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Kurdistan Uezd
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Kurdistan Uezd,[a] also known colloquially as Red Kurdistan,[b] was a Soviet administrative unit within the Azerbaijan SSR that existed for six years from 1923 to 1929 and included the districts of Kalbajar, Lachin, Qubadli and part of Jabrayil.[2] It was part of Azerbaijan SSR, with the administrative center being in Lachin. It was briefly succeeded by the Kurdistan Okrug from 30 May to 23 July 1930.
History
[edit]Establishment
[edit]The uezd was established on 7 July 1923, by the order of the government of the Azerbaijani SSR. Sergei Kirov was appointed as its first head.[3] The majority of Kurds in the region were Shia, unlike the Sunni Kurds of the Nakhichevan uezd and other areas of the Middle East. The official language was Kurmanji[4]
At the 1926 Soviet Census, the uezd had a total population of 51,426 people, with ethnic Kurds constituting 72.3% or 37,182 people. However, according to the same census, 92.5% of the population of the uezd cited Turkic (later known as Azerbaijani) as their native tongue.[5]
Dissolution and persecution of Kurds
[edit]On 8 April 1929, the Sixth Azerbaijani Congress of Soviets approved a reform of the administrative structure, abolishing all uezds, including the Kurdistan uezd.[2] On 30 May 1930, the short-lived Kurdistan Okrug was founded in its place. The okrug was created by the Soviet authorities in order to attract the sympathies of Kurds in neighboring Iran and Turkey and take advantage of Kurdish nationalist movements in those countries. The Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not wanting to damage relations with Turkey and Iran, protested strongly, leading to a sharp change in policy regarding Kurdish nationalism. Hence, Kurdistan okrug was disbanded on 23 July 1930.[6]
After the dissolution, Kurds continued to assimilate into the dominant culture of the neighbouring Azeris,[7] but some religious Yazidi tribes mostly stayed the same. Historically, mixed Azeri-Kurdish marriages were commonplace; however the Kurdish language was rarely passed on to the children in such marriages.[8]
In the late 1930s, Soviet authorities deported most of the Kurdish population of Azerbaijan and Armenia to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.[9][2] The Kurds of Georgia also became victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge in 1944.[10] Years later, Kurds immigrated to Kazakhstan from the neighbouring countries, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^
- Russian: Курдистанский уезд
- Azerbaijani: Kürdüstan qəzası
- Kurdish: Кӧрдӧйәзд, romanized: Kurduyezd
- ^
- Russian: Красный Курдистан
- Azerbaijani: Qızıl Kürdüstan
- Kurdish: Кӧрдьстана Сор, Kurdistana Sor
- ^ "Курдистанский уезд (1926 г.) Родной язык". Retrieved November 5, 2014.
- ^ a b c Yilmaz, Harun (September 3, 2014). "The Rise of Red Kurdistan". Iranian Studies. 47 (5): 799–822. doi:10.1080/00210862.2014.934153. ISSN 0021-0862. S2CID 163144462.
- ^ "Красный Курдистан: геополитические аспекты создания и упразднения". www.noravank.am. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
- ^ "red kurdistan".
- ^ "Курдистанский уезд (1926 г.) Родной язык". Retrieved November 5, 2014.
- ^ (in Russian) Партизаны на поводке.
- ^ David McDowall Современная история курдов = A modern history of the Kurds. — 3, illustrated, revised. — I.B.Tauris, 2004. — С. 192. — ISBN 1850434166, 9781850434160
- ^ Н. Г. Волкова, Этнические процессы в Закавказье в XIX-XX вв., "Кавказский этнографический сборник", IV, М., 1969.
- ^ a b "Kazakhstan: A paradise for ethnic minorities". Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
- ^ (in Russian) Russia and the problem of Kurds Archived February 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
Sources
[edit]- Müller, Daniel "The Kurds and the Kurdish Language in Soviet Azerbaijan According to the All-Union Census of December 17, 1926". The Journal of Kurdish Studies, vol. 3, pp. 61–84.
- Müller, Daniel. "The Kurds of Soviet Azerbaijan 1920-91". Central Asian Survey, vol. 19 i. 1 (2000), pp. 41–77.
- Yilmaz, Harun. “The Rise of Red Kurdistan.” Iranian Studies, vol. 47 i. 5 (2014), pp. 799–822.
Kurdistan Uezd
View on GrokipediaKurdistan Uezd, commonly referred to as Red Kurdistan, was an autonomous administrative district within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, existing from 1923 to 1929, designed to provide territorial recognition and limited self-governance to the Kurdish population in the region's highland areas.[1][2] The uyezd encompassed territories including the districts of Lachin (its administrative center), Kelbajar, and parts of surrounding areas, where Kurds formed a majority, comprising approximately 74% of the population alongside Azerbaijanis and other groups.[3][1] Established as part of the early Soviet nationalities policy to foster ethnic loyalty through korenizatsiya (indigenization), it represented one of the few instances of formal Kurdish autonomy under Soviet rule, though constrained by central oversight from Baku and Moscow.[4][5] The creation of Kurdistan Uezd on May 23, 1923, followed Bolshevik efforts to integrate Caucasian Kurds into the socialist framework after the 1920 incorporation of Azerbaijan into the USSR, building on pre-existing Kurdish settlements displaced from Ottoman and Persian territories.[2][1] During its existence, the district implemented measures such as Kurdish-language education, cultural institutions, and local soviets dominated by Kurdish communists, aiming to promote literacy and suppress feudal structures among the largely agrarian population.[4][3] However, it faced internal challenges including Azeri administrative interference and external diplomatic pressures, notably from Turkey, which viewed any Kurdish entity as a threat to its territorial integrity.[5][4] Dissolved on April 8, 1929, by decree of the Azerbaijani Congress of Soviets amid reorganizations that fragmented its territories into ordinary raions, the uyezd was briefly succeeded by the Kurdistan Okrug in 1930, which itself lasted only until July of that year before abolition.[2][1] The termination reflected shifting Soviet priorities under Stalin, prioritizing economic centralization over ethnic autonomies and responding to geopolitical concerns, leading to the erosion of Kurdish cultural gains and eventual mass deportations of Azerbaijani Kurds to Central Asia in 1937 as part of broader purges targeting perceived unreliable minorities.[4][3] Despite its brevity, Red Kurdistan remains a symbolic reference in Kurdish nationalist discourse for lost opportunities of self-determination within a communist framework.[5]
Geographical and Demographic Context
Location and Borders
Kurdistan Uezd occupied a mountainous territory in the southwestern Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, situated between the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and Armenia's Syunik Province.[2] Established on May 23, 1923, as an autonomous administrative unit, its core areas encompassed the districts of Lachin (administrative center), Kalbajar, Qubadli, Zangilan, and parts of Jabrayil, forming a compact region of Kurdish-majority settlements.[2][6] The uezd's western borders adjoined the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, positioning it as a buffer zone amid ethnic complexities in the South Caucasus.[6] To the east, it neighbored the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within Azerbaijan SSR, while southern extents approached territories near the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Iranian frontier, though remaining fully within Azerbaijan SSR jurisdiction.[2][6] This configuration reflected Soviet efforts to delineate national autonomies amid diverse highland populations, with the uezd spanning rugged terrain conducive to pastoral Kurdish communities.[2]
Pre-1923 Population Composition
Prior to the establishment of Kurdistan Uezd in 1923, the territories that would form it—primarily portions of Kubatlu (Qubadli), Lachin, and Kelbajar (Kalbajar) districts within the Azerbaijan SSR—featured a mixed ethnic composition dominated by Muslims, including Kurds and Azerbaijanis (then often termed "Turks" in census records), alongside a diminishing Armenian presence. These areas had experienced significant demographic shifts due to the Armenian-Azerbaijani war (1918–1920), during which Armenian communities in border regions faced expulsions and flight, reducing their share. Additionally, World War I and the Ottoman-Armenian conflicts prompted migrations of Kurdish groups from eastern Anatolia, bolstering the local Kurdish element, many of whom were semi-nomadic and integrated through tribal ties. Ethnic classification proved challenging, as substantial numbers of Kurds had adopted Azerbaijani Turkish as their primary language, leading to undercounting in some records.[1][7] The 1921 Azerbaijan Agricultural Census, focusing on rural populations, provides the most proximate pre-formation data for relevant uezds contributing territory. In Kubatlu uezd, Muslims (Kurds and Azerbaijanis) formed over 95% of inhabitants, with Armenians minimal. Jevanshir uezd, overlapping with Kelbajar areas, showed a more balanced mix but still Muslim plurality. These figures underscore the rationale for delimiting a Kurdish autonomy from Muslim-majority zones, though post-formation censuses (e.g., 1924) reported higher Kurdish proportions (80.7%), likely due to boundary adjustments favoring concentrated settlements and reclassifications.[8][7]| Uezd (1921 Agricultural Census) | Total Rural Population | Kurds (%) | Azerbaijanis/Turks (%) | Armenians (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kubatlu | 39,496 | 35.4 (13,994) | 59.6 (23,517) | 5.0 (1,975) |
| Jevanshir (partial overlap) | 84,527 | 17.3 (14,680) | 47.3 (40,032) | 35.2 (29,815) |
