Kurdistan Uyezd (Azerbaijani: Kürdüstan qəzası, Russian: Курдистанский уезд Kurdistanskij Uezd), also known colloquially as Red Kurdistan (Azerbaijani: Qızıl Kürdistan; Kurdish: Кöрдьстана Сор / Kôrdistana Sor; Russian: Красный Курдистан Krasniy Kurdistan) was a Soviet administrative unit that existed for six years from 1923 to 1929. Its capital was Lachin (Laçın in Kurdish).
The presence of Kurds in the southern Caucasus dates back to the 9th century. The area between Karabakh and Zangezur became inhabited by nomadic Kurdish tribes in the 18th century. Eventually they became the majority population in most parts of the region, particularly around Lachin, Kalbajar (Kelbajar in Kurdish), and Qubadli (Qûbadlî in Kurdish).
Although commonly referred to as an okrug or an autonomous oblast, Red Kurdistan was neither. It was an uyezd, a typical administrative unit much like any other in Azerbaijan, with no greater level of autonomy than any other uyezd. The Kurdistan Uyezd was created by the Soviet authorities to attract the sympathies of Kurds in neighboring Iran and Turkey and gather the support of Kurdish movements in those countries. It was established on July 7, 1923, with the official name "Kurdistan Uyezd". The majority of Kurds in the region were Shi'a, unlike the Sunni Kurds of Nakhchivan (Sadarak, Teyvaz) and other areas of the Middle East. At the 1926 USSR census, the uyezd had a total population of 51,426 people, with ethnic Kurds constituting 72.3% or 37,182 people. According to the same census, 92,5% of the population of the uyezd cited Turkic (Azerbaijani) language as their native tongue.
On April 8, 1929, the Kurdistan Uyezd was dissolved. On May 30, 1930, a Kurdistan Okrug was founded instead. The okrug included the territory of former uyezd and also entire Zangilan raion and part of Jabrayil raion. However, due to the protests of Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was concerned that open support of Kurdish movement could damage relations with Turkey and Iran, the okrug was liquidated on July 23, 1930. In late 1930s Soviet authorities deported most of the Kurdish population of Azerbaijan and Armenia to Kazakhstan, and Kurds of Georgia also became victims of Stalin's purges in 1944. Starting from 1961, there were efforts by the deportees for the restoration of their rights, spearheaded by Mehmet Babayev who lived in Baku, which proved to be futile.
In 1992, after the capture of Lachin by Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the Lachin Kurdish Republic was declared in Armenia by a group of Kurds led by Wekîl Mustafayev. However, since most of the area's Kurdish population had fled along with the ethnic Azeris and had found refuge in other regions of Azerbaijan, this attempt failed. Mustafayev later took refuge in Italy.