ABOUT THE 1905 ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI MASSACRE IN THE TIFLIS/TBILISI GOVERNORATE

Abstract

The year of 1905 was marked as the year when the first large ArmenianAzerbaijani ethnic conflict took place affecting a number of cities in the South Caucasus. Bloody clashes, which killed thousands of people, erupted in the Tiflis/Tbilisi governorate in 1905-1906. The present article examines archival documents related to the clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the Tiflis/Tbilisi governorate. These documents allow scholars not only to follow the duration of the 1905-1906 events, but also to discover numerous significant details of the Armenian-Azerbaijani ethnic massacre. As the archival documents show, provocations were usually followed by the killing of one of a group of men. The confronting sides attacked, killed and looted each other's possessions. Moreover, quite often clashes were also followed by seizure of entire villages or agricultural territories.As a result of massacres, the local Russian administration's primary concern was to prevent any future disturbances between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the South Caucasus. However, to achieve this it was difficult as both people lived close to each other in four of five governorates of the South Caucasus.The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the Tiflis/Tbilisi governorate became one of the most tragic periods of ethnic clashes in the region. Although there is no solid information on the number of casualties in the Tiflis governorate, it was shown in the paper that clashes were still significant causing numerous casualties and collateral damage in 1905.