United Armenia

Political concept of a United Armenia with modern-day borders

Greater Armenia (Template:Lang-hy Miatsyal Hayastan; United Armenia) is the territory claimed by some Armenian nationalist groups, includes Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Western Armenia that was a part of the Democratic Republic of Armenia from 1918 to 1920. Its political goal aimed at uniting Armenia with most of the Armenian Highland, the historical homeland of the Armenians from antiquity until the 20^th century.

History

Strabo stated in his book "Geography" that "Now the Tigris receives from the southernmost parts of Armenia, which are near Babylonia, the water of the melted snows, which is not much, since it comes from the southern side, and this river would therefore be flooded less than the Euphrates; but the Euphrates receives the water from both parts, and not merely from one mountain, but from many, as I made clear in my description of Armenia, where I added the length of that river, giving first the length of its course in Greater Armenia and Lesser Armenia, and secondly its length from Lesser Armenia and Cappadocia through the Taurus as far as Thapsacus, where it forms the boundary between Lower Syria and Mesopotamia, and, thirdly, the rest of its length as far as Babylon and the outlet, a length, all told, of thirty-six thousand stadia. So much, then, for the canals."[2] After World War I and the Armenian Genocide the borders of a new Armenian state were internationally negotiated.

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

Map of Armenia officially presented by the Armenian National Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919

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The Paris Peace Conference, meeting in January 1919, witnessed the formation of pertinent decisions pertaining to the future of the Ottoman Empire. This Conference also witnessed the emergence of new partners, desiring to acquire shares from the Ottoman territories. These new partners did not hesitate to pronounce their desires to the Allies, albeit the clashes in their zones of interest.

The surprised Allies, viewing these demands soon noted that regions such as Cilicia, Marash and the six Eastern provinces as well as Trabzon, demanded by the Armenians, was partially also a matter of interest for the Greeks. The Greek interests laid particularly in the Trabzon region to fulfill their intention of forming a Pontus Republic in the Black Sea. Hence, during the discussions of the Paris Peace Conference as Boghos Nubar Pasha claimed to pursue good relations with the Armenians, Eleftherios Venizelos persisted on preserving affirmative contacts with the Greeks.

Wilsonian Armenia, 1920

1920, Map of Wilsonian Armenia

Wilsonian Armenia refers to the boundary configuration for Armenian state drawn up by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for the Treaty of Sèvres. The Treaty of Sèvres was a peace treaty signed by some of the Allies of World War I, on 10 August 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. This Trebizond Vilayet was not one of the 6 Armenian provinces (vilayets) during the Ottoman period. Since a lot of Greeks lived there, the creation of an autonomous Greek state called Republic of Pontus was considered, most likely as part of a Ponto-Armenian Federation, before the Greeks lost their war with the Turks in 1922.

Current use

The modern use of this term by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation encompass the following areas:

Region Armenian name	Location	Area (km²)	Capital (historical center / largest city)
Republic of Armenia Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն	Republic of Armenia	29,800	Yerevan
Western Armenia Արևմտյան Հայաստան	East Anatolia	103,599 1	Van
Nagorno-Karabakh Լեռնային Արցախ	Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (de-facto) Azerbaijan (de-jure)	11,458.38 2	Stepanakert (Khankendi)
Lower (Northern) Artsakh Դաշտային Արցախ	Mountainous area bordering Armenia north of NKR and west to Kura River	~5,000 3	Gandzak (Ganja)
Nakhijevan Նախիջևան	Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic	5,363	Nakhijevan (Nakhchivan)
Javakhk (Javakheti) Ջավախք	Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda, Aspindza, Akhaltsikhe (Samtskhe-Javakheti) and Tsalka (Kvemo Kartli) districts	5,475	Akhalkalaki
TOTAL	Greater Armenia	170,000 km²	Yerevan
1 the area of Wilsonian Armenia, given to Armenia by an arbitral award of US President Woodrow Wilson between Armenia and Turkey. 2 de-facto contolled by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic 3 including all or parts of the territories of following rayons (districts): Dashkasan (Karhat), Goygol (former Khanlar), Gadabay (Getabek), Goranboy (former Shahumyan), Shamkir (Shamkor)

</ref>==Demography==

The Armenian population in historical Armenian regions in 1896.

Since the Middle Ages, other ethnic groups migrated to the Armenian Highland. Presently, various ethnic groups, such as the Kurds and Turks (in Western Armenia), Georgians (in Javakhk) and Azerbaijanis (in Nakhijevan and Lower Artsakh) live in this region.
Armenians form majority in the Republic of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Javakhk.

Region	Total population	Main ethnic groups (largest in bold)	Armenians	Armenian %
Republic of Armenia	3,213,011	Armenians, Yezidis, Russians	3,145,354	98
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic	141,400	Armenians, Russians	141,400	99.7
Javakhk	175,312	Armenians, Georgians, Russians	121,009	69%
Western Armenia	approx. 5,000,000	Kurds (~2/3), Turks (~1/3), Azerbaijanis (~5%)	39,000 - 44,000 (Hamshenis) 1	~1% (Hamshenis)
Lower Artsakh	~1,325,000	Azerbaijanis	119 2	0.01%
Nakhijevan	354,072	Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Russians	17	0.005%
Greater Armenia	~11,300,000	Armenians, Kurds, Turks, Azerbaijanis Russians, Yezidis, Greeks, etc.	~3,500,000	30%
1 mainly in the provinces of Artvin and Rize 2 in Ganja-Qazakh Economic Region

Republic of Armenia

De-facto Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are united, although NKR territory is 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).

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. Number one 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 excluding.

Javakhk

See also: Armenians in Samtskhe-Javakheti

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 (about 37%) and Georgian (about 62%) population. There are some Armenian-inhabited villages in Borjomi and Aspindza districts.

Ethnic map of Six Armenian Vilayets (Western Armenia) in the beginning of the 20^th century.

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.

However, Armenians can technically become a majority with a mass repatriation of all Armenians from the diaspora, who are mainly descendants of Western Armenians.

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.

Province (vilayet)	Armenian population (Ottoman census, 1914)	Armenian population (Armenian Patriarchate, 1913/1914)
Bilis	119,132	218,404
Van	67,792	110,897
Erzurum	136,618	202,391
Sebastia (Sivas)	151,674	204,472
Diarbekir	65,850	106,867
Kharpert (Mamuretülaziz)	87,862	124,289
TOTAL	628,928	967,320

Ethnic groups in Nakhijevan
Year	Armenians	%	Azeris	%	Others 1	%	TOTAL
1831	37,000	68.4	17,1002	31.6	N/A	N/A	54,100
1896	36,671	42.2	49,477	56,9	730	0.8	86,878
1897 3	34,672	34.4	64,151	63.7	1,948	1.9	100,771
1917	53,900	40	81,100 2	60	N/A	N/A	135,000
1926	11,276	10.8	88,433	84.5	4,947	4.7	104,656
1935	13,400	10.8	104,800	84.5	5,800	4.7	124,000
1959	9,500	6.7	127,900	90.2	4,400	3.1	141,800
1970	5,800	2.9	187,400	93.7	6,800	3.4	200,000
1979	3,400	1.4	233,000	95.7	6,500	2.7	242,900
1999	17	0	350,806	99,08	3,249	0.1	354,072
1 Russians, Kurds, Turks, Ukrainians, Georgians, Persians etc. 2 Azeris combined with other Muslims. 3 According to mother tongue.

Lower Artsakh

About 85,000 Armenians of Lower (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 ¹/₄ to ¹/₂ of the total population. The Armenian population of Shahumian was deported during the Operation Ring in 1991.

Nakhijevan

See also: Armenians in Nakhchivan

Armenians of Nakhijevan were forced to left their homes, because of the anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijani and later Soviet Azerbaijani. 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.

See also

• Armenian Highland
• Wilsonian Armenia
• Foreign relations of Armenia
• Cilicia

• Other irredentist ideas:
  • Megali Idea
  • Republic of Pontus and Pontus
  • Whole Azerbaijan