The article deals with letters that describe the diplomatic relations which the Irevan Khanate had led with neighbouring khanates and Kartli-Kakhetiya kingdom. Researches were conducted at the National Centre of Manuscripts of the Republic of Georgia and at K.N. Smirnov's personal foundation, a Russian scientist on the Caucasus. 268 letters that had belonged to Huseynali Khan, Khan of the Irevan Khanate, his sons Gulamali Khan and Muhammad Khan were found and brought to Nakhchivan in the 18th century. The findings introduce comprehensive t sound information on the history of the Irevan Khanate including the neighbouring khanates and on other Azerbaijan khanates. These letters play a major role in researching diplomatic relations between the Irevan Khanate and other Azerbaijan khanates with Turkey. 

The Azerbaijani Khanate of Irevan was established in 1747. And the Khanate ruled mainly by the Qajars, who ruled in Iran, had alike fate as the neighbouring Nakhchivan Khanate. Like the  Nakhchivan Khanate, the Irevan Khanate was also an independent state in 1747-1797.  But then, until the year 1828, it was in semi-independent situation on Fatali Shah.

The Irevan Khanate, located on native Azerbaijani lands, had passed a complicated and long historical way. During the Soviet period, Armenian historians falsifying archival materials relating to the occurrence and the political history of the Irevan Khanate, its economic development, wrote books based on false information. Besides that, they presented the history of the Irevan and Nakhchivan Khanates as a part of the history of Eastern Armenia and swindled the world community.  This kind of gross distortions and inaccuracies in M. G. Nersesyan, G.A. Ezov, B.M. Arutunyan and V.R. Grigoryan's writings were refuted by Azerbaijani scientists researching the history of the Irevan Khanate relying on specific historical facts and archive papers as primary sources. Among the most fundamental research works  by co-authors - Fuad Aliyev and Urfan Hasanov "The Irevan Khanate" (published in 1997 and 2007) and the book "The Irevan Khanate: the Russian occupation and the resettlement of Armenians in the North Azerbaijani lands" (2010) prepared and published by the Institute of History of ANAS should be distinguished.  Many points related to the Irevan Khanate were touched upon in monographs on the history of the Nakhchivan Khanate. In his scientific article "The City of Irevan as it is", academician Isa Habibbayli showed an up-to-date approach to the issue and gave a fitting reply to insincere Armenians.

In the history of each khanate the foreign policy issues occupy a special place, and in the history of the Irevan Khanate as well. The correspondence of Irevan Khans (The Collection of Letters) with neighbouring states in the 18th century is kept at a Russian Orientalist Konstantin Nikolaevich Smirnov's foundation under the # 39 at the National Centre of Manuscripts in Tiflis. Though the letters of the Irevan Khanate were prepared to be published in 1936 by Smirnov, these materials have still remained unpublished. According to the  "Introduction" written by the scientist it is clear that he had gone on a creative business to Irevan  with Jahangir Gayibov, an Arabist, and that the originals of the letters are kept in the Literary Museum of Armenia. According to the translator, most letters were written in Persian, some in Arabic. It is noted that all diplomatic letters were scanned and handed over to the State History Museum of Georgia.

It is noteworthy that Smirnov introduced the diplomatic correspondence of the Irevan Khanate to readers in a very positive tone. After getting acquainted with the letters, he gave sharp critical comments on superficial judgments of the Russian military officers about Azerbaijani khanates, including the Irevan Khanate. The Russian Orientalist even noted that such a diplomatic correspondence could be only envied.  The scientist characterized the diplomacy of the Irevan Khanate during  Muhammad Khan "very original" and he wondered who was behind the young Khan's foreign policy, and he himself  gave an answer: "As the phrase goes,  the author of the majority of Muhammad's letters was his mother as the young Khan didn't have any experience in making such letters". But later on this idea was approved incorrect: "Recent studies confirm that Kalbaly Khan Nakhchivanski Kengerli,  the Qajars' son-in-law, Muhammad Qajar sister's husband stood for the foreign policy of that time".

 And further he writes: "Who is this the so called IrevanTalleyran that led such a smart policy? The investigations conducted relying on historical documents confirm that the so called 'IrevanTalleyran' of the Irevan Khanate of that period was Kalbaly Khan who managed the Khanate.  And here Smirnov made a remark to the point that he had come across in the letters: "Muhammad Khan's mother was originally from the Shadly tribe". But some researchers relying on O. Markova, a Russian historian, stated that Muhammad Khan's mother was Georgian. And this fact was disproved by the Khanate's letters.

 K. Smirnov noted that letters had been written in very elegant and poetic language, so he often encountered difficulties with their translation. There's comprehensive information on Mirza Muhammad Muslum (literary nickname Al-Qudsi), secretary of the Irevan Khanate. And Qudsi was just the very author who prepared the letters in a delicate, original and diplomatic language.  It is interesting to know what K. Smirnov said about Qudsi's style: "Qudsi's sample style shows that prior to the occupation of Transcaucasian regions by the Russians, the cultural level of the highest stratum had been so outdated and primitive, as the invaders thought. Khans didn't want the educated people to have an imperfect knowledge. And this fact could be related to diplomatic letters of the Nakhchivan Khanate as well. Otherwise, such a powerful state as the tsar Russia wouldn't take any notice of Kalbaly Khan and Ehsan Khan, brave warlords of the Nakhchivan Khanate. Though K. Smirnov had somehow an Armenian stand in his books on Nakhchivan, he didn't hide his delight about the letters of Irevan Khans. And it is also interesting that K. Smirnov gave critical comments on such famous Russian generals and diplomats as Yermolov, Griboyedov and Sisiyanov. As 'The Collection of letters' is not passed on to any scientific circle, it is impossible to have an open and real discussion on the Irevan and Nakhchivan Khanates. 'The Collection of Letters' contains 13 diplomatic letters with the Turkish Government including three letters of Hasanali Khan.  

Today, photocopies of the originals of "The Collection of letters" kept in the corners of archives in Tiflis are waiting for Azerbaijani researchers. If today the original documents in Matenadaran in Armenia (the Institute of Manuscripts) are beyond our reach, then the photocopies of those documents that K. Smirnov brought to Tiflis from Irevan in 1936 could be helpful for our history. Moreover, if today we can publish the books that are in K. Smirnov's personal archive, it will be a great gift for the historical science of the Azerbaijani nation.  

One more point to clarify. K. Smirnov writes: "In the beginning of 1936, I brought to Tiflis 564 documents (12 folders). They had been written mainly in Persian and Turkish and some in Arabic. The oldest ones are related to the 16th century". It is clear that the Orientalist brought to Tiflis not the originals, but the photocopies of the documents at the request of the State. He notes that "The collection of documents in Eastern languages" in the Caucasus was kept in the State Historical Museum of Georgia. Today time works for Azerbaijan, and serious scientific researches can bring light into these letters.

 There's also a manuscript of 13 pages in K.N. Smirnov's personal archive.  Detailed information on the Nakhchivan Khanate is given in the manuscript "The Iranian Khanates of the South Caucasus in the documents of the 16th-19th centuries" as well. And our history was reflected in the document 'Echmiadzin-Irevan documents' of 50 pages brought from the archive 'Uchkils''' (Three Monasteries)'. 'The Collection of Letters' of Irevan khans includes the letters written by Abasgulu Khan of the Nakhchivan Khanate to Huseynali Khan of the Irevan Khanate and his letter of response to Nakhchivan Khan, to Karim Sultan, the leader of the Kangarli tribe, advocate and to the whole Nakhchivanians, and the letter written by the secretary of Irevan Khan to Molla Muhammad, the publisher from Nakhchivan.  

All these valuable documents that we have talked about in brief are waiting for their complex research.

Musa RAHİMOGLU