Administration for Western Armenia

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This article is about the short lived Armenian "provisional government". For other uses, see Armenia.

The Armenian provisional government (see Western) with the progressive autonomous region ^[1] that initially set up around of Lake Van, which later at the end of World War I officiated as "Wilsonian Armenia" in Treaty of Sèvres. It was initially referred as Free Vaspurakan; ^[2] after a setback during Battle of Van, was reestablished in June 1916 as "Administration for Western Armenia" (see Transcaucasia) under the war zone. During the initial stages of the Democratic Republic of Armenia (see separate administration), it was included with other Armenian National Councils under a unified Armenia. Aram Manougian was its most famous leader, from the early Van Resistance to its end as minister of ADR, which his contributions named him as famous "Aram of Van".

This provisional government stabilized itself using the Armenian volunteer units. Did overcome the Ottoman's in the region and declared their own administrative structure

Contents 1 Population distribution 2 History 2.1 Formation, 1915 2.2 Expansion, 1916 2.3 Building the frontline, 1917 2.4 Losing the grounds, 1918 3 Administration 3.1 Governors 3.2 Civil Affairs 3.3 Civil Commissioner (as part of ADR) 4 Policies 4.1 1917 4.2 Humanitarian Issues 5 Recognition Efforts 5.1 Paris Conference, 1919 5.2 Wilsonian Armenia 6 Timeline 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Population distribution

It was no surprise that the provisional government was formed in this region as Armenian population of Van has the highest ratio in Western Armenia. Ottomans statistics were based on the Millet (Ottoman Empire) structure, so 1914 population statistics for the city of Van and its regions contained 67,792 Christian (Armenians and others) and 179,389 Muslims (Kurds and others). According to Armenian resources, the real size of the Armenian population was close to 46% of the whole population, whatever it was.

The difference between representation and size of the population should be noted. Another criteria to look at the population distribution is from economical outputs. Even if the Armenian population size does not reach to be the majority, 80% of the trade, profits, crafts were performed by Armenians. Most of the educated people was also belong to either Hnchakian or Armenian Revolutionary Federation committees. The mayor of Van was an Armenian, Bedros Kapamaciyan, which could be taken as the major power were Armenians.

[edit] History

The organization is formed after the revolt at Van, around April 1915. Dominant representation was from Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

[edit] Formation, 1915

Following days of August 19 Ottoman 10th core from Mesopotamian, ordered to dismember the organization. However, most historians agree that the Armenians, hoping to avoid slaughter, fled to provinces of the mountains to defend themselves against the Ottoman Empire. ARF ordered the Aram Manougian to be in control of the "provisional government" until 1917, which then he moved to Tiblisi to become the representative of Armenian National Council of Karabagh which will form the Democratic Republic of Armenia.

[edit] Expansion, 1916

The Russians soon returned to the city. In 1916, Western Armenia gained an Armenian control with the official establishment of Administration for Western Armenia, some sources refer to it as the first republic of Armenia. The only bright spot for the Ottomans during 1916-17 was General Mustafa Kemal's reconquest of Mush and Bitlis in August of 1916. The Russians drove Kemal's troops out of these towns at the end of the autumn. Fighting around the east side of Lake Van continued throughout the summer of 1917 but was inconclusive.

[edit] Building the frontline, 1917

The Russian Revolution of 1917 changed the political and military structure of the region. On the eve of 1917, the Russian army in the Caucasus was organized along national and ethnic lines, such as the Armenian volunteer units ^[3], with General Movses Silikian. The disintegration of the imperial army was partly blamed on this national formation. On the other hand, this organization gave a chance for the Confederation of Armenian parties to develop an organized armed structure, instead of working in militias. In 1922, the Democratic Republic of Armenia was reoccupied by Russian forces(see last flare) and the Armenian commanders of Armenian volunteer units of initial years who had acted on a national goal (playing a pivotal role in the formation of both the First Armenian Republic of 1915 and the Democratic Republic of Armenia) were punished, such as Garegin Njdeh. This picture was eminent to Ottomans during the initial years of World War I. The Ottomans believed that the Caucasus campaign was formed by Armenians, since the units they faced were Armenian volunteers.

In December, 1917, regular Russian regiments were deserting the frontline. In this situation the army corps in this frontline realigned themselves under the command of General Tovmas Nazarbekian, with Dro as a civilian commissioner. The frontline had three main divisions: Movses Silikyan, Adrianic and Mikhail Areshian. Another regular unit was under Colonel Korganian. There were Armenian partisan guerrilla detachments accompanying these main units. The line from Van to Erzincan was organized through these units. Ottomans had to be stopped with 1/3 to 1/4 (without location information, it was mentioned that Adrianic had 150,000 men) of the previous uprising levels with 300 mile frontline (high mountain area, with specific gateways).

[edit] Losing the grounds, 1918

On the Eastern Armenia side a Russian Provisional Government was established in 1917. The Armenians learned that the Grand Duke Nicholas and the Special Transcaucasian Committee (особый Закавказский Комитет (ОЗАКОМ), osobyy Zakavkazskiy Komitet (OZAKOM)), Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, was not going to keep his promise of helping the Armenians to move back from the Caucasus refugee camps to their homeland. The Armenians (in their thousands), who moved to their hometowns with their own resources found out that Russian soldiers had left their posts and returned to their hometowns.^[4] The Armenian resistance formed a Democratic Republic of Armenia through the establishment of the Armenian Congress of Eastern Armenians(ACEA). The ACEA first devised policies to direct the war effort, and the relief and repatriation of refugees. The Congress passed a law organizing the defence of the Caucasus against the Ottoman Empire using the vast quantity of supplies and ammunition left by the Russian army. The Congress also selected a fifteen member permanent executive committee, known as the Armenian National Council. The chairman of this committee was Avetis Aharonian. The committee’s first task was to set the stage and then declare the Democratic Republic of Armenia, which at that time the Administration for Western Armenia was claimed to be a part of. The claim become official with the recognition of the Wilsonian Armenia.

While the new state was forming, the border that was drawn by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and signed on 3 March 1918, only lasted until May. From May to 30 October, the Ottoman Empire struggled against the Democratic Republic of Armenia, and pushed the border to the east.

Conditions in the resistance of March 1918 was best explained by R.G. Hovannisian: "In the summer of 1918 the Armenian National council reluctantly transferred from Tiflis to Yerevan to take over the leadership of the republic from the popular dictator Aram Manukian and the renowned military commander Drastamat Kanayan. It then began the daunting process of establishing a national administrative machinery in an isolated and landlocked misery. This was not the autonomy or independence of which Armenian intellectuals had dreamed and for which a generation of youth had been sacrificed. Yet, as it happened, it was here that the Armenian people were destined to continue its national existence". ^[5]

Enver Pasha was the War Minister for the Ottoman Empire at that time, and sent the newly established Army of Islam to Armenia. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the Republic was forced to withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. In the end, the Republic had to evacuate Erzurum as well. With all the units gathered in Sardarapat, the Battle of Sardarapat (May 22-26 1918), proved that General Movses Silikian could cause an Ottoman retreat.

Further southeast, in Van, the Armenians resisted the Turkish army until April 1918, but were eventually forced to evacuate it and withdraw to Persia. The Azerbaijani Tatars sided with the Ottoman Empire and seized the lines of communication, thus cutting off the Armenian National Councils in Baku and Erevan from the National Council in Tiflis. The British sent a small military force under the command of General Lionel Charles Dunsterville into Baku, which arrived around 4 August, 1918. This unit showed no opposition to marching Ottomans. With the Armistice of Mudros, Enver Pasha's movement disintegrated.^[6]

On 30 October 1918 the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros with the Triple Entente and its military activity in this region ceased.

[edit] Administration

[edit] Governors

• 1915 - Jun 1916 ....
• Jun 1916 - Dec 1917 Aram Manougian (interim)
• Dec 1917 - Mar 1918 Tovmas Nazarbekian, (Foma Nazarbekov)
• Mar 1918 - Apr 1918 Andranik Toros Ozanian

[edit] Civil Affairs

• May 1917 - Dec 1917 Hakob Zavriev

[edit] Civil Commissioner (as part of ADR)

• Dec 1917 - 7 Apr 1918 Drastamat Kanayan

[edit] Policies

The government's first act was to divide up all Russian property between Armenian adults (women not included). Most of the formerly Russian farms were turned into communal farms, resulting in over 40% of the population of Van leaving the city to go work on the farms. The Armenian government started a weapons and ammunition industry. Most of the formerly Russian mines were scrapped into scrap metal and used for building projects in Van. The Russian soldiers were unpaid and it became common practice for them to steal from the Armenians. The Armenian government tried to impose taxes but most of the Armenians ignored the tax collectors.

[edit] 1917

In 1917 some 150,000 Armenians relocated to the provinces of Erzurum, Bitlis, Mush and Van ^[7]. The Armenians began to build their houses and create their farmlands in preparation for the 1917 autumn harvest. The prospect of a new autonomous state in this region was looking favorable for the provisional governor, Aram Manougian, (Turkish sources name him as "Aram Pasha"). Administration was in a favorable place between the Russia and Ottoman Empire. After the hard times of the 1915 and 1916 events of the Van Resistance, 1917 was the year things were getting very stable on the front line, but political perspective began to change one more time, as Russia was changing. In preparation of the change Armen Garo (famous Karekin Pastirmaciyan) and other spokesmen asked Armenian regulars in the European theater to be to be transferred to the Caucasus front. This move was aimed to increase the stability and protection of the new establishment. Armenian soldiers began to create a strongmen between the Ottoman Army and Armenian front, which will be shortly (Russian Revolution of 1917) only defense against the Ottoman Army.

[edit] Humanitarian Issues

A famine caused by drought left many Armenians starving. An outbreak of polio killed 20% of the Armenian population and, to add to the Armenian troubles.

[edit] Recognition Efforts

The Administration for Western Armenia, being part of Democratic Republic of Armenia had a setback with the Treaty of Batum.

[edit] Paris Conference, 1919

Main article: Paris Peace Conference, 1919

This area stayed outside the control of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 3 years, (1915-18). The ARF's achievement was including their activity region during this period in the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. Armenian Diaspora defended the argument that it was natural to extend it to Armenian control, as after the Russian Revolution this region was controlled by Armenian volunteer units and later Armenia. The Armenian "provisional government" that was set up used as an argument "the ability to control the region" in Wilsonian Armenia. A secondary argument developed during this period was the dominant population becoming Armenian as the Turkish inhabitants of the region moved to the western provinces. With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the triple Entente Powers try to determine the fate of Anatolia.

[edit] Wilsonian Armenia

Main article: Treaty of Sèvres

Paris Peace Conference established the fact that Russia has the right determine its own boarders.

During the Conference of London, David Lloyd George encouraged Wilson to accept a mandate for Anatolia, and particularly with the support of Armenian diaspora for the provinces claimed by Administration for Western Armenia. Wilson send two commissions (King-Crane Commission and General James Harbord) to understand what is behind the claims of Armenian diaspora, and if these claims fit to Fourteen Points. King-Crane Commission tackled the issue of whether there should be an Armenian state, or if it should be under US mandate. James Harbord hold the position that he would not recommend a division, which might bring other problems. Harbord's report stated that "the temptation to reprisals for past wrongs" would make it extremely difficult to maintain peace in the region. King-Crane Commission came to the conclusion that there should be one. While one explanation might be mere favoritism (the Armenians were generally Christian), the arguments used for an Armenian state are quite similar to later arguments for the existence of Israel after World War II (except that the Armenians were already living in the territory designated for their state). The report noted that the Armenians had suffered a traumatic experience, that they couldn't trust the Ottoman Empire to respect their rights anymore, and that they were "a people." Therefore, Armenian independence should be respected and insured. The Woodrow Wilson agreed to transfer what will be named as "Wilsonian Armenia" back to the Armenians in the Treaty of Sèvres.

Armenia claimed to be tolerant of minorities (Muslims). President Wilson’s acceptance letter (for drawing the frontier), to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 said: "The world expects of them (the Armenians), that they give every encouragement and help within their power to those Turkish refugees who may desire to return to their former homes in the districts of Trebizond, Erzerum, Van and Bitlis remembering that these peoples, too, have suffered greatly." ^[8] Today, as a continuation of the initial goal, the creation of a free, independent, and united Armenia; all territories designated as Wilsonian Armenia by the Treaty of Sèvres as well as the regions of Artsakh, Javakhk, and Nakhichevan, is the first goal of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation^[9]

As the coming months had shown, King-Crane Commission did not really analyze the situation. Some sources even claim they did not even spend enough time. The realities of the ground were different, and they were not included in the report. Treaty of Alexandropol and then the treaty of Kars were the first blockage to this idea and than with the following months Treaty of Sèvres put to shelf as it was superseded by treaty of Lausanne. The fight for "Administration for Western Armenia" dropped from the table.

[edit] Timeline

• April 19, 1915, fire in the powder stores in the Van armoury.
• April 20, 1915, Armenians in the city of Van, the countryside, and small towns begins a local uprising.
• April 24, 1915, Ottoman governor asks permission to move the Muslim civilian population to the west.
• May 2, 1915, Ottoman Army moves close to Van, but withdraws because of the presence of the Russian Army.
• May 3, 1915, Russian Army enters Van.
• August 16, 1915, Ottoman Army besieges Van, Battle of Van.
• September 1915, Ottoman Army is forced out by Russians.
• August 1916 Ottoman Army moves to the west of the region (Mush and Bitlis), but is forced out within a month.
• February 1917 Russian units disintegrate. Armenian volunteer units keep formation.
• Summer 1917 Inconclusive skirmishes.
• September 1917 Establishment of the Democratic Republic of Armenia; Armenian volunteer units form its military.
• 1918 Ottoman army begins to reoccupy to the pre WW I borders and face the Democratic Republic of Armenia.
• March 3, 1918, The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gives Kars, Ardahan and Batum regions to the Ottoman Empire.
• March 4, 1918, Armenia condemns the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
• March 9, 1918, Armenia presents its position to the Ottoman Empire.
• March 12, 1918, Change of hands in Kars rejected by Armenia.
• May 22, 1918, Battle of Sardarapat, Armenian forces against the Ottoman Empire.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Garegin Njdeh
• Andranik Toros Ozanian

[edit] External links

• Self-defense Battle Memorial of Artsiv Vaspurakan in Agarak village, Armenia