During the early 19th century, the main goal of the Russian Empire was to ensure the neutrality of the Kurds in the wars against Persia and the Ottoman Empire.[8] In the beginning of the 19th century, Kurds settled in Transcaucasia, at a time when Transcaucasia was incorporated into the Russian Empire. In the 20th century, Kurds were persecuted and exterminated by the Turks and Persians, a situation that led Kurds to move to Russian Transcaucasia.[4]
From 1804–1813 and again in 1826–1828, when the Russian Empire and the Persian Empire were at war, the Russian authorities let Kurds settle in Russia and Armenia.[4] During the Crimean War and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Kurds moved to Russia and Armenia.[4] According to the Russian Census of 1897, 99,900 Kurds lived in the Russian Empire.[9]
^ abcd"The Kurds of Caucasia and Central Asia have been cut off for a considerable period of time and their development in Russia and then in the Soviet Union has been somewhat different. In this light the Soviet Kurds may be considered to be an ethnic group in their own right." The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire"Kurds". Institute of Estonia (EKI). Institute of Estonia (EKI). Retrieved 22 June 2012.
