Nakhichevan

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This article is about the autonomous region; for its capital city see Nakhichevan (city)

**Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikası**
**Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic**


Location of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (coloured in light tan) in the South Caucasus region.
Administration type	Autonomous republic of Azerbaijan
'''Capital and largest city	Nakhichevan
Official language	Azerbaijani
Parliamentary Chairman	Vasif Talibov
Area - Total - % water	5,500 km² negligible
Population - Total	350,000-365,000 (est.)
Time zone - in summer	EET (UTC+4) EEST (UTC+5)

Momine Khatun Mausoleum in Nakhichevan.

The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijani: Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikası, Armenian: Նախիջեվան, Turkish: Nahcivan Özerk Cumhuriyeti, Russian: Нахичеванская Автономная Республика), known simply as Nakhichevan is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan. The 5,500 km² region borders Armenia (221 km), Turkey (9 km) and Iran (179 km). Its capital is the city of Nakhichevan, home to the Nakhichevan State University.

Contents

1 Etymology
2 History
3 Administrative Subdivisions
4 Geography
5 Demographics
6 Famous people from Nakhichevan
7 Disputes
8 Footnotes
9 External links

Etymology

Since it frequently changed kingdoms, empires, sultanates, and khanates, the name of Nakhichevan was altered many times. As part of the Azerbaijan SSR of the Soviet Union, it was known as the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The city of Nakhichevan was first mentioned in Ptolemy's "Geography" and other classical writers as Naksuana.[Encyclopedia of Brokgauz and Efron, "Nakhichevan"] ["Nakhichevan", Volume V19, Page 156 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica] Naksuana is ancient Greek for "the land of sweet water". In Armenian, the name literally means "place where they first descended," a Biblical reference to the descent of Noah's Ark on the adjacent Mount Ararat.Richard Plunkett and Tom Masters. Lonely Planet: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, p. 243. ISBN 1740591380 According to other versions, the name Nakhchivan derived from Persian Nagsh-e-Jahan, i.e. "image of the world", which is a reference to the beauty of the area. () [Hamdollah Mostowfi. Nozhat al-Gholub] () [Evliya Chelebi. Seyahatname] The medieval Arab chronicles referred to the area as Nashava. Ibn Khordadbeh. Book of Roads and Kingdoms (al-Kitab al-Masalik w’al-Mamalik)

History

The oldest material culture artifacts found in Nakhichevan date back to the Neolithic Age. The region was part of the states of Mannae, Urartu and Media in 8 – 7 BCE, Achaemenid state in 6 BCE, and later became part of the Armenian Kingdom. In the 5th century, Nakhichevan was conquered by Sassanid Persians, in 623 by the Byzantine Empire, and in the middle 7th century by Arabs. In the 11th century, Nakhichevan fell under control of Seljuks.

In 12th century the city of Nakhichevan became the capital of the Ildegezid Atabegs of the Azerbaijan state[Encyclopedia Iranica, "Atabakan-e Adarbayjan"], Saljuq rulers of Azerbaijan, 12th–13th, Luther, K. pp. 890-894.. The magnificent 12th century mausoleum of Momine khatun, the wife of Ildegizid ruler, Great Atabek Jahan Pehlevan, is the main attraction of modern Nakhichevan. In 13 – 14 centuries the region was invaded by Mongols and Tamerlane. In the 15th century, the territory of Nakhichevan became part of the states of Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu. In the 16th century control of the region passed to the Turkic-speaking Safavid dynasty of Persia. Because of its geographic position, it frequently suffered during the wars between Persia and the Ottoman Empire in 14th – 18th centuries. 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 most of the local population, regardless of ethnicity or religion, to leave their homes and move deeper into Persia.[Encyclopedia Iranica. Kangarlu]. Many settled in a neighborhood of Isfahan that was named New Julfa since most of the residents were from the original Julfa (a predominately Armenian town which was looted and burned). The Nakhichevan khanate emerged in the region in 1747 after the death of Nadir Shah Afshar, the ruler of Persia. After the two Russo-Iranian wars and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, Nakhichevan khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828. With the onset of Russian rule, the tsarist authorities encouraged massive settlement of Armenians from Persia and Turkey to Nakhichevan and other areas of the Caucasus. Special clauses of the Turkmenchay and Adrianople treaties allowed for this.() [Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Turkmanchai treaty.] According to Russian envoy to Persia Alexandr Griboyedov, the number of Armenian population settled in Nakhichevan in 1828 exceeded all reasonable limits, and this resulted in tensions between the newcomers and local population. Griboyedov 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.() [A.S. Griboyedov. Letter to count I.F.Paskevich]. Nakhichevan khanate was dissolved in 1828, its territory was merged with the territory of the Erivan khanate and the area became part of the new Armenian oblast (region), which in 1849 was renamed the Erivan governorate of the Russian Empire. Nakhichevan became the Nakhichevan uyezd of the Erivan governorate of the Russian empire.

After the February Revolution, the region was under the authority of Special Transcaucasian Committee of the Russian Provisional Government. Musavat Party proclaimed in Nakhichevan the Republic of Araks. Along with Nagorno-Karabakh and Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik), it was heavily contested between the newly formed and short-lived states of the Democratic Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. In late 1918, Nakhichevan was occupied by the British. After the withdrawal of British troops, it was occupied by the 11th Red Army and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on 28 July 1920 with "close ties" to the Azerbaijan SSR. In November 1920, on the verge of taking over Armenia, the Bolsheviks in order to attract public support, promised they would allot Nakhichevan to Armenia, along with Karabakh and Zangezur. This was fulfilled when the Azerbaijani Revolutionary Committee issued a declaration celebrating the "victory of Soviet power in Armenia," proclaimed that both Nakhichevan and Zangezur should be awarded to the Armenian people as a sign of Azerbaijani people's support for Armenia's fight against the former Dashnak government Tim Potier. Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia: A Legal Appraisal, p. 4. ISBN 9041114777:

Vladimir Lenin, although welcoming this act of "great Soviet fraternalism" where "boundaries had no meaning among the family of Soviet peoples," did not agree with the motion and instead called for the people of Nakhichevan to be consulted in a referendum. This referendum, held at the beginning of 1921, showed that 90% of Nakhichevan's population wanted to be included in the Azerbaijan SSR "with the rights of an autonomous republic." Thus, the December 1920 treaty between the Russian SFSR and Armenia, which recognized Armenian claims to Zangezur, but not Nakhichevan, was upheld. On October 23, 1921, the Soviet Union agreed to cede areas once comprising the western region of Russian Armenia (Kars, Iğdır, Ardahan, and Artvin) to the new Republic of Turkey in exchange for Adjara in the Treaty of Kars. In Annex III of the treaty, it was agreed that the Soviets would also cede to Turkey a small strip of land that would allow it to share a border with Nakhichevan and thus the Azerbaijan SSR. [Text of the Treaty of Kars] With these boundaries firmly defined, the Soviet Union offically established the Nakhichevan ASSR on February 9, 1924.

With the rise of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan's Popular Front, in the summer of 1989, managed to pressure the Azerbaijan SSR to instigate a partial railway and air blockade against Armenia, effectively crippling Armenia's economy as 85% of the cargo and goods arrived through rail traffic. In response, Armenia closed the railway to Nakhichevan, thereby strangling the exclave's only link to the rest of the Soviet Union. During the Nagorno-Karabakh War, areas in Armenia's southern province of Syunik were reportedly being shelled from Nakhichevan. Armenia responded by invading and occupying the Nakhichevan exclave of Karki. Although Azerbaijan accused Armenia of planning to advance into the main territory, they abstained from doing so because of fears by a possible intervention from Turkey on behalf of Azerbaijan, thus triggering a greater regional conflict. Had Armenia invaded Nakhichevan, Turkey would have been faced with the threat of being completely cut off from Azerbaijan geographically.Michael P. Croissant. The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications, p. 81. ISBN 0275962415

In January 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Nakhichevan ASSR issued a declaration stating the intention for Nakhichevan 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, beating Lithuania's declaration by only a few weeks. However, this was short-lived and soon Nakhichevan joined the rest of Azerbaijan when it became independent in 1991 as the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. It now exists and is internationally recognized as a constituent part of Azerbaijan governed by its own elected parliament.

Administrative Subdivisions

Subdivisions of Nakhichevan.

Main article: Subdivisions of Azerbaijan

Nakhichevan is subdivided into eight administrative divisions. Seven of these are rayons. Its capital, the city (şəhər) of Nakhichevan is treated separately. Under Soviet rule, the rayons of Sharur and Sadarak were originally bounded together, forming the rayon of Ilyich, named, obviously after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Its capital was a town of the same name. In 1991, the rayon was split and renamed by the government of Azerbaijan.

Babek (Babək)
Julfa (Culfa)
Kangarli (Kəngərli)
Nakhichevan (city; Naxçıvan)
Ordubad
Sadarak (Sədərək) (includes the Karki exclave in Armenia)
Shakhbuz (Şahbuz)
Sharur (Şərur)

Geography

Nakhichevan is an atmospheric, semi-desert region that is separated from the main portion of Azerbaijan by Armenia. The Zangezur mountain range makes up its southeastern border with Armenia while the Araks River defines its border with Iran. It is extremely arid and mountainous and contains large salt deposits. Major industries in the region include the mining of minerals such as salt, molybdenum, and lead, cotton ginning/cleaning, silk spinning, fruit canning, meat packing, tobacco producing, growing of grain and market garden produce, and, in the dryer regions, sheep farming. The Republic contains very basic facilities and lacks heating fuel during the winter.

Demographics

As of 1990, Nakhichevan's population was estimated to be 350,000. 98% of the population are Azeris. Ethnic Russians constituted the remaining population. The Armenians remaining were expelled by Azerbaijani forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War as part of the forceful exchange of population between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Former Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev was born in Nakhichevan.

Famous people from Nakhichevan

Throughout history, Nakhichevan has brought up many prominent people. These include:

Lusik Aguletsi
Hindushah ibn Nakhichevani
Abdurrakhman en Neshevi
Ekmouladdin Nakhichevani
Ajami Nakhchivani
Ehsan Khan Nakhichevanski
Kelbali Khan Nakhichevanski
Ismail Khan Nakhichevanski
Hussein Khan Nakhichevanski
Jamshid khan Nakhichevanski
Garegin Njdeh
Heydar Aliyev
Abulfaz Elchibey

Disputes

Examples of Armenian khachkars from Julfa.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation claims that Nakhichevan belongs to Armenia. The programme of the party states: The borders of United Armenia shall include all territories designated as Armenia by the Treaty of Sevres as well as the regions of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Javakhk, and Nakhichevan.[Programme of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation] In the heat of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenian government officials denied these claims.

Nakhichevan's parliament issued a non-binding declaration in the late 1990's recognizing the sovereignty of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and calling upon Azerbaijan to do so. While sympathetic to the TRNC, Azerbaijan has not followed suit because of Greek Cypriot threats to recognize the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.[Overview - Cyprus Country Guide - World Travel Guide]

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of embarking on campaign between 1998 and December 2005 to completely demolish the cemetery of finely carved Armenian khachkars in Julfa. [World Watches In Silence As Azerbaijan Wipes Out Armenian Culture] Numerous Armenian organizations and authorities, including the Foreign Ministry, have sent official protests to the UNESCO and the United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan denies there has been destruction despite a confirmation by the IWPR.[Azerbaijan: Famous Medieval Cemetery Vanishes] According to the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the US Khafiz Pashayev, the videos and photographs that have surfaced show some unknown people destroying some mid-size stones and is not clear of what ethnicity those people are. Instead, the ambassador asserts that the Armenian side started a propaganda campaign against Azerbaijan to divert attention from the destruction of Azerbaijani monuments in Armenia. [Regnum News Agency Report] On May 30, 2006, Azerbaijan barred the European Parliament from inspecting and examining the ancient burial site. [European Parliament: Azeri Authorities Committed Flagrant Vandalism Act] 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." [European Parliament On Destruction of Cultural Heritage]

Footnotes

External links

Subdivisions of Azerbaijan

Countries and territories of Asia

(1) Partly in Europe; (2) Partly or wholly reckoned in Oceania; (3) Mostly in Africa; (4) See Status of Taiwan.

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