According to Article 13 of the Treaty of Adirna, the Armenians in the occupied territories of Turkey were entitled to pass into Russian administration, together with their movable property, within 18 months.

The retreat of Russian troops from Kars, Ardahan, Bayazid, Erzurum and other districts put the Armenians who had betrayed the Turks during military operations in a difficult position. The Commandant’s Office of the Russian troops decided to relocate Turkish Armenians to the newly occupied Azerbaijani lands, just like the Iranian Armenians, thus ensuring that Armenians were the majority nation in the areas bordering on Turkey. With this in mind, General Paskevich wrote a report to Emperor Nicolas I on 10 October 1829, asking for permission to relocate 10 thousand Armenians living in Erzurum and Kars to Georgia and the “Armenian province”.

On 18 November 1829, Military Minister Chernishev informed Paskevich of the Emperor’s approval of his suggestion. Hearing this, Paskevich immediately began preparations. On December 3, he sent a letter to the Civil Governor of Georgia and informed him that he had granted permission to the commanders of local troops to issue the necessary documents to Armenians living in Turkey who were willing to move voluntarily to Georgia and other Russian-owned provinces and who were not demanding financial aid to do so. Also, that many Armenian families, using this opportunity, had already set off. Paskevich created a special Committee to lead the arrangements for the relocation and settlement of Armenian families. General Rules consisting of 12 articles were developed to regulate the Committee’s activity.

Implementation of the relocation and settlement of relocated people. The Armenians relocated from Kars and its vicinity were settled in the emptied Azerbaijani villages around Alayaz (Alagöz) Mountain, which was similar to the climate of their previous habitats. General Pankratyev informed Paskevich that 95 Armenian families had been provided with documents to settle in the Loru Valley. Major-General Bereman also reported that he had provided 400 Armenian families relocated from Kars to Gümrü with documents. The Armenians relocated to the Iravan Khanate, Ganjabassar, Garabagh and other Azerbaijani territories, as well as to Georgia, were placed compactly on the lands of the local Muslim population – in areas and cities on mountain slopes distinguished by their natural beauty, fine climate and pure water. Even 270 houses in the Sardarabad Fortress were occupied by Armenians at that time After some time, M.Vladikin wrote about the Armenian relocation to these areas: “The majority of Armenians living in the Iravan Qubernia are not the native population of these places; they were moved here from Turkey after the war of 1828-1829”.

According to information sent by Paskevich to Chernishev on 22 January 1830, 2,500 Armenian families, having relocated from Kars and its surroundings, had been settled in emptied Azerbaijani villages near Alayaz (Alagöz) Mountain – in the Pambak district – which was similar to the climate of their previous environment, in accordance with his order.

The Turkish government, like the Iranian government, was concerned about the relocation of Armenians, who had been living scattered about her territories, and their compact settlement in the border area. Therefore, in order to prevent this relocation, the Ottoman government issued a resolution forgiving the Armenians for their betrayals of Turkey and the vandalism they had committed during the Russian invasions and, on February 17, sent “letters of forgiveness” to Armenians in the regions. To prevent the Armenian relocation, the Turkish side also sent its representatives to the occupied regions of Erzurum, Kars, Bayazid, Alashqird and others, which had been emptied by Russia in accordance with the Treaty of Adirna.

Paskevich sent his representative, Major Vannikov, to Erzurum to resolve the selling of the property and plots of relocating Armenians. By the way, the majority of Armenian villages in these areas had not belonged to them previously. These were villages abandoned by Muslims forced to move to safe places some time before, during the war. Armenians had thus gained control of the entire territory of 80 villages and half of 15 villages in the Kars region alone. On the other hand, Russia was not interested at all in the destiny of the property and lands abandoned by the Turks who had escaped from Russian-occupied territories (mainly the Akhalkalak and Akhiska regions) and other Turkish regions, as well as the villages they had been obliged to abandon…

…The Armenians relocated from Turkey were settled in Akhiska, Pambak-Shöreyel and the “Armenian province”. The document reveals that 14,044 Armenian families were relocated from the Turkish pashates to the Russian borders (i.e. the Akhiska Pashate, Borchaly distance (region-trans.) Pambak and Shöreyel, Talin mahal, vicinity of Lake Göycha and Bash Abaran). 5,000 of 7,218 Armenian families relocated from Erzurum, as well as 67 Armenians from Ardahan, were settled in the Akhiska Pashate (The Akhiska Pashate is the Javakheti region of present-day Georgia. After the Stalin regime forcibly relocated the region’s native population – Mehseti Turks to Central Asia in the mid XX century, Armenians were settled there again, for the second time. Maintaining their false territorial claims against their neighbours, today Armenians still lay territorial claims to the Javakheti (Mehseti) region.), 1,050 families in the Borchaly distance and around Zalga, and the remaining 1,305 families – in the Pambak and Shöreyel distances. 2264 out of 2464 families relocated from Kars were settled in the Pambak and Shöreyel distances and 200 in the Talin district; and the 4215 families relocated from Bayazid – around Lake Göycha and in Bash Abaran. A note to the document indicates that the number of people relocated from Turkey is not shown precisely, due to the absence of a full and accurate report. However, according to the estimates of the Committee, over 84 thousand Armenians and Greeks were relocated from the Ottoman State.

 

From book “The Iravan khanate: The Russian occupation and the relocation of Armenians to the lands of North Azerbaijan”. 2010, Bаku, p.391-394