Armenians of Baku (Armenian: Բաքվի հայեր Bak'vi hayer or simply Բաքվեցիներ Bak'vetsiner meaning "residents of Baku"; Russian: Бакинские армяне Bakinskiye armyane; Azerbaijani: Ermənilər Bakıda) were one of the 3 major ethnic groups of the city until late 1980's. Baku Armenians were targeted a pogrom in January 1990 duirng the passive phase of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Most Baku Armenians left the city by that year.
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| Year | TOTAL | Armenians | % | ||||||||||||||
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| 1886[1] | 86,611 | 24,490 | 28.3% | ||||||||||||||
| 1897[2] | 111 904 | 19,099 | 17.1% | ||||||||||||||
| 1926[3] | 347,390 | 69,544 | 20% | ||||||||||||||
| 1939[1] | 571,447 | 106,368 | 18.6% | ||||||||||||||
| 1959[1] | 642,507 | 137,111 | 21.3% | ||||||||||||||
| 1970[1] | 851,547 | 164,406 | 19.3% | ||||||||||||||
| 1979[1] | 1,013,436 | 167,226 | 16.5% | ||||||||||||||
| 1989[1] | 1,190,251 | 145,758 | 12.2% | ||||||||||||||
| 1999[4] | 1,788,854 | 378 | 0% | ||||||||||||||
| 2009[5] | 2,045,815 | 104 | 0% | ||||||||||||||
Baku saw a large influx of Armenians following the city's incorporation into the Russian Empire in 1806. They took up jobs as merchants, industrial managers and government administrators.[6] Due to favourable economic conditions the Imperial Russian government had provided the Christian population with, Armenians took control of almost one-third of the region's oil industry by 1900.[7] The growing tension between Armenians and Azeris (often instigated by the Russian officials who feared nationalist movements among their ethnically non-Russian subjects) resulted in mutual pogroms in 1905–1906, planting a seed of distrust between these two groups in the city and elsewhere in the region for decades to come.[8][9]
Following the proclamation of Azerbaijan's independence in 1918, the Armenian nationalist Dashnaktsutyun Party became increasingly active in then Bolshevik-occupied Baku. 70% of the governing body of the Baku Commune consisted of ethnic Armenians.[10] Despite pledging non-involvement, the Dashnaks mobilised Armenian militia units to participate in the massacres of Baku's Muslim population in March 1918, killing thousands.[11] Five months later, the Armenian community itself dwindled as thousands of Armenians either fled Baku or were massacred at the approach of the Turkish–Azeri army (which seized the city from the Bolsheviks), as an act of retaliation for the Armenian participation in the massacres of local Azeris.[12] Regardless of these events, on 18 December 1918, ethnic Armenians (including members of the Dashnaktsutyun) were represented in the newly-formed Azerbaijani parliament, constituting 11 of its 96 members.[10]
Following the Sovietisation of Azerbaijan, Armenians managed to reestablish a large and vibrant community in Baku made up of skilled professionals, craftsmen and intelligentsia and integrated into the political, economic and cultural life of Azerbaijan. The community grew steadily in part due to active migration of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to Baku and other large cities. The mainly-Armenian populated quarter of Baku called Armenikend grew from a tiny village of oil-workers into a prosperous urban community.[13] At the advent of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Baku alone had a larger Armenian population than Nagorno-Karabakh.[14] Armenians were widely represented in the state apparatus.[15] Multiethnic nature of Soviet-era Baku created conditions for active integration of its population and the emergence of a distinct Russian-speaking urban subculture, to which ethnic identity began losing grounds and with which post-World War II generations of urbanised Bakuvians regardless of their ethnic origin or religious affiliations tended to identify.[16][17] By the 1980s, the Armenian community of Baku had become largely Russified. In 1977, 58% of Armenian pupils in Azerbaijan were receiving education in Russian.[18] While in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Armenians often chose to disassociate themselves from Azerbaijan and Azeris, cases of mixed Azeri–Armenian marriages were quite common in Baku.[19]
The political unrest in Nagorno-Karabakh remained a rather distant concern for Armenians of Baku until March 1988, when the Sumgait pogrom took place.[20] The anti-Armenian feelings were aroused because of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting in the exodus of most Armenians from Baku and elsewhere in the republic.[21] However, many Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan later reported that despite ethnic tensions taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh, the relationships with their Azeris friends and neighbours had been unaffected.[22] The Sumgait events became a shock to both Armenian and Azeri population of the cities, and many Armenian lives were saved as ordinary Azeris sheltered them during the pogroms and volunteered to escort them out of the country, often risking their own lives.[23][24] In some cases, the Armenians who were leaving entrusted their houses and possessions to their Azeri friends.[22]
The only Armenian church in Baku is the Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory Illuminator (Sourb Grigor Lousavoritch in Armenian). At the height of atrocities against the Armenian minorities in Baku in 1990, the Armenian church in Baku was set on fire, but was restored in 2004 and is not used anymore.
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| History | Locations | Political leaders | Military leaders | Foreign involvement |
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Origins Soviet era
Recent developments
1 Republic of Armenia's involvement is partial |
Nagorno-Karabakh, North Nagorno-Karabakh, Central Nagorno-Karabakh, South |
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Military aid to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Military aid to Azerbaijan Conflict mediation
International documents |
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