MUNAVVAR SULEYMANOVA
The teacher of Nakhchivan State University
ORCID ID : 0009-0001-9996-0225
REPRESSIONS IN NAKHCHIVAN IN THE 1930S AND
THE ATTEMPTS OF SOVIET SPECIAL SERVICE AGENCIES TO TRACE
A “TURKISH FOOTPRINT”
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36719/2708-065X/113/79-85
The article examines the political repressions carried out in Nakhchivan during the 1930s and the systematic attempts of Soviet special service agencies to trace a “Turkish footprint” in these processes. During the mentioned period, despite the apparent diplomatic rapprochement between the USSR and Turkiye, the weakening of Turkiye’s influence over the South Caucasus and the strengthening of the anti-Turkish line in Soviet domestic policy had a significant impact on the socio-political life of Nakhchivan. Based on Soviet archival documents, reports of special service agencies, and émigré press materials, the article provides a comparative analysis of the real socio-economic causes of anti-Soviet uprisings in Nakhchivan and how they were presented in Soviet ideological discourse as “foreign provocations”. Particular attention is given to the policy of forced collective zation and the pressures on religious and national identity, which strengthened local resistance. However, this resistance was deliberately associated by Soviet security structures with Turkiye and foreign centers. It is concluded that in the 1930s, Nakhchivan was not only a border region but also a space of ideological and political confrontation between Soviet Bolshevism and Turkish national identity. Repressions served as one of the main instruments of this confrontation.
Keywords: Nakhchivan, repression, Soviet, special service agencies, anti-Turkish policy, Turkiye, collectivization, national identity.