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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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The Armenian parties, in particular the Dashnak party who were determined to cooperate with the new regime against the fallen sultan, placed the blame for the bloodbaths on the old regime. 2

Whilst the other non-Turkish peoples in the empire viewed the new Young Turkish regime with caution and distrust, the Armenian masses, led by their parties, were almost hysterical with joy in welcoming the new regime. After the oppression of the Hamidian regime, the revolution of the Young Turks appeared to the Armenian people as the first smile of grace they had enjoyed in more than four centuries. The policy of cooperation was not, however, merely a reactionary protocol, but the result of the serious consideration of Armenian revolutionary leaders. The Armenians reasoned that the new Ottoman rule posed a formidable hindrance to the expansionist policies heralded by Germany, and tsarist Russia, that had silenced the demands of the Armenians in Transcaucasia. The empire was now to be ruled by a federate government comprised of Turks and non-Turkish peoples, such as Albanians, Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Lebanese, Macedonians and Syrians. On their own, these peoples were too weak to resist the intrusion of the imperialists, but within the framework of the empire, each could defend its identity and freedom. The new and powerful Ottoman Empire would be a union, within which each nation could preserve and develop its ethnic characteristics without fear of persecution.

The Armenian leaders in Turkey believed that the new regime would be based on a similar structure to the one at that time operative in Switzerland, where several of them had been educated. The Armenian comrades of the Young Turks hoped for a new Ottoman Empire which would respect the integrity and identity of its different people.

The Policy of Turkification

The liberal thinkers in the Union and Progress Committee, such as Ahmet Reza Beg, who followed a western way of thinking, soon lost their positions to characters such as Enver, blinded by German chauvinistic ideology, and Talaat , who would found the first racist regime.

In foreign policy, the party worked in close cooperation with Germany; domestically, the regime concentrated on the policy of turkification of the non-Turkish population in the empire. The policy sparked Arab opposition (the revolt of the Drusians and the Arabs in Palestine, the revolt of 1910 in Iraq, and the revolt of 1911 in Yemen), and unrest in Macedonia in 1911 and 1912, and was criticized even by the allies of Turkey. Duke Sforza, impending prime minister of Italy, commented: "This was a line of thought of the most primitive, that which even the Fascists in Italy and the Nazis in Germany were not capable of attempting." 4

In 1912, the first Balkan War broke out. The Armenians were praised by the Turks for their loyalty. Armenian officers and soldiers fought side by side with Turks in the battles in Macedonia and Tracia. 5