When this cabinet was confirmed by the National Council, Armenia had been independent for a full month. 86 During that time, the actual administration of the native territories had been remained in the hands of Aram and Dro. Even after Kachaznouni had formed his cabinet, Aram was not relieved from his duties, for the Armenian government tarried in Tiflis. The severance of rail service to Yerevan, the presence of Turkish troops on the main line from Lori to Ulukhanlu, and the frightful activities of brigands along every road and path contributed to the delay. The primary reason for it, however, was the reluctance of many National Council members to live in the fourth-rate city that had been designated as the Republic's capital. The spokesmen for Dashnaktsoutiun consistently called for transfer of both government and Council, while Populists and SR's demurred, arguing that, because the overwhelming majority of Eastern Armenians lived beyond the limits of the dwarfed Republic, it was imperative that the National Council remain in Tiflis to serve as a type of super-government. They did not oppose the basing of Kachaznouni's "government" at Yerevan to act as a regional administration, but they warned that shifting the National Council from Tiflis would result in the abandonment of over a million Armenians. In addition, the move would impose hardships on the Populists and SR's, whose leaders and party apparatus were concentrated in Tiflis and whose following in Yerevan was negligible. In a rather dazzling coup de theatre, the Armenian Mensheviks sided with Dashnaktsoutiun. The Transcaucasian Social Democratic organisation had espoused the strategy of supporting independent national states, and the few Armenian adherents of the party now followed that line. 87
In mid-July, the impasse was at last broken. Aram sent word from Yerevan that he would no longer remain at his post unless the nation's legal administrative bodies assumed their duties in the capital. Kachaznouni also applied pressure by threatening to resign if both government and Council were not relocated. The opposition dolefully assented. Having made the decision, the Social Revolutionaries sent Arsham Khondkarian, one of their forceful and well-known leaders, to Yerevan, but the Populist chiefs, refusing to budge from Tiflis, delegated in their stead inexperienced although highly patriotic junior members. Haik Azatian, a doctrinaire Marxist, was named to direct the Social Democrats of Yerevan but was soon replaced by more flexible and authoritative Menshevik leaders. Having completed departure arrangements, members of the Armenian government and National Council paid farewell visits to Zhordania, who had replaced Ramishvili as Premier, and to Menshevik headquarters. They also announced that Arshak Djamalian would serve as the diplomatic envoy of the Republic of Armenia to the Republic of Georgia. 88
On July 17, the Armenian government left for Yerevan via a circuitous route, travelling the Tiflis-Baku railway to Akstafa and then by automobile to Dilijan and along Lake Sevan. No official of the Georgian government was on hand to bid adieu. On the contrary, the Armenian cabinet, denied entrance to the waiting suite in the Tiflis railway station, stood on the platform for several hours until an antiquated locomotive and a few filth-covered passenger coaches arrived. This was apparently the latest manifestation of the growing discord between the two peoples. Lieutenants von Mommsen and Eisenmann, who were to represent von Kress in Yerevan, and an accompanying Turkish officer angrily protested the insulting treatment, and only through their intercession were the Armenians spared the humiliation of being searched by Georgian guards when the train reached the frontier. As the locomotive moved across the Kur River into Azerbaijani territory, the frigidness of Georgia was superseded by the felicitous reception of Tatardom. Official delegations welcomed the cabinet of the sister republic, improvised bands struck up chords of joyful music, and the short trip to the border of the Yerevan guberniia was interrupted by numerous banquets. Amidst this cordial and festive atmosphere, it was impossible to discern that Armenia's territorial disputes with Azerbaijan were much more extensive and complicated than those with Georgia. As the entourage approached Yerevan, General Nazarbekian, Dro, and Aram "Pasha" rode out to greet Kachaznouni. Together, on July 19, they entered the capital. 89
The land over which Kachaznouni's cabinet began to rule was virtually sealed from the outside world. Refugees hovered in every nook and cranny. There was little food or clothing and almost no medicine. The Republic's small fertile regions still lay under Turkish occupation; mountains and rocks were all that remained. The German representatives in the Caucasus urged their government to persuade the Turks to permit the return of the refugees as far as the Brest boundaries or at least up to those demarcated in the Treaty of Batum. If the Ittihadist rulers rejected this suggestion they must then allow Armenian men to return to their native districts for a short time to harvest the crops. Von Schulenburg and von Kress warned that, should they be denied this minimal favour, the Armenians would be annihilated by the end of the winter. The two officials complained that this extermination was fervently desired by Essad Pasha, who was intent on completing the project undertaken by General Vehib. 90 Berlin failed to alter the policies of the Ottoman commanders. The crops, so vital to the Armenians, were carried away by the Turks or allowed to rot in the fields. The Republic's inhabitants subsisted on grasses and herbs throughout the summer and autumn, but by winter even these were gone. It was said that the Turks had allowed the Armenians enough room for a mass cemetery. The appraisal did not appear exaggerated during he first months of the Republic, when more than two hundred thousand orphans and refugees perished. Cholera and typhus stalked the land, reaping victims indiscriminately. Even the seemingly invincible Aram was to succumb. 91
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