Armenians in Central Asia

Armenians in Central Asian states: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, were mainly settled there during the Soviet era for various reasons.

According to old historical records, Armenian warriors and traders once moved freely in many parts of Central Asia, often fighting alongside local warlords in return for trading privileges.

[4] The first Armenians arrived in Kazakhstan in the 1860s when the Russian Empire, which already controlled Armenian-populated areas in the north Caucasus, moved to conquer the Kazakh Steppe.

Immigrants from throughout the empire moved to the frontier, Armenians being among the first, acting as interpreters for the Russians (as many already spoke Turkic languages), consuls and businessmen for the emerging oil industry.

[5] During the reign of Joseph Stalin, in which forced migration was widely used as a political tool in order to keep vassal nations under control and avoid ethnic conflict, Armenians and many other groups were sent to Kazakhstan when it was found convenient.

They would later petition the Soviet Government under Mikhail Gorbachev to move them to the Armenian SSR, but were turned down for fears they would spark conflicts with their Christian relatives.

The first Armenian, Shaverdov Mirkur, came to the area of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic which today comprises Kyrgyzstan in 1918; he was engaged in the hotel business.

[6] Another pair of early Armenians in Kyrgyzstan were the brothers Nikita and Sergei Bedrosov, whose nephew Emmanuel Simoyants managed the first soft drinks factory of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic.

After the Soviet Union was formed, the Armenians became big contributors to the Uzbekistani economy and agriculture, with many holding high positions in government and skilled labor.