The Transfer Of Azerbaijani Territories To Armenia

The migration of Armenians to the Southern Caucasus in the first half of the nineteenth century and their settlement mainly in Azerbaijan was accompanied by the separation of territory from Azerbaijan and its incorporation in the "Armenian Oblast" that had ' been created within the Russian Empire. The expansion of the territory of Armenia continued into the present century. As recently as 29 May 1918, the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic ceded part of the Erivan district (the former Iravan Khanate) to the Republic of Armenia. This also, however, proved to be too little for the Armenian Government, and between 1918 and 1920 part of Garabagh, Zangazur and the Lake Geija (now Sevan) district - a total area of 9,000 square kilometres - was seized by force of arms. After the formation of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, its leaders at the time did not demand the return of the Azerbaijani territories. On the contrary, there then ensued the next "peaceful" stage of land seizure, realized with assistance from the Communist leadership of Russia and the Soviet Union. In 1921, Armenia's "acquisition" of the Zangazur district and a significant part of the Gazakh district, totalling approximately 9,000 square kilometres and populated to a large extent by Azerbaijanis, was legalized." As a result of the transfer of Zangazur to Armenia, the Nakhchivan area was cut off from Azerbaijan.

In 1922 the Bolsheviks dealt in similar fashion with the Azerbaijani lands of Dilijan and Geija. In 1929 a number of villages were taken from Nakhchivan and annexed to the Armenian SSR. In 1969 the Armenian SSR again expanded its territory at the expense of Azerbaijan by taking land as far east as the Gadabay district. Under pressure from the central authorities, Azerbaijan "transferred" a number of villages in the Gazakh district to Armenia.