History of Iğdır

Archaeological research has uncovered Hurrian settlements in the Iğdır region going back to 4000 BC. The area was part of the Urartu kingdom circa 800 BC. There is a Urartu statuary in the area. It remained under Urartian control until its transition to the Orontid Dynasty of the Kingdom of Armenia. Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, Sassanid and Byzantine forces were prominent from the 4th century BC, followed by the Arab armies of Islam in 646. Turks and Mongols fought through here for 400 years from 1064 onwards until the area was settled by Kara Koyunlu and then Ak Koyunlu Turkish tribes in the early 15th century.

A warfare ensued between Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire from 1534 until 1746. In 1746, most of the land within the province of Iğdır today was ceded to Persia and became part of the Erivan khanate, a Muslim principality in Persia. The northern part of the province remained in Persian hands until after the Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828 when it became part of the Russian Empire under the Treaty of Turkmenchay. Under Russian administration, the area became the Surmalu uyezd (with its capital at the city of Iğdır) of the Armenian Oblast and later the Erivan Governorate. The southern half of the province remained in Ottoman hands through most of the 19th century but was also brought within the Russian Empire by Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

By the end of World War I, the whole area was under Russian control and Iğdır came under the administration of the Democratic Republic of Armenia as part of the Ararat province but upon the arrival of the newly founded Turkish army, Iğdır was ceded to Turkey by the Soviet Union in the Treaty of Kars. A substantial Armenian population remained in the area throughout this history of struggle between great powers. Armenians formed the ethnic majority in the city of Iğdır itself until 1919-1920 when most either died or fled due to starvation and ethnic cleansing.

source: wikipedia(dot)org