Nor Bayazet uezd

The Nor Bayazet or Novobayazet uezd[lower-alpha 1] was a county (uezd) of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The uezd bordered the Alexandropol uezd to the north, the Etchmiadzin and Erivan uezds to the west, the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd to the south, and the Kazakh, Elizavetpol, and Jevanshir uezds of the Elizavetpol Governorate to the east. Centered on Lake Sevan, the Nor Bayazet uezd included most of the contemporary province of Gegharkunik and northern parts of the Kotayk Province of Armenia. The administrative center of the uezd was the city Novobayazet (present-day Gavar) for which the district was eponymously named.[2]

Nor Bayazet uezd
Новобаязетскій уѣздъ
Uezd
Coat of arms of Nor Bayazet uezd
Coat of arms
Location in the Erivan Governorate
Location in the Erivan Governorate
CountryRussian Empire
ViceroyaltyCaucasus
GovernorateErivan
Established1840
Abolished1930
CapitalNovobayazet
(present-day Gavar)
Area
 • Total4,691.96 km2 (1,811.58 sq mi)
Population
 (1916)
 • Total188,859
 • Density40/km2 (100/sq mi)
 • Urban
7.81%
 • Rural
92.19%

In 1916, the district was over 90% rural and home to over 129,300 Armenians and 53,700 Muslims (including 3,000 Kurds). Resulting from the Ottoman invasion of the South Caucasus, in 1918–1920 the population of the district contracted significantly due to famine and large-scale ethnic cleansing.

History

The administrative center of the uezd, Novobayazet, as indicated by its name meaning "New Bayazıt", was founded by Armenian immigrants from Doğubayazıt in the early 19th century who accompanied the withdrawing Imperial Russian Army to escape persecution in the Ottoman Empire.[3]

After the Russian Revolution, conditions in the Nor Bayazet uezd were worsened by the presence of 60,000 refugees in 1918.[4] Over the winter of 1918–1919, some 25,000 people in the uezd starved to death.[5] Whilst controlled by the First Republic of Armenia, the Nor Bayazet uezd in 1918–1919 was emptied of its Muslim population by the destruction of 100 villages by the Armenian army,[6] however, this was instigated by agents of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic trying to provoke ethnic clashes.[7] Moreover, the "Nor Bayazet commission" in the Armenian parliament led by Hakob Ter-Hakobyan claimed that 88 villages and 72,000 inhabitants of Nor Bayazet had been subject to raids by Muslims.[8]

Administrative divisions

The subcounties (uchastoks) of the Nor Bayazet uezd in 1913 were as follows:[9]

Name 1912 population Area
1-y uchastok (1-й участокъ) 38,280 1,071.35 square versts (1,219.26 km2; 470.76 sq mi)
2-y uchastok (2-й участокъ) 31,680 650.45 square versts (740.25 km2; 285.81 sq mi)
3-y uchastok (3-й участокъ) 37,781 983.99 square versts (1,119.84 km2; 432.37 sq mi)
4-y uchastok (4-й участокъ) 46,082 1,416.97 square versts (1,612.60 km2; 622.63 sq mi)

Demographics

Russian Empire Census

According to the Russian Empire census of 1897, the Nor Bayazet uezd had a population of 122,573 on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 63,128 men and 59,445 women. The majority of the population indicated Armenian to be their mother tongue, with a significant Tatar[lower-alpha 2] speaking minority.[12]

Linguistic composition of the Nor Bayazet uezd in 1897[12]
Language Native speakers %
Armenian81,28566.32
Tatar[lower-alpha 2]34,72628.33
Kurdish2,9952.44
Russian2,7112.21
Mordovian2890.24
Tat2690.22
Greek1790.15
Georgian360.03
Jewish310.03
Polish120.01
Lithuanian60.00
Ukrainian50.00
Assyrian40.00
Italian10.00
Other240.02
TOTAL 122,573 100.00

Kavkazskiy kalendar

According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Nor Bayazet uezd had a population of 188,859 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 97,864 men and 90,995 women, 174,879 of whom were the permanent population, and 13,980 were temporary residents. The statistics indicated the city of Nor Bayazet and its peripheries to be overwhelmingly Armenian, with a significant Shia Muslim minority:[13]

Nationality Urban Rural TOTAL
Number % Number % Number %
Armenians 14,350 97.30 114,997 66.05 129,347 68.49
Shia Muslims[lower-alpha 3] 0 0.00 46,901 26.94 46,901 24.83
Russians 83 0.56 4,842 2.78 4,925 2.61
Sunni Muslims[lower-alpha 4] 0 0.00 3,812 2.19 3,812 2.02
Kurds 238 1.61 2,726 1.57 2,964 1.57
Yazidis 0 0.00 408 0.23 408 0.22
Other Europeans 11 0.07 387 0.22 398 0.21
Asiatic Christians 64 0.43 38 0.02 102 0.05
Jews 2 0.01 0 0.00 2 0.00
TOTAL 14,748 100.00 174,111 100.00 188,859 100.00

Notes
  2. Before 1918, Azerbaijanis were generally known as "Tatars". This term, employed by the Russians, referred to Turkic-speaking Muslims of the South Caucasus. After 1918, with the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and "especially during the Soviet era", the Tatar group identified itself as "Azerbaijani".[10][11]
  3. Primarily Tatars.[14]
  4. Primarily Turco-Tatars.[14]

References
  1. Sâmî, Şemseddîn (1889). قاموس الاعلام: تاریخ و جغرافیا لغاتنی و تعبیر اصحله كافه اسماء خاصه‌یی جامعدر (in Ottoman Turkish). Mihran Matbaası. pp. 840–841 – via Google Books.
  2. Tsutsiev 2014, p. 59.
  3. Hakobyan, Tatul (19 April 2022). "Հայաստանի բնակչությունը 1886-ին. Ալեքսանդրապոլ, Երևան, Նոր Բայազետ, Խնձորեսկ" [The population of Armenia in 1886. Alexandrapol, Yerevan, Nor Bayazet, Khndzoresk]. ANI Armenian Research Center. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  4. Hovannisian 1971, p. 127.
  5. Hovannisian 1971, p. 130.
  6. Baberovski, Yorg (2010). Враг есть везде. Сталинизм на Кавказе [The enemy is everywhere. Stalinism in the Caucasus] (in Russian). Moscow: Rossiyskaya politicheskaya entsiklopediya (ROSSPEN) Fond «Prezidentskiy tsentr B. N. Yeltsina». p. 169. ISBN 978-5-8243-1435-9. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022.
  7. Hovannisian 1982, p. 216.
  8. Hovannisian 1982, p. 286.
  9. Кавказский календарь на 1913 год, pp. 172–179.
  10. Bournoutian 2018, p. 35 (note 25).
  11. Tsutsiev 2014, p. 50.
  12. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  13. Кавказский календарь на 1917 год, pp. 214–221.
  14. Hovannisian 1971, p. 67.

Bibliography

40°21′32″N 45°07′36″E


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