Editing Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (section)

=== Sovietization ===
In July 1920, the [[11th Soviet Red Army]] invaded and occupied the region and on July 28, declared the [[Nakhchivan ASSR|Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] with "close ties" to the [[Azerbaijan SSR]]. In November, on the verge of taking over Armenia, the Bolsheviks, to attract public support, promised they would allot Nakhchivan to Armenia, along with Karabakh and Zangezur. [[Nariman Narimanov]], leader of Bolshevik Azerbaijan, issued a declaration celebrating the "victory of Soviet power in Armenia" and proclaimed that both Nakhchivan and Zangezur should be awarded to the Armenian people as a sign of the Azerbaijani people's support for Armenia's fight against the former Armenian government:<ref name="DeWaal022"/>

{{blockquote|As of today, the old frontiers between Armenia and Azerbaijan are declared to be non-existent. Mountainous Karabagh, Zangezur and Nakhchivan are recognised to be integral parts of the Socialist Republic of Armenia.<ref name="Potier" /><ref name="Croissant-18">Croissant. ''Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict'', p. 18.</ref>}}

[[Vladimir Lenin]], while welcoming this act of "great Soviet fraternity" where "boundaries had no meaning among the family of Soviet peoples", did not agree with the motion and instead called for the people of Nakhchivan to be consulted in a referendum. According to the formal figures of this referendum, held at the beginning of 1921, 90% of Nakhchivan's population wanted to be included in the Azerbaijan SSR "with the rights of an autonomous republic".<ref name="Potier">Tim Potier. ''Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia: A Legal Appraisal'', p. 4. {{ISBN|90-411-1477-7}}</ref> The decision to make Nakhchivan a part of modern-day Azerbaijan was cemented on March 16, 1921, in the [[Treaty of Moscow (1921)|Treaty of Moscow]] between [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] and the newly founded Republic of Turkey.<ref name="NewStates-NewPolitics02">Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras. ''New States, New Politics: Building Post-Soviet Nations'', p. 444. {{ISBN|0-521-57799-3}}</ref> The agreement between Soviet Russia and Turkey also called for attachment of the former [[Sharur-Daralagezsky Uyezd]] (which had a solid Azeri majority) to Nakhchivan, thus allowing Turkey to share a border with the Azerbaijan SSR. This deal was reaffirmed on October 13, in the [[Treaty of Kars]]. Article V of the treaty stated the following:

{{blockquote|The Turkish Government and the Soviet Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan are agreed that the region of Nakhchivan, within the limits specified by Annex III to the present Treaty, constitutes an autonomous territory under the protection of Azerbaijan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://groong.usc.edu/treaties/kars.html|title=ANN/Groong – Treaty of Berlin – 07/13/1878|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>}}
Thus, on February 9, 1924, the Soviet Union officially established the Nakhchivan ASSR. Its constitution was adopted on April 18, 1926.<ref name="GreatSoviet" />