Tabriz
Capital of historical Persian Azerbaijan; site of major Armenian community, of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution centre 1908-1911, and refuge during 1915.
- Armenian
- Azerbaijani
Place context
Iranian Armenian and Azerbaijani crossroads
Tabriz is the major city of Iranian Azerbaijan and one of the key source regions for the organised Armenian migration after the Treaty of Turkmenchay. Armenians from Tabriz and surrounding districts moved into Russian-held Erivan, Nakhichevan and Karabakh after 1828 under the protection of Article XV. Azerbaijani narratives often treat this migration as the beginning of demographic transformation in the eastern South Caucasus; Armenian narratives treat it as movement into historical Armenian lands under a new imperial border. contested
The city also mattered as a wider Caucasus-Iranian commercial and political hub. Armenian merchants, Muslim Azerbaijani intellectual networks and Persian constitutional politics all passed through Tabriz. Its role shows why the modern Armenia-Azerbaijan story cannot be contained inside present-day state borders. editorial
Demographics over time
| Year | People | Share | Population | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Armenian | , | 4,500 | Vrej-Armen Artinian, Iran Bekhradnia (Iranica encyclopedia entry) |
| 1900 | Azerbaijani | 95% | 200,000 | Vrej-Armen Artinian, Iran Bekhradnia (Iranica encyclopedia entry) |
| 1900 | Armenian | , | 4,500 | Vrej-Armen Artinian, Iran Bekhradnia (Iranica encyclopedia entry) |
| 1979 | Armenian | , | 6,000 | Vrej-Armen Artinian, Iran Bekhradnia (Iranica encyclopedia entry) |
| 2010 | Azerbaijani | , | 1,500,000 | Vrej-Armen Artinian, Iran Bekhradnia (Iranica encyclopedia entry) |
| 2010 | Armenian | , | 1,500 | Vrej-Armen Artinian, Iran Bekhradnia (Iranica encyclopedia entry) |