Greater Armenia (political concept)
Greater Armenia or United Armenia (Western Armenian: Միացեալ Հայաստան Miatsyal Hayasdan; Eastern Armenian: Միացյալ Հայաստան Miatsyal Hayastan) refers to an irredentist concept of the territory outside the Republic of Armenia which are considered part of national homeland by Armenians, based on the present-day and/or historical Armenian presence claimed by some Armenian nationalist groups[2].
This term should not be confused with the geographical concept of Greater Armenia, which was used to designate the largest of several Armenian states which existed in ancient times, and contrast it with another geographical concept - Lesser Armenia.
The term incorporates claims to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), as well as eastern Turkey (Western Armenia), northwestern Azerbaijan (Northern Artsakh), landlocked exclave Nakhichevan of Azerbaijan and Javakhk (Javakheti) region of Georgia.
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[edit] History
[edit] Background
The term United Armenia was born during the national awakening (second half of the 19th century), when historical Armenia was divided between the Russian Empire (Eastern Armenia) and the Ottoman Empire (Western Armenia). The idea of an independent and united Armenia was the main goal of Armenian national movement.
[edit] Russian Armenia
In the aftermath of the Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828, the parts of historic Armenia under Persian control, centering on Yerevan and Lake Sevan, were incorporated into Russia. Under Russian rule, the area corresponding approximately to modern-day Armenian territory was called Erivan Governorate. The Armenian subjects of the Russian Empire lived in relative safety, compared to their Ottoman kin, albeit clashes with Tatars and Kurds were frequent in the early 20th century.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the ambitious Russians sought out to continue their expansion into Armenian land in order to reach the Mediterranean. This caused conflict between the Russian and Ottoman Empires eventually culminating in the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829. In the aftermath of the war, the Ottoman Empire ceded a small part of the traditional Armenian homeland (Kars Oblast) to the Russian Empire, known as Eastern Armenia following the while Western Armenia remained under Ottoman sovereignty.
[edit] Ottoman Armenia
After Turkish-Persian wars of 1602–1639 Western Armenia became part of Ottoman Empire.[3] Since Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 that term is referred to the Armenian-populated historical regions of the Ottoman Empire that remained under Ottoman rule after the eastern part was ceded to the Russian Empire.
In late 19th century and early 20th century, the Armenian-populated eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire (called Turkish Armenia or Western Armenia by Armenians) was divided into "Six Armenian provinces/vilayets": Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Kharput, and Sivas.[4]
[edit] World War I and aftermath
During the collapse of Ottoman Empire Western Armenia remained under Turkish rule, and in 1894–96 and 1915–1923 the Ottoman Empire perpetrated systematic massacres and forced deportations of Armenians[6] resulting in "Armenia without Armenians".
During the World War I Western Armenia was occupied by Russian Empire as part of the Caucasian Campaign. In the occupied areas the Administration for Western Armenia (Free Vaspurakan) was established until 1918, when the Russian army left the region, because of the Revolution of 1917.
On February 23, 1917, the Russian advance was halted following the Russian Revolution, and later the disintegrated Russian Caucasus Army was replaced by the forces of the newly established Armenian state, comprised from the previous Armenian volunteer units and the Armenian irregular units. During 1918 the region also saw the establishment of the Central Caspian Dictatorship, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia and an Allied force named Dunsterforce which was composed of elite troops drawn from the Mesopotamian and Western Fronts. The Ottoman Empire and German Empire had a hot conflict at Batumi with the arrival of German Caucasus Expedition whose prime aim was to secure oil supplies.
On March 3, 1918, the campaign terminated between the Ottoman Empire and Russia with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and on June 4, 1918, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Batum with Armenia. However, the armed conflicts extended as Ottoman Empire continued to engage with Central Caspian Dictatorship, Republic of Mountainous Armenia and Dunsterforce of British Empire until the Armistice of Mudros signed on October 30, 1918.
After the World War I, the United State gained the madate of Armenia and the right to draw the border between Armenia and Turkey. Wilsonian Armenia refers to the boundary configuration for Armenian state drawn up by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for the Treaty of Sèvres.[7] The Treaty of Sèvres was a peace treaty signed by some of the Allies of World War I, on August 10, 1920. The proposed state incorporated the vilayets (provinces) of Van, Bitlis, and Erzurum, which were parts of the region referred to as Ottoman Armenia (also referred to as Western Armenia). This region was extended to the north, up to the west side of Trebizond Vilayet to provide the Democratic Republic of Armenia with an outlet to the Black Sea at the port of Trabzon. It was initially granted to Armenia to provide them with an outlet to the sea.
[edit] Sovietization
Armenia gave way to communist power in late 1920. In November 1920, the Turkish revolutionaries captured Alexandropol and were poised to move in on the capital. A cease fire was concluded on November 18. Negotiations were then carried out between Karabekir and a peace delegation led by Alexander Khatisian in Alexandropol; although Karabekir’s terms were extremely harsh the Armenian delegation had little recourse but to agree to them. The Treaty of Alexandropol was thus signed on December 2/3, 1920.[8]
The 11th Red Army began its virtually unopposed advance into Armenia on November 29, 1920. The actual transfer of power took place on December 2 in Yerevan. The Armenian leadership approved an ultimatum, presented to it by the Soviet plenipotentiary Boris Legran. Armenia decided to join the Soviet sphere, while Soviet Russia agreed to protect its remaining territory from the advancing Turkish army. The Soviets also pledged to take steps to rebuild the army, protect the Armenians and to not pursue non-communist Armenians, although the final condition of this pledge was reneged when the Dashnaks were forced out of the country.[citation needed]
[edit] Independent Armenia
The history of independent Armenia is closely related to the problem of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The Karabakh movement started in Armenia in 1988, during the relative freedom of speech era called perestroika and glasnost by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. Armenians demanded the Soviet Union to transfer NKAO to Armenia, but instead the Soviet government organized the deportation of Shahumyan district Armenian during the Operation Ring in 1991. Ethnic tensions rose to a military conflict in 1992. During the Karabakh War (1992–1994) the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and adjacent districts of Azerbaijan fell to the control of Armenian forces. De facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is independent and is united with Armenia,[9] although de-jure it is part of Azerbaijan.
[edit] Current use
Currently, the only significant political party in Armenia that claims these land is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. It is now an opposition with 16 seats out of 131 in the National Assembly of Armenia.
The modern use of this term by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation[1] encompass the following areas:
| Region (Armenian name) |
Location | Area (km²) | Capital (historical center / largest city) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն) |
 Republic of Armenia |
|
Yerevan |
| Nagorno-Karabakh (Լեռնային Արցախ) |
 Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (de facto) Azerbaijan (de jure) |
|
Stepanakert (Xankəndi) |
| Western Armenia (Արևմտյան Հայաստան) |
 East Anatolia |
|
Van |
| Northern Artsakh (Դաշտային Արցախ) |
Mountainous area bordering Armenia north of NKR and west to Kura River |
|
Gandzak (Gəncə) |
| Nakhichevan (Նախիջևան) |
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic |
|
Nakhichevan (Naxçıvan) |
| Javakhk (Ջավախք) |
 Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda, Aspindza, Akhaltsikhe districts of (Samtskhe-Javakheti) |
|
Akhalkalaki |
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|
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| 1 the area of Wilsonian Armenia, given to Armenia by an arbitral award of US President Woodrow Wilson between Armenia and Turkey.[10] 2 de facto controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic 3 including all or parts of the territories of following rayons (districts): Dashkasan, Goygol (former Khanlar), Gadabay, Goranboy (former Shahumyan), Shamkir |
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[edit] Demography
Since the Early Middle Ages, various Turkic tribes had migrated to the Caucasus and Armenian Highland. Presently, various ethnic groups, such as the Kurds and Turks (in Western Armenia), Georgians (in Javakhk) and Azerbaijanis (in Nakhichevan and Northern Artsakh) live in the claimed areas.
Armenians form majority in the Republic of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Javakhk. If diaspora Armenians were to return to their ancestral homeland, they would hold the majority population of over 11 million.
| Region | Total population | Ethnic groups (largest in bold) |
Armenians | Armenian % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of Armenia |
3,262,200 | Armenians, Yezidis, Russians | 3,145,354[11] | 97.9 | |||
| Nagorno-Karabakh Republic |
141,400 | Armenians, Russians | 141,400[12] | 99.7 | |||
| Javakhk | 175,312 | Armenians, Georgians, Russians | 121,009[13] | 69% | |||
| Western Armenia | ~5,000,000 | Kurds (~2/3), Turks (~1/3), Azerbaijanis (~5%) | up to 44,000 (Hamshenis) 1 |
~1% (Hamshenis) |
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| Northern Artsakh | ~1,325,000 | Azerbaijanis | 119 2 | 0.01% | |||
| Nakhichevan | 402,400[14] | Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Russians | 17[15] | 0.005% | |||
| Greater Armenia | ~11,300,000 | Armenians, Kurds, Turks, Azerbaijanis |
~3,500,000 | 30% | |||
| 1 mainly in the provinces of Artvin and Rize[16] 2 in Ganja-Qazakh Economic Region [17] |
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[edit] Republic of Armenia
De facto Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are united,[9] although NKR territory is de jure part of Azerbaijan. In Republic of Armenia, Armenians compass about 98% of the total population. The largest minorities are Yezidis (about 40,000), Russians (15,000) and Assyrians (4,000).
[edit] Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is even more monoethnic than Republic of Armenia, with 99.7% of population being Armenian. There is a small Russian community there. Main reason of monoethnicity of the region was the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, during which Armenian army established contorol over most of the territory of former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and adjacent rayons (districts) of Azerbaijan as a buffer zone, which is mostly uninhabited, with the city of Lachin/Berdzor being exception. An estimated 658,000 Azeris were displaced from the occupied zone[18]
[edit] Javakhk
Today, Javakhk is part of Georgia's Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions. In the districts of Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda (Samtskhe-Javakheti) and Tsalka (Kvemo Kartli) Armenians form majority. The Akhaltsikhe District has mixed Armenian (37%) and Georgian (62%) population. There are some Armenian-inhabited villages in Borjomi and Aspindza districts.
[edit] Western Armenia
Before the Armenian Genocide there were, according to some sources, from 1,300,000 up to 2,500,000 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. During the Armenian Genocide, most Armenian were either massacred or escaped to Eastern Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, France, United States, Greece, etc. According to the census of 1927, 123,602 Armenians lived in Turkey, mostly in Istanbul.[19]
Today, Kurds (including the Zaza people) form majority in the eastern provinces of Turkey. Turks are the second ethnic group by number. The minorities include Azerbaijanis (mainly in the provinces of Kars and Iğdır) and Laz people (Muslim Georgians). Along with the Hamshenis (Muslim Armenians), Laz people form the majority of the population of two Black Sea coast provinces of Artvin and Rize.
[edit] Northern Artsakh
About 85,000 Armenians of Northern Artsakh left their homes since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988. About 45,000 Armenians lived in the city of Kirovabad (now Ganja, historical Gandzak) and about 40,000 in the villages and towns of 4 rayons (Shahumian, Dashkesan, Shamkor and Khanlar). Armenians formed majority (about 80%) in Shahumian. In other rayons Armenians formed about ¼ to ½ of the total population. The Armenian population of Shahumian was deported during the Operation Ring in 1991 by .
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| Year | Armenians | % | TOTAL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1831[20] |
|
68.4 | 54,100 | ||||
| 1896[21] |  36,671 |
42.2 | 86,878 | ||||
| 1897[22] | 34,672 |
34.4 | 100,771 | ||||
| 1917[23][24] |  53,900 |
40 | 135,000 | ||||
| 1926[25] | 11,276 |
10.8 | 104,656 | ||||
| 1939[26] | 13,350 |
10.5 | 126,696 | ||||
| 1959[26] | 9,519 |
6.7 | 141,361 | ||||
| 1970[26] | 5,828 |
2.9 | 202,187 | ||||
| 1979[26] | 3,406 |
1.4 | 240,459 | ||||
| 1989[26] | 1,858 |
0.6 | 293,875 | ||||
| 1999[27] | 17 |
0 | 354,072 | ||||
| 2009[28] | 6 |
0 | 398,323 | ||||
[edit] Nakhichevan
Armenians have been living in Nakhichevan since ancient times. It was one of gavars of Vaspurakan province of the Kingdom of Armenia.
In the 16th century, control of Nakhchivan passed to the Safavid dynasty of Persia. Because of its geographic position, it frequently suffered during the wars between Persia and the Ottoman Empire in the 14th to 18th centuries. In 1604, Shah Abbas I Safavi, concerned that the lands of Nakhchevan and the surrounding areas would pass into Ottoman hands, decided to institute a scorched earth policy. He forced the entire local population, Armenians, Jews and Muslims alike, to leave their homes and move to the Persian provinces south of the Aras River.[29] Many of the deportees were settled in the neighborhood of Isfahan that was named New Julfa since most of the residents were from the original Julfa (a predominantly Armenian town).
Armenians of Nakhichevan were forced to leave their homes because of the anti-Armenian policy of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1917–1920) and later Soviet Azerbaijani (1920–1991).[30] The remaining approximately 2,000 Armenians were expelled by Azerbaijani forces during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the forceful exchange of population between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
[edit] See also
- Other irredentist ideas:
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Goals of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation". http://www.arfshant.org/index.aspx?PAGEACTION=Home. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ James Minahan, Miniature Empires: a Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998, ISBN 9780313306105, p. 2. "Greater Armenia," the territory claimed by some nationalist groups, also includes the enclave of Artsakh ...(Nagorno-Karabakh) in neighboring Azerbaijan, and Turkish or Western Armenia, part of independent Armenia from 1918 to 1920, but an integral part of the Turkish state since 1921.
- ^ Феодальный строй, Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Russian)
- ^ Rouben Paul Adalian, Historical Dictionary of Armenia, 2010 p. 337 ...Armenian-inhabited parts yielded what were often called the six Armenian provinces or vilayets: Erzerum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Mamuret-ul-Aziz or Kharpert/Harput, and Sivas...
- ^ "America as Mandatary for Armenia", American Committee for the Independence of Armenia, New York, 1919
- ^ Britannica Online: Armenia
- ^ Dadrian Vahakn N. The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus – Page 356
- ^ Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia, Vol. IV, pp. 394–396.
- ^ a b Christoph Zürcher, The post-Soviet wars: rebellion, ethnic conflict, and nationhood in the Caucasus, New York University, 2007 ...Karabakh was no longer part of Azerbaijan, but united with Armenia...
- ^ Legal Bases for Armenian Claims by Ara Papyan ...The Territory that was being allocated to Armenia by arbitration (40 000 square miles = 103 599 square kilometers)
- ^ National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia
- ^ Official Statistics of the NKR. Official site of the President of the NKR
- ^ Statistics Georgia
- ^ The State Statistical Committee of the Azerbaijan Republic
- ^ The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan
- ^ P. A. Andrews, Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey, Reichert, Wiesbaden, 1989, p. 130
- ^ The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan. See figures for Agstafa, Dashkasan, Gadabay, Gazakh, Khanlar, Samukh, Shamkir, Tovuz, and Ganja
- ^ Human Rights Watch – Azerbaijan: Seven years of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh ...were an estimated 658000 Azeri displaced persons and 235000 Azeri refugees in Azerbaijan in March 1994...
- ^ In the Turkish Republic the first census was held in 1927. At that time the Armenian population of the country was 123,602.
- ^ N.G. Volkova (1969) (in Russian). Этнические процессы в Закавказье в XIX—XX веках [Ethnic Processes in the South Cacucasus in XIX-XX centuries]. Moscow: Институт Этнографии им. Н. Н. Миклухо-Маклая АН СССР (University of Ethnography).
- ^ (Russian) Нахичевань. Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- ^ (Russian) Демокоп Weekly Нахичеванский уезд
- ^ (Russian) «Кавказский календарь на 1917 г.», с. 214-221
- ^ Christopher J. Walker, ed., Armenia and Karabakh, op. cit., pp. 64-65
- ^ 1926 All-Soviet Census: Nakhchivan ASSR
- ^ a b c d e (Russian) Население Азербайджана
- ^ The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan – Regions of Azerbaijan- Nakchivan economic district – Ethnic Structure
- ^ Ethnic composition of Azerbaijan 2009
- ^ The Status of Religious Minorities in Safavid Iran 1617–61, Vera B. Moreen, Journal of Near Eastern Studies Vol. 40, No. 2 (Apr., 1981), pp.128–129
- ^ (Russian) Армянское Косово, НИРА Аксакал
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