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Western Armenia

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"West Armenia" redirects here. For the football club, see FC West Armenia. For the Armenian dialect, see Western Armenian. For the government-in-exile, see Western Armenia Government in Exile.

The planned partition of the Ottoman Empire according to the superseded Treaty of Sèvres of 1920
The modern concept of United Armenia as claimed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
Orange: areas overwhelmingly populated by Armenians (Republic of Armenia: 98%[1] and Javakheti: 95%)
Yellow: Historically Armenian areas with presently no or insignificant Armenian population (Western Armenia, Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabakh)

Western Armenia (Western Armenian: Արեւմտեան Հայաստան, Arevmdian Hayasdan) is a term to refer to the western parts of the Armenian highlands located within Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that comprise the historical homeland of the Armenians.[2] Western Armenia, also referred to as Byzantine Armenia, emerged following the division of Greater Armenia between the Byzantine Empire (Western Armenia) and Sassanid Persia (Eastern Armenia) in AD 387.

The area was contested during the Ottoman–Persian Wars and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire during the wars of 1532–1555 and 1623–1639.[3] The area then became known also as "Turkish Armenia"[4] or "Ottoman Armenia",[5] and included six vilayets. During the 19th century, the Russian Empire conquered sections of Western Armenia, including Kars.

The region's Armenian population was subjected to widespread massacres in the 1890s, as well as extermination and deportation during the 1915 Armenian genocide and over the following years. In addition to physical erasure, the systematic destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, which had endured over 4000 years,[6][7] is an example of cultural genocide.[8][9] In 1920 the Treaty of Sèvres – signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies Powers of World War I – called for borders where Western Armenia was included the Republic of Armenia; however, this was never implemented and the Turkish invasion of Armenia resulted in the annexation of Kars and Surmalu. These annexations were formalized by the Treaty of Alexandropol (1920), Treaty of Moscow (1920), and Treaty of Kars (1921).

Since the Armenian genocide and Turkey's invasion, Armenian—both in the diaspora and indigenous to modern Turkey—have pursued political representation or reunification with the Republic of Armenia, with a congress of genocide survivors' descendants active in the diaspora.[10][11] In 2020, the three traditional Armenian parties—the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaks), Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchaks) and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavars)—issued a joint statement on the centenary of the Sèvres Treaty, stating that it is the only internationally legal document that demarcates the border between Armenia and Turkey.[12] Transit between Western Armenia and Eastern Armenia has remained barred since 1993 due to the ongoing Turkish–Azeri blockade of Republic of Armenia.

Etymology

Mount Ararat, today located in Turkey, as seen from Armenia's capital Yerevan. It symbolizes Western Armenia in the Armenian public mind.[a]

In the Armenian language, there are several names for the region. Today, the most common is Arevmtyan Hayastan (Արևմտյան Հայաստան) in Eastern Armenian (mostly spoken in Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Iran) and Arevmdean Hayasdan (Արեւմտեան Հայաստան) in Western Armenian (spoken in the Diaspora: US, France, Lebanon, Syria, Argentina, etc.). Archaic names (used before the 1920s) include Tačkahayastan (Տաճկահայաստան) in Eastern and Daǰkahayasdan in Western Armenian. Also used in the same period were T'urk'ahayastan (Թուրքահայաստան) or T'rk'ahayastan (Թրքահայաստան), both meaning Turkish Armenia.[16]

In the Turkish language, the literal translation of Western Armenia is Batı Ermenistan. The region has been officially described as Eastern Anatolia (Doğu Anadolu) since the seven geographical regions of Turkey were defined at the 1941 First Geography Congress. Throughout much of recorded history the eastern boundary of Anatolia was not considered to extend as far as the Araxes, the river which marks the present day boundary between the states of Armenia and Iran.[17] The name "Armenia" was forbidden to be used in official documents by Ottoman authorities in the 1880s, and the region was officially renamed "Eastern Anatolia" by the Turkish successor state in the 1920s.[18] This has been characterized as an attempt by Turkey to erase the Armenian history of the region.[19][20][21][22]

History

Ottoman conquest

After the Ottoman-Persian War (1623–1639), Western Armenia became decisively part of the Ottoman Empire.[3] After the Russo-Turkish War, 1828–1829, the term "Western Armenia" referred to the Armenian-populated historical regions of the Ottoman Empire that remained under Ottoman rule after the eastern part of Armenia was ceded to the Russian Empire by the Qajar Persians, following the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) and Russo-Persian War (1826–1828).[23]

World War I and later years

The treaties as summarized in 1923 by Ray Stannard Baker, who was Woodrow Wilson's press secretary during the Paris Peace Conference.

Armenian genocide

Main article: Armenian genocide

In 1894–1896 and 1915 the Ottoman Empire perpetrated systematic massacres and forced deportations of Armenians[24] resulting in the Armenian genocide. The massive deportation and killings of Armenians began in the spring 1915. On 24 April 1915, Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were deported from Constantinople. Depending on the sources cited, about 1,500,000 Armenians were killed.

Caucasus campaign

Main articles: Caucasus campaign and Occupation of Turkish Armenia

During the Caucasus campaign of World War I, the Russian Empire occupied most of the Armenian-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire. A temporary provincial government was established in occupied areas between 1915 and 1918.

The chaos caused by the Russian Revolution of 1917 put a stop to all Russian military operations and Russian forces began to conduct withdrawals. The first and second congresses of Western Armenians took place in Yerevan in 1917 and 1919.[25]

Sazonov–Paléologue Agreement

The Sazonov–Paléologue Agreement of 26 April 1916 between Russian Foreign minister Sergey Sazonov and French ambassador to Russia Maurice Paléologue proposed to give Western Armenia to Russia in return for Russian assent to the Sykes–Picot agreement.[26][27]

Area

Western Armenia comprises the Six Vilayets (vilâyat-ı sitte): Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Kharput, and Sivas that existed during the Ottoman Empire.[28] Alternatively, Western Armenia is referred to as the "12 lost provinces" in the Tsitsernakaberd complex which memorializes the Armenian genocide.[29][30] These provinces correspond to the following:

  1. Kars
  2. Batum
  3. Trebizond
  4. Sivas
  5. Kayseri
  6. Adana
  7. Haleb
  8. Kharpert
  9. Diyarbekir/Amed
  10. Bitlis
  11. Erzerum
  12. Van

Current situation

Flag of Western Armenia adopted by the National Council of Western Armenia[31][32]

The fate of Western Armenia – commonly referred to as the "Armenian question" – is considered a key issue in the modern history of the Armenian people.[33] Armenia currently does not have any territorial claims against Turkey, although one political party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the largest Armenian party in the diaspora, claims the area designated as part of the Republic of Armenia (1918–1920) in the 1920Treaty of Sèvres also known as Wilsonian Armenia. Since 2000, an organizing committee of the congress of heirs of Western Armenians who survived the Armenian genocide is active in diasporan communities.[34]

A 2014 survey in Armenia asked what kind of demands should be made to Turkey. Some 80% agreed that Armenia should make territorial claims (30% said only territorial claims, while another 50% said territorial, moral, financial, and proprietary). Only 5.5% said no demands should be made.[35] According to a 2012 survey, 36% of Armenians asked agree or somewhat agree that Turkish recognition of the Armenian Genocide will result in territorial compensation, while 45% believe it will not.[36] The online publication Barometer.am wrote: "It appears that our pragmatic population believes that all possible demands should be forwarded to Turkey [...] but a relative majority consider the practical realization of territorial claims to Turkey is unrealistic."[35]

A 1927 version of the map used by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (later restored)
  • Western Armenia the first half of the 18th century. Herman Moll's map,1736.
    Western Armenia the first half of the 18th century. Herman Moll's map,1736.
  • Armenia Turkomania on 1810 map.
    Armenia Turkomania on 1810 map.
  • Persis, Parthia, Armenia. Rest Fenner, published in 1835.
    Persis, Parthia, Armenia. Rest Fenner, published in 1835.
  • The Six Armenian vilayets (provinces) of the Ottoman Empire were defined as Western Armenia.
    The Six Armenian vilayets (provinces) of the Ottoman Empire were defined as Western Armenia.
  • Autonomous Armenian province within the Ottoman Empire, proposed by the Russian Empire, the Armenian National Assembly and the Armenian Catholicosate in 1913.
    Autonomous Armenian province within the Ottoman Empire, proposed by the Russian Empire, the Armenian National Assembly and the Armenian Catholicosate in 1913.
  • Armenian reform package in Ottoman Empire, finally signed by representatives of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire on February 8, 1914, and providing for the creation of 2 provinces under the control of inspectors general appointed by the Great Powers.
    Armenian reform package in Ottoman Empire, finally signed by representatives of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire on February 8, 1914, and providing for the creation of 2 provinces under the control of inspectors general appointed by the Great Powers.
  • Armenian genocide: map of massacre locations and deportation and extermination centers.
    Armenian genocide: map of massacre locations and deportation and extermination centers.
  • The area of Russian occupation of Western Armenia in summer 1916 (Russian map).
    The area of Russian occupation of Western Armenia in summer 1916 (Russian map).
  • The area of Russian occupation of that region in summer 1916.
    The area of Russian occupation of that region in summer 1916.
  • Administrative-territorial division of Western Armenia, occupied by Russian troops in 1915-1917 .
    Administrative-territorial division of Western Armenia, occupied by Russian troops in 1915-1917 .
  • USSR (Armenian SSR and Georgian SSR) territorial claims against Turkey 1945–1953.
    USSR (Armenian SSR and Georgian SSR) territorial claims against Turkey 1945–1953.
  • The modern concept of United Armenia as used by Woodrow Wilson and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).
    The modern concept of United Armenia as used by Woodrow Wilson and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).
  • Early 1600s spread of Armenians, a few decades after Ottoman conquest, within modern Turkey, per the State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre of Armenia[37]
    Early 1600s spread of Armenians, a few decades after Ottoman conquest, within modern Turkey, per the State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre of Armenia[37]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "The lands of Western Armenia which Mt. Ararat represent..."[13] "mount Ararat is the symbol of banal irredentism for the territories of Western Armenia"[14]"...Ararat, which is in the territory of modern Turkey but symbolizes the dream of all Armenians around the globe about the lands lost to the west of this biblical mountain."[15]

References

  1. ^ "2011 Census Results" (PDF). armstat.am. National Statistical Service of Republic of Armenia. p. 144.
  2. ^ Myhill, John (2006). Language, Religion and National Identity in Europe and the Middle East: A historical study. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. p. 32. ISBN 978-90-272-9351-0.
  3. ^ a b Wallimann, Isidor; Dobkowski, Michael N. (March 2000). Genocide and the Modern Age: Etiology and Case Studies of Mass Death. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815628286. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  4. ^ Tozer, Henry Fanshawe (1881). Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor. Longmans, Green, and Company. ISBN 9780404164621. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  5. ^ Laderman, Charlie (2019). Sharing the Burden: The Armenian Question, Humanitarian Intervention, and Anglo-American Visions of Global Order. Oxford University Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780190618605.
  6. ^ Marie-Aude Baronian; Stephan Besser; Yolande Jansen (2007). Diaspora and Memory: Figures of Displacement in Contemporary Literature, Arts and Politics. Rodopi. p. 174. ISBN 9789042021297.
  7. ^ Shirinian, Lorne (1992). The Republic of Armenia and the rethinking of the North-American Diaspora in literature. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. p. ix. ISBN 9780773496132. This date is important, for it marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, which destroyed the multi-thousand-year Armenian presence in historical, Western Armenia.
  8. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (2008). The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. p. 22. ISBN 9781412835923.
  9. ^ Jones, Adam (2013). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Routledge. p. 114. ISBN 9781134259816.
  10. ^ "About Government" Archived 2023-04-15 at the Wayback Machine. The Government of the Republic of Western Armenia (Armenia).
  11. ^ "Western Armenians are preparing". A1+. 16 November 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008.
  12. ^ "Սեւրի Դաշնագրի 100-ամեակին առիթով Ս.Դ.Հ.Կ.-Հ.Յ.Դ.-Ռ.Ա.Կ. միացեալ յայտարարութիւն – Հայ Դատի Կենտրոնական Խորհուրդ — Armenian National Committee – International" (in Armenian). 13 January 2021. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2022. [The Treaty of Sèvres is a valid international treaty, although it has not been ratified by all signatory parties, but it has also not been legally replaced by another international document. At least from the perspective of the Armenian Cause, the Republic of Armenia and the rights of the Armenian nation, it continues to remain an obligation based on international law.]
  13. ^ Shirinian, Lorne (1992). The Republic of Armenia and the rethinking of the North-American Diaspora in literature. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0773496132.
  14. ^ Adriaans, Rik (2011). "Sonorous Borders: National Cosmology & the Mediation of Collective Memory in Armenian Ethnopop Music". University of Amsterdam. p. 48. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  15. ^ Khojoyan, Sara (1 August 2008). "Beyond and Inside: Turk look on Ararat with Armenian perception". ArmeniaNow.
  16. ^ "The Terrain of "Living" Western Armenian Literature".
  17. ^ Hacikyan, Agop Jack (2005). The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the eighteenth century to modern times. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814332218.
  18. ^ * The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies – Page 3, by Richard G. Hovannisian – 2011
    • Cheterian, Vicken (2015). Open Wounds: Armenians, Turks and a Century of Genocide. Oxford and New York City: Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-84904-458-5. As a result of policies such as these, the expression Armenian Plateau, which had been used for centuries to denote the mountainous highlands around Lake Van and Lake Sevan, was eliminated and replaced by the expression 'eastern Anatolia'.
    • Galichian, Rouben (2004). Historic Maps of Armenia: The Cartographic Heritage. London and New York City: I.B. Tauris. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-86064-979-0.
    • Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. Vol. 14–16. Los Angeles. 2005. p. 55. Most of historical Armenia presently constitutes a part of Turkey (renamed "Eastern Anatolia"), which conducts a policy of minimizing the role of the Armenians in history{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
    • Helft, Susan (2020). "The Past, Present and Future of the Canon of Ancient Anatolian Art". In Gansell, Amy Rebecca; Shafer, Ann (eds.). Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology. Oxford University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-19-067316-1.
    • Smith, Adam T. (December 2022). "Unseeing the Past: Archaeology and the Legacy of the Armenian Genocide". Current Anthropology. 63 (S25): S56–S90. doi:10.1086/722380. ISSN 0011-3204. A 1916 decree issued by Enver Pasha, the Young Turks' minister of war, required that all place names of non-Muslim peoples, be they Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, or other, should be rendered in Turkish. After 1923, the geographic province that had been referred to as Armenia since the sixth century BC was officially renamed 'eastern Anatolia.'
  19. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1997). "Etiology and Sequelae of the Armenian Genocide". In Andreopoulos, George J. (ed.). Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-8122-1616-5.
  20. ^ Cheterian, Vicken (2015). Open Wounds: Armenians, Turks and a Century of Genocide. Oxford and New York City: Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-84904-458-5. As a result of policies such as these, the expression Armenian Plateau, which had been used for centuries to denote the mountainous highlands around Lake Van and Lake Sevan, was eliminated and replaced by the expression 'eastern Anatolia'.
  21. ^ Galichian, Rouben (2004). Historic Maps of Armenia: The Cartographic Heritage. London and New York City: I.B. Tauris. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-86064-979-0.
  22. ^ Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. Vol. 14–16. Los Angeles. 2005. p. 55. Most of historical Armenia presently constitutes a part of Turkey (renamed "Eastern Anatolia"), which conducts a policy of minimizing the role of the Armenians in history{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  23. ^ Dowling, Timothy C. (2014). Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond. ABC-CLIO. pp. 728–729. ISBN 978-1598849486.
  24. ^ Armenia at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  25. ^ "The Lasting Legacy of the Second Congress of Western Armenians".
  26. ^ Spencer Tucker (2005). World War I: Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1142–. ISBN 978-1-85109-420-2.
  27. ^ The Armenian Review. Hairenik Association. 1956. The Sazonov-Paleologue agreement of 26 April 1916 between Great Britain and France and the Sykes–Picot agreement of 16 May 1916 between Great Britain and France which together made up the Anglo-Franco-Russian accord of 1916...
  28. ^ "Armenia". worldstatesmen.org.
  29. ^ Deirdre Holding, Tom Allen (2018). Armenia with Nagorno Karabagh. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-78477-079-2.
  30. ^ "Genocide Memorial Monument | Genocide Education Project". genocideeducation.org. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  31. ^ Government of Western Armenia
  32. ^ Decree on the flag of Western Armenia
  33. ^ Kirakossian, Arman J. (2004). British Diplomacy and the Armenian Question, from the 1830s to 1914. Taderon.
  34. ^ "Western Armenians are preparing". A1+. 16 November 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008.
  35. ^ a b Am, Barometer (4 March 2016). "Ի՞նչ ենք ուզում Թուրքիայից - Real Politics - Barometer". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  36. ^ "Caucasus Barometer 2012 Armenia | Armenia will receive territorial compensation, if Turkey recognizes the Genocide | Online Data Analysis". 11 June 2014. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  37. ^ State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre of the Republic of Armenia (2007). Հայաստանի Ազգային Ատլաս (National Atlas of Armenia), Yerevan: Center of Geodesy and Cartography SNPO, p. 102 see map

Further reading

  • Arman J. Kirakosian, "English Policy towards Western Armenia and Public Opinion in Great Britain (1890–1900)", Yerevan, 1981, 26 p. (in Armenian and Russian).
  • Armen Ayvazyan, "Western Armenia vs Eastern Anatolia", Europe & Orient – n°4, 2007

Media related to Western Armenia at Wikimedia Commons

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