Kurdistansky Uyezd
Kurdistansky Uyezd (; ), also known colloquially as Red Kurdistan (; ; , also "Kurduyezd") was a Soviet administrative unit that existed for six years from 1923 to 1929 and included the districts of Kalbajar, Lachin, Qubadli and part of Jabrayil. It was part of Azerbaijan SSR, with the administrative center being in Lachin. It was briefly succeeded by the Kurdistan Okrug from 30 May to 23 July 1930. History. The uyezd was established on 7 July 1923. The majority of Kurds in the region were Shia, unlike the Sunni Kurds of Nakhichevansky Uyezd and other areas of the Middle East. At the  1926 Soviet Census, the uyezd had a total population of 51,426 people, with ethnic Kurds constituting 72.3% or 37,182 people. According to the same census, 92.5% of the population of the uyezd cited the Azerbaijani language as their native tongue. On 8 April 1929, the Sixth Azerbaijani Congress of Soviets approved a reform of the administrative structure, abolishing all uezds, including the Kurdistan uezd. On 30 May 1930, Kurdistan Okrug was founded in its place. The okrug included the territory of the former uyezd and also entire Zangilan District and a part of Jabrayil District. The okrug was created by  the Soviet authorities in order to attract the sympathies of Kurds in neighboring Iran and Turkey and take advantage of Kurdish nationalist movements in those countries. However, due to the protests of Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was concerned that open support of Kurdish nationalism could damage relations with Turkey and Iran, the okrug was liquidated on 23 July 1930. In the late 1930s, Soviet authorities deported most of the Kurdish population of Azerbaijan and Armenia to Kazakhstan, and the Kurds of Georgia also became victims of Stalin's purges in 1944. Starting from 1961, when the First Iraqi –Kurdish War started, there were efforts by the deportees for the restoration of their rights. Spearheaded by Mehmet Babayev, who lived in Baku, these proved to be futile. In 1992, after the capture of Lachin by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Kurdish Republic of Lachin was declared in Armenia by a group of Kurds led by Wekîl Mustafayev. However, since most of the area's Kurdish population had fled along with the ethnic Azerbaijani people and had found refuge in other regions of Azerbaijan, this attempt failed. Mustafayev later took refuge in Italy.