Page "Nakhchivan" Paragraph 19

After the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Nakhchivan Khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828.

With the onset of Russian rule, the Tsarist authorities encouraged resettlement of Armenians to Nakhchivan and other areas of the Caucasus from the Persian and Ottoman Empires.

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.