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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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Assessment of the Losses

On June 6, Kachaznouni, Khatisian, and Papadjanian returned to Tiflis and presented the treaty of Batum to the National Council. Assessment of the losses showed that Transcaucasia had been sheared of over 20 percent of its territory on which nearly 19 percent of its total population had lived in 1914. 52 Nearly three-quarters of the ceded territory had been wrenched from the Kars oblast and Yerevan guberniia as shown by the following figures:


Region Territory lost (in sq. km)
Batum oblast 53  
Batum okrug 2,240
Artvin okrug 2,080
   
Tiflis guberniia  
Akhalkalak uezd 1,840
Akhaltsikh uezd 1,760
   
Kars oblast 54  
Kars okrug 3,600
Kaghizman okrug 2,720
Ardahan okrug 3,360
Olti okrug 1,840
   
Yerevan guberniia  
Yerevan uezd 1,120
Alexandropol uezd 1,200
Etchmiadzin uezd 1,440
Surmalu uezd 2,240
Sharur-Daralagiaz uezd 960
Nakhichevan uezd 2,400

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had awarded the Ottoman Empire nearly 16,000 square kilometres and six hundred thousand inhabitants of Transcaucasia. By the Batum treaties, Turkey gained an additional 12,800 square kilometres populated by six hundred and fifty thousand people, over two-thirds of whom were Armenians. 55 The national complexion of the affected uezds was as follows: 56


Ceded uezd or part thereof Georgian Moslem Armenian Russian
Akhalkalak 8,000 8,000 64,000 57 8,000
Akhaltsikh 25,000 18,000 27,000 540
Surmalu - 66,000 30,000 -
Alexandropol 420 3,000 173,000 2,000
Etchmiadzin - 42,000 76,000 400
Yerevan - 48,000 30,000 1,000
Sharur-Daralagiaz Nakhichevan 59 - 12,000 5,000 60

The population in the remaining districts of the Yerevan guberniia, that is, in the Republic of Armenia, was composed of approximately three hundred thousand of the two million Russian Armenians and at least an equal number of refugees from Western Armenia and the regions surrendered at Brest-Litovsk and Batum. Even in this pitifully minute area, there were nearly a hundred thousand Moslems. 60

Before Khatisian's delegation had departed from Batum, Vehib Pasha had given his promise that every effort would be made to exempt Armenians remaining in the ceded territories from military conscription. If unforeseen events should necessitate their services, these Armenians would not under any circumstances be removed from their native districts. Moreover, all refugees from areas between the Brest and Batum boundaries would be from the Kars and Batum oblasts must be denied that privilege. 61 Having received this information, the Armenian National Council named a special commission to meet in Alexandropol with Kiazim Karabekir to finalise details for repatriation, exchange of prisoners, Turkish withdrawal from the Gharakilisa area, and Ottoman utilisation of transportation routes over Armenia. Despite the commission's repeated requests, Karabekir would sanction neither the return of the refugees nor the withdrawal of Ottoman forces from the Pambak district of northern Armenia. 62 He and his commanding officer, General Essad Pasha, complained bitterly about violations of the Batum Treaty, as Armenian armed bands and many villagers in the ceded territories, refusing to submit peaceably to Ottoman rule, attacked Turkish officials and sabotaged the military efforts of the Central Powers. 63 The Alexandropol discussions led to no agreement, but by mid-July Ottoman troops in the southern areas of the Yerevan guberniia finally attained the boundaries established by the Treaty of Batum. Turkish cannons were installed 6.4 kilometres from Etchmiadzin and 6.4 from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. 64