upravleniye)

NKAO

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (Province)

NKVD

Ministry of Interior in the USSR

USSR

VKP

and SSR

(b)

the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, and for national republics, i.e., the Azerbaijani or Armenian SSR Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks

guberniya

governorate, territorial unit in Imperial Russia

inorodtsy

alien subjects of the Russian empire (the peculiarity of this term is discussed in the book)

kolkhoz

a collective farm in the Soviet Union

kolkhoznik

a member of a kolkhoz

kulaks

wealthy peasants

xiv

Abbreviations and Terms

namestnichestvo

viceroyalty

namestnik

viceroy

Narkom

Ministry in the Soviet Union between the 1920s and1960s

oblast

province

rayon

region, territorial unit in the Soviet Union

sovkhoz

a state farm in the Soviet Union

uyezd

region, a territorial unit in Imperial Russia

Notes on Transliteration, Names, and Dates

Because this study deals extensively with Russian sources, I have used a phonetic approach to the transliteration of names. The same method was employed to identify historical figures. There is a wide range of transliterations of names of various Russian, Persian, and Turkic historical figures. I have tried to use the versions most commonly occurring and closest to the actual pronunciation in the native languages –for example, the more common Paskevich rather than Paskiewicz. Geographic names can also vary. I have used Erivan to identify the Erivan khanate and the capital city during medieval times and Russian imperial rule, while during Soviet times the city was transliterated into Yerevan. Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, was referred to as Tiflis during the imperial administration. With reference to pre-1917 events in the Russian Empire, I have used the original Orthodox (revised Julian) calendar, which differs from the current standard Western or Gregorian calendar.

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