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Russian army’s spring-summer campaign in the Caucasus in 1827 fully fitted into the context of interests of the Russian state corresponding to the vital interests of the Yerevan Armenians; however, a certain prematurity of fights in the territory of the Yerevan khanate should be perceived also from the perspective of the personalambitions of Yermolov’s successor,Paskevich.Armenian journalist and researcher ArisGhazinyan writes about it in his book “Yerevan: with a cross or on the cross,” which is an attempt of setting and considering an extremely diverse range of processes directly or indirectly forming the character of the development of the territory in question and predetermining the inevitability of turning Yerevan into the main center of the Eastern Armenia, and later on into the capital of the recovered Armenian state.

It was extremely important for Paskevich to do what his predecessors had failed to, including Pavel Tsitsianov, the third commander of the Caucasian Corps.In an atmosphere of such anticipations, Paskevich started the 1827 campaign, the political aim of which was to possess the Yerevan and Nakhijevan khanates. Ghazinyan writes that the campaign promised him not only an order, but also titles.

However, Ghazinyan notes that 47-year-old General AfanasiKrasovski– veteran of Russo-Turkish (1806-1812) and Patriotic Wars –had a significant contribution to Yerevan’s joining to Russia.
“In spring of 1827, General Krasovski settled down in only twenty versts from Yerevan, in Etchmiadzin – the religious center of the Armenians,”Ghazinyan writes.

With the future Catholicos Nerses V Ashtaraketsi’s immediate participation, the integration of the Armenian voluntaries with their flag and command in Armenian started in Tiflis. Tiflis (initially) and Ararat (Yerevan, Etchmiadzin, and Nakhijevan) Armenians were included in the voluntary unit.

Ghazinyanwrites that archbishop Nerses- with a cross in his hand – personally received the parade of that troop and blessed it before the first campaign to the biblical Ararat valley.

Ghazinyan notes that the archbishop called to liberate the Armenian land from the Muslim yoke, together with the Russian army. In April of 1827, General Krasovski’s Russian army and the Armenian voluntary unit entered the Mother See ofEtchmiadzin. A cross march and bell-ringing marked the beginning of a new era in the thousand-year-long Armenian history. This way, the Armenian national liberation struggle, which had been carried outon de facto level before, entered in the context de jure.
Meanwhile, in Yerevan, the Armenian revolt was severely oppressedby not only the local authorities, but also additional forces, including separate parts of the army of the successor to the Persian throne, Abbas Mirza.

“In spring of 1827, the density of the military population in the city borders was extremely high, which was explained by a considerable contingent from Persia. Not only Prince Abbas Mirza, but also British militaries were in Yerevan at that time. Then Georgian tsarevich Alexander promoted his activities gathering a ‘Georgian army’ in Yerevan. The main groups of the Yerevan resistance moved away to the north-western foothills and joined the Armenian voluntary unit, which attacked with General Krasovski’s army,”Ghazinyan writes highlighting that the Armenian population remaining in the city was not left to the mercy of fate; they were patronized by melikSahak, who continued to be the leader of the Yerevan Armenians.

MelikSahak personally registered many Yerevan citizens in the Persian garrison, and did it not only for insuring them from punishment for their participation in the revolt, but also for including his people in the garrison, who would later inform the Russian command about the Persian movements.
The Russian troops’ entry into Etchmiadzin became not only an important military and political, but also a great ideological event.

The siege of Yerevan started.

Initially, the siege of Yerevan was supported by Konstantin Benckendorff’s detachment, who in the middle of June, received an order to re-deploy to the south, where in July of 1827, with Paskevich’s advancement to Nakhijevan khanate, the center of the war was dislocated, and therefore, the siege of Yerevan was carried out by Krasovski’s 20thDivision.

However, the hot weather, something unusual for the Russian army, obliged Krasovski to call off the blockade of the fortress and move the positions away to Etchmiadzin, where “despite conditions in the field, there was water and shadow near the monasteries.”

Leaving the battalion of the Sevastopol regiment, five weapons and a sotnia (company) of Armenian cavalry, which had itself asked to defend the native monastery, in Etchmiadzin, Krasovskimoved towards Oshakanon June 30 with the remaining troops, and the detachment spent the night there near the river Aparan.

With the departure of Krasovski’s division, the Persians activated their efforts for strengthening the Yerevan fortress. Sardar decided to enlarge the esplanade of the Yerevan fortress without taking pity on his splendid house and wonderful garden, which was mercilessly cut down up to the last tree.
“It was ironically narrated that sardar tried to cast a monstrous cannon, which had to put an end to a considerable part of the Russian corps; however, that undertaking was a failure because there was not enough kindled metal for the whole muzzle part of the cannon,”Ghazinyan writes.
In their turn, sardar’s agents tried to sow panic among the citizens voicing thoughts that Krasovski’s departure was a historical regularity just like the one, which, in its time, hadmade general Tsitsianov step back.

Ghazinyan writes that therefore, the defensive capacity of the fortress was being built not only through the widening of the esplanade, but also through the narrowing of the exaggerating thoughts’ spectrum.
Under the favorable influence of the coolness of Aragats foothills, the Russian army decided to wait until the hot weather was over and to start the attack of the Yerevan fortress after it. The battalion under the command of Tiflis military governor, Lieutenant General Nikolay Sipyagin moved furtheraway to Gyumri region.

The Persian Prince Abbas Mirza, whose army had lost in Nakhijevan, took advantage of the uneven distribution of forces. Leaving a small military contingent inthe south, which had to not only carry out military action, but also create an illusion of the prince’s presence, he started to concentrate the main resources in the direction of Yerevan, where the Persian army of thirtythousandhad already concentrated in the beginning of August.

The Armenian population of Yerevan certainly felt fear, which was deepened whenthe majority of the Yerevan rebellion organizers went out to meet the Russians. Moreover, people known for their hatred towards the Armenians arrived at the fortress, and they had a frightening influence on the Christian population.

However, the leader of the Yerevan Armenians, melikSahak, worked competently and in cold blood.  Through the Armenians introduced to the Persian garrison by him,he was in a constant contact with the archbishop Nerses, and through the latter, with General Krasovski. 

“It is especially important to highlight that the Russians fully trusted the Armenian leader registered in the Persian service. He obtained information, received and accompanied scouts, and delivered the latest information. Thanks to his activities, it was possible to know about the contraction of Persian army’s main forces in Yerevan and about the thronesuccessor’s intention to set out against Etchmiadzin,”Ghazinyanwrites.

In the meantime, the army headquarters and main forceswere placed in the center of the strategic triangle Yerevan-Etchmiadzin-Jangili, in the historical village Oshakan. Ghazinyan notes that in addition to its strategic significance, the area was also characterizedby a deep ideological content: the person, who is honored by the Armenians as the main guarantor of the ethno-cultural immunity – the creator of the national alphabet Mesrop Mashtots – was buried there in 440.

“The creation of the alphabet by him took place in a crucial period of the Armenian history when the assimilation sword of Damocles was hanging over the perspectives of the nationdivided between the Byzantine and the Sasanian Iran. The alphabet became the fundament for the Armenian immunity, the guarantee of the continuity of national values, and the national self,” he notes.
It is significant that the fate of the Armenian nation was again determined in Oshakan after 15 centuries since the presentation of the Armenian alphabet and not far from its creator Mesrop Mashtots’sgrave.
By that time, the Persian army had bombed the main stronghold of the Armenian fate, Etchmiadzin.
To be continued

Aris Ghazinyan’s “Yerevan: with a cross or on the cross” is a book about the social and political history of Yerevan and Yerevan district (as a habitat) since the declaration of Christianity to the beginning of XIX century. In addition to demonstrating historical facts based on archive documents and sources, the book also considers the fundamental theses of the Azerbaijani historiography and Pan-Turkic ideology aimed at appropriating the historical, cultural, and spiritual heritage of the Armenians and other nations of the region by falsifying their history.