Great Surgun
Mass forced deportation of Armenians in 17th century / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Great Surgun (Armenian: Մեծ սուրգուն, the Great Exile)[1] was the forced deportation of the population (mainly Armenians) from Eastern Armenia to the territory of the central and northern parts of Safavid Iran, which was carried out in 1604-1605 by the order of Shah Abbas the Great during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1618).[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Among the deported population (about 350,000 people), the largest number were Armenians.[10][11] According to various estimates, the number of expelled Armenians ranged from 250,000[6][12] to 300,000 people.[4][13][14][14] During this time Armenian cities and villages were plundered and destroyed.[15][4] Many Armenians were brutally killed, subjected to violence or died on the way, less than half survived during the march.[16][17][13][18]
The deportation changed the ethnic demographic picture of the Armenian Highlands radically, greatly decreasing the percentage of Armenian population of the region.[6] Mass deportation of Armenians made them a minority in Nakhichevan (part of the present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan), and also led to significant increase in the percentage of Muslims (Turks and Kurds) in other historical regions, including the Artsakh region (currently better known as Nagorno-Karabakh).[4][15][6][1]