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The Strange Death of Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Qarabagh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Muriel Atkin
Muriel Atkin*
Affiliation:
George Washington University
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Extract

Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the octogenarian ruler of Qarabagh in the southern Caucasus, was shot by Russian soldiers on the night of June 14, 1806. In one sense, there is nothing mysterious about the khan's death. Qarabaghi, Russian, and Iranian sources agree that he was killed for having sided with Iran against Russia's attempt to take control of his khanate and all the lands between the High Caucasus and the Aras River. However, this explanation raises more important questions which have gone unanswered. For years Ibrahim Khalil had sided with Georgia and then Russia against Iran. What made him switch sides in time of war? Russia did not plan to supplant rule by khan in Qarabagh and did not kill every ruler it deposed. Why then did the Russians kill this khan? How was it possible for the execution of Russian policy to slip out of St. Petersburg's control?

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1-2 , Spring Winter 1979 , pp. 79 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1979

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References

Notes

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19. Hidayat, IX, 267.

20. Ibid., IX, 263-64; General P. D. Tsitsianov [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus] to Ibrahim Khalil Khan, September 2, 1805, Akty, II, 665.

21. Qarabaghi, p. 134; Javanshir, p. 78.

22. Dubrovin, III, 133, 136, 139-53, 172-75, 179-80, 184-88, 190-91, 195.

23. Lang, 219.

24. Dubrovin, III, 133-34, 180-81.

25. Ibid., III, 120-23, 142; Bakikhanov, p. 145.

26. Dubrovin, III, 146, 148, 149.

27. Ibid., III, 149.

28. Ibid., III, 149-53.

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30. Paul to the khans of Yerevan, Ganjah, and Qarabagh, August 1800, ibid., I, 108-9.

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39. Tsitsianov to Foreign Minister A. Czartoryski, September 26, 1805, ibid., II, 1037.

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41. Javad to Tsitsianov, n.d. [December, 1803], Tsitsianov Javad, December 9, 18, and 28, 1803, ibid., II, 589-91.

42. Dunbuli, pp. 109-10; Qarabaghi, p. 136; Hidayat, IX, 389-90; Brosset, II, part ii, 279-80; Tsitsainov to Chancellor A. R. Vorontsov, January 13, 1804, Akty, II, 592.

43. Dubrovin, IV, 143; Tsitsianov to Alexander, May 29, 1804, Tsitsianov to the akhundof Elizavetpol', May 14, 1805, Akty, II, 601, 285.

44. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, February 4, 1804, Akty, II, 696.

45. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, May 26, 1805, Tsitsianov to Major D. T. Lisanevich, January 16, 1805, Tsitsianov to Muhammad Hasan Aqa [Ibrahim Khalil's eldest son], January 16, 1805, ibid., 697-99, 700.

46. Tsitsianov to Czartoryski, May 29, 1804, Russo-Qarabaghi treaty, May 14, 1805, ibid., II, 697, 705.

47. Russo-Qarabaghi treaty, ibid., II, 705.

48. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, June 28, 1805, ibid., II, 711

49. Dunbuli, pp. 117-20; Tuchkov, pp. 242-44, 249; Lang, pp. 252-55.

50. Tsitsianov to Alexander, July 1, 1805, Tsitsianov to Czartoryski, July 10, 1805, Akty, II, 835 and 1030.

51. Qarabaghi, p. 138.

52. Bakikhanov, p. 156; Dunbuli, pp. 161-62; Brosset, II, part ii, 287, Dubrovin, IV, 489-90, V, 3-9, 13, 37-38, 44-48, 50-51, 69.

53. Tsitsianov to Alexander, November 28, 1805, Akty, II, 725.

54. Qarabaghi, p. 138; Dubrovin, V, 38-41.

55. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, July 19 and 20, 1805, Akty, II, 709, 715.

56. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, August 17, 1805, ibid., II, 717.

57. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, January 9, 1806, ibid., II, 727.

58. Tsitsianov to Lisanevich, August 27, 1805, ibid., II, 718.

59. Tsitsainov to Lisanevich, June 28, October 28, and November 23, 1805, ibid., II, 834, 722, 723.

60. Tsitsainov to Lisanevich, December 1, 1805, ibid., II, 726.

61. Gordon, ff. 12-13.

62. Tsitsianov to Alexander, May 22, 1805, ibid., II, 704.

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65. Gudovich to Foreign Minister A. Ia. Budberg, November 23, 1806, Abbas Mirza to Ja˓far Quli Aqa, Ẕu al-Qa'da, 1226 A. H. [1811), Ja˓far Quli to Marquis F. O. Paulucci [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus], n.d. [181]], General N. F. Rtishchev [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus] to Secret Counsellor Veidermeier, May 16, 1815, ibid., III, 339, V, 132, 134, 585-86.

66. Major General P. D. Nesvetaev [in charge of Russian troops along the Aras River] to Gudovich, July 18, 1806, ibid., III, pp. 330-31.

67. Lisanevich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, Lieutenant Colonel P. S. Kotliarevskii [commander of troops north of the Aras River] to Nesvetaev, August 22, 1806, III, 334, 333.

68. Dunbuli, p. 180.

69. Lisanevich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, Aktg, III, 334.

70. Plea of Javanshir Khanum to Alexander, January 16, 1807, Reports of the elders and inhabitants of Shusha, 1806, ibid., III, 343, 341; Dunbuli, p. 171.

71. Dubrovin, V, 56.

72. Report of the elders and inhabitants of Shusha, 1806, Akty, III, 341.

73. Gudovich to Nesvetaev, August 20, 1806, Gudovich to Viazmitinov, August 21, 1806, ibid., III, 331.

74. Lisanevich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, ibid., III, 334.

75. Ibid., III, 335.

76. Gudovich to Viazraitinov, August 21, 1806, ibid., III, 331.

77. Lisanvich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, ibid., III 335.

78. Gudovich to Nesvetaev, August 20, 1806, ibid., III, 331.

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