The Armenian liberation struggle of 1722–1730 was a period of armed resistance by Armenians in the regions of Syunik and Artsakh (Mountainous Karabakh) in Iranian Armenia against Safavid rule and the Ottoman Empire. Beginning in 1722 in Syunik and 1724 in Artsakh, the movement sought to establish Armenian autonomy amid the collapse of the Safavid state and the threat of Ottoman occupation.
Under the leadership of Davit Bek in Syunik and a group of military commanders called yuzbashis in Artsakh—most notably Avan Yuzbashi—the Armenian lords (meliks) were united into a semi-independent principality and fortified mountain camps known as sghnakhs. From 1725, these forces resisted the Ottoman Empire's attempts to occupy the South Caucasus. While the Armenians won significant victories, such as the Battle of Halidzor (1727) in Syunik and the surprise defeat of an Ottoman detachment in Varanda (1725), the rebellion ultimately lost momentum after the death of Davit Bek in 1728 and his successor Mkhitar Sparapet in 1730. By 1731, the organized resistance had largely dispersed, though it paved the way for the later recognition of the Melikdoms of Karabakh by Nader Shah.
Background
In the early eighteenth century, Armenia was divided between the Ottoman and Safavid empires. In the mountainous regions of Syunik (also known at the time as Ghapan) and Mountainous Karabakh (also known as Artsakh by Armenians), remnants of the old Armenian nobility called meliks continued to exist as autonomous rulers of small principalities under Iranian suzerainty. In the late seventeenth century, Russian southward expansion under Peter the Great had raised hopes among these local Armenian leaders that an alliance could be made with Russia to free Armenia from Safavid and Ottoman rule. In 1701, Israel Ori, an Armenian noble from Syunik, went to Moscow and drew up a plan for a rebellion in Iranian Armenia with Russian help. Ori's plan was never realized, and he died in Astrakhan in 1711. However, Armenian secular and religious leaders continued to interact with the Russian state and began to see Russia as a natural ally for the Armenian people.
Meanwhile, the Safavid state was nearing its collapse in the 1720s. Shah Soltan Hoseyn's actions alienated his Georgian and Armenian subjects and provoked a rebellion among the empire's Sunni subjects in the Caucasus and Afghanistan in 1721. The weakening of central authority allowed Lezgin groups to raid the South Caucasus, prompting the Armenian meliks in both Syunik and Karabakh to strengthen their defenses and military forces.
In October 1722, the Afghans captured the Iranian capital of Isfahan after a six-month siege. Taking advantage of the chaotic situation, Peter the Great invaded Iran in 1722 with a 61,000-strong army. This revived hope among the Armenians and Georgians that Russian arms could help remove the region from Muslim rule. At Peter's request, a joint Armenian-Georgian army—comprising the Georgian army and the troops of the meliks of Karabakh led by Avan Yuzbashi and Catholicos Esayi Hasan-Jalalyan—assembled at Ganja to join with the Russian forces. However, fearing a conflict with the Ottomans and facing logistical problems, Peter remained in the Caspian littoral and did not move into the South Caucasus. With the Treaty of Saint Petersburg, signed on 12 September 1723, Russia annexed the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea and made peace with Iran. In the meantime, the Ottomans prepared to invade the South Caucasus, assembling a large army in Erzurum by late 1722.
The weakening of the Safavid state allowed Muslim lords to increase their control over the Armenian population. Armenians in Syunik were also being taxed heavily to pay for Shah Tahmasp II's campaigns. Although the rebellions in Syunik and Karabakh (Artsakh) were part of the same movement, there were distinct regional differences. Karabakh was almost exclusively Armenian at the time and its resistance was organized around fortified mountain camps called sghnakhs. In contrast, Syunik had a significant Muslim population of Turkic and Kurdish nomads who grazed their herds in the mountains. Furthermore, the Syunik meliks were initially less organized and lacked a single leader.
Threatened by local Muslim forces, the meliks of Syunik sent Stepanos Shahumian to the court of the Georgian king Vakhtang VI in 1722 to request aid. Vakhtang agreed and dispatched Davit Bek, one of his most capable officers, along with 30 Armenian soldiers, to unify the resistance in Syunik. While Davit Bek consolidated power in the south, the Karabakh meliks independently fortified their positions, though the two regions would later coordinate their defense against the Ottoman advance.
Rebellion in Syunik
Against Muslim tribes and the Safavids
Davit Bek made Shinuhayr his first base of operations and began repairing its fortress. A number of Syunik meliks and other local leaders came to declare their readiness to follow him. Among these were Melik Toros of Chavndur, the tanuters (mayors or village headmen) of Goghtn and Julfa, the yuzbashis Pap and Pali, and Mkhitar Sparapet. A little later, he was joined by Melik Parsadan of Halidzor and Ter Avetis. Davit Bek assembled a force of 2000 warriors and turned them into a disciplined army. Father Hovakim of Tatev Monastery declared the full support of the Armenian clergy for Davit Bek. With the support of the local peasants and the meliks, he managed to defend the Armenian-inhabited areas from the Muslim tribes. Davit Bek's first military actions were directed against the Turkic and Kurdish tribes. He first defeated the Karachorlu and Javanshir groups. On a plateau called Uchtapa, he reportedly defeated thousands of Javanshir tribesman with a force of 400. His victories brought more and more Armenians to his ranks.
Davit Bek also fought against those Armenian meliks who opposed the rebellion. Among these were Melik Baghir of Tatev, who converted to Islam, and Frangul of Yeritsvank and others. Davit killed Baghir after a two-day battle and distributed his property. After this victory, Davit Bek made Tatev his new center. Davit instituted strict discipline among his troops, harshly punishing disobedience and misconduct. For panic-mongering and cowardice, he put his friend Pap to death, and had his lieutenants Ter Avetis and Mkhitar Sparapet briefly imprisoned.
Having established order and a strong military force in Syunik, Davit Bek began campaigning against the local khans (formally Safavid governors, but largely independent with the collapse of central authority) and other Muslim lords of varying sizes, who joined forces against Davit Bek. Tahmasp II, the Safavid king based in Qazvin, sent some troops against Davit. Davit Bek's first great victory came at the battle of Chavndur, where the Armenian rebels defeated the combined forces of the khanates of Bargushat and Karadagh. Another notable victory was the conquest of the powerful fortress of Zeyva by Mkhitar Sparapet and Ter Avetis. On 29 March 1724, Davit Bek besieged the strategically important fortress of Vorotnaberd and captured it after four days of fierce fighting. In May 1724, a force of 2,000 Armenian fighters from Karabakh commanded by Avan Yuzbashi and Ivan Karapet (an Armenian representative of Peter the Great) joined Davit Bek's forces. The last battles between the Armenian rebels and the Persians took place in 1725 at Goghtn and Meghri. Thousands of Persians were killed and fled southward across the Aras River.
Davit Bek's principality
As a result of Davit Bek's campaigns from 1722 to 1725, all of Syunik and some neighboring areas were brought under Armenian control. Davit Bek thus became the ruler of an independent Armenian principality, where all the meliks submitted to his authority. The borders of this principality largely corresponded to the borders of the modern-day Syunik Province of the Republic of Armenia, extending from the district of Sisian in the north to the Aras River in the south, and from the Zangezur Mountains in the west to a line of fortified points and settlements in the east. Its probable easternmost fortified point was Kulaberd, in the modern-day Lachin District of Azerbaijan. A hostile Muslim principality separated Davit Bek's realm from the Armenian melikdoms of Mountainous Karabakh.
Davit Bek appointed both his fellow Georgian Armenians and locals as commanders. Mkhitar was appointed commander of the armies, or sparapet. A military council and staff was created. The units of Davit Bek's army had their own flags. Apparently following the example of the meliks of Karabakh, Davit Bek created a series of fortified military districts in Syunik called sghnakhs. In early 1723, the fortress of Halidzor became the new center of the principality. Davit Bek expanded the fortifications and gathered supplies there.
Against the Ottomans
In 1724, the Ottomans invaded Iran and Eastern Armenia, capturing Tiflis, Yerevan and Hamadan. The first Ottoman attempt to enter Syunik was in the spring of 1725. Although this first attempt failed, in 1726 the Ottomans occupied the trade route running along the south of Syunik, taking Ordubad, Agulis and Meghri and pushing into the interior of Syunik. They were supported by the local Turkic tribes and the Iranian khans. The Armenians suffered heavy losses trying to stop the Ottoman advance. Disunity and demoralization emerged within the Armenian ranks. It was in this context that Mkhitar and other leaders sent an appeal for assistance to Russia on 24 March 1726. However, Russia had already signed the Treaty of Constantinople with the Ottoman Empire in 1724, recognizing the latter's rights over the Iranian territories of the South Caucasus away from the Caspian coast. The Armenian rebels were unaware of these developments and continued to hope for a Russian intervention.
In February 1727, the Ottomans initiated a massive assault, and the Armenian forces retreated to the fortress of Halidzor. Joined by the khans of Bargushat and Karadagh, the Karachorlu and other local Turkic and Kurdish forces, the Ottomans besieged Halidzor on 26 February 1726. Although the initial assaults were unsuccessful, with the defenders taking minor losses, a major attack with siege machines and ladders demonstrated to the defenders that they could not hold out indefinitely. Then, Davit Bek proposed a plan to sortie out of the fortress and strike the besieging forces. The sortie was led by Ter Avetis and Mkhitar. The Ottomans were caught off guard and began a disorderly flight, taking heavy casualties as the Armenians chase them away. Davit Bek's forces begin driving the Ottomans out of Syunik. This spectacular victory breathed new life into the rebellion, and many meliks that had abandoned the movement joined Davit Bek once again. The Armenian forces won another great victory over the Ottomans at Meghri, capturing Meghri Fortress with the help of locals and inflicting heavy losses on an Ottoman army, which was forced to flee across the Aras. Along with war booty, the rebels captured thousands of tax documents, which they destroyed. Davit Bek then campaigned against the Ottomans at Bekh, Ordubad and Agulis. As a result of Davit Bek's victories, Syunik was again under Armenian control.
Rebellion in Mountainous Karabakh
In 1723, the Ottoman army captured Tiflis, the capital of the Kingdom of Kartli, as well as Ganja. After more than three months of resistance, in which the Ottoman troops lost 20,000 soldiers, Yerevan, with its population of 5,000, capitulated. Following this the leaders of Ganja joined the side of the Ottomans. As there was no help from Iran either, the Armenian forces of Karabakh and Syunik were left alone against the Ottoman forces, which entered Karabakh first.
In 1724, the Ottoman commanders got the Catholicos of Etchmiadzin Astvatsatur I to write a letter addressing the Armenians of Karabakh and the Catholicos of Gandzasar Esayi Hasan-Jalalyan, asking him to lay down their arms and accept Ottoman rule. Despite the letter, Hasan-Jalalyan and his associates refused to surrender and prepared to fight the Ottoman army. In 1724, the Armenian liberation forces joined forces with the Muslim leaders of Ganja and signed an agreement to fight together against the Ottoman troops. The Armenian military leaders also offered cooperation to Iran in its fight against the Ottoman troops. Karapet Shirvanov (Ivan Karapet) arrived in Karabakh from Russia with promises to support the liberation struggle, providing further backing to the Armenian leadership.