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History
Of The Karabakh Khanate
The
founder of the Karabakh Khanate is Panahali Khan. He was from the
Sarijali tribe, belonging to feudal nobles of the Javanshir tribe.
The ruler of the Otuzikiler tribe and the emir of some 20 thousand
crews of Javanshir and Gazakh, Panahali Khan was extremely rich and
had great influential power.
Panahali
Khan was recruited during Nadir’s rule in Azerbaijan. He and his
brother Fezleli Bey helped Nadir with cleaning Azerbaijan’s territories
from the Turkish and was rewarded. Cautious about brothers so
courageous and with big influence among the people staying in
Karabakh, Nadirgulu Khan invited them to Iran
to serve in the palace. In the shah’s palace, Fezleli Bey was
appointed eshikaghasi (a title and post; a chief person in palace
affairs) and Panahali Bey an army emir.
The
moving of a large part of Karabakh’s people to Khorasan and
Afghanistan worried
Panahali Bey and Fezleli Bey, who were working in the shah’s palace.
Fezleli Bey’s protest against the forceful deportation of Karabakh’s
people resulted in his execution by the shah. Shah was intending to
appoint Panahali Bey to the post of eshikaghasi. Knowing about the
shah’s treacherous intentions, in 1738, Panahali Bey left the palace
with a group of close people and moved to his native land
Karabakh.
Nadir
shah’s death created large opportunities for Panahali Bey, as it did
for many feudalists. He founded the Karabakh khanate in the west
part of the Karabakh beylerbeylik (a form of small administration
and control, similar to a khanate, but much like a vassal state, but
not a state) and declared himself the khan (1748-1763). To save the
Karabakh khanate from Iran and from the enemy
feudalists, he built the Bayat palace in the Kebirli province and
khan moved there with all his family and Karabakh’s nobles. The
people of surrounding villages, in addition, many artists from
Tebriz and Ardabil settled here.
Seeing the Karabakh khanate’s rising strength and the construction
of the Bayat palace, other governors and khans rose against Panahali
Khan. Among them, Sheki’s khan Haji Chelebi Khan decided to fight
fiercely against Panahali Khan. He gathered a lot of troops,
surrounded the Bayat palace and attacked several times. But,
Panahali Khan, who had learned about the attack beforehand, had
armed his relatives and Karabakh’s local people (called “elats”,
signifying “Karabakh’s people”) and prepared them for war. Despite
the siege continued for over a month, Panahali Khan’s enemies could
not capture the palace. When returning, having incurred great
losses, Haji Chelebi had said in disappointment: “Panahali Khan had
declared himself the khan, but I confirmed his khanate with my
defeat.” After the victory over the Sheki khanate, in the 50th years
of the XVIII century, Panahali Khan broke the resistance of
Karabakh’s armenian meliks and subordinated them to himself, and
expanded the territory of his khanate. Short while later, new
attacks of Azerbaijani and Iranian governors forced Panahali Khan to
build a new, stronger palace. In 1750, construction of this palace
started on a high, steep mountain and in the years 1756-1757,
building of the palace was completed. This palace was initially
named Panahabad, after the name of the khan who had built it and
later was renamed Shusha.
During
Panahali Khan’s rule, the Shusha palace was one of
Azerbaijan’s
administrative, trading and professionalism centers. A road for
caravans, linking the Front Caucasus with Iran
and other countries, passed through Shusha.
Panahali
Khan was intending to use the broadening internal wars between Nadir
Shah’s descendants, in order to capture the Ganja,
Iran, Irevan,
Nakhchivan and especially the Ardabil khanates. Within a short period, he
succeeded in putting them under his control through force and
betrothal diplomacy (establishing family ties). He appointed
Derjahgulu Bey from Sarija the governor to Ardabil, and the descendants of Ganja’s
Ziyadoghlu dynasty the governor to Ganja. Panahali Bey was expanding
his territory toward South-East. And in South-West, he had taken
away from the Karabakh and Nakhchivan governors the lands stretching
up to Bergushad - the Tatev, Sisyan, Gafan, Mehri and Guney
provinces. He captured the Goycha province, which was dependent on
Irevan’s governor and occupied Terter’s territory. He joined to his
circle of influence the lands stretching from the Khudaferin
Bridge to
Kurekchay, which were under Ganja’s rule. He brought the Kengerli
tribe of Nakhchivan, the Demirchi-Hassanli people in Georgia,
Garagoyunlu and Jinni tribes to obedience. Zengezur’s Hajishamli,
Kolani and Chalbeir provinces also obeyed the Karabakh
khanate.
In
the 50th years of the XVIII century, while Panahali Khan was busy
fortifying the khanate, Karabakh had been subjected to numerous
attacks of the neighboring feudalists. In 1751, Mohammedhassan Khan
Gajar’s troops attacked Karabakh. He set up a camp not far from
Shusha and stayed there for about a month. According to a historian
from Karabakh Mirza Jamal’s information, Mohammedhassan Khan
“thought long about making Panahali Khan obey and taking the Shusha
palace, took precautions… but, he could not approach the palace with
so many troops. On the contrary, Karabakh’s brave people, either
openly or secretly, robbed the horses and other animals of
Mohammedhassan Khan’s troops and did them great damage.” Sheki’s
governor Safarali Khan did not play little role in defeating
Mohammedhassan Khan’s forces either. Taking advantage of
Mohammedhassan Khan’s presence in Azerbaijan, in that year,
Kerim Khan Zand attacked Astarabad, Gilan and Mazandaran, which were
controlled by Mohammedhassan. After learning about it,
Mohammedhassan Khan was forced to abandon Shusha’s siege and
return.
A
while later, after uniting several neighboring khanates (Tebriz,
Khoy, Marand, Garadagh etc.) around himself, in 1760, Urmiya’s
governor Fatali Khan Afshar sent an envoy to Panahali Khan and
demanded he obeyed, but received rejection. Then, Fatali Khan Afshar
started an attack on the Karabakh Khanate with a large troop.
Capturing the defenseless villages and provinces he arrived in the
Shusha palace and surrounded the palace. After Shusha had stayed in
the siege for six months, Panahali Khan freed the town by giving his
son as hostage.
In
1761-1762, Kerim Khan Zand, who had united Iran’s various counties under his
government, started an attack on Azerbaijan. He defeated
Fatali Khan Afshar’s troops in a battle near the village of Garachemen and made Azerbaijan’s several
khanates obey him. Fatali Khan retreated to the Urmiya
palace.
Trying
to take advantage of the opposition between Azerbaijani khanates,
Kerim Khan Zand tried to draw local khans and feudalists, who were
once oppressed by Fatali Khan, to his side by sending them a letter.
Kerim Khan Zand wrote in his letter to Panahali Khan: “Not only is
Fatali Khan enemy with you, he is also blood-feud enemy with us… You
must not hold back your power for unity. Exactly this way, you can
get revenge and save your son. With this both you will be happy and
our wish will be fulfilled.”
In
reply to this appeal, Panahali Khan appointed his younger son
Mehrali Khan the governor in place of himself and, with his troops,
joined the Zands. Soon, the town of Urmiya was surrounded by the allied
troops. After resisting for several months, Fatali Khan could not
resist the united troops’ heavy strike and surrendered in February
of 1763. After his victory over the Urmiya khanate, Kerim Khan
betrayed Panahali Khan and did not allow him to return to Karabakh,
bringing in various excuses. In return, he freed his son
Ibrahimkhalil Khan from prison and sent him back to Karabakh.
Ibrahimkhalil Khan started to control the khanate. Panahali Khan was
taken to Shiraz and stayed there until the
end of his life (1763).
During
the government of Ibrahimkhalil Khan (years 1763-1780), the khanate
became even stronger. Its influence spread to southern khanates of
Azerbaijan, and at
certain times, also to the Ganja khanate. His reliable ally was
Nutsal Khan’s son, Umma Khan, the leader of the Jar-Balaken people.
Ibrahimkhalil Khan had married his sister and this family tie had
resulted in the creation of military-political
unity.
Ibrahimkhalil
Khan had married her daughter Tutu Bike khanoum to Selim Khan from
Sheki. Using precisely their power, Ibrahimkhalil Khan put an end to
the treachery of armenian meliks and the attacks of neighboring
khanates on Karabakh, stability was established inside and outside
of the khanate, the people started to engage in peaceful
labor.
Ibrahimkhalil
Khan was friends with the Georgian tsar Irakli II and had married
his vizier’s daughter. In order to strengthen the friendship ties
with Irakli II, the chief vizier of the khanate, famous Azerbaijani
poet Molla Penah Vagif had gone to Tiflis. The treaty between the Karabakh
khanate and the Georgian reign, which was signed with his
participation, had a political importance.
In
years 1760-1780, the struggle for power with his brother Mehrali
Khan ended with Ibrahimkhalil Khan’s victory. Thus, having put his
internal affairs in order, he started military trips. The first of
these is the trip to Nakhchivan. Ibrahimkhalil Khan, with the help
of his ally Umma Khan, moved an army to Nakhchivan, stopped in
Karabakhlar and surrounded it. Irevan’s khan sent Zeynal and
Garapapag kurds to Nakhchivan’s aid. That is why Ibrahimkhalil Khan
faced strong resistance in Nakhchivan and retreated to Karabakh.
After that, he kept friendly relationships with Nakhchivan’s khan,
Kelbeli Khan.
Ibrahimkhalil
Khan’s second trip was the trip to Khoy. In 1789, he moved toward
Khoy with the allied troops and entered Marand. Khoy’s governor
Jafargulu Khan, together with his people, resisted him. The sides
faced each other near Marand, a severe battle took place, Karabakh’s
troop was defeated, and many people were taken prisoners. Among them
were Molla Penah Vagif and Ibrahimkhalil Khan’s cousin Ferzi Bey.
The prisoners were taken to Khoy city. Ibrahimkhalil Khan engaged in
talks with Jafargulu Khan and freed his people from imprisonment. A
friendship contract was signed between the two khanates. Molla Penah
Vagif wrote with regards to this event: “I made it back from the
battle in one piece, I swear not to leave the palace until the day
of apocalypse.”
In
the later years, a conflict happened between Ibrahimkhalil Khan and
the governor of a Georgian province. Because of this conflict, in
1791, Umma Khan rallied to Georgia with a large
troop and captured Sighinag and Gumuskhana, and spent the winter in
Akhalsikhi. On the way back, he captured the Adkhan palace, in which
knyaz (Russian sovereign) Abashidze was living with his family, and
massacred its people with swords. He took Abashidze’s daughter
prisoner and sent her to Ibrahimkhalil Khan and married the other
daughter. The relatively calm flow of political events and the halt
of attacks did not last long.
Agha
Mohammed Shah Gajar’s attack to Azerbaijan
After
Kerim Khan Zand’s death (1779), in the inter-feudalist wars that
took place in Iran, the Gajar dynasty,
turk-gizilbash (Azerbaijan) by origin,
achieved victory. From the middle of 1780’s, Agha Mohammed Shah
conquered principal regions of Iran, with the exclusion of Khorasan,
and declared Tehran his capital. In 1794, he
sent an army of 8,000 to Karabakh. But the troops was defeated near
the Asgeran palace and retreated.
Like
the Safavid shahs, Agha Mohammed Shah Gajar wanted to make all of
Front Caucasus obey him. Before starting his rallies, he sent
commands to all khanates of Azerbaijan, Kartli and Kakhetiya
reigns, also to Southern Daghestan,
asking them for pledges. He asked Ibrahimkhalil Khan to give his son
as the sign of obedience. However, majority of the feudalist
governors of the Front Caucasus and Daghestan refused to bow to
Iranian cruelty again. This became an excuse for Agha Mohammed Shah
to attack the Front Caucasus with a large army. He ordered his
troops to march in three directions: in the direction of Talish,
Irevan and Shusha. Agha Mohammed Shah was the leader of the troop
moving in the last direction.
The
Iranian troops moving in the direction of Talish and Irevan
destroyed those places and joined with Agha Mohammed Shah’s troops.
At the end of June ‘1795, Agha Mohammed Shah forced himself into
Karabakh with an army of 85 thousand and surrounded the Shusha
palace. This attack was dangerous for the whole of the Caucasus. Therefore, Azerbaijanis rose to a
persistent resistance against the invaders. 15,000 of the khanate’s
selected population were fighting with the enemy. Seeing that the
siege of the palace was not resultant, Gajar was burning the
surrounding villages, driving away cows and other animals, and
taking people prisoners. He kept Shusha in siege for 33 days, but
did not gain any success. When this happened, he moved toward
Tiflis. Confrontations in the
Kartli-Kakhetiya palace allowed Gajar to enter Tiflis city. The Iranian army captured the
city in one battle, massacred its people and took 20,000 prisoners.
After a while, the enemy’s army moved to Mughan to pass the winter.
Agha Mohammed Shah wrote letters full of threat to Azerbaijani and
Daghestani governors again and demanded them to obey. This time,
several khanates of Azerbaijan appealed to
Russia for
help.
The
appeal of local governors to Yekaterina II resulted in Russian
troops’ military marches to the Front Caucasus in that year. The
control of the Russian marine in the Caspian
Sea was also given to V.Zubov, who was the commander of
the Russian troops. When Agha Mohammed Shah saw the Russian troops
moving to Azerbaijan, he quickly
retreated to the other side of river Araz in the spring of 1796.
That year, he declared himself Iran’s
shah.
The
death of Yekaterina II in 1796 affected the political situation in
the Caucasus. Succeeding to the
throne in 1797, Pavel I called back the Russian troops in
Azerbaijan and
Daghestan.
Taking
advantage of the departure of Russian troops from
Azerbaijan, in summer of
1797, Agha Mohammed Shah crossed the river Araz and approached
Shusha. The Karabakh khan was capable of resisting. When he was
returning, having attacked the enemy cannon base, he found the
palace door closed. Khan was betrayed inside the palace. Therefore
he had to flee to Jar-Balaken, to Umma Khan’s place. After
Ibrahimkhalil Khan left Shusha and moved to the North of Azerbaijan,
Agha Mohammed Shah sent a letter to the people of Shusha and offered
them to surrender. After a long lasting argument, the leader of the
religion officials of Karabakh, the chief religion scientist Haji
Babek went to the shah’s camp. The shah notified that the people of
Shusha had to collect 500,000 eshrefis (unit of currency) worth of
tolls. But Haji Babek managed to lower it to 200,000
eshrefis.
After
occupying Shusha, Agha Mohammed Shah settled in the house of
Ibrahimkhalil Khan’s elder son Mohammed Khan. He appointed
Ibrahimkhalil Khan’s prisoner and enemy Mohammed Bey the governor to
Shusha.
With
the invasion of Karabakh by Agha Mohammed Shah, North Azerbaijan’s situation changed. Shah’s
supporters were rising and becoming the ruling power. The khans who
kept in touch with Russian khans or worked for them were persecuted.
Because he was busy with the internal events that had taken place in
the khanate, Ganja’s Javad Khan could not resist the shah. Javad
Khan and the Baku khan Hussaingulu Khan, who
were hopeful of their previous services, were called to Shusha with
the shah’s order and put under supervision. Shamakhi’s khan Mustafa
Khan and Sheki’s khan Selim khan notified their obedience through
messengers. Guba’s Sheykhali Khan was present at Gajar’s, because,
shah had promised to give him the control of the Baku
khanate.
And
the Iranian army, in its turn, were torturing and robbing the people
after entering the city. Hundreds of people resisting Gajar were
sent to prison. Among them was Molla Panah Vagif. He was awaiting
execution.
Soon,
on July 4 ‘1797, an assassination against Agha Mohammed Shah was
organized with the initiation of Ibrahimkhalil Khan’s nephew (the
son of Ibrahimkhalil’s brother) and Gajar was murdered. After shah’s
assassination, the khans of Baku, Ganja and Irevan returned to
their cities. The Iranian army quickly retreated to
South.
The
Karabakh khan’s relative, Mohammed Bey took advantage of it and
strengthened his government in the khanate. Vagif was killed with
his order. But, after Ibrahimkhalil Khan returned to Shusha, he
accused Mohammed Bey Javanshir of betrayal and handed him to
Shirvan’s khan Mustafa Khan, a blood-feud enemy. And he executed
Mohammed Bey.
After
returning to Shusha again, Ibrahimkhalil Khan established friendship
ties with Iran’s new shah Fatali
Shah and married his daughter to him. Among the women in Fatali
Shah’s palace the most beautiful and noble was the daughter of
Karabakh’s khan, Beyim Khanoum and she also was the chief harem of
the palace. Even the present called “zigiymet”, sent by
England’s Queen reached
Beyim khanoum and the chief harem in her turn had sent a gratitude
letter to the queen with her own signature. Afterwards,
Ibrahimkhalil Khan was cruelly martyred by russians and Mehdigulu
Khan succeeded to his place.
In
the last years of the XVIII century, in complicated internal and
international conditions, the Karabakh and Guba khanates sent
messengers to Russia to ask for help.
The tsar government was attempting to put Azerbaijani khanates under
its rule. During the talks with Iran, the Russian government demanded
that Iran
abandoned Azerbaijan’s Caspian
coast provinces and its claims
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