Artsakh Liberation Struggle (1724–1731)

From 1724 to 1731, an Armenian rebellion occurred in Karabakh (historically called Artsakh by Armenians) under the leadership of the Melikdoms of Karabakh. Initially directed against the collapsing Safavid state, it fought against the Ottoman invasion of Eastern Armenia. Chronologically, it coincided with the Syunik rebellion.

The rebellion had its origins in Peter the Great's invasion of Iran in 1722. The Melikdoms of Karabakh and the Georgian kingdom of Kingdom of Kartli assembled their forces to support the Russian invasion, but Peter made peace with Iran in 1723, annexing only territories near the Caspian Sea. In the meantime, Safavid Iran descended into chaos, and the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the situation and invaded the South Caucasus. The Armenian forces of Karabakh were able to repel a number of Ottoman incursions, although the Ottomans eventually succeeded in occupying the region. The last centers of Armenian resistance in Karabakh were defeated in 1729–1731. Later, the Melikdoms of Karabakh assisted Nader Shah in expelling the Ottomans from the region and received recognition of their autonomy.

Background
In the early eighteenth century, Armenia was divided between the Ottoman and Safavid empires. In the mountainous regions of Ghapan (historical Syunik) and Karabakh (also known as Artsakh), remnants of the old Armenian nobility called meliks continued to exist as autonomous rulers under Iranian suzerainty. In the late seventeenth century, Russian southward expansion under Peter the Great had raised hopes among some Armenian leaders that an alliance could be made with Russia to free Armenia from the rule of the Muslim empires. Most notably, an Armenian noble from Syunik named Israel Ori went to Moscow in 1701 and drew up a plan for a rebellion in Iranian Armenia with Russian help. Ori's plan was never realized, and he died in Astrakhan in 1711. However, Armenian secular and religious leaders continued to interact with the Russian state and began to see Russia as the natural ally of the Armenian people.

Meanwhile, the Safavid state was nearing its collapse in the 1720s. Shah Soltan Hoseyn's actions alienated his Georgian and Armenian subjects and provoked a rebellion among the empire's Sunni subjects in the Caucasus and Afghanistan in 1721. The weakening of central authority also allowed Lezgin groups to raid the South Caucasus, prompting the Armenian meliks to strengthen their defenses and military forces. In October 1722, the Afghans captured the Iranian capital of Isfahan after a six-month siege. Taking advantage of the chaotic situation, Peter the Great invaded Iran in 1722 with a 61,000-strong army. This revived hope among the Armenians and Georgians under Iranian rule that Russian arms could help remove the region from Muslim rule. At Peter's request, a joint Armenian-Georgian army, made up of the Georgian army and the troops of the meliks of Karabakh, was assembled to join with the Russian forces. To support the liberation struggle, the yuzbashis Avan and Tarkhan moved here from the Armenian settlements of Shirvan. However, fearing a conflict with the Ottomans and facing logistical problems in his campaign, Peter remained in the Caspian littoral and did not move into the South Caucasus. With the Treaty of Saint Petersburg, signed on 12 September 1723, Russia annexed the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea and made peace with Iran. In the meantime, the Ottomans were preparing to invade the South Caucasus, having assembled a large army in Erzurum by late 1722.

The Armenian meliks were supported in their plans by the clergy headed by the Catholicos of Gandzasar Esayi Hasan-Jalalyan, descendant of the noble family of Hasan-Jalalyans from Khachen. After getting anointed in 1701 as Catholicos, he made Gandzasar the political center of the liberation movement, turning it into a meeting place for the spiritual and secular leaders of Artsakh, where diplomatic relations were discussed and military plans developed. On the territory subject to the meliks of Karabakh, defensive fortresses called signakhs were key for the organisation of military resistance, among which the most famous were those of Gulistan, Chanakhchi, Jraberd and Karaglukh (at the site of modern-day Shusha). The garrisons stationed in them could conduct not only defensive, but also offensive battles.

Ottoman incursions
In 1723, the Ottoman army captured Tiflis, the capital of the Kingdom of Kartli, as well as Ganja. After more than three months of resistance, in which the Ottoman troops lost 20,000 soldiers, Yerevan, with its population of 5,000, capitulated. Following this the leaders of Ganja joined the side of the Ottomans. As there was no help from Iran either, the Armenian forces of Karabakh and Syunik were left alone against the Ottoman forces, which entered Karabakh first. In 1724, the Ottoman commanders got the Catholicos of Etchmiadzin Astvatsatur I to write a letter addressing the Armenians of Karabakh and the Catholicos of Gandzasar Esayi Hasan-Jalalyan, asking him to lay down their arms and accept Ottoman rule. Despite the letter, Hasan-Jalalyan and his associates refused to surrender and prepared to fight the Ottoman army. In 1724, the Armenian liberation forces joined forces with the Muslim leaders of Ganja and signed an agreement to fight together against the Ottoman troops. The Armenian military leaders also offered cooperation to Iran in its fight against the Ottoman troops. Karapet Shirvanov (Ivan Karapet) arrived in Karabakh from Russia with promises to support the liberation struggle, providing further backing to the Armenian leadership.

In March 1725, three detachments of the Ottoman army invaded the province of Varanda, thus creating a threat to the Small Signakh. The Armenian population placed about 6,000 Ottoman soldiers in the villages, and the self-defence forces managed to destroy them with a surprise attack at night. Two Ottoman pashas were killed and a third was taken prisoner. This victory increased the morale and combat capability of the Armenian units. The Armenians had already sent a delegation to the Russian army and were rejected, but now they decided to send another delegation to Tabriz, to Tahmasp, the heir to the throne of Iran. In the same year, the Armenian delegation, headed by priests Anton and Kyokhva Chalabi, returned to Karabakh from Russia, conveying a negative response from the Russian side. The Armenians wrote another letter to Peter the Great, not knowing that the emperor had already died.

The second Ottoman invasion was also unsuccessful. In 1726 a 40,000 Ottoman army was unable to take the Shushi fortress and returned to Ganja. After this battle, the Armenians, for the third time, sent a delegation led by Kyokhva Chalabi to the Russian Empress Catherine I.

The end of the struggle
The Ottoman army started gaining the advantage over the Armenian forces of Artsakh after the death of Davit Bek and Esayi Hasan-Jalalyan. In 1728, Ottoman armies were able to occupy the Azerbaijan province of Iran. The Catholicos of Gandzasar, having learned about the signing of the Russian-Ottoman treaty of 1724, became inclined to the idea of negotiating with the Ottoman side. The liberation forces, disappointed in Russian promises, were inclined to do the same.

At the beginning of 1729, the second part of the Armenian liberation forces sent a new delegation led by Avan and Tarhan to the Russian military leadership, but, having received a negative response, they did not return. In the years 1729-1731, the struggle against the Ottoman conquest was continued by the signakh of Gulistan, whose commander was Avraham Sparapet. The liberation struggle of the meliks of Kharabakh came to an end. At the same time, there was a split in Syunik. Disagreements between Mkhitar Sparapet and Ter-Avetis led to the capture of the Halidzor Fortress.

The commander Tahmasb Qoli Khan, who managed to suppress the Afghan uprising and repel the Ottoman invasion, restored the borders of Iran in a few years and in 1735 signed a new peace with the Ottoman Empire and Russia. He became the new ruler of Iran, known as Nadir Shah. He was supported by the Armenians in his fight against the Ottoman troops. In gratitude, the Shah visited Etchmiadzin, attended the liturgy and allocated 1000 tomans for the restoration of the throne of the Supreme Patriarch, decorating the temple with a golden chandelier weighing 15 kg. Prominent figures of Eastern Armenia, such as Melik Egan of Dizak, Melik Shahnazar of Gegharkunik, Melik Hakobjan of Erivan and others, were part of Nadir Shah's army.

After accession to the throne, Nadir Shah removed the melikdoms of Karabakh from subordination to the Ganja beylerbek and transferred them directly into the authority of his brother, Ibrahim Khan, the sipah of Iranian Azerbaijan, and in matters of importance, the meliks were instructed to apply directly to Nadir Shah himself. After the death of Nadir Shah, the Armenian-populated melikdoms were brought into vassalage by the newly formed Karabakh Khanate.