As the Armenian envoys prepared to depart for home, Rauf Bey called on Khatisian. During March and April the two men had sat together at the Trabizond Conference, but now the wheel of fortune had turned. Rauf was to leave for Port Mudros the following day to negotiate an armistice. Like Izzet, he exhorted the Armenian representatives to accompany him as evidence that enmity no longer existed between Turks and Armenians. For this favour, the Ottoman government was willing to relinquish Kars and Ardahan, re-establish the 1914 international boundary, and even cede a part of the Alashkert Valley. 80 Ironically, the Seim's March 1 bases for peace were now being advanced by the Ottoman rulers. This time it was the Armenians who considered the concessions insufficient. Khatisian and Aharonian did not sail with Rauf to Lemnos. Instead, after appointing Ferdinand Tahtadjian diplomat representative at Constantinople, they embarked for Batum aboard the "Reshid Pasha" on November 1, two days following Turkey's surrender. 81
In one of his last letters to Ohandjanian, the Armenian Foreign Minister again expressed concern about the vagueness of the Allied pledges, especially in light of the secret Entente treaties. The fate of Armenia was far from determined. Moreover, the Allied commitment to re-establish a united Russia after the anticipated overthrow of the Bolsheviks would pose another obstacle to the Armenian Republic. Khatisian understood well the turbulent political waters through which his nation was to pass. He concluded his long correspondence with the Armenian envoy to Berlin with the following words: "Our being here for four months has greatly strengthened our conviction that Armenia must be independent. Otherwise we must always conform to the psychology of our masters, whoever they may be and these contortions ruin our national character… We must consolidate into one united Armenian government from Van to Sevan. This and the benevolent protection of the United States should be our motto as we attend the general conference of peace. There cannot be a confederation of Armenians with either Turks or Russians, for assuredly there will be another Russo-Turkish War, and again it will come crashing down upon our heads." 82 By November, 1918, independence no longer meant subservience to the Central Powers. The end of the war, the withdrawal of Ottoman troops, the return of the refugees, the expansion of the boundaries of the Republic, all advanced the possibility of an independent state, not only in name, but in fact. The Armenian delegation would soon cross the border of the Armenian Republic for the first time, report on the proceedings in Constantinople, and urge that a new delegation be sent immediately to defend Armenian interests at the world congress of peace. During the first days of November, Ohandjanian would leave Berlin for Geneva to shift the supplications from Central Powers to the agents of the Allied nations. His departure was to be followed by Germany's capitulation on November 11. The tragic war of four years was over.
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