In mid-1918 the remnants of the Armenian people were left a mangled bit of land, for lack of a better term, that they called a republic. But as pitiful a state as was the Republic of Armenia in May 1918, its very existence was, nevertheless, an amazing accomplishment.
It was not a republic, but aninfertile and isolated piece of land, filled with cliffs and mountains, orphans and refugees, and suffering and adversity.
The country was in an exceptionally grave state. Tiny Armenia was filled with an army of migrants, while existing resources were not enough to satisfy the essential needs of the locals. Without exaggeration it can be said that hunger ruled the newly-formed state. People were dying from hunger in the streets, markets, and parks of Yerevan; moans and groans and whimpers could be heard the entire day. Skeletal children were searching for something to eat in the garbage, digging in the rubbish with their hands. According to an eye-witness account, “On walking along the street on your way to work, you could see a woman and child in rags, curled up under a wall on the pavement, shivering from the cold and whining. They were not holding out their hands, they did not want anything. Little by little they were dying from hunger in front of your eyes.”
The inglorious birth of the republic followed four years of devastating warfare, the decimation of the Turkish Armenian (Western Armenian) population, the illusory hopes prompted by the first Russian revolution of February 1917, the disastrous policy of the Sovnarkom at Brest-Litovsk, the relentless Turkish invasion of 1918, the disintegration of Transcaucasia, and, finally, the frantic efforts of the Armenian leaders to save the nation from total annihilation.
At three o’clock in the afternoon on May 26, 1918, the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia was no more. President Nikolay Chkheidze wired the obituary to the capitals of eighteen nations. That same evening, the Georgian National Council declared Georgia’s independence and appointed Noi Zhordania as the head of the government. The Muslim National Council convened in Tiflis on May 27 and endorsed a proposal to declare “Eastern and Southern Transcaucasia” an independent, sovereign, democratic state. The official act establishing the republic of Azerbaijan was proclaimed on the following day. In the middle of June, 1918, the MuslimNational Council relocated from Tiflis to Ganja (Gandzak, Elizavetpol), the temporary capital of Azerbaijan, and with the permission of Ottoman military commander Nuri Bey formed a cabinet headed by Fathali Khan Khoyskii. Nuri Bey was already in Ganja and actively organising hundreds of irregulars into the Army of Islam to conquer Baku.
While Georgians and Azerbaijanis took concrete steps to strengthen the foundations of their newly-proclaimed republics, the Armenian leaders were thrown into turmoil. The Armenian Social Democrats and the Populists called for independence, insisting that no alternative existed. The ARF (Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun Party) was badly split. Council Chairman Avetis Aharonyan, together with Ruben Ter-Minasyan and Artashes Babalyan opposed independence, while Simon Vratsyan and Khachatur Karjikyan favoured taking the momentous step. Hovhannes Kajaznuni and Alexander Khatisyan stressed that the only possibility for survival required declaring independence and securing peace with Turkey, no matter the cost. “The Armenian National Council was forced to announce Armenia’s independence,” wrote Vratsyan. “I emphasise, was forced, because at that time everyone considered independence an awful prospect and a risk, placing the Armenian nation under the Turkish yoke.”
After a long debate, Armenia was declared independent, but the May 30 declaration made no mention of “independence “or “republic”. Only after news of Armenian military successes near Yerevan had been confirmed and peace had been concluded at Batum did the National Council dare publicly to use the title “the Republic of Armenia.”
Thus, during the last days of May, 1918, three independent republics were born amidst the chaos and ruin of the Transcaucasus. The failure to gain peace through the Batum negotiations, the Turkish drive deep into the Tiflis and Yerevan guberniyas, and the absence of cohesion among Georgians, Armenians, and Tatars shattered the wobbling foundations of the Transcaucasian Federation. In contrast to their neighbours, the Armenians shuddered before the prospect of independence. Having been abandoned and thrown upon the mercy of the same Turkish rulers who had annihilated the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire, they searched desperately for a glimmer of hope.
In Vratsyan’s words: “In March 1918, the Turks were capable of occupying both Yerevan and the whole of Armenia, but they did not do so. On the contrary, on June 4, they signed a peace treaty with the representatives of the government of the newly-formed Armenia, and thus, de facto, recognised the independence of Armenia. And so, with the bitter irony of history, the first international recognition of the independence of Armenia was by the Turks.”
On May 28, the Armenian National Council had selected Khatisyan, Kajaznuni, and Papajanyan to return to Batum with unlimited powers for negotiating a peace with the Turks on behalf of the Armenian people. “We stayed in Batum for eight days, until June 5, and during the entire time we were busy with the drafting of a peace treaty,” wrote Khatisyan. “It was the first international act that Armenia had to implement. During the first session, Vehib Pasha personally drew Armenia’s borders on that historical map which had been with me in Trebizond and would be later in Constantinople, Alexandrapol, and Europe. When we took a look at the map, we were overwhelmed with two sharp feelings. The first was pride – after dreaming for centuries, we would finally have a little corner of our own on the map of the world. The second was bitterness– this corner was barely 9,000 sq km, absolutely inadequate for accommodating our people.”
During the negotiations, the Turks agreed to give Armenia another one thousand square kilometers territory “in the spirit of good relations ”. Armenia was limited to the province of Nor Bayazet, and the eastern portions of the provinces of Alexandrapol, Etchmiadzin, Yerevan, and Sharur-Daralagyaz.
On June 6, the Armenian delegation returned to Tiflis and presented the Treaty of Batum to the National Council. The assessment of the losses showed that the Transcaucasus had been sheared of over 20%of its territory on which nearly 20%of its total population had lived in 1914. Nearly three-quarters of the ceded territory had been wrenched from the Kars oblast and Yerevan guberniia. The population in the remaining districts of the Yerevan guberniya, that is, in the Republic of Armenia, was composed of approximately 300,000 of the two million Russian Armenians and at least an equal number of refugees from Turkish Armenia and regions surrendered at Brest-Litovsk and Batum. Even in this pitifully tiny area, there were nearly 100,000 Muslims.
On August 1, 1918, on the official opening day of Armenia’s Council (parliament), its president Avetik Sahakyan, reminded those present that, “After the collapse of the Transcaucasus our country was left at the mercy of fate, thus the Armenian National Council rushed to take on itself all of the functions of the government. It was at that time (end of May- beginning of June), that the infamous ultimatum of the Ottoman Empire was received, demanding an answer in 48 hours. A delegation was sent to Batum, headed by Kajaznuni, Papajanyan and Khatisyan. Our delegation was forced to accept the ultimatum and sign a peace agreement with Vehib Pasha and Khalil Bey. The Armenian National Council clenched its teeth, and with cold diligence decided to accept the ultimatum and recognise Armenia’s independence, handing itself over to the unbiased judgment of history. Yes, our republic is small, with constricted boundaries. Our country’s borders cannot remain fixed forever. I believe that our county’s borders will expand with the iron power of life and with our new good-will treaty with Turkey and its allies, the representatives of which are present here.”
From TATUL HAKOBYAN‘s book ARMENIANs and TURKs
To be continued
See previous chapter here – https://www.aniarc.am/2015/07/23/sardarapat-a-miracle-in-the-shade-of-mount-ararat-2/
Image – Simon Vratsyan
