In world history, civilizations have changed, entire peoples and languages have appeared and disappeared without a trace. Most modern nations and nationalities were formed after the first millennium AD. However, along with the Persians, Jews, and Greeks, there is still another ancient original people, whose representatives witnessed the construction Egyptian pyramids, the birth of Christianity and many other legendary events of ancient times. Armenians - what are they like? What is their difference from the neighboring Caucasian peoples and what is their contribution to world history and culture?
The appearance of the Armenians
Like any people whose origins go back far into the past, the history of the appearance of the Armenians is closely intertwined with myths and legends, and sometimes it is the oral tales transmitted over thousands of years that provide clearer and clearer answers than numerous scientific hypotheses.
According to folk legends, the founder Armenian statehood and actually the entire Armenian people is ancient king Ike. In the distant third millennium BC, he and his army came to the shores of Lake Van. August 11, 2107 BC e. A battle took place between the ancestors of modern Armenians and the troops of the Sumerian king Utuhengal, in which Hayk won. This day is considered starting point countdown of the national calendar and is a national holiday.
The name of the king gave the name to the people (the self-name of the Armenians is hai).
Historians prefer to operate with more boring and vague arguments, in which much remains unclear about the origin of such a people as the Armenians. What race they are is also a subject of debate among different researchers.
The fact is that in the highlands in the first millennium BC. e. there was a state with highly developed civilization- Urartu. Representatives of this Khurarti people mixed with the local population, gradually adopted the language, and such a nation as the Armenians was formed. What they have become over two millennia, what they had to face is a separate drama.
History of the struggle for identity
Every nation in its history is faced with foreign invasion, with attempts to change the very essence of the nation. The whole history of the Armenians is a struggle against numerous invaders. Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks - they all left their mark on the history of the Armenians. However ancient people with its own writing, language and stable tribal ties, it was not so easy to assimilate and dissolve among foreign-language settlers. All this was resisted by what they had and what their neighbors had - these issues also became a subject of friction.
In response to this, measures were repeatedly taken to forcibly evict this people to the territory of Iran and Turkey, and genocide was carried out. The result of this was the massive migration of Armenians around the world, which is why the national diasporas are very large and one of the most united communities in the whole world.
In the 18th century, for example, Caucasians were resettled to the banks of the Don, where the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don was founded. Hence a large number of Armenians in southern Russia.
Religion
Unlike many other nations, it is possible to accurately determine in what year the Armenians adopted Christianity. National Church is one of the oldest in the world and gained independence a very long time ago. Folk legend clearly gives the names of the first preachers of the young faith at that time - Thaddeus and Bartholomew. In 301, King Trdat III finally decided on Christianity as the state religion.
Many people are often lost in answer to the question of what faith the Armenians have. Which movement should they belong to - Catholics, Orthodox? In fact, back in the middle of the fourth century AD, a decision was made to independently elect clergy and primates. Soon the Armenian Apostolic Church finally separated from the Byzantine Church and became completely autonomous.
451 identified the basic dogmas of the local church, which in individual issues differed significantly from the norms of neighboring Eastern Orthodox churches.
Language
Language determines the age of a people and distinguishes it from other ethnic groups. The Armenian language began its formation in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. on the territory of Urartu. The newcomer Khurarti conquerors assimilated with the local population and adopted their dialect as a base. Armenian is considered one of the most ancient languages of the Indo-European family. It is the Indo-European family that includes the languages of almost all the peoples of modern Europe, India, and Iran.
Some researchers even put forward a bold hypothesis that it was the ancient Armenian dialect that became the very Proto-Indo-European language from which modern English, French, Russian, Persian and other languages of a significant part of today's population of the globe subsequently emerged.
Writing
The first rudiments of our own alphabet appeared even before the beginning of our era. The priests of Armenian temples invented their own secret writing, on which they created their sacred books. However, after the establishment of Christianity, all written monuments were destroyed as pagan. Christianity also played a major role in the emergence of the national alphabet.
After the Armenian Apostolic Church gained independence, the question arose about translating the Bible and other holy books into your own language. It was decided to create own funds records. In 405-406, the enlightener Mesrop Mashtots developed the Armenian alphabet. The first book in Armenian script came out of the printing press in 1512 in Venice.
Culture
Culture proud people goes back to the 1st millennium BC. e. Even after the loss of independence, the Armenians retained their identity and high level development of art and science. After the restoration of the independent Armenian kingdom in the 9th century, a kind of cultural renaissance began.
The invention of our own writing was a powerful impetus for the emergence literary works. IN VIII-X centuries The majestic epic “David of Sassoun” was taking shape about the struggle that the Armenians waged against the Arab conquerors. What else have they created? literary monuments- the subject of a separate extensive discussion.
Music of the peoples of the Caucasus - rich topic for discussion. The Armenian one stands out for its particular diversity.
Among the original people, the original people were even included in the UNESCO lists as one of the intangible objects of the cultural heritage of humanity.
However, among the traditional elements of culture, the best ordinary people Armenian cuisine is familiar. Thin flatbreads - lavash, dairy products - matsun, tan. No self-respecting Armenian family will sit at a table that does not have a bottle of wine, often home-made.
Black pages of history
Any original people that fiercely resists absorption and assimilation becomes a strong object of hatred for the invaders. Territory of Western and Eastern Armenia, divided between the Persians and the Turks, was repeatedly subjected to ethnic cleansing. The most famous is the Armenian genocide, which has never happened in history.
During the First World War, the Turks organized a real extermination of the Armenians living in the territory of Western Armenia, which was then part of Turkey. Those who survived the massacre were forcibly removed to barren deserts and doomed to death.
As a result of this unprecedented barbaric act, between 1.5 and 2 million people died. Terrible tragedy is one of the factors that further unites Armenians around the world with a sense of involvement in the events of those years.
The dishonesty of the Turkish authorities lies in the fact that they still refuse to recognize obvious facts deliberate extermination of people nationality, citing inevitable wartime losses. The fear of losing face by admitting guilt still prevails over the sense of conscience and shame of Turkish politicians.
Armenians. What are they like today?
As they often joke now, Armenia is not a country, but an office, since most of the nation’s representatives live outside mountain republic. Many people were scattered throughout the world as a result of wars of conquest and invasions of the country. The Armenian diasporas, along with the Jewish ones, are today the most united and friendly in many countries of the world - the USA, France, Germany, Russia, Lebanon.
Armenia itself regained its independence not so long ago, along with the collapse of the USSR. This process was accompanied bloody war which Armenians call Artsakh. By the will of politicians cutting the borders of the Transcaucasian republics, the territory with a predominant Armenian population became part of Azerbaijan.
During the crash Soviet Empire Karabakh Armenians demanded the legal right to self-determination your destiny. This resulted in armed struggle and the subsequent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite the support of Turkey and some other powers, the overwhelming advantage in numbers, Azerbaijani army suffered crushing defeat and left the disputed territories.
Armenians have been living in Russia for many years, especially in the south of the country. During this time they ceased to be foreigners in the eyes of local residents and became part of the cultural community.
This people has a self-name - ay, hai (or gai). Where did the Armenians come from? No one can give absolutely accurate evidence, since they are considered “first-born”, and there are very few such nationalities. In addition, not everyone can boast that the basis of origin is an interesting biblical legend about the flood, when Noah and his family were miraculously saved on Mount Ararat.
The controversy continues
Armenian studies have a very long story. However, the most main question So far there is no clear answer. Where did the Armenians come from? Information varies. Moreover, there are even diametrically opposed versions. Where was the cradle of this people? When exactly did it manage to form into a separate ethnic unit? What are the oldest mentions of him in written sources?
Researchers argue not only on cardinal issues, but also on individual points. But the whole point is that even in ancient primary sources, information about where the Armenians came from is given contradictory. And researchers are often too interested political side question. However, the facts are available, even if they contradict each other in some ways.
The level of research in our time has become much higher, so it is possible to get more accurate answers about the origin and formation of the people, to establish where the Armenians came from. It is necessary to more carefully study the legends that came from ancient centuries, to compare historiographical theories with modern research.
Legends of deep antiquity
In the Book of Genesis, Noah's descendants are named, and the settlement of people in the Sanaar Valley near Ararat is also indicated there. Greek, Syrian, Chaldean ancient historians confirm almost all this information. When Noah's great-grandson named Forgom (son of Gomer, grandson of Japheth) grew old, he divided own lands between his sons. Armenia went to Hayk (otherwise known as Hayk). This is where the Gaikids came from. They are rightfully considered the ancestors of an entire people. That is, who the Armenians are and where they came from is already becoming clear.
There are a lot of legends about King Gayk. In addition to the Armenian, he also gave birth to a significant part of the Babylonian people, even famous tower built at the invitation of the ancestor of the Chaldeans Nemrod (aka Bel). Feeling that the supreme Chaldean did not want to share power, Hayk easily gave in to him (but did not obey) and returned to his lands. And Nimrod harbored a grudge. He knew well who the Armenians were and where they came from, and therefore he really wanted to subjugate this God-marked people.
Gayk was smart, he didn’t fall into the traps set for him, he even refused to choose land in Babylon. Nemvrod also failed to conquer the Armenians. Note that this was the very first documented real war between people. Near Lake Van, Nimrod's army was defeated, and he himself fell. The city of Hayk was built on the site of the battle. This is where the roots of the Armenians come from. This whole story is described in great detail in the Bible.
From the point of view of historians
Researchers still do not undertake to say for certain where the Armenians came from. They believe that the process of nation formation is much more complex. The point is that anyone is enough numerous people always consists of hundreds and hundreds of different genera, tribes and groups. There are migrations, conquests, raids, victories and defeats in wars. All this necessarily adds “fresh blood” to any ancient nation.
Therefore, scientists cannot yet find out for sure where the Armenians came from as a nation. Too much long segment time needs to be taken into account, there are too many conflicting sources that claim to be the only correct one. In addition, religious traditions influence the formation of a people. This must also be taken into account. It’s clear where the Armenians come from. How have these people changed over the millennia? This is no less important, since the formation of the nation took place according to general laws.
"Fresh Blood"
Ancient written monuments indicate that the territory from which the Armenians came gradually became a place of residence for many small tribes. These are the Karkarians, Dzotians, Janaris, Kartmanians, Utians, Albanians, Aguvans and others. They settled in all parts of Armenia and were assimilated. This means that they created families with representatives local population. Children were born in the marriage.
In addition, a whole million Semites, captured by King Hrachye, completely disappeared among the local population. It was from the Semitic Armenians that the magnificent Bagratuni family emerged - princes and generals. The most famous among them is Bagration. They replenished royal dynasty first in Armenia, then in Georgia.
Settlers from China who owned lands bordering Georgia also assimilated. They made a huge contribution to the origin of the Armenians, from where the princely title of the famous Mamikonyans and Orbelians appeared.
Settlement
Migration of people has existed at all times. The Armenians, too, were not entirely in the shadow of Ararat for all centuries. They actively settled around the world. There were various reasons for this. Today, their representatives live in large numbers on almost all continents and in all countries.
For example, in Central Asia the Armenians appeared around the third or fourth centuries. This was facilitated not only by the persecution of the spread of Christianity, but also by trade - the Great Silk Road. You can find representatives of this people in Iran, Tajikistan, Turkestan, there are Fergana Armenians. Where they came from is clear. Everyone left the Sanaar Valley.
The process of nation formation is very long, but Armenians are different from other peoples. The fact is that they acquired self-awareness very early, and since then there have been significant changes ethnic composition up to the present day this people did not allow it. However, the most interesting thing in history is where the Armenians came from. This issue, as already mentioned, is very controversial, so at least some of the existing versions.
Legend from the Armenians
Now the most popular is the story of the origin of the nation, told above. This is the version of the Armenians themselves (according to the records of the medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi). Many fragments of this legend are mentioned by other historians of this period. Hayk (or Gaik) in them is endowed with the godlikeness of the son of a titan.
Later, the Armenian legend was modified, adjusted to the information provided by the Bible: the three sons of Noah gave birth to humanity - Ham, Shem and Japheth. Gayk is a descendant of the latter. His father was Torg, which is why in the Middle Ages the country was called the Trading House, and the Armenians were called the trading nation. The initial date of the appearance of Armenia is considered to be the day of victory in the first human war- August 1 (2492).
Gaik (or Hayk), the ancestor of this people, his name sounds everywhere right in the names of areas, rivers, lakes, settlements. His descendant is Aram, hence Armenia. Just listen to the names: Haykashen, Aragats, Aragatsotn, Araks, Ararat.
Legend from the Greeks
The myth of the Argonauts, closely connected with the origin of the Armenians, spread in this country. The Greeks call Armenos of Tesala the ancestor of this people. He is an active participant in the expedition for the Golden Fleece along with Jason and his other comrades. This Argonaut decided to leave his native region of Thesalia and hometown Armenion and settle in new lands. The country he founded began to bear his name.
This information was given by the Greek bibliographer of the 1st century BC Strabo, who gleaned it from the stories of the military leaders of the army of Alexander the Great. Everything suggests that the myth of the Argonauts itself originated during the campaigns of the great commander. No earlier source found.
This turn was to the advantage of the Greeks: they wanted to consider almost all people as natives of Hellas. We see the same thing in their attitude towards the Medians, Persians and many other peoples. As always legal form lies on false grounds, many conquerors sinned precisely with this approach. Apparently, such information cannot be considered reliable.
However, both Herodotus and Eudoxus wrote about the same Phrygian origin of the Armenians, citing as evidence a large number of the same words in the languages, as well as the similarity in the clothing of the warriors. Of course, the origin of both peoples is Indo-European, and these nations are related. Therefore, some similarity is quite natural.
Legend from Georgians
According to another legend, which was clearly created under the influence of pre-existing legends in neighboring territories (the time of the first known Georgian record belongs to the 9th-11th centuries, that is, this is much later evidence), Torgom (called Targamus) had eight sons, from from which all the Caucasian peoples originated.
The eldest was Ayos, the ancestor of the Armenians. Georgians descend from his brother Kartlos. It is quite possible that the recording of this legend had some primary source that has not reached our time. However, in the legend under consideration there are obvious political motives corresponding precisely to the era when it was compiled this document. The influence of the Bagratids in the text is already visible throughout the Caucasus.
Legend from the Arabs
In the legends of this people, the origin of the Armenians is associated with a special idea of the settlement of people after the flood through the efforts of the sons of Noah. The written works here are voluminous and very detailed, dating back to the 12th-13th centuries.
The Arabs fully agree with the biblical interpretation of this process: Noah gave birth to Yaphis (Japheth), then Abmar was born, then from him - Torg (the Arabs called him Lantan), and then the direct ancestor of all Armenians appeared - Armini. He had a brother from whom he descended Caucasian Albanians(Agvans) and Georgians. The most interesting thing about this legend is that it preserves oldest memory from the period of complete unity of all Indo-Europeans.
Arabs rightly consider relatives not only of Georgians, Armenians and Greeks, but also of Slavs, Iranians, and even Franks.
Tradition from the ancient Jews
In Josephus (1st century BC), on the pages of his work “Jewish Antiquities,” you can get acquainted with a legend claiming that Armenia was founded not by Hayk, but by Uros.
It can be assumed that this refers to the son of the ancestor - Ara the Beautiful. But another interpretation is possible: Uros is the son of Rus Erimena. Such a king was mentioned in cuneiform writings in the Kingdom of Van.
Assyrian written sources they transparently hint that the name Erimen is quite comparable with the name of the Armenian family. True, Rusa in these documents sounds like Ursa. However, Armenians cannot fully agree with the Hebrew interpretation of the origin of their people.
What does historiography say?
From the 5th century until the 19th, the Armenian version of ethnogenesis was accepted unquestioningly. It was she who was published in the works of the already mentioned Mosves Khorenatsi. It was both a history book and a testament to genealogy. But at the end of the 19th century, new monuments were found, due to which the reliability of the information of the most authoritative historian came under suspicion.
At the same time, new sciences appeared, including comparative linguistics, thanks to which the Armenians’ belonging to the Indo-European peoples became clear. They were united in prehistoric times and lived in the same territory (Indo-European ancestral home). Further theories of the origin of the Armenian people arose often, but none of them was truly reliable. Some were even used in political purposes(Turks, for example).
The point of view regarding the location of the Indo-European ancestral home is constantly being revised. Many facts indicate that it was located in Asia Minor on the Armenian Plateau. Most of specialists are sure of this. Judging by this point of view, the resettlement of Armenians did not occur. They were originally located in the same place where they live now.
What can we say for sure?
Today, according to available information, it can be argued that before our era, in the fifth and fourth millennia, the Armenians were part of Indo-European people, and at the beginning of the third millennium they separated from this community. It was then that they began to form their own nation - first by merging clans into an early state association, then (by the sixth century BC) a unified statehood was created.
They became independent around the fourth century BC. It was at this time that mentions began in written monuments O mountainous country, where the active and enterprising Armenian people created their rich and very long history.
That the Armenians are not ancient Caucasian people known to all Western and Russian historians, governments and intelligence agencies. Most people know about this in Russia and the Vatican. However, it was the West and Russia who came up with the story of the “Caucasian Armenians” in order to later use the latter to fight against the Muslims of the Caucasus and the entire East. Thanks to the Russian Empire, namely Peter Romanov and his descendants, Armenians appeared in the Caucasus, in particular in Azerbaijan.
The appearance of Armenians in the Caucasus is the work of Tsarist Russia. However, the idea of relocating Middle Eastern Armenians to Transcaucasia did not arise empty space. The main role here was played by the Armenian-Gregorian Church and its ministers.
Relations of the Armenian-Gregorian Church with the Russian Empire and European states were established back in the 17th century. The Armenians tried to convince the Europeans that Muslims were “oppressing the Armenian people, connected with Europe by one faith."
In 1699, the Armenian Church entrusted the Armenian Israilu Ori negotiate with European states and Russia. The church appointed a monk as his assistant Minas Vardapet. Arriving in Europe, these adventurers met with the Emperor of Austria and the King of Florence, informing the latter of plans to create an Armenian state.
However, the efforts of the Armenians to get help from the Europeans did not yield any results, and Israil Ori and his assistant headed to Russia. Having met in 1701 with the Russian Tsar Peter Romanov, Israil Ori introduced him to the notorious Armenian plan to create a united Christian front against Ottoman Turkey. Peter clearly liked this idea, who awarded Ori the rank of carabinieri colonel and sent him to Europe to recruit weapons specialists. In 1711, Israil Ori died in Astrakhan.
Ori’s fantasies of creating an Armenian state were continued by Minas Vardapet, who by that time had become an archimandrite. In 1716 this the adventurer went to the possessions of the Qizilbash (Safavid Iran, Persia), to convey a letter from Prince Shafirov to the Russian Ambassador Volynsky. The content of the letter was as follows: “Gather information about the Armenian people in Persia, about their numbers, their strength of attraction to His Majesty the Tsar. Minas Vardapet, whom you know, is coming here. Provide possible assistance to him without arousing suspicion...”
In 1722 Peter joined the Persian campaign. The Russians, moving along the Caspian coast, captured Derbent, Baku, Lankaran and some other Azerbaijani provinces of the Kyzylbash state. West Coast The Caspian Sea ended up in Russian hands. In October 1724, Peter allowed the resettlement of Armenians to territories captured by Russia.
It was from this period that Armenians settled en masse in the Caucasus. According to Peter's order, Armenians were allowed to settle “near Baku, Derbent and Salyan” (Russian historian Soloviev, 19th century). Emperor Peter did not forget to give instructions regarding the local Muslim population: “Try in every possible way to recruit Armenians, if any, and settle them, and to very quietly reduce the number of Muslims...”
A new project for the creation of an Armenian state on the ancestral Azerbaijani lands was drawn up by a certain Shamiryan. According to his plan, the Armenian king was to become the head of the newly created state. He was supposed to have an official representative office in St. Petersburg, and to protect the new kingdom, a six-thousand-strong Russian garrison was supposed to be stationed here for 20 years.
However, in 1735 the Russians were forced to leave the western Caspian lands. This, although not for long, did not allow the Armenians to carry out their adventurous plans.
100 years later...
The situation changed with the Russian seizure of the Erivan Khanate in 1827. Russian monarchs remembered the covenants of their ancestor regarding the Armenians. In turn, the Armenian Catholicos Nerses Ashtaraketsi prepared a special resettlement project. Russian playwright and Russian ambassador At the court of the Qajars (the Turkic dynasty that ruled Iran in 1796-1925), A.S. Griboyedov did everything possible to implement this plan.In a letter sent in 1827 to a Russian colonel Armenian origin To Egizar Lazarev, Nerses wrote: “Now I most humbly turned to the devoted defender of our Armenian people A.S. Griboyedov with a request to accept captured Christians under the powerful flag of Russian rule... I also turned to His Excellency ( we're talking about about the commander of Russian troops in the Caucasus I.F. Paskevich - approx. Amir Eyvaz) regarding all Armenians from Persia and now I humbly ask your Excellency about this: persuade Paskevich to ensure that at the time of negotiations he does not forget to include in the agreement an article on the free return to Armenia of Armenians from the cities and villages of Persia under the protection of the great Russian Empire." .
Griboyedov and Paskevich really did not forget about the “poor and oppressed” Armenians, deciding to settle them on the lands of the Azerbaijani Turks.
Thus, Article 15 of the Turkmanchay Treaty states: “His Majesty the Shah... kindly grants full and complete forgiveness to the entire population and officials of the region called Azerbaijan... In addition, he grants, starting from this day, one year of time to all officials and residents for free relocation with their families from this region to Russia, for the transportation and sale of movables and property without any obstacles from the local authorities and without imposition of any taxes and duties..."
Griboedov personally achieved the inclusion in this article of a clause on the abolition of punishment and prosecution of those Persian subjects who committed treason in favor of the Russians during the war. The fact is that most of them were Armenians.
With neighboring Turkey based on the results Russian-Turkish war 1828-1829 the Treaty of Adrianople was signed with similar conditions, which allowed Russia to resettle in the Caucasus and Turkish Armenians. In just a few years, Russia resettled over 130 thousand Armenians from Turkish and Persian regions to the Caucasus. And the policy of resettlement existed in Russia until its fall, and was revived again during the period of the USSR.
Russian scientist and researcher Nikolai Shavrov wrote in 1911: “Of the 1,300,000 Armenians currently living in Transcaucasia, more than 1,000,000 souls do not belong to the indigenous inhabitants of the region and were settled by us.” However, even those 300 thousand Armenians whom Shavrov considered “indigenous inhabitants of the region” can hardly be considered aborigines. They were moved here a little earlier - during the time of Peter the Great.
The fact that the Armenians were resettled is clear. But the Russian Empire went further. As we remember, Peter personally ordered the Armenians to be settled wherever they wished, even the lands of Muslims, who, in turn, must be “reduced in a very quiet way.” In essence, it was an order to give the Muslim lands to the Armenians, without ceremony with the local residents.
The Russian Empire not only resettled the Armenians, it rewrote the entire history of the region.
Perhaps the most important thing that the Russian Empire did for the Armenians is the liquidation of the Albanian Apostolic Church. Thus, the Russians gave the Armenians a free hand - the Armenians appropriated for themselves what did not belong to them, wrote their history on a foundation that did not belong to them.
Let us note that the Albanian Church is the first church in the Caucasus; it was founded by the Apostle Bartholomew, whose remains rested in Baku until the 9th century. Officially, Caucasian Albania adopted Christianity in 313. And the Armenian-Gregorian Church was founded later, because as the Armenian Catholicos Abraham wrote in his letter to the Albanians: “The Albanian Throne, which was before ours, the Armenian one...” (Z. Buniyatov. “About the forced dialogue of Gevorg Emin”).
Despite the spread of Islam in Azerbaijan, the Catholicosate was not abolished in the Middle Ages; the Albanian population, who retained the Christian faith, freely attended Albanian churches, of which there were many throughout Azerbaijan, especially in Karabakh.
These Christians continued to be called Albanians until the 19th century and lived mainly in Karabakh. However Russian Emperor Nicholas I in 1836 liquidated the Albanian apostolic church. All its property was transferred to the Armenian Church, despite the fact that it was considered lower in rank than the Albanian Church. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Karabakh Albanians assimilated with the Armenians, and this is how the “Armenian” community of Karabakh arose...
During the years of the Russian Empire, the dream of Armenians about their own state (even if only as Russian protectorate) remained a dream. But it was during this period that a precedent was created for the emergence of historical lands Azerbaijan is an Armenian state.
This is about renaming Russians Erivan and Nakhichevan Khanates in the so-called "Armenian region" immediately after their conquest. Despite the fact that in subsequent years the “Armenian region” was abolished by the same Russian colonial administration, these lands received a kind of connection with the toponym “Armenia” (although historical Armenia is a small region in Asia Minor and has never had anything to do with the Caucasus).
On the basis of this, after the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Armenians demanded the creation of their own republic on the territory of that very “Armenian region”. In 1918, the Armenian Republic was proclaimed in Tiflis with its capital in Erivan. The Armenians also put forward claims to other lands of Azerbaijan, and with the Sovietization of the region with the support of Stalin, Mikoyan and other Turkophobes, they gradually began to achieve their goals.
Since the 1920s, the northeastern coast of Gokchi, Zangezur, and part of the Sharur-Daralayaz district were torn away from Azerbaijan and transferred to the Soviets of the Armenian SSR. In Karabakh, the Bolsheviks created autonomy for the Armenians, because to separate this region from Azerbaijan SSR It was not possible for economic reasons: due to the close connection of Karabakh with Baku.
In 1948-1952, according to the resolution No. 4083 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on December 23, 1947, thousands of Azerbaijani Turks were resettled from Zangezur and Gokchi to lowland areas Azerbaijan SSR. This was done with the aim of eradicating the Turkic population of the region.
The eviction of Azerbaijanis from Zangezur and Gokchi was not just an act of ethnic cleansing. Actually continued resettlement policy Russia (albeit already Soviet) to create and strengthen the Armenian puppet state. Thus, Armenians from Lebanon, Iran and Syria were settled on the lands of the Azerbaijanis evicted in 1948-1952.
The above-mentioned resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR stated: “To allow the Council of Ministers of the Armenian SSR to use buildings and residential buildings vacated by the Azerbaijani population for the resettlement of foreign Armenians.”
As can be seen, the policy of ethnic cleansing with the subsequent settlement of the region by a loyal population was carried out in Russia on state level from the time of Peter I until the Stalin era.
Already today, the Armenians, already living on the ancestral lands of Azerbaijan, have occupied, in addition, the mountainous part of Karabakh (Upper Karabakh) and seven adjacent regions, where they exterminated thousands civilians. Over a million Azerbaijani Turks have become refugees on their own land.
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| Monument "Maraga-150" (1978) |
As you can see, over the past 200 years, the Armenians have achieved from Europe and Russia the creation of their own state on the lands of Azerbaijan and the recognition of Armenians as the indigenous population of the Caucasus.
Only the local Turkic population remained oppressed, and the “long-suffering” Armenian people, in just over two centuries of their residence in the Caucasus, put an end to the lives of more than a million peaceful Azerbaijanis ( massacre in 1905-1906, 1918, 1920, 1992), destroyed the Turkic-Muslim culture of Erivan, Gokchi, Zangezur, Karabakh, razing many mosques, khan's palaces, cemeteries, monuments...
Text of the article from 2006 (published with minor copyright edits)
Armenians are one of the most ancient peoples on Earth. This is well known. It is all the more interesting to find out how the formation of the ethnic group took place, and also to recall several theories.
For the first time, a theory about the connection between modern Armenians and residents ancient state Urartu appeared in the 19th century, when historians discovered traces of ancient civilization. Controversy on this issue continues in scientific and pseudo-scientific circles to this day.
However, Urartu as a state came to a decline already in the 6th century BC, at which time the ethnogenesis of the Armenians was only in the final stage of development. As early as the 5th century BC, the population Armenian Highlands was heterogeneous and consisted of remnants of the Urartians, Proto-Armenians, Hurrians, Semites, Hittites and Luwians. Modern scientists recognize that the genetic component of the Urartians is present in genetic code Armenians, but no more than the genetic component of the same Hurrians and Luwians, not to mention the proto-Armenians. The connection between the Armenians and the Urartians can be evidenced by the borrowings taken Armenian language from Urartian and Hurrian dialects. It can also be recognized that the Armenians also experienced the cultural influence of the once powerful ancient state.
Ancient sources
The “Greek version” of the ethnogenesis of the Armenians traces this people back to Armenos of Thessalos, one of the participants in the Argonaut expedition. This legendary ancestor received his name from the Greek city of Armeninon. After traveling with Jason, he settled in the territory of future Armenia. This legend is known to us thanks to the Greek historian Strabo, who wrote, in turn, that he learned it from the records of the military leaders of Alexander the Great.
Apparently, given the lack of earlier sources, it was during the years of the campaigns of the “king of the world” that this legend arose. In principle, this is not surprising. At that time there was even a widespread version about Greek origin Persians and Medes.
Later historians - Eudoxus and Herodotus spoke about the Phrygian origin of the Armenians, finding similarities between the two tribes in clothing and language. Today's scientists recognize that the Armenians and the Phrygians are related nations that developed in parallel, but there are no scientific evidence the origin of the Armenians from the Phrygians has not yet been found, therefore both Greek versions of the ethnogenesis of the Armenians can be considered pseudo-scientific.
Armenian sources
The main version of the origin of the Armenians until the 19th century was considered to be the legend left by the “father of Armenian historiography” and the author of the work “History of Armenia” Movses Khorenatsi.
Khorenatsi traced the Armenian people to the legendary progenitor Hayk, who, according to the pre-Christian version of the myth, was a titan, according to the Christian version - a descendant of Japheth and the son of the ancestor of the Armenians, Togarm. According to myth, Hayk entered into battle with the tyrant of Mesopotamia Bel and defeated him. After Hayk, his son Aram ruled, then his son Arai. In this version of Armenian ethnogenesis, it is believed that numerous names of the Armenian Highlands received their names from Hayk and other Armenian ancestors.
Hayasian hypotheses
In the middle of the last century, the so-called “Hayas hypotheses” became popular in Armenian historiography, in which Hayas, the territory east of the Hittite kingdom, became the homeland of the Armenians. Actually, Hayas is mentioned in Hittite sources. Armenian scholars such as academician Yakov Manandyan (a former adherent of migration theory), professor Eremyan and academician Babken Arakelyan wrote scientific works on the theme of the new “cradle of Armenians”.
The main migration theory up to this time was recognized as “bourgeois”.
The presentation of the Hayasian theory began to be published in Soviet encyclopedias. However, already in the 60s of the 20th century it was criticized. First of all, on the part of the honored orientalist Igor Dyakonov, who published the book “The Origin of the Armenian People” in 1968. In it, he insists on the migration-mixed hypothesis of Armenian ethnogenesis, and calls the “Hayas theories” unscientific, since there are too few sources and evidence base for them.
Numbers
According to one of the hypotheses (Ivanov-Gamkrelidze), the center of formation of the Indo-European language was eastern Anatolia, located on the Armenian Highlands. This is the so-called glottal theory, that is, based on language. However, the formation Indo-European languages It was already in the 4th millennium BC, and the time of the alleged settlement of the Armenian Highlands was the 1st millennium BC. The first mention of Armenians is in the records of Darius (520 BC), the first texts are in the 5th century AD.