Günümüzde Ermenistan Cumhuriyeti’nin başkenti olan Erivan; geçmişinde pek çok milletten ve kültürden insana ev sahipliği yapmıştır. 1920 yılında Ermenistan’ın 15 Sovyetler Birliği ülkelerinden biri haline gelmesiyle ülke içinde yaşayan azınlık milletler çeşitli güçlüklerle karşılaşmıştır. 1935 yılı itibariyle özellikle Erivan bölgesinde yaşayan Azeri halkı Josef Stalin’in milliyetçi politikalar doğrultusunda çeşitli bölgelere sürgün edilmişlerdir. Bu politikalar kapsamında, Ekim 1937 tarihinde Zengibasar bölgesinde yaşayan Azeri halkından Nagiyev ailesi de Kazakistan’ın alma-ata eyaletine sürülmüşlerdir. Kazaksitan Sovyet Sosyalist Cumhuriyetinde yarım asırdan fazla yaşamış olan Zehra Nagiyeva, katı Stalin rejimi getirilerinden başlayarak Sovyetler Birliği’nin 1991 yılındaki yıkılışına kadar gerçekleşen bilumum sayıda olaya şahit olmuştur. Bu çalışmada, Zehra Nagiyeva’nın, dokuz yaşında koparıldığı Eriva’dan Kazakistan’a olan yolculuğu ve ailesiyle beraber, güçlüklerle bezeli hayatlarına karşı ne şekilde mücadele ettikleri anlatılmaktadır.

The city of Yerevan, which was founded in 782 BC and is the center of many historical events, was known as the Revan Khanate during the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period, the majority of the population of the region consisted of Armenians, Tatars, Iranians and Jews and predominantly Azerbaijanis who lived in the Caucasus region and its surroundings throughout history. Located in the Sefevi State, the Revan Khanate came under the rule of Tsarist Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. Subsequently, with the decree of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I, Nakhichevan and Revan khanates were destroyed and an Armenian province was established instead. After the province was established, more than forty thousand Armenians were settled in this region by Tsarist Russia. Azerbaijanis, who constituted the majority of the region before the tsarist domination, became a regional minority as a consequence of the establishment of the province. With the collapse of Tsarist Russia after the First World War, the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was established in the Yerevan region, but could only survive for one year. The Democratic Republic of Armenia was established in Yerevan in 1918 and after two years of existence, it was included in the Soviet Union as the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic on December 2, 1920. As a result of the nationalist policies followed by the administration of the Soviet Union, the people of the region had to get face to face with the living standards they were never used to before. Radical changes were made, mainly in the language and other various fields that affected society. In this matter, a monolithic soviet human profile, which was very unfamiliar to the Caucasus culture, was intented to be created from the people of the Caucasus. This article will examine the life story of the Nagiyev family, and especially the younger daughter of the family, Zehra Nagiyeva, who tried to survive in all this turmoil. This review will be carried out through the narrations of Zehra Negiyeva and her daughters Elza Erdoğmuş and Sevil Gabibova. In the article, Zehra Nagiyeva's childhood full of difficulties, her exile from Yerevan with her family and her struggles against the wave of violent assimilation are discussed and synthesized with the political and social realities of the periods when the events took place.