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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 Deterioration of Armeno-Georgian Relations

Immediately after the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Federation, responsible members of the Georgian and Armenian national councils had conferred about the future of Lori and neighbouring Akhalkalak. During this meeting, Russian and Armenian sources claim, Ramishvili and Zhordania reiterated the stand that, on ethnographic grounds, both the Lori uchastok and the Akhalkalak uezd belonged rightfully to Armenia. They added, however, that application of the ethnic principle was impossible at the moment, since Turkish troops held Akhalkalak and, to block the Ottoman advance toward Tiflis, German and Georgian forces were left no alternative but to occupy Lori. With the establishment of world peace, the Menshevik party would once again rise as the champion of national self-determination. 76 On June 5, following this interview, the Georgian Minister of Military Affairs issued orders for the army to take positions along the external boundaries of the Borchalu, Tiflis, and Signakh uezds – that is, along the frontiers of the Akhalkalak uezd and the guberniias of Yerevan and Elisavetpol. 77

After returning from the round of international diplomacy in Poti and Batum, Ramishvili, in his capacity as Minister of Internal Affairs, appointed a special commission to determine the territories included within the Republic of Georgia. The group invited representatives of the Armenian National Council to participate in its June 11 session. Commission member P. Ingorokov explained to Khatisian, Karjikian, and General G. Korganov that, because of economic and strategic exigencies, it was imperative that the entire Borchalu uezd as well as the region around Gharakilisa in the Yerevan guberniia be included within the Republic of Georgia. The abashed Armenians then heard Tsereteli support the view that Pambak, the region of the Alexandropol uezd which had not been ceded by the Batum Treaty, was rightfully Georgian on economic, strategic, and even historic grounds. The ethnographic principle alone was not always valid. Tsereteli attempted to convince the Dashnakist leaders that Georgian suzerainty over these regions would prove advantageous to the thousands of Armenian inhabitants, for they would be accorded German protection. Moreover, the creation of a strong Christian Georgia associated with Berlin would also be beneficial to the Armenian Republic. Deeply angered, Khatisian and Karjikian pointed to the numerous Menshevik declarations recognising most the Borchalu uezd as an Armenian district. 78 Terming the commission's findings a flagrant violation of self-determination, the Armenian National Council representatives urged the Georgians to reconsider. The commission assented, but before the two parties could again confer, Georgian papers carried an official announcement that the Republic's jurisdiction extended over the entire Tiflis guberniia. 79 Dropping pretensions to Pambak, the Mensheviks were now determined that Lori and Akhalkalak would be Georgian. Hostilities between the two sister republics were deferred, however, because the Ottoman occupation of Lori separated Georgia and Armenia. With no common boundary until the Turkish withdrawal in late autumn, the two infant states were compelled to continue the quarrel on only an "academic" level.