Excerpt on the Arrival of Priest Antoniy, Kevkha Chelebi, and Priest Petr from Astrakhan
In a report dated May 17 of this year, Lieutenant General Matyushkin conveyed to the Foreign Affairs College various letters and records received from Baku via Brigadier Prince Boryatinsky through Captain Netesov. Among these communications, the report contains the following passage:
Brigadier Boryatinsky sent intelligence from Militinets Isay Bek, who had been dispatched by Kakheti’s Mamat Kuli, as well as from Armenian priest Antoniy, who had been sent from Baku to the Armenian army with Armenian Karapet. The attached documents include:
On March 24, in Baku, Priest Antoniy, upon interrogation, reported only that Karapet had safely reached the patriarch and yuzbashis, and regarding his reception. However, there was no mention of Antoniy and his companions being dispatched from the army assembly with an oral message.
In the copy of a letter from the Armenian assembly’s key figures—Sergey, Esai, Abram, and others—from all provinces, addressed to His Imperial Majesty on March 5, 1724, they report receiving an edict through Karapet, which they saw with great joy and gratitude. They indicate that their forces are gathered and ready, numbering 20,000, though half are without arms. However, no mention is made of sending the priests and their companions or any oral directive.
Karapet, in a letter dated March 10 from Apanak, wrote that the people of Ganja preferred being under His Imperial Majesty’s protection rather than under the Turks and intended to communicate this with Priest Antoniy.
In a letter dated March 18, Karapet sent a copy of the oath taken by the yuzbashis Avan, Mirza, and others. They declared they had 500 armed soldiers and 6,400 without weapons, and if provided with arms and ammunition, they were ready to serve. Karapet reported that the Armenian forces he had observed could muster 20,000 troops, but suffered from provisions shortages.
From all the above-mentioned Armenian and Persian frontier letters and reports, which accompanied Lieutenant General Matyushkin’s report dated May 17, along with two earlier and later reports sent upon departure from Moscow on June 4, copies were forwarded to him by the Chancellor. The Chancellor instructed him to present these letters to His Imperial Majesty and await a resolution.
Later, a letter from Moscow to the Chancellor, dated July 30, was received in St. Petersburg on August 13, from Minas Vartapet. He reported that Armenian Priest Antoniy and the notable Kevkha Chelebi were in Astrakhan, possessing a secret so significant they could not commit it to writing, and requested their transfer to St. Petersburg. Additionally, another individual who had arrived with them should also be brought along.
On August 17, the Foreign Affairs College issued a decree to Astrakhan ordering the transfer of the three Armenians to St. Petersburg.
(Source: AVPR, f. 100, 1724, d. 2, ll. 44–45. Published in Armenian-Russian Relations in the First Third of the 18th Century, Vol. II, Part II, Yerevan, 1967, Doc. No. 284.)
Yuri Barsegov “Nagorno-Karabakh in International Law and Global Politics”
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