In 1919, the anti-government movements of the Muslims organised by the Kemalists and Azerbaijan were common phenomena in the internal life of the Republic of Armenia. The Muslim population living in territories under the control of the Armenian government did not want to come to terms with the independence of Armenia and tried to unite with Azerbaijan or the Kemalists. Azerbaijan and the Turks, for their part, were working towards reaching out to each other and unite, over and across Armenia. The union bridge would be Karabagh-Zangezur-Nakhijevan, Surmalu, and Kars. After the defeat of the Ottoman armies and their retreat from the Caucasus, local “independent republics” were created in Armenia and Georgia, at the incitement of Turkish commanders. In the territories to be under the supervision of Armenia, the West Caucasian Republic was declared with the Shura of Kars, as well as the Eastern Caucasian or Araxes Republic, which included Surmalu, Zangibasar [Masis], Vedibasar [Vedi], Milli, Sharur, and Nakhijevan, with Nakhijevan as its centre. Each of these self-proclaimed “republics” in turn was divided into smaller provinces with their local Shuras.
Azerbaijan was demanding that Armenia give up entirely on Karabagh, so that Jivanshir, Shushi, Jebrayil, and Zangezur provinces be recognised de facto and de jure as part of Azerbaijan. It only tacitly accepted that Dililjan and Ijevan regions be part of Armenia. Azerbaijan also wanted to annex the provinces of Nakhijevan and the Sharur, Sadarak, Vedibasar, Zangibasar regions and all of Surmalu, along the right bank of the Araxes river, together with the foothills of Masis, up to the province of Kars. If the province of Kars was not to pass to the Turks in the future, then Azerbaijan was to expand up to the region of Batum, in order that it could have an exit to the Black Sea. Apart from that, Azerbaijan was also demanding the northern shores of Lake Sevan together with the Karakoyunlu valley and the region of Basargechar [Vardenis]. In Ruben Ter-Minasyan’s words, “This enormous agenda was not empty raving or delirium. It was considered a natural and attainable agenda for the Turk-Tatars which had not been left as a theory in schools but was being implemented in real life by 1919.”
In mid-March 1919, the Azerbaijan representative M. Khan-Tekinskii came to Yerevan. Diplomatic relations had been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Khan-Tekinskii was a well-known Pan-Turkist. As the Armenian government later discovered in the codes he periodically sent to Baku, he was involved in the business of organising the Muslim revolts in Armenia.
In Armenia, the Azerbaijani envoy visited the Catholicos of All Armenians. Khan-Tekinskii sent a telegram to Baku about that meeting, with the following content: “The Catholicos stressed the necessity for Armenian and Muslim friendship and promised to call upon the Armenian people to live in peace with the Muslims. He kept me to lunch. The monastery and the Catholicos’sresidence in Etchmiadzin are deprived of electricity as a result of a lack of paraffin. I promised paraffin for the machines, so please send paraffin in canisters for the Catholicos.” Then in the same telegram, but in code, Khan-Tekinskii continues, “Only send two hundred put. Any extra may be used by the Armenian government.”
The Ottoman Empire had been defeated in World War I, but the Kemalist movement began in the second half of 1919 in a wide segment of its territory adjacent to Armenia. Under its influence, excited Transcaucasian Tatars, Turks, and other Muslim populations also rose up, first and foremost against Armenia. However dissatisfied the Armenians had been with the British, they had played an important role in restraining the Turks and Tatars up until then. When they declared, almost at the same time as the organisation of the Kemalist movement, that they were preparing to leave the Transcaucasus, the Muslim revolts changed to universal rebellion, which was also being supported from Baku. As soon as the British left, across almost all the territory of Armenia, from Olti to Goghtn, in Zangibasar and Vedibasar, Muslim rebellion against the government flared up.
The rebellion began in the village of Boyuk Vedi which, keeping close ties with the Kurds and Muslims of Aralikh, on the other bank of the Araxes River, was a continuous threat to Armenian forces and rail communications established in Sharur- Nakhijevan. At the signal from BoyukVedi, the Turks of Sharur and Nakhijevan rose up. Khalil Bey reached Shahtakht in the middle of July, 1919, with his Turkish officers and two to three hundred soldiers, heading the Muslim movement. Rebellion arose in all corners of Sharur-Nakhijevan simultaneously on July 20-21. The few Armenian military units were surrounded by armed Turkish mobs in Julfa, Nakhijevan, Shahtakht, and Bash-Norashen. On July 25, after a few days of bloody battles, the Armenian forces in Nakhijevan retreated towards Zangezur, taking a certain part of the Armenian population with them.
The contents of the telegrams sent by the representative of Azerbaijan in Armenia to Baku and those received from there indicate that, although undeclared, Azerbaijan was essentially at war with Armenia and supported the Muslim revolts in every way. On August1, 1919 Khan-Tekinskii cabled, “Battles are taking place in the regions of Boyuk Vedi, Sharur, Nakhijevan. The Armenian regiments are fleeing or being destroyed. The Muslims do not yet want to capture Yerevan”. On August 3, Khan-Tekinskii suggests to Khan Khoyskii, “It is vital that Azerbaijan clears Zangezur in two weeks and advances its forces to Ghamarlu [Artashat]. It will be too late after the arrival of Armenia’s Commissar, the American Colonel [William Haskell]. If my proposal is accepted, implement it without declaring war.”
In August 1919, the Turks in Armenia began to threaten Etchmiadzin. Eight Armenians in neighbouring villages were killed. All of Zangibasar rebelled and refused to recognise Armenian authority.
After the exit of the Ottoman forces from the province of Kars, the Shurahad been arrested by the British. But then a new one was formed. In fact, it was this re-formed Shura that was leading the Muslims of the province of Kars. The Shura worked very carefully, organised, invisible. The Kars Shura had set a goal to protect and organise the Muslims of the region, but not to incite the Armenians with rebellions, but on the contrary, to be patient and wait for events in the Ottoman Empire. If the Turks were to have a suitable opportunity to return to Kars, then they would be freed. This state of expectation of the Shura was beneficial to the Armenian government.
The Islamic uprisings finally reached the province of Kars but did not transform into bloody clashes. The local Armenian authority was conducting a cautious and conciliatory policy. In the fall of 1919, the Armenian section of Ardahan was part of the Republic of Armenia, if not in essence, then at least in form. Only the Akhuryan [Arpachay] River separated the region of Aghbaba from Alexandrapol and although the villages of Aghbaba could be seen from the roofs of the town’s houses, the Tatar inhabitants of those villages were self-governing and in the autumn of 1919 there was no Armenian authority on the other side of Arpachay. Kurds and Turks governed the region of Zarishat which was in between Alexandrapol, Kars, and Ardahan. Although the region of Olti, together with Kars, belonged to the Armenians on paper, a Yezidi Kurdish authority was established there and the Armenian authorities had no control. Kaghzvan was under Armenian authority but a few versts away, up to Koghb, there were separate local Kurdish and Turkish authorities.
In the beginning of 1920, hesitation could be noticed in Muslim circles of Kars. Some of them were in favour of Armenian authority and others, at the incitement of the Kemalists and Azerbaijanis, were against the Armenians. Around mid-January, a few Tatar officers came to Zarishat. Attacks on Armenians began. Several Armenians were killed in Ibish village, then Armenian officials and police were ejected from Zarishat and other regions. Zarishat, Aghbaba and Childir rebelled against Armenia. General Artyom Hovsepyan’s military units regained control of all the rebellious regions by mid-February. The rebel leaders fled and twenty-five representatives from Zarishat, Aghbaba and Childir declared the submission of the Muslim people to the Armenian government. The region became calm.
Zangibasar was uneasy for months. A government communiqué dated June 23, 1920 stated: “From the first days of the Republic of Armenia, the Muslim population of the region of Zangibasar took an antagonistic stance towards our independence. Succumbing to the provocation of Turkish and Azerbaijani agents, each time that Armenia was going through difficult times, it provoked riots and attacked the railroad, the army and neighbouring Armenian villages. Right under the nose of the capital city of Armenia, over fifteen Turkish villages were in an ‘independent’ status, did not accept Armenian authority and strove to unite Zangibasar to Azerbaijan. Their antagonistic stance particularly increased during the May movements of Bolsheviks in Armenia. On June 18, the Armenian government, having exhausted all peaceful means, presented an ultimatum to the population of Zangibasar, demanding that they accept Armenian authority, turn in their weapons and ammunition, and their ringleaders and Turkish officers. Not receiving a satisfactory response, state forces began military operations, which met with strong resistance. On June 20, Armenian forces captured all of Zangibasar. The population fled towards Aralikh and thus ended the disgusting Turkish-Azerbaijani provocation which had been ongoing for two years in the heart of Armenia.”
From Tatul Hakobyan’s book – ARMENIANS and TURKS
Image – Kars today
