Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] It is the decree of Emperor Paul I of February 14, 1800 that should be considered the date of the acceptance of the Talysh Khanate into Russian citizenship.
February 14, 2022 marks 222 years since the Talysh Khanate accepted the Russian protectorate. This event was of tremendous importance in the fate of the Talysh people, and therefore we consider it our duty to briefly describe the history of this historical process.
The Talysh Khanate, restored at the end of the 17th century and became independent after the death of the ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah, at the end of the 18th century faced a new threat in the face of the Qajars. The founder of the dynasty, Aga Mohammed Shah Qajar, immediately after the departure of the Russian troops of General V. A. Zubov from the Caspian Sea in the spring of 1797, invaded Transcaucasia through Karabakh.
The city-fortress of Shusha, the capital of the Karabakh khanate, was captured, but the further subjugation of the Transcaucasian khanates was prevented by the assassination of Agha Mohammed Shah in the same Shusha as a result of a conspiracy of the Iranian nobility.
The new Shahinshah Fath Ali Shah already in 1798 demanded obedience from the ruler of the Talysh Khanate, Mir Mustafa Khan. Anticipating such a development of events, Mir Mustafa Khan sent his ambassador Mirza Muhammad-bek to St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1797 with a request for military assistance and the acceptance of Talysh into Russian citizenship. In one of his letters he wrote:
"I swear before the almighty and holy God, the great prophet Magomed and the holy Koran that I want and will be with my descendants and the people subject to me in the exact possession of the faithful subject of the All-Russian Imperial Throne."
By decree of Emperor Paul I of February 14, 1800, the Russian government took the Talysh Khanate under its protection. By tsarist decree, Russia took over the protection of both land and sea borders of the Talysh state, in accordance with which military units were sent. In fact, this document is the first diplomatic and international act on the accession of Talysh to Russia, concluded directly with the Talysh ruler.
In 1801, Emperor Alexander I ascended the Russian throne. The Talysh Khan, together with the Baku and Derbent khans, sent an ambassador to St. Petersburg with gifts and congratulations to the new tsar. Emperor Alexander I, in order to organize an anti-Iranian military-political alliance, plans to create a federation of the Muslim khanates of Eastern Transcaucasia and Dagestan under the general control of the Russian tsar.
For this purpose, in December 1802, between the ambassadors of the Muslim khanates of Eastern Transcaucasia and Dagestan and the Russian government delegation, the Treaty of St. George was signed, which was clearly aimed at protecting the borders of the Talysh Khanate and others from any encroachment by the Qajar government of Iran. In all internal matters of the rulers, autonomy was implied.
Iran refused to recognize the transfer of the Talysh Khanate to Russian citizenship, and as a result of the ensuing First Russian-Persian War of 1804-1813, which ended with the Gulistan Peace Treaty, the territory of the Khanate was divided between the two empires. The division of the khanate was also due to the strong inclusion of its territory deep into Iran, which greatly worried not only the latter, but also Great Britain, which very painfully perceived any desire of Russia in a southerly direction.
The Turkmenchay Peace Treaty, which marked the end of the Second Russian-Persian War of 1826-1828, confirmed the provisions of the Gulistan Peace Treaty regarding the division of Talish.
It is the decree of Emperor Paul I of February 14, 1800 that should be considered the date of the acceptance of the Talysh Khanate into Russian citizenship. The internal autonomy of Talysh was preserved until the administrative reform of 1840.
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