The Armenian demands presented to the Berlin Congress by the Armenian delegates asked neither for the independence of Western Armenia not for its annexation to Eastern Armenia, but were focused on the implementation of reforms needed to put an end to the insufferable situation which the Armenians were experiencing, especially in Erzurum, Moush and Van. They demanded reforms for the taxation system, justice and order and the creation of a police system within which Armenians would work alongside Turkish police. In addition, they requested Christian leaders in their provinces. Had these demands been met, there would no doubt have been improvements in this part of the Orient, akin to those which the population of Lebanon witnessed in 1861 which brought about general content. 32 "They [the Armenian delegates in the Berlin Congress] cannot possibly have ambitions for power in their thoughts. The only thing that they want is for Western Armenia to have a self-ruling Christian organisation with the same guarantees as the population of Lebanon have received." 33
The Berlin Treaty, after a month of discussions, was signed on July 13, 1878. From an Armenian point of view, the most important alterations to be made to the San Stefano Treaty were those dictating Russia to content herself with Batum, Ardahan and Kars and give up Bayazid and Alashkert. 24 Paragraph 16 of the San Stefano Treaty, about the implementation of the reforms in the Armenian populated provinces was altered to read thus: 35
"The Sublime Port commits to ordering the necessary measures for improvements and reforms in the Armenian populated provinces and to immediately implement them and guarantee their [the Armenians] safety against the Cherkeses and the Kurds. The Sublime Port commits, at regular intervals, to report the result of these reforms and the measures to the supervising states."
In comparison to the original paragraph in the San Stefano Treaty, it is clear that it is no longer necessary for these reforms to be implemented before the evacuation of the Russian forces. This was a grave mistake. Moreover, the treaty appeared to frame the responsibility of the Ottoman Empire as an international agreement, supervised by the major powers. 36 The placement of responsibility on several powers instead of one single country was another grave shortcoming of this paragraph; as Duke Argik twenty years later commented: "What is the responsibility of everyone, is no one's responsibility at all." 37
The Armenian delegates requested reform and improved safety and security only in the provinces of Erzurum, Moush and Van 38, for it was in these provinces that the Armenians, until 1876, constituted an absolute majority. In 1914, after the massacres from 1877 to 1878 and 1894 to 1896 (the latter massacre claimed the life of 150 000 Armenians, more than half of the Armenian population in this area); the steady Armenian emigration towards Transcaucasia, the Balkans and USA (from 1895 to1896 alone 60 000 Western Armenians looked for asylum in Transcaucasia) 39; and the immigration of a great number of Kurds, who come from the southern Taurus Mountains, the Armenians lost their absolute majority but still had the relative majority in this region.
The condition and lives of Armenians in these provinces more than in other areas were significantly harsher, situated as they were far away from the view of the outside world, and at the mercy of the fanatic beliefs of the more primitive groups in the region.
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