Emigration of Christians from the Crimea (1778)

In 1768, Russia began a new round of hostilities against the Ottoman Empire, and by June 1771 an army under the command of Prince Vasily Dolgorukov-Krymsky had captured the entirety of the Crimean peninsula. As a result of the end of the war and the signing of the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji, Crimea was effectively ceded to the Russian Empire as a client state. At the start of 1775, however, Ottoman forces intervened in Crimea, in violation of the Kuchuk-Kainarji Treaty, and, after ousting Sahib II Giray from power, installed Devlet IV Giray as the new khan of Crimea. This resulted in Russian military intervention on 23 November 1776, with Catherine the Great proclaiming the Russian-aligned Shahin Giray as the new Khan. His status as Khan was approved by the Crimean State council on 28 March 1777, who then also appealed to Russian authorities with a request for the Russian military presence in Crimea to be maintained indefinitely, in order to prevent any future Ottoman interference.[3] Despite this, the Ottoman Empire refused to recognize Shahin Giray's legitimacy, with Sultan Abdulhamid I remarking:[4]

"[Shahin] Giray is a tool. The aim of the Russians is to take Crimea."

In December 1777, the Ottoman Empire once again attempted to appoint to the Crimean throne a khan of its choosing, Selim IIII Giray. Although Selim Giray managed to arrive in Crimea and met with local rebels, Russia intercepted and prevented the landing of the Turkish military force that was planned to assist him. This was followed on 17 February 1778 by the surrounding and surrender of Selim Giray's force, forcing him to renounce power and recognize Shahin Giray's rule as legitimate. Following these failed attempts at altering the status quo in Crimea, as well as a threat by Russian ambassador Alexander Stakhiev that France would intervene on behalf of Russia if the Ottomans did not cease these attempts, the Sublime Porte eventually recognized Shahin Giray's legitimacy.[5]

Russia had long sought to pacify its notoriously unstable southern frontier and coastline with the Black Sea, and, as a consequence of finally having established control over the Crimean peninsula, was now able to move populations and change demographics towards that objective.[6] Following the installation of Shahin Giray as the head of the Crimean Khanate in February 1778, as well as a request from metropolitan bishop of Crimea Ignatius that Crimean Christians be made subjects of the Russian state, Pyotr Rumyantsev and Grigory Potemkin began planning a method for the resettlement of the Greek and Armenian populations of the region.[7] One primary motivation for this plan was a desire to eliminate the ethnic tensions between Tatars and Christians within Crimea, which had been raised as result of the Russian military intervention. Another motivation was the desire to colonize the unpopulated Pryazovia region on the Black Sea shore. Additionally, the exodus of the Christians, who were the wealthiest subjects of the Crimean khan, would cause the Khanate to lose tax revenue and become more dependent on Russia, eventually leading to its complete integration.[8] Regarding Russian intentions to make use of the relocation to induce an annexation of Crimea, Pyotr Rumyantsev stated to Catherine the Great:[9]

«Вывод христиан может почесться завоеванием знатной провинции.»

Which translates to:

"The exodus of the Christians [from Crimea] can be considered the conquest of a noble province."

While some in the Russian court, such as military head of Crimea Alexander Prozorovsky, opposed the implementation of this plan, Catherine the Great approved it, signing the decree "On the resettlement of all Christians to the southern Russian countryside" on 9 March 1778.[10] The following month, Alexander Suvorov was appointed in place of Prozorovsky to implement the relocation.[2]

Map depicting the locations Greeks and Armenians were resettled

After the resettlement had finished, some Armenians and Greeks later returned to Crimea, although most chose to remain in the regions that they were resettled to. The resettled were, for the most part, treated well by the Russian authorities and allowed to retain their local customs. On 14 November 1779 the Russian government instituted the "Charters Granted to Christians of the Greek and Armenian Denominations Who Migrated from the Crimea to Settle in the Azov Province," which gave the migrants the right to administer themselves according to their own legal norms, along with exempting them from mandatory military service.[15][7]

Within the Russian Empire, the resettlement was greatly praised. Vasily Petrov wrote a poem titled "To Prince [Grigory] Aleksandrovich Potemkin," in which he celebrates the Russian leadership for their role in the exodus of the peninsula's Armenians and Greeks, calling it the result of divine intervention which allowed the state to "regenerate foreign peoples into Russian".[16]

While the Russian state officially paid khan Shahin Giray 50,000 rubles as compensation, this was not nearly enough to make up for the economic damage that had resulted from the exodus of the Christians.[17] The financial ruin caused by the relocation caused Crimean khan Shahin Giray to resign from his position, eventually leading to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire in 1783 and an end to the over three century-long existence of the Crimean Khanate.[8][2]