Transmigration or deportation? Forced migration of Azerbaijani People between 1948-1953 or the idea of creating a Greater Armenia without Turks.
Vazeh ASGAROV
Doctor from the University of Strasbourg
Member of the Board of the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP)
Executive Director of the Franco-Azerbaijani University (UFAZ)
The processes taking
place in the XX century, namely, dissociation of USSR, integration into the
West culture, establishment of democratic pluralism and political reforms, and
transition to the market economy had given a way to the formation of new system
of governing. A lot of problems that were unattainable till this period began
to be investigated. In spite of the fact that the theme of diaspora was
sufficiently new, the process of immigration and resettlement of people has
been enduring for centuries. Although this issue was arduous in Soviet period,
from the end of 1980-es it turned into the object of investigations and
studies.
Deportation
is a Latin word that means to be forcibly moved from one place to another. The
term is used in 1791 in France to express the deportation of suspects.
Rather, this process affected revolutionaries who were sent for life to
uninhabited places. In France, according to the law of March 23, 1872, special
zones for deportation were created. During the period of the Russian
Empire and the Soviet Union, various methods of deportation were also used.
Deportation concerns people who no longer have the right to live in the territory of origin, people no longer having their nationality or residing illegally in a foreign country. On the other hand, the deportation of tens of thousands of Azerbaijani workers during the years 1948-1953 is far from the original movements for the simple reason that they were driven from their own land where they were indigenous. The armenian policy of creating a Sea-to-Sea (Black Sea to Caspian) Greater Armenia without Turks did not fully materialize, but succeeded in building an Armenian country. This project of rebuilding a Greater Armenia from sea to sea is based on the fact that all the lands on which Armenians live or have lived are de facto Armenian and must therefore belong to Armenia. During 70 years of the Soviet Union governance, Armenia pursued a policy of reserving "Armenia for the Armenians", expanding its territory to the detriment of Azerbaijani lands and using all possible means to expel Azerbaijanis from their historical and ethic lands. During this period, the above-mentioned policy was implemented in a systematic and methodical manner [Orbaki, Gandjali, 1991].
After the installation of Soviet Union (USSR) governance in Armenia,
most Azerbaijanis living in Turkey, Iran and Georgia succeeded in returning to
their "homeland" in Armenia, that they left at the
beginning of the 20th century due to the ethnic conflicts.
Until
1922, despite all the difficulties, 100,000 people were able to return to their
land. According to the statistics of 1926 year, 743,573 Armenians and 840,717
Azerbaijani lived in Armenia. On the other hand, the Armenian authorities
became increasingly concerned about the Turkish (Azerbaijani) demographic growth
representing 56.8% of the population [Arzumanli, Mustafa, 1998: 105-111].
Wanting to repatriate the Armenian community to Armenia, the Armenian diaspora
took advantage of the Tehran conference in 1943 to reach out to the USSR
Minister of Foreign Affairs[3]. This request initiated the beginning
of the transmigration of Armenians living in Iran to the USSR. [Arzoumanli,
Mustafa, 1998: 112-122].
In
November 1945, the Council of Ministers of the USSR ordered the great return of
Armenians living in various countries of the world. For this purpose, a
committee under the armenian government was created. At the same time, the USSR
sent a delegation to the countries from which the return was planned. At the
beginning of 1946, 130,000 return requests had been counted. In 1946 alone,
50,900 people settled in Armenia, coming from Syria, Greece, Lebanon, Iran,
Bulgaria and Romania. This figure decreased in 1947 to 35,000 Armenians coming
from Palestine, Syria, France, the United States, Egypt [Qafarov, 2008].
The armenian authority explains this decrease by the fact that there is not
enough housing available in the cities to settle these people. At the same time,
Moscow receives daily lists of people wishing to return to Armenia.
Under the pretext of sending labor to the cotton-growing regions of the Mil-Mugan steppe in the Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijanis had to leave the Armenian SSR so that Armenians from abroad could be received on the lands thus freed. During the meeting between Mir Jafar Baghirov (communist leader of the Azerbaijan SSR from 1932 to 1953) and Stalin on December 23, 1947, Stalin opposed the law on the transmigration of collective farm workers and other Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR. On December 27, 1947, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted Decision No. 4083 on the collective migration of collective farm workers and other members of the Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR in the Koura-Araxes plain, located in the Azerbaijani SSR. On March 10, 1948, the first decision No. 754 was completed, which set out the measures planned to transfer the Azerbaijanis.
In 1948, a total of 10,584 Azerbaijanis left Armenia to settle in
various regions of Azerbaijan. Between 1948 and 1950, 34,383 people were
expelled from Armenia. This large-scale population displacement continued until
Stalin's death (1953) after which the numbers began to drop. According to
official statistics, 53,000 Azerbaijanis are transferred to the Koura-Araxes
region alone. Most of the mountain people from the plateaus of Armenia could
not adapt to the environment of the steppe of Mil-Mugan. They die, otherwise
they are forced to move to other areas. Thousands of Azerbaijani families are
even forced to immigrate to other republics of the USSR [Vəliyev,
Muxtarov, Hüseynov, 1998]. On the other hand, on September 21, 1949, the
Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijani SSR asked Moscow to reduce the
deportation of the population for the current year to 10,000 people. In 1949,
54,373 people were still displaced, settled mainly in the regions of Zerdab,
Ali-Bayramli, Kurdemir, Goygol, Mirbechir, Salyan, Imichli, Sabirabad and
Yevlakh [Vəliyev, Muxtarov, Hüseynov, 1998]. Throughout the period of
deportation from 1948-1953, it is noted that no Azerbaijanis are allowed to
settle in Karabakh, in more suitable territories or climates [Arzumanli,
Mustafa, 1998].
It can be concluded that the deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia
was neither designed for the establishment of Armenians from abroad nor for the
development of cotton in Azerbaijan. The deportation process ended by the time
of the death of Stalin [Vəliyev, Muxtarov, Hüseynov, 1998].
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the mass deportation of
Azerbaijanis by Stalin on 28 January 2009, the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe issued a written declaration No. 419 on Mass deportations of
Azerbaijanis from Armenia (1948-1953 and 1988). The declaration intended
to put pressure on Armenia to recognize and uphold the fundamental right of
Azerbaijanis deported from their historic homeland in 1948-1953 and in 1988 to
return to their country of origin, Armenia.
From the year 1960, Azerbaijanis working in positions of high
responsibility were replaced by Armenians. The second and third secretaries of
the regional (departmental) committees were released from their posts only
because they were Azerbaijani. The Jafar. Jabbarli drama theater was closed and
did not work until 1966 year. Newspapers published in the Azerbaijani language
were closed and then banned in several regions (Sisyan, Kafan, Vedi,
Zanguibasar Kalinin etc.), but also a series of publishing houses of republican
ministries and departments edited literature in the Azerbaijani language [Vəliyev,
Muxtarov, Hüseynov, 1998]. If the term "transmigration" refers to
USSR it will be correct to mention the systematic policy of repression against
the Azerbaijani minorities living in the Republic of Armenia.
1. Arzumanlı Vaqif, Mustafa Nazim (1998), Tarixin qara səhifələri,
Deportasiya. Soyqırım.
Qaçqınlıq, Bakı,
Qartal.
2. Arzumanliı Vaqif (2001) Azerbaycan Diasporu,
Bakı, Qartal.
3. Əliyev Zaur (2005), Dünya diasporaları, Bakı, Qismət.
4. İbrahimli Xaləddin (1996), Azərbaycanın siyasi
mühaciratı (1918 - 1991), Bakı, Elm. Qafarov T. (2008), Bakı, Elm.
5. Orbakı Ramiz, Gandjali Aydin (1991), Garabagh entre le passé et le future III, Paris.
6.
Rizvan Nazim (2002), Azərbaycan diaspor tarixi,
Bakı, Borçalı HPM.
7.
Tahirli Abid (2001), Azərbaycan mühaciratı, Bakı,
Tural-Ə.
8.
Tahirli Abid (2007), Azərbaycan mühacir
ədəbiyyatı (1921-1991), Bakı, Çinar Çap.
9. Vəliyev Y., Muxtarov K., Hüseynov F. (1998), Deportasiya, Azərbaycanın Ermənistan ərazisindəki tarixi-etniktorpaqlarından deportasiyası, Bakı,
Azərbaycan
Ensiklopediyası.
10.
Vəlixanlı Nailə (2007), Azərbaycan tarixi II cild,
Bakı, Elm.
11.
Altstadt
Audrey L. (1992) The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under
Russian, Rule, Hoover Institution. Stanford University, Studies of
Nationalities in the USSR Series.
12.
Asgarov Vazeh (2014) L’immigration des
Azerbaïdjanais, L'immigration générale des
Azerbaïdjanais, histoire et perspectives: le cas de la France, Allemagne, PAF, p.425.
13.
Balçi Bayram (2008), La place de la « diaspora »
azerbaïdjanaise dans la politique de l'Azerbaïdjan postsoviétique : esquisse
d'analyse, EurOrient, 28, pp. 185-204.
14.
Constant Antoine (2002) L'Azerbaïdjan,
Karthala (Méridiens), Paris.
VAZEH ƏSKƏROV
XÜLASƏ
TRANSMİQRASİYA VƏ DEPORTASİYA? 1948-1953-cü İLLƏR
AZƏRBAYCANLILARIN DEPORTASİYASI VƏ YA TÜRKLƏRSİZ BÜYÜK ERMƏNİSTAN YARATMAQ
FİKİRİNƏ BAXIŞ
XX əsr Dünyada gedən proseslər –
sovetlər birliyinin dağılması, qərb ölkələrinin mədəniyyətlərinə
inteqrasiya, demokratik ruhlu siyasi sistemin və pluralizmin yaradılması eləcə
də bazar iqtisadiyyatına keçid yeni bir idarəetmənin formalaşmasına gətirib
çıxartdı. Uzun müddət əlçatmaz qalan mövzular məhz bu dövrdən etibarən tədqiq
olunmağa başlandı. Azərbaycanda diaspora mövzusu yeni olsa da mühacirət və
əhalinin köçü əsrlər boyu davam edir. Buna baxmayaraq sovet dövründə bu mövzu
uzun müddət əlçatmaz qalmış və yalnız 1980-ci illərin sonları tədqiqatçıları maraqlandırmağa
və öyrənilməyə başlanılmışdır.
ВАЗEX АСКЕРОВ
РЕЗЮМЕ
ТРАНСМИГРАЦИЯ ИЛИ ДЕПОРТАЦИЯ?
ПРИНУДИТЕЛЬНАЯ МИГРАЦИЯ АЗЕРБАЙДЖАНСКОГО НАРОДА С 1948 по 1953 год ИЛИ ИДЕЯ
СОЗДАНИЯ ВЕЛИКОЙ АРМЕНИИ БЕЗ ТЮРКОВ
Процессы, происходящие в мире в
двадцатом веке - распад Советского Союза, интеграция в западную культуру,
установление демократического плюрализма и политические реформы, а также
перехода к рыночной экономике привели к формированию новой системы
правления. Многие проблемы, которые в течение длительного
периода оставались недосягаемыми, стали предметом
исследования. Несмотря на то, что тема диаспоры является относительно
новой, процесс иммиграции и переселение народов длился на протяжении
веков. Хотя, эта тема оставалась труднодоступной в советскую эпоху, но с конца 1980-х годов
стала объектом внимания и изучения исследователей.
VAZEH ASGAROV
ABSTRACT
TRANSMIGRATION OR DEPORTATION? FORCED MIGRATION OF AZERBAIJANI PEOPLE
BETWEEN 1948-1953 OR THE IDEA OF CREATING A GREATER ARMENIA WITHOUT TURKS
The processes taking place in the XX century, namely, dissociation of
USSR, integration into the West culture, establishment of democratic pluralism
and political reforms, and transition to the market economy had given a way to
the formation of new system of governing. A lot of problems that were
unattainable till this period began to be investigated. In spite of the fact
that the theme of diaspora was sufficiently new, the process of immigration and
resettlement of people has been enduring for centuries. Although this issue was
arduous in Soviet period, from the end of 1980-es it turned into the object of
investigations and studies.
[1] During the period
of September 25 and October 6, 1791, the first French Penal Code was adopted.
Deportation under French law was introduced into the Penal Code on the same
date. It was definitely removed from French law during the rule of Charles de Gaulle in June 1960.
[2] During the rule
of Napoleon III, according to the law of March 23, 1872 the Ducos peninsula was
replaced by the Vaitahau valley referring to the deportation into a fortified
enclosure and the Isle of Pines and that of Maré by Nuku-Hiva referring to the
simple deportation.
[3] The Tehran conference, held from November 28 to December 1, 1943, was the first meeting between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. Two important military decisions were taken at the conference: the organization of a landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944 and the rejection by Stalin and Roosevelt of the British plan for an offensive through the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Soviet-Iranian relations were also examined.
[4] http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/FDOC11815
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