ON THE ISSUE OF ARMENIAN STATEHOOD IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

The main idea of the article is to prove that Armenians are not Caucasians. They are an alien element, allochthons, which appeared in large numbers in the Caucasus only in the 19th century. And this epoch-making event for the Armenian ethnos happened thanks to the purposeful resettlement policy of the Russian Empire. Since the 15th century, the Armenian Church has chosen the Azerbaijani historical lands for the Armenians in the Caucasus as their next "homeland".The article analyzes the attempts to establish the Armenian state in the historical lands of Azerbaijan in the 17th and 18thcenturies. The results of the attempts to implement those plans as a result of the Eastern policy of the Russian emperors, Peter I and Catherine II, are clarified