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At the end of the 18th century, Karabakh, and particularly the village Kasapet (or, Kusapat) were practically ruined as a result of political skirmishes, which had destroyed once significant possessions of the Atabekovs, a family of Karabakh Armenian meliks, as well as hunger and plague, writes General of the Russian army Vasily Aleksandrovich Potto, a military historian referred to as the ‘Nestor’ of the history of the Caucasus, in his fundamental research ‘The First Volunteers of Karabakh,’ http://www.rulit.me/books/pervye-dobrovolcy-karabah-v-epohu-vodvoreniya-read-20422-1.html published in Tiflis in 1902.

After Georgia’s annexation to the Russian Empire and the fall of Ganja dominions, General of the Russian army Pavel Tsitsianov joined Podpolkovnik (a rank in Slavic countries corresponding to the lieutenant colonel) Lisanevich to start ‘reprisals’ with the aim of ‘rewarding the Elisabethpol inhabitants for their loss.’ Karabakh nomads, however, were quick to notice the approaching small Russian detachment, and drove off all of their herds and flocks to the mountains, Potto writes.

“Then, Lisanevich, an enterprising figure, took up another method of retribution. He applied all the possible measures to increase the population of Elisabethpol okrug by attracting Armenian farmers from Karabakh. This also contributed to the weakening of the productive forces in Ibrahim Khan’s dominions. Lisanevich seized 250 Armenian families, whom Tsitsianov ordered to settle in Elisabethpol Vorstadt,” Potto writes noting that Arutin Atabekov’s family, consisting of Atabekov himself, his wife and their two married sons, Vani-Yuzbashi and Hakop, was among them.

Finding himself between hammer and anvil, that is, Russia and Persia, and hating the latter even more than Russia, Ibrahim Khan accepted conditions set in a treaty of 14 May 1805, according to which ‘Karabakh acquired allegiance to Russia in perpetuity.’ In connection with this circumstance, the Karabakh Armenians, who had been resettled in Elisabethpol by Lisanevich, were able to go back to their old homes due to the Colonel Pavel Mikhaylovich Karyagin’s efforts ‘to alleviate their situation.’ Arutin Atabekov’s family returned to Kasapet (Kusapat), as well. Still, everything was looted and robbed there threatening with an endless poverty to that family.

Colonel Karyagin did not allow his country’s citizens to be ruined and obliged Ibrahim Khan to give everything seized from the Armenians back to them. Receiving their former lands back, Arutin’s family lived peacefully and happily. The Persians, however, could not forgive Ibrahim’s betrayal, and Pir Kuli Khan led an advanced detachment of ten thousand from their army to cross Araks bypassing Khodaafarin Bridge, where Lisanevich’s battalion was deployed, and make its way to Shushi. Lisanevich withdrew and locked himself up in the fortress.

Meanwhile, Tsitsianov turned to the Karabakh Armenians. “Have you, Karabakh Armenians, always praised for your courage, become woman-like? … Regain your former courage and be ready for victories. Show that you are still those brave Karabakh Armenians who were the Persian cavalry’s fear…”

Although the Persians managed to capture Askeran fortress blocking the Russian detachment’s way, Karyagin could find a solution due to Vani-Yuzbashi, a young Armenian from the detachment. “That young man alone was of more help to Karyagin than a few hundred horsemen would be even if it were possible to gather them in Karabakh. The Russian proverb came true: throw your bread and salt behind and they will appear before you. We already know that in his time, he saved the family of the Armenian, Arutin-Yuzbashi Atabekov, from ruin. And now, that Arutin’s son, young Vani-Yuzbashi, driven by a sense of a boundless gratitude towards Karyagin, left his family and appeared before him as a volunteer. Since that minute, he literally became the saviour of the detachment.”

Knowing all the surrounding areas, Vani-Yuzbashi suggested that Karyagin deployed on a high hill. In the battle, Karyagin was able to throw away the Persian troops but Abbas Mirza’s army of thirty thousand came to help them. Vani risked his life taking a letter to Shushi from Karyagin who hoped to receive some help from Lisanevich. The latter, however, was unable to leave Shushi fortress. Karyagin’s detachment remained almost without any resources to resist the Persians. He had only less than 150 people and depleting stores of powder and rusks. Desertion started; lieutenant Lisenko fled to the foe with 50 soldiers. Yet Karyagin made up his mind to assault and take the ‘rather strong’ fortress of Shah Bulah, which was occupied by the Persian garrison.

Knowing Karabakh ‘like the palm of his hand,’ Vani led Karyagin and his troops along tracks, which nobody used and accordingly almost out of the Persians’ watch. The sudden attack drove the Persians into panic, and Karyagin was able to capture the fortress leaving over 30 foes dead, including two khans.

A couple of hours later, Abbas Mirza’s troops assaulted Shah Bulah setting on a close blockade. Soon the hunger stroke Karyagin’s detachment. Vani-Yuzbashi was able to get out of the fortress at nights to fetch all the necessary food from his village and from the ruined Jermuk fortress, where he knew Armenians were hiding. Moreover, he took Karyagin’s letter about their situation to Tsitsianiov. As the stipulated period expired, Karyagin took up a ruse. Offering the Persian troops to occupy the Shah Bulah fortress, he went on a night withdrawal towards a small stone castle in the mountains, Mukhratag, which once belonged to Melik Adam of Charopert (Jraberd), on Vani-Yuzbashi’s advice who perfectly knew his native lands.

Vani again took them along such hidden paths and gorges that for a long time the foe had not even suspected that they were gone. Facing fights and losses, the detachment at last reached Mukhratag castle, which was surrounded with forests and mountains making it difficult for the Persian cavalry to act. Every night, Vani went out of the fortress to fetch food from the surrounding Armenian villages. Abbas Mirza went to Askaran and left a two-thousand-soldier detachment to watch the Russians in the mountains. Meanwhile, Hakop, Vani’s brother, got to Mukhratag bringing Pavel Tsitsianov’s order to keep in the castle until his arrival.

As Tsitsianov approached, he sent an Armenian to the castle to tell them about his order to join his detachment on the river Mardakert, if possible. At night, Vani for the third time took the Russians from Mukhtarag through the whole Persian army to successfully join their commander-in-chief’s camp at twilight. Tsitsianov thanked him especially and gave his big silver watch to him for memory, still kept by his descendants. On the next day, Tsitsianov moved on to Shushi, while Karyagin and his detachment were sent to Elisabethpol, which remained almost without troops. The campaign on Elisabethpol was the last service Vani-Yuzbashi provided for the Russians in that expedition. Accompanied by sixty armed Karabakh Armenians, he led the detachment along the shortest way, directly through high mountains.
“Hardly had they reached Elisabethpol, when they learnt that Abbas Mirza had bypassed Tsitsianov and was marching on Ganja with all his strength. Sick and wounded, Karyagin went to face him alone, and in a battle at Dzigam, on 27 July, the Persian army was utterly destroyed by one battalion of less than 600 people,” Potto writes. He notes that though the Persian campaign was over in 1805, the areas were still in unrest and Vani was still needed, so that he returned home from Elisabethpol only in spring of 1806. On their farewell, Karyagin gave Vani-Yuzbashi Atabekov a certificate still preserved in his family.

According to the historian Ladinsky, Knyaz Tsitsianov honoured the Armenian Yuzbashi’s services by conferring him the rank of praporshik, decorating him with a gold medal and appointing a lifelong yearly pension of 200 roubles in silver. However, Potto writes that Vani received all those rewards later, for new services. Then, Tsitsianov confined himself to allowing Vani and Hakop Atabekovs to move their former richpars (farmers), twelve families from the village Askanapat, Elisabethpol governorate, and five families from Sheki Khanate, to their village Kasapet.

Later, in 1815, Hakop Atabekov was decorated with a silver medal on the special request of General Nikolay Rtishev, commander-in-chief in Georgia. The medal, hung on a red ribbon, was awarded on the behalf of the Emperor, whose image emblazoned one side of it. On the other side, the medal carried the note ‘For courage.’
To be continued.

Vasily Potto’s research ‘The First Volunteers of Karabakh in the Period of Establishment of the Russian Dominion (Melik-Vani and Hakop-Yuzbashi Atabekovs),’ dedicated to the history of the Atabekovs’ family, is based on various sources. This enabled the author to describe more precisely the history and images of the brave Armenian volunteers from the ancient Armenian dynasty of Atabekyans, as well as to cover the period of the annexation of Eastern Armenia into the Russian Empire and the historical events of the first quarter of the 19th century.