The London Times reported on 23 October, 1923, that Armenians had attacked the Turkish mission in Yerevan and had pulled down the Turkish flag.
The Yerevan incident – this is how the October 1923 event was named.
From the newspapers, it is hard to understand the reason for the attack, its purpose, and who instigated it. On the one hand, Turkish papers criticised and condemned the insolent step of the Armenians and, on the other hand, hinted that Moscow’s Bolshevik leadership was responsible for the action, since Armenia was a part of the Soviet Union.
Tevhit wrote that even though Armenia was no longer an independent republic, “the brazen insolence of the Armenians” had greatly affected Turkish government circles and public opinion. “If we are not satisfied and the authors of this attack are not strictly punished,” Turkey’s government must take reciprocal steps. “The Russian Federation is also responsible for this ugly and condemnable attack in Yerevan, for dishonouring our representation and our flag. We cannot tolerate those whom we crushed yesterday, and who have manifested an insolent attitude towards us today.”
Yeni Gün emphasised that, “The hostility that the Armenians committed” was so obvious that “it should not go without a response and reaction from our side.” However, since Armenia has handed over its foreign policy to Russia, “the responsibility of the incident in Yerevan is on Russia.”
On the occasion of the Yerevan incident, Vakit wrote that Russia’s ambassador in Ankara visited the Foreign Affairs Ministry and provided an explanation.
The Turkish press insisted that the Armenians played a major role in the incident. Akşam wrote that, “Either Cheka or Russia are behind this incident,” because they don’t want Turkey to continue having its representative in Yerevan.
“If the Turkish flag has been lowered, then it has taken place not by the order of Yerevan’s Armenian communists, who are simply puppets, but that of Moscow. In this case also the Russian government has displayed an improper position where, instead of appearing under its own name, it has tried to make a scapegoat out of a nation drained of its blood,” wrote the Armenian Jakatamart daily in Constantinople in its editorial.
In response to the Yerevan incident, Alexander Myasnikyan wrote, “We insist with all responsibility and certainty that there is no ‘Turkish threat’, even despite the ‘incident’ in Yerevan, of which the Turkish and Armenian press in Constantinople made such a big deal. The issue of Turkish-Armenia? That has also been solved. Border issues do not exist for us.”
From Tatul Hakobyan’s book ARMENIANS and TURKS
Image – Armenia-Turkish border in Margara-Alijan
