Kurdish cavalry in the Caucasus, January 1915.

January 8, Tabriz—Late in December, anticipating defeat at Sarikamish, the Russians decided to evacuate their interests in Persia. Their fortunes had changed decisively for the better since then, but the Turks and their Kurdish allies had since taken advantage of the Russians’ temporary absence in (officially neutral) Persia. The Turkish forces at Sarikamish may have been effectively wiped out, but Enver Pasha was hopeful that success in Persia would take off at least some of the sting. On January 8, the Turks and Kurds occupied the major city of Tabriz with no opposition, apparently to the surprise of the Russians. Foreign observers would unfavorably describe the force as “a band of Kurds of all ages and conditions, some on horses, the others on mules and the rest on donkeys. Almost all of these animals were also loaded down with crates, bundles of clothing, boxes of all sorts and carpets.” Despite the generally pan-Islamic tone of the campaign since Turkey’s declaration of Jihad, the local Christian Armenian population was left relatively unmolested in Tabriz. The same was not uniformly true outside of the city; apparently 2,000 Armenians took refuge in a local American mission of Presbyterians, fearing the invading forces. Further north, other Armenians fled across the Russian border towards Tiflis [Tblisi].

Enver Pasha imagined that the taking of Tabriz would give Turkey control of all of Azerbaijan, both the Persian and Russian parts—that Turkish troops would soon reach Baku and the Caspian. Anticipating this, he appointed a governor of “Azerbaijan and the eastern Caucasus,” even though the Turks had only tenuous control of a part of Azerbaijan.

Sources include: Hew Strachan, The First World War (Volume I); Raymond Kévorkian, The Armenian Genocide.