Armenian Question

History of Armenia
Etymology Timeline Traditional Urheimat
Prehistory Stone & Copper Age Shulaveri-Shomu culture c.6500–3400 BCE Areni-1 Cave Complex Kura–Araxes culture c.3400–2000 BCE Legend of Hayk (?) 2492 BCE Bronze & Iron Age Hayasa-Azzi c.1500–1290 BCE Arme-Shupria c.1300s–1190 BCE Ararat/Urartu Nairi Tribes 1114–860 BCE Kingdom of Van 860–590 BCE Scythian & Mede Invasions 6th Century BCE
Antiquity Achaemenid Period Satrapy of Armina 549–331 BCE Orontid Dynasty Ancient Armenia Armenia Minor 331–72 BCE Kingdom of Armenia 321 BCE–428 CE Artaxiad dynasty 189 BCE–12 CE Empire 84–34 BCE Arsacid dynasty 52–428 CE Roman–Parthian War 58–63 CE Roman Province of Armenia 114–118 CE Christianization 301 CE Kingdom of Sophene c.200–94 BCE Kingdom of Commagene 163 BCE–72 CE Marzpanate period Byzantine Armenia 387–536 Persian Armenia 428–646 Mamikonian dynasty Battle of Avarayr 451
Middle Ages Arabic Period Emirate of Armenia 653–884 Hamamshen 700s–1300s Amatuni Dynasty Medieval Armenia Bagratid Armenia 884–1045 Bagratid dynasty 861–1118 Kingdom of Vaspurakan 908–1021 Artsruni dynasty Sajid dynasty 889–929 Sallarid dynasty 919–1062 Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget 979–1118 Kingdom of Syunik 987–1170 Kingdom of Artsakh 1000–1261 House of Hasan-Jalalyan Battle of Manzikert 1071 Cilician & Turco-Mongol Period Seljuq rule 1071–1201 Georgian union 1201–1236 Ilkhanid rule 1236–1335 Principality of Khachen 1261–1750 Kara Koyunlu & Aq Koyunlu 1335–1508 Kingdom of Cilicia 1198–1375 Rubenid dynasty 1000–1261 Hethumid dynasty 1226–1373 Lusignan dynasty 1341–1375
Early modern age Perso-Ottoman Period Safavid & Qajar rule 1502–1828 Five Melikdoms Nakhichevan deportation 1606 Ceding of Eastern Armenia 1828 Ottoman rule 1548–1915 Six Vilayets 1878 Hamidian massacres 1895–1896 Armenian Genocide 1909–1918 Russian period Russian rule 1828–1918 Armenian Oblast 1828–1840 Western Armenia 1915–1918 National Liberation Movement Armenakan 1885 S.D. Hunchakian Party 1887 ARF (Dashnaktsutyun) 1890 Caucasus Campaign 1914–1918 Battle of Sardarapat 1918 Battle of Karakilisa 1918 Modern Armenia First Republic of Armenia 1918–1920 Treaty of Batum 1918 War with Azerbaijan 1918–1920 War with Georgia 1918 Treaty of Sèvres 1920 Wilsonian Armenia 1920 War with Turkey 1920 Treaty of Alexandropol 1920
Modern age Soviet Period Armenian S.S.R. 1920–1991 February Uprising 1921 Republic of Mountainous Armenia 1921 Treaty of Moscow 1921 Treaty of Kars 1921 Territorial claims against Turkey 1945–1953 Independence Armenian diaspora Hidden Armenians Republic of Armenia since 1991 Post-Soviet transition 1991–1995 Modern era since 1995 Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since 1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War 1989–1994
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The term "Armenian Question", as used in European history, became commonplace among diplomatic circles and in the popular press after the Congress of Berlin in 1878. As with the Eastern Question, it refers to Europe's involvement with the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire, beginning with the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. In specific terms, the Armenian question refers to the protection and the freedoms of Armenians from their neighboring communities.^[1] The "Armenian Question" explains the 40 years of Armenian-Ottoman history in the context of English, German, and Russian politics between 1877–1914. The term "Armenian Question" is also often used to refer to the question of Turkey's lack of acknowledgement of the events surrounding the Armenian Genocide.

Background

Beginning in the mid-19th century, the Great Powers took issue with the Ottoman Empire's treatment of its Christian minorities and increasingly pressured it to extend equal rights to all its citizens. Following the violent suppression of Christians in the uprisings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Serbia in 1875, the Great Powers invoked the 1856 Treaty of Paris, claiming it provided the authority for their intervention to protect the Ottoman Empire's Christian minorities. By the late 1870s, the Greeks, along with several other Christian nations in the Balkans, frustrated with their conditions, had, with the help of the Powers, broken free of Ottoman rule. The Armenians, on the other hand, received less interest and no support that wasn't later withdrawn from the Great Powers and remained, by and large, stagnant during these years, earning them the title of 'millet-i sadika' or the "loyal millet".^[3]

In 1827-28, Tsar Nicholas I sought help from Persian Armenians in the Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828, promising that after the war, their lives would improve. In 1828, the Russians declared the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829. In 1828, Russia annexed Erivan khanate, Nakhchivan khanate, and the surrounding countryside with the Treaty of Turkmenchay. After the Treaty of Turkmenchay, Armenians still living under Persian rule were encouraged to emigrate to Russian Armenia and 30,000 followed the call. Russia annexed significant portions of territory occupied by the Armenians.^[4] By the 1897 Russian Census, 1,127,212 Armenians were counted in Russian Lands:

• Erivan Governorate, 439,926;
• Elisabethpol Governorate, 298,790;
• Kars Oblast, 72,967;
• Tiflis Governorate, 230,379;
• Baku Governorate, 52,770;
• Black Sea Governorate, 6,223;
• Dagestan Oblast, 1,652;
• Kutais Governorate, 24,505.

For the same period (1896 Vital Cuinet) there were 1,095,889 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire:^[5]

• Adana Vilayet, 97,450;
• Aleppo Vilayet, 37,999;
• Ankara Vilayet, 94,298;
• Bitlis Vilayet, 131,300;
• Bursa Vilayet, 88,991;
• Diyarbekir Vilayet 67,718;
• Erzurum Vilayet, 134,967;
• İzmir Vilayet, 15,105;
• İzmit, 48,655;
• Kastamonu Vilayet, 2,647;
• Mamure-ul-Azil Vilayet, 79,128;
• Sivas Vilayet, 170,433;
• Trebizond Vilayet, 47,20;
• Van Vilayet, 79,998.

As Russia advanced its southern border, it became increasingly involved with Ottoman affairs. Russia was instrumental in obtaining the independence of Romania and Serbia. Russia, and Russian life, attracted Armenians. Many Armenians became educated and adopted Russian ways.^[6] Russia was also a path to Europe for Armenians.^[7] Russia gained control over a large part of Armenia, and became the champion of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Origin

internalization

Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)

Negotiations for San Stefano Agreement included "Article 16"

Congress of Berlin led to Treaty of Berlin (1878) which included "Article 61"

Most Armenians lived in provinces bordering Russia and not any other European states. By the Treaty of Adrianople, Akhalkalak and Akhaltsikhe were ceded to Russia. This resulted in a wave of emigration, with 25,000 Ottoman Armenians moving to Russian Armenia.^[8] The Armenians began to look more toward the Russian Empire as the ultimate guarantors of their security.

Many Armenians in the Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, living under the threat of unchecked violence and depredation on the part of aggressive neighboring peoples, greeted the advancing Russian army as liberators. In January 1878, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Nerses II Varzhapetian approached the Russian leadership to receive assurances that Russia would introduce provisions for Armenian self-administration in the new peace treaty.

In March 1878, after the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Nerses II Varzhaptian (1874–1884), forwarded Armenian complaints of widespread "forced land seizure ... forced conversion of women and children, arson, protection racket, rape, and murder" to the Powers. Patriarch Nerses Varjabedyan convinced Russians to insert Article 16 to Treaty of San Stefano, stipulating that the Russian forces occupying the Armenian-populated provinces in the eastern Ottoman Empire would withdraw only with the full implementation of reforms. Though not as explicit, Article 16 of the Treaty of San Stefano read:

As the evacuation of the Russian troops of the territory they occupy in Armenia, and which is to be restored to Turkey, might give rise to conflicts and complications detrimental to the maintenance of good relations between the two countries, the Sublime Porte engaged to carry into effect, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by Armenians and to guarantee their security from Kurds and Circassians.^[9]

In June 1878, Great Britain, however, took objection to Russia holding on to so much Ottoman territory and forced it to enter into new negotiations with the convening of the Congress of Berlin. Article 16 was modified and watered down, and all mention of the Russian forces remaining in the provinces was removed. Instead, the Ottoman government was periodically to inform the Great Powers of the progress of the reforms. In the final text of the Treaty of Berlin, it was transformed into Article 61, which read:

The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds. It will periodically make known the steps taken to this effect to the powers, who will superintend their application.^[10]

The Armenian National Assembly and Patriarch Nerses Varjabedyan asked his predecessor on Patriarchal See and future Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian to present the case for the Armenians at Berlin. An Armenian delegation led by Mkrtich Khrimian traveled to Berlin to present the case of the Armenians but, much to its dismay, was left out of the negotiations. Following the Berlin negotiations, in his famous patriotic speech “The Paper Ladle,” Mkrtich Khrimian advised Armenians to take the national awakening of Bulgaria (Liberation of Bulgaria) as a model for the hopes for self-determination.^[11] In Bulgarian historiography, Liberation of Bulgaria means the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of the Bulgarian sovereign state with the Treaty of San Stefano.

Six Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire

In 1880, the Armenians, especially encouraged by the prime minister Gladstone, broached the Armenian issue with the words, "To serve Armenia is to serve the Civilization". On 11 June 1880, the great powers sent to porte an “Identic Note” which asked for the enforcement of Article 61.^[12] This was followed on 2 January 1881 with a "British Circular on Armenia" sent to the other Powers.^[13]

Armenian reform program

Armenian reform program of 11 May 1895 was a set of reforms proposed by European Powers.^[14]

French diplomat Victor Bérard wrote:

After six months of constant massacres, while Europe pretended that the Armenian Question was already solved, the Armenians decided to show Europe that the Armenian Question still existed but that there was no Ottoman government any more.^[15]

Armenian reform package

The Armenian reform package was a reform plan devised by the European powers in 1912–1914 that envisaged the creation of two provinces placed under the supervision of two European inspectors general. As it turned out, the reforms were not forthcoming. With the lack of visible progress in the improvement of the plight of the Armenian community, a number of disillusioned Armenian intellectuals living in Europe and Russia in the 1880s and 1890s decided to form political parties and revolutionary societies which would struggle to attain better conditions for their compatriots.^[16]

Images of massacred Armenians

• 
  Armenian massacres in Erzurum, 1895
• 
  Armenian massacres in Adana, 1909
• 
  Genocide of Armenians, Vilayet of Kharberd, 1915

References

Citations

• Hooman, Peimani (2009). Conflict and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus. 
• Nalbandian, Louise (1963). The Armenian revolutionary movement; the development of Armenian political parties through the nineteenth century. Berkeley, University of California Press.