THE ISSUE OF THE TERRITORIAL COVERAGE OF THE DEPORTATION OF THE ARMENIAN POPULATION ORGANIZED BY SHAH ABBAS I

Abstract

At the beginning of the Turkish-Persian war of 1603-1612, the consequences of military
operations and, in particular, planned actions by Persian authorities affected negatively the
demographic processes in Armenia. The policy of mass deportation of the Armenian
population, organized by Persian Shah Abbas I (1587-1629) in 1603-1605, had the most
extensive consequences, the main stage of which took place in 1604. The issue of the territorial
coverage of the mass deportation was investigated in this article. On the basis of a number of
Armenian, Persian, Turkish, and European sources, it was confirmed that the policy was
carried out against the Armenian population not only of Eastern, but also Western Armenia. At
first, Armenians were resettled from various regions of Chukhur-Saad (Ararat) Eyalet and
Gyanja (Gandzak) Sanjak to the territory between Yerevan and the River Araks. Thereafter,
before the upcoming campaign of the main forces of the Ottoman army, Shah Abbas ordered to
conduct the strategy of scorched-earth policy in the territory of Western Armenia, in particular
to destroy the whole agricultural infrastructure in order to prevent its use by the attacking
Ottoman troops. Within the context of the mentioned strategy, Shah Abbas ordered to resettle
the population from Kars Eyalet, eastern and northern regions of Van Eyalet, central and
eastern regions of Erzurum Eyalet to the territory of Chukhur-Saad Eyalet. After on, they,
along with the previously relocated population, were deported to Persia. Thus, this policy
adversely affected the demographic situation of the above mentioned territories.