ԼՂԻՄ-Ի և ՔՐԴՍՏԱՆԻ ԳԱՎԱՌԻ ԺՈՂՈՎՐԴԱԳՐՈՒԹՅԱՆ ՈՐՈՇ ՀԱՐՑԵՐ (1920-ԱԿԱՆ ԹԹ.). ՀԱՄԱՌՈՏ ԱԿՆԱՐԿ / SOME ISSUES ABOUT THE DEMOGRAPHY OF THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH AUTONOMOUS REGION AND KURDISTAN UEZD (IN THE 1920s): SHORT OVERVIEW

Abstract

Obtaining demographic data was very important for the newly created Soviet state. Despite the difficult economic and political situation, the Soviet authorities tried to carry out censuses not only in the RSFSR, but also in other Sovietized republics. The first of them was the agricultural census of 1921 in the Azerbaijan SSR, the data of which, despite the methodological and technical shortcomings that force this data to be approached with reservations, are an exceptional historical and demographic source. The first All-Union census of 1926 was organized with the most developed methodology. The combination of the results of these censuses and other additional studies makes it possible to reconstruct the population size and ethnic composition of two newly created administrative units: Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Region and Kurdistan uezd (the creation of which pursued not only regional, but also geopolitical consequences). If the homogeneous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Region was able to resist the discriminatory policies of the Azerbaijani authorities, partly due to the status of an autonomous region, the provincial status and the low level of development and self-identification among the Kurds easily led to the abolition of the province and the artificial reduction of the Kurdish population at the expense of “Turkification” and then “Azerbaijanization” of that narrow corridor between Soviet Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Region