In the last two centuries, in Armenian historiography, the issue of joining Eastern Armenia to Russia, due to socio-political, ideological, and sometimes simply due to propaganda expediency, was assessed differently. This event was rated from the greatest good for the Armenian people to the least of evils, down to evil. Joining Eastern Armenia to Russia and the subsequent processes of its historical fate convince us that Russian rule was objectively progressive for Armenia and Armenians.

KeywordsEastern Armenia Russia war joining historiography Leo Treaty of Turkmenchay significance N. Ashtaraketsi Kh. Lazaryan I. Paskevich autonomy kingdom “Armenian region” assessment good.

Tabasarans (endonym – Tabasaranar) are concentrated in the southeastern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range from ancient times. These Dagestanian people, whose language belongs to the Lezgin group of the Ibero-Caucasian language family, is mentioned in the Armenian bibliography of the V century- in the works of M. Khorenatsi, Yeghishe and Buzand, in the form of ''t‘awaspar(k‘)''. Along with the Armenian sources, the medieval Arabic historiography plays an important role in the examination of the ethnonym of Tabasaran people, where the country of Tabasarans is mentioned as Tabarsaran and the people are called ahl ṭabarsaran (inhabitant of Tabarsaran) or al-ṭabarsaraniya (Tabarsaranian).

KeywordsT‘awaspar Tabasarans ethnonym toponym North Caucasus Caucasian tribes Armenian historiography Arabic sources etymology The Caspian region Iran.

Long-term scientific and research activity of the distinguished historian and preeminent party and government leader academician Ashot Ionnisyan (1887-1972), can be divided into two stages: pre-Soviet and Soviet. One of the important areas of his historical and scientific researches was the coverage of centuries old liberation struggle of the Armenian people that is summarized in his valuable monographs. For obvious reasons, the Soviet Armenian historiography gave an exaggerated assessment to the Russian orientation of the Armenian people, such as fateful, critical, turning point, etc. From the point of view of historical science, A. Ioannisyan's opinion and assessment put forward in his works of the pre-Soviet period appear to be more balanced and reasonable, particularly, on the issues of the Russian orientation of the Armenian people in connecttion with the activities of Israel Ori (1659-1711).

KeywordsA. Ioannisyan Armenian people Russia Israel Ori orientation historiography assessment turning point “Excerpts” Peter the Great Ankeghakot Munich closing speech independence protector Minas vardapet indicator.

On March 23, 1920, Turkish-Azerbaijani troops with the Moslem dwellers profited of the preemptive strike, undertook by the small detachment under plenipotentiary of the ARFD Bureau Arsen Mikayelian, and fulfilled a massacre of the Shushi Armenians with a burning the city down. This events are testified in the memoirs of the witnesses together with great amount of archival material. The total destruction of Shushi is elucidated by historians of the Republic of Armenia, as well as by Diaspora and foreign specialists.

Keywords Shushi March 23–26 1920 Mountainous Karabakh Artsakh 8th Congress of Karabakh Armenians self-defense insurrection preemptive strike historiography.

When determining the time of creation of medieval historiographical monu¬ments, the authors’ own evidence is of primary importance. On this basis, “History of Armenia” by Agathangelos, since the 5th century, has been traditionally considered the first Armenian historiographical work and was dated back to the 4th century. However, the evidence of historians sometimes does not correspond to the reality.

KeywordsAgathangelos “History of Armenia” historiography political agen¬da dating of a monument political motivation Gregory the Illuminator Khorenatsi Koryun “Golden Age”