User talk:Nepaheshgar/KarabaghKhanate

My main interest is the fact that I believe USSR era histography has affected scholarship in the republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and etc. Sometimes this histography was designed to maximize the distance between Iran and some of these countries. This claim is easily sourced..and some claims like Babak Khorramdin allied with Armenians, Georgians and fought against Persians and etc.

Anyhow, the Khanate of Ganja for example was extremely loyal to the Shah but some other Khanates were much less dependent. Other reason is to learn about the era and the brave men who fought for their country and religion. All the major powers have drawn maps from the era and the territory at the time is considered part of Iran and the Perso-Azeri Shi’ite World.

To the topic at hand: 1) Independence , Semi-independence, Vassal, nominal control are all words used by scholars. So either all should be mentioned in the intro or none. 2) For what era to these words apply. They definitely do not apply from 1746 continuously to 1822 as one source which invalidates itself alleges. 3) Territorial extent. If the territory of the Khanate was sometimes reduced to behind the fort of Shusha, this should be mentioned. Sometimes the Khanate dominated Erevan, Nakhchivan and Ganja (per Iranica).

• 
  Map showing Chirwan and Caucus as part of Persia

Other European maps: [1] (1768) [2]

[3] (1817) [4] (1822) [5] (1844) (Both treaties applied and Persia is reduced)

Primary References

Note Wikipedia's policy is that you can list primary sources but can not intrepret it them. Nevertheless it is worth listing these sources (Thanks to Dr. Alborz). Note: Rostam al-Tavarikh was written in the late 18th century written by Mohammad Hashem Asef

As it has been discussed here[6],there is doubt in naming the Khanates as Independent. I have scanned a new document to show that the Javanshir clan was not independent and was considered to be a Beylerbeygi of Qajar government.The letter's date is 13 May 1811 ( Jumada al-awwal 1227 AH).

Fathali Shah to Mehdi gholi Javanshir -Page 1

Fathali Shah to Mehdi gholi Javanshir -Page 2

It is written in the page 2 , sentence 3 ,Mehdi gholi Javanshir is called as Beylerbeygi of the Karabakh vilayaat(province)

Thanks all for the concern and also for discussion.
Abbasgulu Bakikhanov’s Golestani Iram was originally in Persian, and although Bakikhanov may have a role in translating it to Russian, but still the original language is more reliable, either for his fluency in that language or because of the political reasons that may be involved for Bakikhanov and/or other translators to the Russian that was the language of the Bakikhanovs lords in the Russian army. In the Persian text , it is written as fallows :

Persian: از این مقدمه اغتشاش به همه ولایات ایران راه یافته دیار شیروان بیشتر از همه محل آشوب و اختلال و هریک از ممالک آن حکومتگاه امیری بر وجه استقلال گردید

"Because of this prelude , unrest accede to all of the Iranian provinces and the land of Shiravn ,more than other [provinces],became a place for chaos and turbulence , and any of it's states turned to the ruling-place of lords that ruled as an independent lord"
(That's the end sentence of the section 4 : I think that's the original section and that's different with the Russian text) --Alborz Fallah (talk) 11:02, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

• More references : Tarikh-i Qarabagh, Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi , Two chronicles on the history of Karabagh:Mirza Jamal Javanshr's Tarikh-e Qarabaq and Mirza Adigozal Beg's Qarabag-Nameh/introduction and annotated by George A.Bournoutian.ISBN:1-56859-179-9.,Page 70 :

“ He (Panah Khan) acted humbly and send gifts and letters in which he declared his obedience to Adel Shah ”

Page 71 :

“ A trusted messenger of Emir Aslan Khan Sardar arrived in fortress of Bayat with Adel Shah's firman(decree) granting him (Panah Khan) the title of khan and appointing him the governor of Karabagh.(In addition, the Shah) sent a costly Khal'at , a horse with a gold-inlaid saddle , and a jeweled sword. ”

Golshan-e Morad , Mirza Mohammad Ghaffari Kashani , page 175 : Karim Khan's order to Panah Khan , to battle against Fath Ali Khan Afshar (of Urmiye).
Two chronicles on the history of Karabagh:Mirza Jamal Javanshr's Tarikh-e Qarabaq and Mirza Adigozal Beg's Qarabag-Nameh/introduction and annotated by George A.Bournoutian.ISBN:1-56859-179-9.,Page 83:

“ Karim Khan freed Ibrahim Khalil Aqa , who was imprisoned in Urmiye, and had him brought to him a horse,sword , khalat as well as the title of khan , and the authorithy to rule Karabagh was granted to him and he was sent with gifts and a retinue to Karabagh. ”

Rostam al-Tavarikh , Mohammad Hashem Asef , second edition , Sepehr pub. ,1348,Tehran , page 351 : Name of the four vali's, beglarbegi's and rulers of that time (Karim Khan):

“ Fattali Khan in Qoba is the great Beglarbegi and Panah Khan in shushi ....عالیجاه فتعلی خان در قبه بیگلربیگی با عظمت و جلال و مطاعیت بر همه بلاد آذربایجان داشته و همچنین عالیجاه مصطفی خان قراداغلو در قراداغ و فراباغ بیگلربیگی - عالیجاه مصطفی خان شیروانشاه خان چوپان در شهر شیروان بیگلربیگی - عالیجاه پناه خان جهانشیر در شهر شوشی بیگلربیگی ”

Dr. Alborz also said:

• To add more evidence,let me quote some other facts from Mirza Jamal Javanshr:

“ He (Fath Ali Shah) gave the governorship of Qaradagh with all it's income to Ibrahim Khan.(page 113) ”

--Alborz Fallah (talk) 19:32, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

• In the book of Ahmad Beg Javanshir, (Published in Baku 1961 :Ahmedbek Dzhavanshir , O Politicheskom sushchest vovanii Karabakhskogo khanstva , Page 92-93 )he says that the Persian party in Karabagh led by Mirza Ali Beg , Fazel Beg , and others urged Ibrahim khan to follow the example of Shakki and acknowledge Fath Ali Shah. Silver coins bearing the name of the shah , were then struck in Shushi. (In the previous talk that we had about the minting of coins [7], it was considered it significant by your side to mint coins)--Alborz Fallah (talk) 19:32, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Sources saying semi-independent (for some period)

1)

Alstadt, Audrey L. “Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Soviet World: Case Studies and Analysis” in: L. M. Drobizheva, Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Soviet World: Case Studies and Analysis, M.E. Sharpe, 1996. Pg 229, Excerpt:”At the time of the Russian conquest early in the nineteenth century, semi-independent Karabagh Khanate (princely State) was ruled by indigenous Khan(prince), probably an ethnic Turkic, and vassal to the Shah of Iran”.

2)

Svante Cornell, "Small nations and great powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus", Richmond: Curzon Press, 2001. Excerpt from pg 67: “By the middle of the eighteen century, the internal conflict between the ruling family had destroyed the local Armenian elite in Karabakh. This led to the region slipping out of Armenia control, and a Turkic ruler managing to impose his rule and create semi-independent dynastic state, the khanate of Karabakh, based in Shusha. The treaty of Gulistan, which ended this war, in fact led to Karabakh officially passing from nominal Persian control to Russian control.” Excerpt from pg 37: “In 1812 Russia ended a war with Turkey and went on the offensive against Iran. This lead to the treaty of Gulistan in 1813, which gave Russia control over large territories that hitherto had been at least nominally Iranian, and moreover a say in Iranian succession politics. The whole of Daghestan and Georgia, including Mingrelia and Abkhazia were formally ceded to Russia, as well as eight Azeri Khanates (Karabakh, Ganja, Sheki, Kuba, Shirvan, Talysh, Baku, and Derbent). However as we have seen the Persians soon challenged Russia ’s rule in the area, resulting in a military disaster. Iran lost control over the whole of Azerbaijan, and with the Turkemenchai settlement of 1828 Russia threatened to establish its control over Azerbaijan unless Iran paid a war indemnity.”

Source saying Russia took it from Persia

Potier, Tim (2001). Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia: A Legal Appraisal. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1: "Panah Ali-Khan founded the Karabakh Khanate in the mid 18th century. To defend it, in the 1750s, he build Panakhabad fortress (subsequently renamed Shusha, after a nearby village) which became the capital of the Khanate. It was not until 1805 that the Russian empire gained control over the Karabakh Khanate, from Persia.".

Source saying independent from 1747 to 1822

Raimo Vayrynen and Leila Alieva , “The South Caucus: The Breakdown of the Soviet Empire” in “War, Hunger, and Displacement: The Origins of Humanitarian Emergencies”, Oxford University press, 2000. pg 406, excerpt: “Karabakh was one of three Azerbaijani centres of the Persian Safavid empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and subsequently became an independent khanate in 1747-1822 when Russia united it with Caspian Provinces”.

Sources not specific on the duration of independence but mentioning independence

Walker, Edward, “No war, no peace in the Caucus” in Bertsch, Gary Kenneth (2000). “Crossroads and Conflict: Security and Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia”. Routledge, footnote on 297: "Shusha became the capital of an independent "Azeri" khanate in 1752 (Azeri in the sense of Muslims who spoke a version of the Turkic language we call Azeri today)."

Source saying Ibrahim Khalil Khan feared for his independence

Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh (May 1997). "Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran". International Journal of Middle East Studies 29 (2): 210. “In 1795, Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the wali of Qarabagh, warned Sultan Selim III of Aqa Muhammad Khan's ambitions. Fearing for his independence, he informed the Sultan of Aqa Muhammad Khan's ability to subdue Azerbaijan and later Qarabagh, Erivan, and Georgia.”

an old source mentioning the Russians found the area independent when they arrived

Baddeley, John Frederick (1908). The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus. Harvard University: Longmans, Green and Co., 71. “Potto sums up Tsitsianoff's achievements and character as follows: "In the short time he passed there (in Transcaucasia) he managed to completely alter the map of the country. He found it composed of minutely divided, independent Muhammadan States leaning upon Persia, namely, the khanates of Baku, Shirvan, Shekeen, Karabagh, Gandja and Erivan..."”

Cambridge History of Iran

Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin (1991). The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press, 126. ISBN 0521200954. “Agha Muhammad Khan could now turn to the restoration of the outlying provinces of the Safavid kingdom. Returning to Tehran in the spring of 1795, he assembled a force of some 60,000 cavalry and infantry and in Shawwal Dhul-Qa'da/May, set off for Azarbaijan, intending to conquer the country between the rivers Aras and Kura, formerly under Safavid control. This region comprised a number of independent khanates of which the most important was Qarabagh, with its capital at Shusha; Ganja, with its capital of the same name; Shirvan accross the Kura, with its capital at Shamakhi; and to the north-west, on both banks of the Kura, Christian Georgia (Gurjistan), with its capital at Tiflis. ...

Both sides desired a settlement, and Ibrahim Khan eventually decided to submit to Agha Muhammad Khan, to pay regular tribute and to surrender hostages, although the Qajars were still denied entry into Shusha." Okay so right in this instance, there was a period where he was not independent and large portions of Qarabagh was under Agha Muhammad Khan, Ibrahim Khan submitted and Ibrahim Khan was just behind the walls of Shusha. So that by itself contradicts continous independence of all the area of Qarabagh Khanate from 1747 to 1805.

”

According to Cambridge History of Iran:

“ "Even when rulers on the plateau lacked the means to effect suzerainty beyond the Aras, the neighboring Khanates were still regarded as Iranian dependencies. Naturally, it was those Khanates located closes to the province of Azarbaijan which most frequently experienced attempts to re-impose Iranian suzerainty: the Khanates of Erivan, Nakhchivan and Qarabagh across the Aras, and the cis-Aras Khanate of Talish, with its administrative headquarters located at Lankaran and therefore very vulnerable to pressure, either from the direction of Tabriz or Rasht. Beyond the Khanate of Qarabagh, the Khan of Ganja and the Vali of Gurjistan (ruler of the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom of south-east Georgia), although less accessible for purposes of coercion, were also regarded as the Shah's vassals, as were the Khans of Shakki and Shirvan, north of the Kura river. The contacts between Iran and the Khanates of Baku and Qubba, however, were more tenuous and consisted mainly of maritime commercial links with Anzali and Rasht. The effectiveness of these somewhat haphazard assertions of suzeiranty depended on the ability of a particular Shah to make his will felt, and the determination of the local khans to evade obligations they regarded as onerous." ”

Richard Tapper

Tapper, Richard, "FRONTIER NOMADS OF IRAN. A political and social history of the Shahsevan". Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997. pp 114-115. Excerpt:"In 1762, while at war with Kazem Khan of Qara-Dagh, Panah Khan submitted to Karim Khan Zand, who was about to besiege Urmiyeh. After the fall of the city, Karim took Panah Khan himself among the hostages to Shiraz where he soon died. His son Ebrahim Khalil Khan was sent back to Qarabagh as governor". pg 123: "Ebrahim Khalil Khan sent Agha Mohammad Shah's body to Tehran, and in return Fath' Ali Shah appointed him the governor of Qara-Bagh and proposed marriage with his daughter Agha Beyim. Agha Baji, as she came to be called, was brought to court accompanied by her brother Abol' Fath Khan, and became Fath' Ali Shah's twelfth wife; highly respected at the court, for some reason remained a virgin".

Encyclopedia Iranica

"Ibrahim Khalil Khan" in Encyclopedia Iranica by George Bourtounian.[8]

Excerpts: "When Karim Khan Zand took control of much of Persia, he forced Panah Khan to come to Shiraz, where he died as a hostage. Ebrahim, succeeding his father (1760), not only ruled over most of Qarabagh, but also became one of the major potentates in the Caucasus. Together with King Erekle II of Georgia, he dominated the khanates of Erevan (q.v.), Nakhjavan, and Ganja during much of the last quarter of the 18th century (Bournoutian, p. 7). When Erekle accepted Russian protection under the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk, Ebrahim was tempted by a similar offer. Russian preference for Georgia and the absence of a strong ruler in Persia after the death of Karimm Khan, however, kept Ebrahim aloof from the Russians

In 1795 Aga Moháammad Khan crossed the Araxes and entered eastern Armenia. The khans of Erevan, Nakhjavan, and Ganja submitted, but Ebrahim Khan attacked. He was defeated and sought refuge in the fortress of Shusha. The mountainous terrain and Shusha's splendid fortifications stood in the way of Aga Mohammad's plan for total conquest of the region. By a verbal truce Ebrahim acknowledged Qajar supremacy and was permitted to continue his tenure as khan of Qarabagh"

In 1797 Aga Mohammad Khan, angered by the betrayal of Ebrahim and other khans in the Caucasus, attacked Shusha and captured it. Ebrahim fled to his in-laws in Daghestan. Five days after the conquest of Shusha, Aga Moháammad Khan was assassinated in that city.

Ebrahim Khan returned to Shusha and ordered that the shah's body be honorably buried until further instructions from the nephew and heir of Aga Mohammad Baba Khan, who soon assumed the title of Fatha Ali Shah. Ebrahim, in order to maintain peaceful relations with Tehran and retain his position as the khan of Qarabagh, gave his daughter Begom, known as Aga-baji, as one of the wives of the new shah (Ba@mda@d, I, p. 12). Fatha-Ali Shah claimed the Caucasus and stationed the Persian forces in Tabriz. The new Russian offensive in Georgia and Ganja resulted in the exile of the Georgian royal family and the death of the khan of Ganja, his son, and many Muslims. These developments finally convinced Ebrahm to come to terms with the Russians. "

Note Iranica for example: "On 2 June 1806 the Russians, instigated by Ebrahim's grandson and fearful of their own vulnerability, attacked the camp and killed Ebrahim, one of his wives, a daughter, and his youngest son (Atkin, 1979, pp. 79-98). The Persian army withdrew, and Qarabagh remained in Russian hands. To attract the much-needed support from the local Muslims, General Gudovich, the new commander of the Caucasus, appointed Mahdiqoli Khan, the remaining son of Ebrahim, as khan of Qarabagh. Mahdiqoli served the Russians until 1822; then, fearing Russia's wrath for the overtures he had made to the Persian government, he fled to Persia. Russia then incorporated the khanate into her empire. In 1836 Mahdiqoli returned to Qarabagh to claim his family property and lived the rest of his life as a Russian pensioner (Atkin, 1979, pp. 99-100)."

Swietchowski

Swietchowski: "The brief and successful Russian campaign of 1812 was concluded with the Treaty of Gulistan, which was signed on October 12 of the following year. The treaty provided for the incorporation into the Russian Empire of vast tracts of Iranian territory, including Daghestan, Georgia with the Sheragel province, Imeretia, Guria, Mingrelia, and Abkhazia, as well as the khanates of Karabagh, Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, Kuba, Baku, and Talysh"

Sources not being used due to possible bias concern?

Aagop Jack Hacikyan, Gabriel. Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk, “The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times”, Wayne State University Press, 2005. pg 9, excerpt: “At the close of the eighteen century, the Eastern Armenian Khanates of Yerevan, Nakhjivan, Karabagh, Ganja were under Iranian rule”.

Michael P. Croissant, “The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications”, Praeger/Greenwood, 1998. pg 12, excerpt: “In the momentous event for the development of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Russia Annexed the Nagorno-Karabagh region from Iran in 1805 as a result of the first Russo-Iranian war. Administered by the Iranians as a collective source known as Karabakh Khanate… In an attempt to consolidate their rule, the Russians dissolved the numerous administrative units in the conquered territories, and reorganized them in the handful of large guberniia, or provinces”.