The Treaty of Gulistan  was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and the Qajar State,  on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan (now in the Goranboy District of Azerbaijan) as a result of the first full-scale Russo-Persian War (1804 to 1813). According to this Treaty, Northern Azerbaijan (except for the khanates of Iravan and Nakhchivan) went to Russia and Southern Azerbaijan to Iran.

From the 18th century onwards, Russia’s advance towards the Black Sea and Caspian coasts complicated the situation in the Caucasus. On 12 September 1801, after the Tsar’s manifesto on the annexation of Eastern Georgia to Russia, a strategic field was created for the seizure of the entire South Caucasus. In 1803 Jaro-Belokan and in 1804 Ganja were occupied by Russia after stubborn resistance. In May 1804 Iran, seeking to seize Azerbaijan as a whole, demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the South Caucasus. On 16 June of the same year diplomatic relations between the two states were interrupted and war broke out. The war was unjust from both sides, because it was about seizure of foreign lands. It should be noted that at the same time both Russia and Iran continued their struggle against local Azerbaijani khanates, occupying their territories and annexing them to their territories.

On 14 May 1805 the Karabakh Khanate and on 21 May the Sheki Khanate signed treaties with Russia. However, these treaties could not legally regulate interstate relations on the basis of established conditions, because Russia did not fulfil its obligations to the end. Karabakh khan Ibrahim Khalil Khan was treacherously killed by Russian invaders in 1806, and the khanate was abolished in 1822.

After the largest khanate of Northern Azerbaijan, the Shirvan khanate, was annexed to Russia (1805), it was the turn of the Baku khanate. In 1806 Baku khanate was captured, and soon Guba khanate was captured as well. Thus, in 1806 almost the whole of Northern Azerbaijan came under the power of Russia. The beginning of the war between Russia and Turkey in 1806 aggravated the situation of Russians on the Russian-Iranian front.

The changes in the international environment caused by failures in the field of military operations and Napoleon’s expulsion from Russia accelerated Iran’s conclusion of a treaty with Russia. England acted as an intermediary in those negotiations. On 12 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan in Karabakh a treaty between Russia and Iran was signed. According to the treaty consisting of 11 articles, the Shah’s Iran renounced its claims on the khanates of Azerbaijan –  Ganja, Karabakh, Sheki, Shirvan, Guba, Baku and Talish, as well as on Eastern Georgia and Dagestan, and confirmed their transfer under Russian rule. (Article 3). Under the Treaty of Gulistan, only Russia was granted the right to maintain a military fleet on the Caspian Sea (Article 5), a five per cent customs duty was imposed on trade goods, and merchants of both states were exempted from internal customs duties (Articles 8-10).

Russian Tsar Alexander I signed the initial draft of the manifesto on the conclusion of peace with Iran on 12 (24) December 1813 in Fribourg (Switzerland). When Foreign Minister N. P. Rumyantsev received the manifesto in St. Petersburg, he discovered that there was a mistake in it, as the names of the Karabakh and Ganja khanates, which had passed to Russia, were not in the manifesto. Therefore, the manifesto was sent back on 4 (16) January 1814, and the parties again exchanged decrees on ratification of the agreement. The Tsar’s manifesto on peace with Iran was announced only on 16 (28) July 1818, and the text of the treaty on 7 (19) August.

The Treaty of Gulistan confirmed the occupation of Northern Azerbaijan and the whole of Transcaucasia by Tsarist Russia. With the conclusion of this treaty, the first stage of Russia’s invasion of Northern Azerbaijan was completed. At the same time, this agreement failed to resolve the contradictions between the two states. The peace declared in the first article of the treaty did not last long. In 1826, the second war broke out between the parties. The territory of Azerbaijan again turned into a bloody battlefield.

Recommended literature:

1. Süleymanov, Mehman Sirac oğlu. Gülüstan müqaviləsi / M. S. Süleymanov. I hissə. - Bakı : Elm və təhsil, 2014. - 624 s.
2. Süleymanov, Mehman Sirac oğlu. Gülüstan müqaviləsi / M. S. Süleymanov. II hissə. - Bakı : Elm və təhsil, 2014. - 608 s.
3. Əliyev, Məhəmməd Məcnun oğlu. Şimali Azərbaycanın Rusiya tərəfindən işğalının tarixşünaslığı / M. M. Əliyev ; elmi red.: H. N. Həsənov, T. R. Cəfiyev. - Bakı : Adiloğlu, 2001. - 316 s.
4. Zülfüqarlı, Məhərrəm Paşa oğlu. Azərbaycan tarixinə yeni baxış / M. P. Zülfüqarlı ; red. Ə. Əliyev. - Bakı : Təhsil, 2007. - 90 s.
5. Umudlu, Vidadi Umud oğlu. Şimali Azərbaycanın çar Rusiyası tərəfindən işğalı və müstəmləkəçilik əleyhinə mübarizə : 1801-1828 / V. U. Umudlu ; elmi red.: M. Ə. İsmayılov, H. Həsənov ; AMEA A.A. Bakıxanov adına Tarix İnstitutu. - Bakı : Elm, 2004. - 180 s.
6. Hüseynov, Yunis Rza oğlu. Azərbaycanın Qarabağ bölgəsinin tarixi / Y. R. Hüseynov ; red., ön sözün müəl. Z. H. Bayramlı. - Bakı : Afpoliqraf, 2019. - 208 s.
7. Алиев, Намик Гасан оглу. Армянская экспансия и международные договоры по Южному Кавказу в XIX-XX вв.: (Историко-правовое исследование) /Н. Алиев. - Киев: [Издательский дом Дмитрия Бураго], 2021. - 183 с.
8. Гордийчук, Николай Валентинович. Граница империи : этнополитика и миграционные процессы в Закавказье в XIX в. / Н. В. Гордийчук ; ред. Т. А. Аникеева ; Научно-исследовательский центр "Южный Кавказ". - М. : МБА, 2018. - 132 с.