Karabakh Council

For other Armenian national councils, see Armenian National Council (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Karabakh Committee.

The Karabakh Council (Armenian: Ղարաբաղի Ազգային խորհրդ, romanized: Gharabaghi Azgayin khorhrd, lit. 'Karabakh National council')^[1] was the unrecognised government over Mountainous Karabakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in eastern Armenia between 1918 and 1920. The council's body was elected by the assembly of Mountainous Karabakh—the representative body of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh—on 27 July 1918. Initially it was called the People's Government of Karabakh, but in September 1918 it was renamed into the Karabakh Council.^{[citation needed]} The Karabakh Council's control throughout 1918–1920 did not exceed the ethnic Armenian locales of Karabakh which were subordinate to them. The council's statehood related to the historical Artsakh province and the modern-day self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh founded in 1991.^[2] Its capital was the city of Shushi (Shusha).

Karabakh Council Ղարաբաղի Ազգային խորհրդ
Map of the Karabakh Council 1918–1920
Capital	Shushi (1918–1919) Shosh (1919–1920)
Common languages	Armenian
Religion	Armenian Apostolic
Government	Council
• Chairman	Yeghishe Ishkhanian
• Secretary	Melikset Yesayan
• Foreign Affairs Department	Ashot Melik-Hovsepian
Legislature	Assembly of Armenians of Karabakh
Historical era	Interwar period
• Established	22 July 1918
• Sovietization	29 April 1920
Area
• Total	5,400 km^2 (2,100 sq mi)
Population
• 1916	142,572
Preceded by Succeeded by Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Today part of	Artsakh Azerbaijan

Formation

According to Armenian sources the Karabakh Council was an independent national government which exercised its powers during the periods following the congresses. Emanuele Aliprandi, an Italian writer who edits the bi-weekly newsletter of the Italian Armenian community's online website has published such claims in Le ragioni del Karabakh (2010), which is "the first text in Italian on the little Republic of Artsakh."^[3] Aliprandi claims that Council considered itself authorized to act both as a legislative and an executive body, and that the decisions on major political and economic issues of the region during 1918–1920 were taken by the Karabakh Congress. Geographically, the scope of the powers of the Council covered the mountainous regions of Karabakh, including the Armenian villages of Gandzak District.^{[citation needed]}

The first provisional government included:

• Justice Department: Commissar Arso Hovhannisian, Levon Vardapetian
• Military Department: Harutiun Tumanian
• Department of Education: Rouben Shahnazarian
• Refugees Department: Moushegh Zakharian
• Control Department: Anoush Ter-Mikaelian
• Department of Foreign Affairs: Ashot Melik-Hovsepian.^{[citation needed]}

The Council was chaired by Yeghishe Ishkhanian, and Melikset Yesayan was elected its secretary.^{[citation needed]}

When the Yerevan-based Armenian Congress of Eastern Armenians was established at October 1917, it incorporated the Armenian National Councils all around the Russian Empire including activities of Armenian National Councils in Karabakh, Tiflis and Baku.^{[citation needed]}

History

From 1918 until the Soviet takeover of the region in 1920, the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic both sought control over Nagorno-Karabakh.^[4][5][6]

Some authors claim that Nagorno-Karabakh was not a part of Azerbaijan in 1918–1920 and that it was an independent entity affiliated the Republic of Armenia,^[7] however, Azerbaijani historians reject this idea and affirm the region was consistently a part of Azerbaijan.^[8]

Following Armenia's signing of the Treaty of Batum and capitulation to the Ottoman Empire, Mountainous Karabakh was declared an independent political state by the convocation of the First Assembly of Armenians of Karabakh on 22 July 1918.^[9] By September 1918, Azerbaijani–Ottoman forces captured the city of Shushi, however, were unable to penetrate the countryside due to the efforts of local Armenians.^[10]

Following the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, Ottoman forces were obligated to withdraw from the South Caucasus, including Shushi, after which their garrison was supplemented by the British. On 15 January 1919, the British governor of Baku, General Thomson appointed Khosrov bey Sultanov the "Governor-General of Karabakh and Zangezur" within Azerbaijan, despite neither region being completely under Azerbaijani control. On 5 June 1919, due to the refusal of the Karabakh assembly to submit to Azerbaijani authority as prescribed by British command, 2,000 mounted Kurdish irregulars led by the Sultan bey Sultanov—the brother of Khosrov—looted several Armenian villages in the outskirts of Shushi including Khaibalikend, Krkejan, Pahliul, and Jamillu, as well as several remote hamlets resulting in the deaths of some 600 Armenians.^[11]

As a result of the bloodshed, the Karabakh Council was compelled to sign a provisional accord with the Azerbaijani government on 22 August 1919, submitted to their rule pending their final status decided in the Paris Peace Conference. The signing ceremony was attended by members of the Karabakh Council, Bishop Vahan, Khosrov bey Sultanov, and other notable Armenian and Muslim officials. The agreement provided for Armenian cultural autonomy, the formation of a six-member council of three Armenians and three Muslims, the continued existence for the 4 uezds which make up the Karabakh region, the limitation of Azerbaijani garrisons to the cities of Shushi and Khankend (Stepanakert).^[11]

Following the signing of the agreement, the British forces stationed in the region immediately withdrew, setting the stage for Azerbaijan to enforce its will on Karabakh beyond the limits defined in the provisional agreement. Despite the agreement stipulating the requirement of consent of two-thirds of the six-member council for Azerbaijan to make military movements, in November 1919 Azerbaijani forces were being transferred throughout Karabakh in preparation of an incursion into Armenian-controlled Zangezur.^[11]

As the Paris Peace Conference was inconclusive on the issue of the South Caucasus territorial disputes, on 19 February 1920 Khosrov bey Sultanov issued an ultimatum to the Karabakh Council to consent to the region's permanent incorporation into Azerbaijan. During meetings of the Eighth Assembly of Armenians of Karabakh from 28 February to 4 March, the delegates expressed discontent with the Azerbaijani administration and warned that they would resort to countermeasures if their existence was threatened.^[10] Despite the approaching Red Army of the Russian SFSR, Azerbaijan moved the bulk of its forces including 5,000 soldiers, 6 field guns and 8 mountain guns to Karabakh.

In the uprising that followed, due to the unsuccessful attempt by local Armenian forces to disarm the Azerbaijani garrisons in Shushi and Khankend, Shushi befell a pogrom which saw the Armenian half of the town looted and destroyed, with its Armenian inhabitants evicted and 500–20,000 being massacred.^{[12][13][14][15][16]} To support its forces in Shushi, the Azerbaijani army penetrated the Askeran pass, capturing the town of Askeran, and secured the road into Mountainous Karabakh. Azerbaijani forces were also successful in recapturing Armenian villages in the northern sector of the region known as Gyulistan or Shahumyan. Shortly after the Sovietization of Azerbaijan, the 11th Army of Soviet Russia entered Mountainous Karabakh, routing the forces of Armenia, thus permanently ending the existence of the Karabakh Council.^[17][18]

According to Armenian-American historian Richard G. Hovannisian, if the Republic of Armenia had incorporated Mountainous Karabakh they could recruit some 10,000 local Armenians for their army which desperately lacked manpower in its objective of expanding westward into Armenia's awarded territories.^[19]

References

1. "Հակամարտության ծագում. 1918–1921 թթ. | NKR". www.nkr.am. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
2. James Minahan The Council Encyclopedia of the stateless nations 2002 Page 901 "The section is separated from the Republic of Armenia by some 15 miles of Azeri territory, which has been under Karabakhi and Armenian occupation since 1993. Nagornu-Karabakh was declared independent as the Republic of Artsakh in January 1992. Artsakh's status remains unsettled. Officially the area forms an autonomous district of the Republic of Azerbaidzhan. Republic of Artsakh (Na^orno-Karabakb): 1,699 sq. mi.— 4,402 sq. km, (20O2e) ..."
3. Italian Armenian community publication note on Emanuele Aliprandi Le ragioni del Karabakh 31 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine "il primo testo in italiano sulla piccola repubblica caucasica dell’Artsakh."
4. Jerry L. Johnson Crossing Borders – Confronting History: Intercultural Adjustment 2000 Page 142 "Under Soviet rule, ethnic tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh were suppressed. However, with ... From 1918 until the Soviet takeover of the region in 1920, Armenians and Azerbaijanis battled over the region. In 1920, the ... "
5. Nicholas Holding, Deirdre Holding Armenia 2011 – Page 265 "... Armenia and the equally new Azerbaijan Democratic Republic both sought control over Nagorno Karabagh between 1918 and 1920. ... In August 1919, this National Council entered into a provisional treaty arrangement with the Azerbaijan government to try to halt the ..."
6. M. Wesley Shoemaker Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States 2012 – Page 196 "... Armenian nationalists joined with Georgians and Azerbaijani to form the Transcaucasus Federal Republic in April 1918, but the new state collapsed in just over a month. An independent Armenia was then declared on May 26, 1918. ... The loss to Turkey in 1920 led to a change in government and the creation of the Soviet Republic of Armenia in December 1920."
7. Heiko Krüger The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis 2010 Page 48 "Consequently Moscow could not alter the borders itself, nor did it intend to in the case of Nagorno- Karabakh. ... In denying recognition to the illegally established Armenian parallel government in Karabakh (“National Council”),307 Moscow ... Armenia argues that the transformation of Azerbaijan was guided by the notion of re- founding the first Republic of Azerbaijan 1918–1920 and revoking the Treaty .."
8. Tofik Kocharli – Armenian Deception: Historical Information 2004– Page 31 "The Armenian government and the Armenian parliament have not even expressed an official attitude to this decision. The decision has just remained on paper. Thus the claims that Nagorno-Karabakh was not a part of Azerbaijan in 1918–1920 or that it was independent, or that it was a part of the Republic of Armenia are nonsense. The claim that Azerbaijan didn't have sovereignty."
9. "Karabakh: 1918–1921 | NKR". www.nkr.am. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
10. Микаелян, В.А. (1992). Докладная записка Карабахского армянского Национального Совета Правительству Армении о военных и политических событиях в Арцахе с декабря 1917 г. [Report of the Karabakh Armenian National Council to the Government of Armenia on the political and military events since December 1917, in Nagorno Karabakh in 1918–1923. Collection of Documents and Materials.]. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences.
11. Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971–1996). The Republic of Armenia. Vol. 1. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 176–177. ISBN 0-520-01805-2. OCLC 238471.
12. Leeuw, Charles van der (2000). Azerbaijan : a quest for identity, a short history. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 120. ISBN 0-312-21903-2. OCLC 39538940.
13. "The British administrator of Karabakh Col. Chatelword did not prevent discrimination against Armenians by the Tatar administration of Gov. Saltanov. The ethnic clashes ended with the terrible massacres in which most Armenians in Shusha town perished. The Parliament in Baku refused to even condemn those responsible for the massacres in Shusha and the war started in Karabakh. A. Zubov (in Russian) А.Зубов Политическое будущее Кавказа: опыт ретроспективно-сравнительного анализа, журнал "Знамья", 2000, No. 4, http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2000/4/zubov.html
14. "massacre of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh's capital, Shushi (called Shusha by the Azerbaijanis)", Kalli Raptis, "Nagorno-Karabakh and the Eurasian Transport Corridor",
15. "A month ago after the massacres of Shushi, on 19 April 1920, prime-ministers of England, France and Italy with participation of the representatives of Japan and USA collected in San-Remo..." Giovanni Guaita (in Russian) Джованни ГУАЙТА, Армения между кемалистским молотом и большевистской наковальней // «ГРАЖДАНИН», M., # 4, 2004 http://www.grazhdanin.com/grazhdanin.phtml?var=Vipuski/2004/4/statya17&number=%B94
16. Verluise, Pierre (April 1995), Armenia in Crisis: The 1988 Earthquake, Wayne State University Press, p. 6, ISBN 0814325270
17. Kadishev, A.B. (1961). Interventsia I Grazhdanskaja Vojna v Zakavkazje. Moscow. pp. 196–200.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
18. Kazemzadeh, Firuz (2008). The struggle for Transcaucasia (1917–1921) ([New ed.] ed.). London: Anglo Caspian Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-9560004-0-8. OCLC 303046844.
19. Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971–1996). The Republic of Armenia. Vol. 3. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01805-2. OCLC 238471.