Nicholas I had declared war against Qajarid…

Nicholas I had declared war against Qajarid Persia in 1827 and sought help from Armenians, promising that after the war, their lives would improve.

one Russian detachment had reached the shores of Lake Urmia in January 1828 and Qajarid ruler Fath Ali Shah had started to panic.

On his urging, Haj Mirza Abol-hasan Khan and the Shah’s chancellor, Asef o-dowleh, on February 2, 1828, speedily sign the humiliating Treaty of Turkmanchay with the imperial general Ivan Paskievich, concluding the Russo-Persian War of 1825—28.

The treaty sets the Aras River as the Russian-Persian border, grants Russia the sole right to station warships in the Caspian Sea, gives Russia territorial and commercial rights, and imposes an indemnity to be paid by Persia.

Russia annexes Yerevan, ...