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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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Revelation of Actual Tsarist Attitudes

While the Russian armies occupied most of the Armenian Plateau during the winter and spring of 1916, Armenian leaders were most apprehensive. Apparent respect of tsarist officials for Armenian political-civic bodies and volunteer groups had changed into expression of sarcasm and distrust. As early as the first half of 1915, disquieting reports from Russian junior officers, accusing the volunteers of lawlessness and looting, had reached Tiflis. Publication of such dispatches elicited sharp protests to Vorontsov-Dashkov from the Armenian National Bureau. Subsequently, the Viceroy informed members of the Bureau that an investigation had proved the detrimental news unfounded, and he promised to publicize the report. The he did not was significant. 90 The National Bureau also complained that in the occupied territories the Kurds, instead of being disarmed, were allowed freedom of action. While these "enemies of yesterday" continued their violations against the sedentary population, tsarist officials confiscated the weapons of the Armenian peasantry. A deputation composed of Bishop Mesrop, Mayor Khatisian, and Samson Haroutounian requested that Vorontsov-Dashkov authorize the Armenian refugees to carry arms for protection and to settle in deserted Moslem villages. 91 Though the viceroy reassured the delegation of the government's benevolence, Armenian leaders could not ignore the ascendance of traditional bureaucratic views toward the minorities. What the National Bureau did not know was that representatives of the Romanov sovereign were earnestly negotiating the partition of Turkey with the other members of the Entente. Moreover, Russian designs to annex the eastern vilayets included no provisions for Armenian autonomy. 92

Correspondence of ranking tsarist officials was indicative of the Russian retrenchment. In April, 1915, before the Van o0ffensive, General N. N. Iudenich, Field Commander of the Caucasus Army, reported to Vorontsov-Dashkov about the Alashkert Plain and Bayazid Valley: "The Armenians intend to have their refugees occupy the lands abandoned by the Kurds and Turks in order to benefit from that territory. In consider this intention unacceptable for the reason that, after the war, it will be difficult to reclaim those lands seized by the Armenians or to prove that the property does not belong to them, as was the case after the Russo-Turkish War [of 1877-1878]. I consider it very desirable to populate the border regions with a Russian element…

It has already pleased Your Excellency to affirm my recommendation for the immediate expulsion, to beyond the Turkish lines, of all those Kurds of the Alashkert, Diadin, and Bayazid valleys who have shown us any kind of resistance, and in the future, when these valleys enter within the bounds of the Russian Empire, to populate them with colonists from the Kuban and Don and in that way form a Cossack region along the border." 93

A memorandum in similar vein was relayed to Foreign Minister Sazonov in March, 1915, by Minister of Agriculture A. V. Krivoshein: "The Success of our military activities on the Turkish front gives reason to think that, more or less, in the near future, we will have the opportunity to rectify our Caucasian boundary and to round out our possession of Asia Minor and Armenia." After considering the agricultural prospects of the Black Sea costal area, he continued: "…the other region, which falls south-east of the former, is the basin of the uppers currents of the Araxes and Euphrates, which is generally called Armenia (Erzurum and Van vilayets as part of Bitlis vilayet). This region is mostly high above sea level and is completely suitable for Russian colonists." 94

Wartime documents published by the Bolshevik government cast a god deal of light upon the foreign policy fostered by Nicholas II and his ministers. That the Armenians were dupes and pawns in the game of international policies is gratingly exposed in these records. 95 An exchange of notes between Sazonov and A. P. Izvolsky, ambassador to France, touches on a special mission of Hakob Zavriev. After the outbreak of war, the Armenian politician had conferred with the Russian Foreign Minister and, having received certain assurances, departed for Paris to gain the blessings of the French government for an autonomous Armenia. On May 17, 1915, Izvolsky informed Sazonov: "Dr. Zavriev, who has come here, has presented a memorandum to me about the results of his talks in our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this note, among other things, it is said that Russia intends to propose to the governments that within Turkish boundaries there be created an autonomous Armenia, under Turkish suzerainty and the protection of the three governments, Russia, England, and France. Supposedly, Armenia's lands are to encompass not only all of the Armenian provinces, except for a few border districts, but also Cilicia with a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea, at Mersin…. The point in relation to Cilicia is, I feel, especially delicate, because France has already expressed to us her ambitions concerning the area." 96

On the following day, Sazonov replied, "Our talks with the Armenians have had a completely academic character." 97