Julfa (), formerly Jugha (
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
: Ջուղա, also transliterated as ''Djugha''), is a city and the capital of the
Julfa District
Julfa District () is one of the 7 districts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. The district borders the districts of Ordubad, Babek, Shahbuz, as well as the Syunik Province of Armenia and the East Azerbaijan Province of Ira ...
of the
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (, ) is a landlocked country, landlocked Enclave and exclave, exclave of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers Official portal of Nakhchivan Autonomous RepublicNakhchivan Autonomous Republi ...
of
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
.
Julfa is separated by the
Aras River
The Aras is a transboundary river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, between Iran and both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, fin ...
from its namesake, the town of
Jolfa on the Iranian side of the
border
Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...
. The two towns are linked by a road bridge and a railway bridge.
Both Azerbaijan's absolute minimum temperature () and the absolute maximum temperature () were observed in Julfa (and also in
Ordubad
Ordubad is the second largest city of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the capital of an eponymous district. Ordubad is a medieval city of the Caucasus and in its current capacity of a town was founded in the 18th century. The town ...
).
History
The city is known as ''Jugha'' () in Armenian. The modern-day town of Julfa is located a few kilometers east of the ruins of the historical settlement of Julfa/Jugha, which are situated on a rocky strip of land in between the left bank of the
Aras and a steep mountain range.
[Ghougassian, Vazken S. �]
JULFA i. SAFAVID PERIOD
” ''Encyclopaedia Iranica
An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...
'', XV/2, pp. 217–224 and XV/3, pp. 225–231. The medieval Armenian historian
Movses Khorenatsi
Movses Khorenatsi ( 410–490s AD; , ) was a prominent Armenians, Armenian historian from late antiquity and the author of the ''History of Armenia (book), History of the Armenians''.
Movses's ''History of the Armenians'' was the first attempt at ...
wrote that Julfa was founded by the king of
Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
,
Tigranes
Tigranes (, ) is the Greek rendering of the Old Iranian name ''*Tigrāna''. This was the name of a number of historical figures, primarily kings of Armenia.
The name of Tigranes, which was theophoric in nature, was uncommon during the Achae ...
, using prisoners he took after defeating the Median king
Astyages
Astyages was the last king of the Median kingdom, reigning from 585 to 550 BCE. The son of Cyaxares, he was dethroned by the Persian king Cyrus the Great.
Reign
Astyages succeeded his father in 585 BCE, following the Battle of Halys, wh ...
(
Azhdahak in the Armenian tradition).
The 18th-century Armenian Catholicos
Lazar I wrote that some of the inhabitants of the medieval Armenian capital of
Ani migrated to Julfa after the former's destruction, leading to the misconception that Julfa was founded after the destruction of Ani.
Existing as a village in the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, it grew into a town between the 10th and 13th centuries, with a population that was almost entirely
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
. For a time, Julfa was one of the most important settlements in medieval Armenia. It became prosperous in the 15th and 16th centuries due to the role it played in international trade, as it was located along the ancient trade routes from
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, the Middle East, South-East Asia, India, to Russia, the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
, and North-West Europe.
[Джульфа (город в Нахич. АССР)](_blank)
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...
An English preacher who passed through the town in 1600 estimated its population to be about 10,000 people.
Unlike other Armenian cities, Julfa does not seem to have experienced significant hardship before its destruction and the deportation of its population in 1605.
In 1603, during the
Ottoman–Safavid war (1603–1612),
Abbas the Great
Abbas I (; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the fifth Safavid Iran, Safavid shah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Mohammad Khodabanda, Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered ...
, the emperor of
Safavid Iran
The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...
, retook Julfa from the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and was seen as a liberator by its Armenian population. However, Abbas realized he could not defend the territory along the
Aras from incursions by the Ottomans. His solution was to evacuate the region, undertaking a
scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...
policy to prevent its wealth and population from falling into Ottoman hands. In October 1605, the Shah issued a proclamation declaring that the entire population of Julfa must leave their homes and move deep into the Empire.
According to 17th-century chronicler
Arakel of Tabriz
Arakel of Tabriz or Arakel Davrizhetsi (; 1590s–1670) was an Armenian historian and clergyman from Tabriz. His ''History'' is an important and reliable source for the histories of the Safavid and Ottoman empires, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and ...
, the proclamation stated that they had three days to leave or face being massacred. Another eyewitness,
Augustus Badjetsi, Bishop of Nakhijevan, wrote:
About three thousand families were deported from Julfa, and many drowned while attempting to cross the Aras. After the deportation was completed, the town was destroyed by fire to prevent the inhabitants from returning.
The deportees were taken to an area near
Esfahan, where a new town,
New Julfa
New Julfa (, ''Now Jolfā'', or , ''Jolfâ-ye Now''; , ''Nor Jugha'') is the Armenians, Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Iran, located along the south bank of the Zayanderud.
Established and named after the Gülüstan, Nakhchivan, older city of Julf ...
, was established. New Julfa is now a district of Esfahan and is the modern-day centre of the
Iranian Armenian population in Iran.
In 1606, the second deportation was made of inhabitants that had escaped the first deportation.
In the 17th century, a
small settlement was founded amid the ruins of the destroyed town, which, in 1747, became part of the
Nakhichevan Khanate
The Nakhichevan Khanate () was a khanate under Iranian suzerainty, which controlled the city of Nakhichevan and its surroundings from 1747 to 1828.
The territory of the khanate corresponded to most of the present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republ ...
within
Qajar Iran
The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic peoples, Turkic origin,Cyrus G ...
. At the start of the 19th century, this settlement moved to a new location three kilometres to the east of the historic town, at the point where the Alinja River flows into the
Aras. Following the
Russo-Persian War of 1826–28 and the resulting
Treaty of Turkmenchay
The Treaty of Turkmenchay (; ) was an agreement between Qajar Iran and the Russian Empire, which concluded the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828). It was second of the series of treaties (the first was the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan and the last, the ...
in 1828, the village of Julfa became the official border crossing between Persia and Russia as the former was forced to cede its last remaining
Caucasian territories, containing state customs services, a garrison and post office.
The town became part of the
Armenian Oblast from 1840 to 1847 and then part of the
Erivan Governorate of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
between 1847 and 1917. According to the
Russian Empire census in 1897 Julfa was a village with a population of 763, of which 751 were
Armenians
Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
. Following the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
, between 1918 and 1920, Julfa was the subject of a territorial dispute between the
First Republic of Armenia
The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia, was an independent History of Armenia, Armenian state that existed from May (28th ''de jure'', 30th ''de facto'') 1918 to 2 December 1920 in ...
and the
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (), also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic (; ), was the first secular democracy, democratic republic in the Turkic peoples, Turkic and Muslim worlds.
*Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: ...
. As a result of the
Treaty of Kars, it became part of the
Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic under the
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent re ...
.
The
Persian Corridor ran through Julfa during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, bringing supplies from other
Allied nations into the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
During the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...
from 1988 to 1994, the remaining Armenian population (which had been slowly declining due to emigration during the Soviet era) was either evacuated or was forcibly deported to Armenia.
Old Julfa and Julfa cemetery
At the beginning of the 20th century, the remains of the medieval settlement included a massive ruined bridge, two large
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...
s (one on the Iranian side of the border), the walls of a fortress, and several Armenian churches. The most notable remnant from old Julfa was the town's huge Armenian cemetery, located to the west of the ruined city, on three low hills divided by small valleys. It contained the largest surviving collection of Armenian
khachkar
A ''khachkar'' (also spelled as ''khatchkar'') or Armenian cross-stone (, , խաչ ''xačʿ'' "cross" + քար ''kʿar'' "stone") is a carved, memorial stele bearing a cross, and often with additional motifs such as rosette (design), rosettes ...
tombstones, most dating to the 15th and 16th centuries. One of the earliest references to the site is that of the French Jesuit missionary
Alexander de Rhodes, who wrote that during his visit in 1648 he saw over ten thousand tombstones. However, a large number of the stones were destroyed during the construction of the railway line to Julfa early in the 20th century.
In the 1970s, according to
Argam Aivazian's investigations at the cemetery from 1971 to 1973, there were, either upright or fallen, 462 khachkars on the first cemetery hill, 1,672 khachkars on the second, and 573 on the third. In addition to these khachkars, there were in the same cemetery more than a thousand ram-shaped, gabled, or flat tombstones. An additional 250 khachkars were counted in the cemetery of the nearby
Amenaprkich
A ''khachkar'' (also spelled as ''khatchkar'') or Armenian cross-stone (, , խաչ ''xačʿ'' "cross" + քար ''kʿar'' "stone") is a carved, memorial stele bearing a cross, and often with additional motifs such as rosettes, interlaces, and ...
monastery and in other parts of the city site. The number of khachkars and ram-shaped tombstones buried in the earth or in fragments, in the main cemetery and elsewhere, was estimated to be more than 1,400.
Destruction
Between 1998 and 2006 the entire cemetery was destroyed. The various stages of the destruction process were documented by photographic and video evidence taken from the Iranian side of the border. However, the government and state officials of Azerbaijan have denied that any destruction has taken place, stating that "an Armenian cemetery never existed on the site and that Armenians have never lived in Julfa". Azerbaijan has, to date, refused to allow investigators access to the site.
The
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
formally called on Azerbaijan to stop the demolition as a breach of the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Convention. According to its resolution regarding cultural monuments in the
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...
, the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
"condemns strongly the destruction of the Julfa cemetery as well as the destruction of all sites of historical importance that has taken place on Armenian or Azerbaijani territory, and condemns any such action that seeks to destroy cultural heritage." In 2006, Azerbaijan barred the European Parliament from inspecting and examining the ancient site, stating that by passing the previously mentioned resolution the Parliament had committed a hostile act against Azerbaijan. The
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) is an independent nonprofit organization that trains and provide publishing opportunities for professional and citizen journalists. IWPR is registered in the UK as a charity (charity reg. no: 1027201, ...
reported on April 19, 2006, that "there is nothing left of the celebrated stone crosses of Jugha."
After several more postponed visits, a renewed attempt was planned by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) inspectors for August 29 - September 6, 2007, led by British MP Edward O'Hara. As well as Nakhchivan, the delegation would visit Baku, Yerevan, Tbilisi, and Nagorno Karabakh. The inspectors planned to visit Nagorno Karabakh via Armenia, and had arranged transport to facilitate this. However, on August 28, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE released a demand that the inspectors must enter Nagorno Karabakh via Azerbaijan. On August 29, PACE Secretary General Mateo Sorinas announced that the visit had to be cancelled because of the difficulty in accessing Nagorno Karabagh using the route required by Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Armenia issued a statement saying that Azerbaijan had stopped the visit "due solely to their intent to veil the demolition of Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan".
[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Press Release 29-08-2007.]
In culture
The sudden and dramatic downfall of Old Julfa in the 17th century made a deep and lasting impression on Armenian society and culture. During the 19th century, poets such
Hovhannes Tumanyan and historians such as
Ghevond Alishan produced works based on the event. The emotions raised as a result of the destruction of the graveyard in 2006 indicates that the fate of Julfa still resonates within contemporary Armenian society.
Notable people
*
Aramais Aghamalian was an Armenian-Iranian film director and screenwriter.
References
Notes
Citations
Further reading
*
Ayvazyan, Argam. ''Ջուղա'' (''Jugha''). Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Sovetakan Grogh, 1984.
*Argam Aivazian, ''Nakhijevan: Book of Monuments'' / , Yerevan, 1990.
*
Baltrušaitis, Jurgis and Dickran Kouymjian. "Julfa on the Arax and Its Funerary Monuments" in ''Études Arméniennes/Armenian Studies In Memoriam Haig Berberian''. Lisbon: Galouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1986.
*Switzerland-Armenia Parliamentary Group, ''The Destruction of Jugha'', Bern, 2006.
*
*
External links
*
Azerbaijani vandalism against Armenian cultural monuments in Old Julfatape on YouTube.
Old Jughapage on Armeniapedia
Djulfa Virtual Memorial and MuseumDocumenting Cultural Destruction in Nakhchivan
by Azeri soldiers captured in photos and movie clips.
giving response of Azerbaijan to reports of the destruction of the cemetery.
IWPR report by a reporter who did not actually visit the graveyard site.
The New Tears of AraxesDocuments the destruction of thousands of ancient Armenian headstones by the Azerbaijani authorities in Julfa (Jugha), Nakhchivan.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julfa, Azerbaijan (City)
Populated places in Julfa District
Azerbaijan–Iran border crossings