United Armenia

Political concept of a Greater Armenia with modern-day borders

Greater Armenia or United Armenia (TAO: Միացեալ Հայաստան, RAO: Միացյալ Հայաստան; Miatsyal Hayastan in Eastern Armenian pronunciation, Miadzyal Hayasdan in Western Armenian pronunciation) or is the territory claimed by some Armenian nationalist groups, includes Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Western Armenia and other territories that were 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

Fedayee group fighting under the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in 1890s.

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

1920, Map of Wilsonian Armenia

Map showing the territorial claims of the Soviet Union to Turkey in 1945-1953.

  Territory controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

  Claimed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic but controlled by Azerbaijan

The term "United Armenia" was born during the second half of the 19^th century, when historical Armenia was divided between Russian Empire (Eastern Armenia), Ottoman Empire (Western Armenia) and Persia.

19^th century

See also: Armenian national awakening and Armenian national movement

Eastern 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 warm waters of 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 to the Russian Empire, known as Eastern Armenia following the while Western Armenia remained under Ottoman sovereignty.

World War I and aftermath

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 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.

Soviet era

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.

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.

Stalin's territorial claims to Turkey

Soviet Union with the leadership of Joseph Stalin, presented territorial claims to Turkey in 1945. During the period of 1945 and 1953, there were presented 3 different plans.

• First plan included the territory of former Kars Oblast and Surmalu uyezd of Erivan Governorate (city of Iğdır and surroundings) that were part of the Russian Empire from 1878 until 1918 and then part of the Democratic Republic of Armenia in 1918-1920.
• Second plan included the Alashkert plain and the city of Bayazet added to Kars and Surmalu.
• Third plan included most of Western Armenia (Erzurum, Van, Mush, Bitlis) added to Kars, Surmalu and Alashkert plain.

It was also known that the Soviet government wanted to settle that areas with Armenian repatriates from diaspora. In three years (1946-1948) after the World War II about 100,000 ethnic Armenians (mostly Western Armenians and their descedants) from Syria, Lebanon, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, France, USA and China had repatriated to Soviet Armenia.

The Soviet Union rejected these claims when Turkey joined NATO in 1953.

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 part of Armenia, although de-jure it is part of Azerbaijan.

Current use

The modern concept of the United Armenia.

Currently, the only significant political party in Armenia that claims these land is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. It is an opposition now with 16 seats out of 131 in the National Assembly of Armenia.

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

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

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	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, Georgians, 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