Through the topic of internal boundaries and zemstvo introduction had been discussed in conferences summoned by Count Vorontsov-Dashkov and Grand Duke Nicholas, no governmental action had been taken. The issue was revived by the Provisional Government in the summer of 1917, when delegates from all Russia gathered in Petrograd to arrange for the elections to the Constituent Assembly. Taking advantage of the presence of many Transcaucasian leaders, Boris Veselovsky, director of the Interior Ministry department dealing with regional affairs, requested that, before leaving the capital, Georgian, Armenian, and Moslem representatives propose a plan on the administrative-territorial reorganisation of their provinces. 116 A prominent Georgian professor, Zurab Avalov, presided over the committee meetings. There, Ramishvili and Zhordania, announcing that the Social Democrat party was a champion of self-Determination, conceded that Lori and Akhalkalak rightfully should enter the Armenian zemstvo areas. Despite the objections from the Georgian National Democrats, who insisted that at the time of 1783 Russo-Georgian treaty the territories in question were either part of Georgian realm or were promised to King Irakli by Tsarina Catherine, the general outlines of the Armenian scheme to form relatively large zemstvo districts were approved by the Ministry of Interior and forwarded to the Ozakom for consideration and approval. 117
In Tiflis, the Ozakom appointed a fifteen-member committee, with five men from each of the dominant peoples, to finalise the project. The three sessions held by the committee were presided over by Zhordania, Chkhenkeli, and Ramishvili, respectively. 118 Speaking for the Moslems, Akber Sheikh-ul-Islamov agreed that administrative-territorial alternations were indication of progress but insisted that the ideal solution would be the creation of small cantons. In that event, four of Yerevan's seven districts would be predominantly Moslem. This system offered Moslems the best security, for the Armenian areas would be limited in size and would be surrounded and neutralised by Islamic cantons. 119 Turco-Tatar control of all southern and eastern Transcaucasia would thus be guaranteed. No agreement was reached between the Moslem and Armenian delegates, but the Armenians were gratified that the Mensheviks had reconfirmed the decision to follow the ethnic principle in Lori-Akhalkalak, where less than 10 percent of the population was Georgian. 120 Again no official action was taken, since, before a final solution could be worked out and endorsed by the Ozakom, the provisional Government was overthrown and the Bolshevik Soviet government inaugurated. The discussions and arguments of Armenians, Georgians, and Moslems during 1916 and 1917 were not useless, however, for they clarified the territorial aspirations of each people, who, unknowingly, were racing toward independence. When that momentous event occurred, the Tatars and Georgians were still those who had, and the Armenians those who wanted.
Indeed, the months March through October, 1917, were permeated with Armenian hopes and emotions. The Revolution was acclaimed by all Transcaucasia, which began its organisational activities at a phenomenal rate. The soviets, the Ozakom, the political conferences, the national sessions – all added to the gradual maturation of the Armenian mind. Through beset by internal rivalries and entangled in misunderstandings with their neighbours, the Eastern Armenians were more active and organised than for nearly a millennium past. Their aspirations were relatively clear: to develop freely in the political, social, economic, and cultural realms while remaining an integral member of the federated Russian state. For Western (Turkish) Armenia, autonomy, or perhaps unification with the Armenian region of Transcaucasia, was the envisaged solution. The March Revolution eliminated the tsarist restrictions and gave the Armenians the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the administration of occupied Western Armenia. Their hopes seemed closer to realisation than ever before.
Yet the emotions of March-October, 1917, had not all been elicited by joy and expectations, for the Revolution brought with it many perils. Political chaos threatened the security of the entire state, while demoralisation among the exhausted soldiers particularly jeopardised the Armenian hopes tied to the emancipation of Western Armenia and the progress of Transcaucasia. Every event in Petrograd sent out its radiating ripples. By October, 1917, the ripples had become waves and the Armenians, still filled with hopes and emotions, were swept by the tide toward a new mark on their way to independence.
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