The Republic of Armenia, covering a territory of 12,000 square kilometres, was born in May 1918. Despite the internal clashes and uprisings during the months of June-February, 1918, the government took on the obligation and the liability. Many cursed that day and considered the Batum agreement signed with the Turks to be treacherous but, opposing public opinion, the first Prime Minister Hovhannes Kajaznuni was convinced that Armenia must fulfill the provisions of that agreement and maintain inter-state relations with the Ottoman government.
The first session of Armenia’s Council, the lawmaking body of the newly-formed republic, was held in the hall of the city club of Yerevan on August 1. The representatives of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, the Persian ambassador, and representatives of the Russian and Muslim National Councils were present at the event. In deep silence, Kajaznuni climbed the podium and read the opening speech, which was translated into Russian and Turkish.
On August 3, during the second session of Armenia’s Council, Kajaznuni read the government’s announcement, “To reinforce the peace with the Ottoman government and establish good neighbourly relations with them, strictly fulfill all those responsibilities that we have taken upon ourselves towards the Ottoman Empire and check that the Ottoman Empire does the same towards us, and, in particular, resolve the issues of the withdrawal of Ottoman forces from our country and the return of refugees.”
In January of 1919, on the eve of the Paris Peace Conference, Kajaznuni was content with modest borders, even agreeing to have no access to the sea. The nationalists were insisting on the idea of an Armenia from sea to sea, with Trebizond and Alexandretta as exit ports. The number among Dashnaks supporting an Armenia from sea to sea was not small, but the majority had settled on the idea of an exit at least to the Black Sea.
There were figures within the ranks of the ruling ARF Party who, deep down, were convinced that the Turks could destroy Armenia’s independence. In Artashes Babalyan’s5 words, the main Turkish forces were aimed against Baku and that was one of the reasons why it remained calm in small, weak Armenia until October 30, 1918, when a ceasefire was signed heralding the First World War defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the salvation of the Armenians. During those months, “The main role fell to Aram Manukyan. He was running internal affairs and the welfare and agriculture sectors. He was the one destined to be in contact with Mehmet Ali Pasha, the representative of the Ottoman Empire. In September, after the fall of Baku, Turkey’s hands were freed and they could have suffocated the republic and ended the existence of the Armenian nation, but they did not do so. They were worried about the onslaught of attacks in Syria and Palestine. At any rate, the Turkish government paid no attention to Armenia. Perhaps it was willing to preserve its independent existence.”
Khalil [Kut] Pasha in Yerevan
From the start, newly-independent Armenia’s authorities were trying to extend the borders of the republic. While the First World War had not yet ended, the Armenian leaders were negotiating this matter with the Turks, since they were the de facto rulers in Azerbaijan and the disputed territories between the newly-independent states of the Transcaucasus. The Germans had settled in Georgia, while Turkish military units were stationed at the borders of Armenia.
In mid-June 1918, an Armenian delegation went to Constantinople to negotiate with the leaders of the Young Turks of the Ottoman Government with the aim of expanding Armenia’s borders. In Armenia, Aram Manukyan was using his old connections with Turkish military officers, dating from his activities in the Ottoman Empire before 1915, to the same end.
According to Ruben (Ter-Minasyan), “Aram demanded extended borders and better conditions from his old friend, the victorious Khalil Pasha, who had come to Yerevan. Khalil Pasha was not in principle against the demands to extend Armenia’s lands. He proposed that Armenians vacate the Meghri region of Zangezur beforehand, so that they could directly connect to Baku. In return he was ready, at the cost of Azerbaijani lands, to extend Armenia’s borders to Jevanshir and Varanda. He proposed signing a military treaty against the Allies. This conversation was unproductive. The only good thing was that because of his personal relationship with Aram, Khalil Pasha gave 25 thousand put [unit of weight] of wheat to Armenia for the refugees and ordered the Tatars in the Milli Gorge in the Bash-Garni region to leave, in order to make room for the Armenian refugees. The wheat was distributed to the starving and the Milli Gorge was cleared of Tatars.”
Khalil Pasha, the supreme commander of the Turkish forces on the Caucasian front, had expressed his desire to come from Alexandrapol to Yerevan and meet with Aram Manukyan at the end of July. The representatives of Germany and Austria-Hungary, Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein and Fankelstein decided to accompany him from Tiflis to Yerevan. It was their first visit to Armenia. Vahan Navasardyan, the editor of Tiflis’s Armenian Horizon paper, who was in the same train with them, writes, “Armenia’s diplomatic representative in Georgia, Arshak Jamalyan, was supposed to go from Tiflis to Yerevan to accompany these three. The train was supposed to make a stop in Alexandrapol, where Khalil was staying, and, after staying a day, the three representatives of these victorious countries were to depart for Yerevan.”
The train made a stop in Alexandrapol. Khalil Pasha hosted a dinner in honour of the representatives of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Jamalyan joined them.
Navasardyan continues, “That day we spent the night on the train in the station and next morning, after picking up the victorious Khalil, the train moved towards Yerevan. They were aware of Khalil’s visit to Yerevan. Aram also knew that the German representation had unofficially expressed the desire that, for the sake of the salvation of his people, it would be good for Aram to come to the train station and personally welcome Khalil. The German representative believed that it was possible to soothe and prevent Turkish hostilities only through appealing to the mercy of the victorious general, by flattering him and winning his heart.”
The train finally reached Ulukhanlu (Masis), from where Armenia’s republic began. By a cruel coincidence, the train from the Shirak valley, which was carrying the first convoy from Kars to Yerevan of young Armenians who had been deported to Erzurum by Ottoman armies in the spring of 1918, reached Ulukhanlu at the same time. “The number of deportees had been about thirteen thousand and several hundred. All of them had been massacred and only a couple of hundred people, whom they were returning to Armenia, thus staying ‘faithful’ to the promise given to our delegates at that time in Constantinople, remained ‘alive.’ Those captives, a horrible mass of live corpses, naked and barefoot, with deformed and bloated bodies and horrified eyes, were strewn on the ground.”
The train reached Yerevan in twenty minutes. The Armenian military band began to play. General Movses Silikyan was standing slightly towards the back of the station platform and the retinue and honorary guard were standing behind him. The city’s commandant, actor Arshavir Shahkhatuni was standing on the left. At the front, in the middle of the retinue and completely separated from that entire group stood Aram, with his splendid posture and black clothes, wearing dark glasses, and his head slightly bent upward on his broad-shouldered body.
“How were these two hostile champions going to meet? One of them relying on his strong will and unwavering faith, who did not spare anything to create the Armenian dream, and the other, who did everything to crush that dream. And so, when the train stopped, Aram looked right and left and noticed Khalil’s face in the front wagon of the train. Noticing Aram, Khalil immediately jumped out of the wagon like an energetic young man, approached him, and the two of them, smiling, shook hands, and kissed each other warmly like friends,” continues Navasardyan.
Navasardyan describes the road from the train station to the city center thus: “We put our few belongings on an ox-cart and walked to the city. It was impossible to stay composed in this horrifying country and not to shudder. Armenia was living horrendous days of starvation; people had already begun eating corpses. The lifeless shadows of starved people jutted out from under walls. They were fading without begging, fading without complaint, silently, without a sound.”
After the welcome at the train station, the mayor of Yerevan invited Khalil and the other guests for dinner in the evening. The next day they visited the Prime Minister and the Chairman of Armenia’s Council and then left for Etchmiadzin, to meet with the Catholicos. Aram and Commandant Shahkhatuni accompanied the guests to the Holy See.
Shahkhatuni writes, “We approached the Catholicos. The Catholicos of All Armenians, Gevorg the Fifth, with his magnificent face, was sitting in an armchair. The German general approached him first, followed by Khalil. I was looking at the Catholicos’ face and was amazed how his imposing look changed and expressed bitterness and anger.”
The Catholicos suggested the guests stay for lunch and, if they desired, they could visit the Church of Etchmiadzin and the museum. When they visited the bank of the lake, there were vast numbers of appalling Armenian refugees all around, under the trees.
Shahkhatuni continues, “They were not paying any attention to us. We returned to the Catholicos’s residence. In the dining room the steward invited everyone to take their seats. The Catholicos was seated at the head. The German general sat to his right, the representative of the Austrian armies beside him, Khalil on his left and Aram beside him. The lunch went well and both Khalil and the German general were amazed at the tableware and cutlery. The picture of Holy Etchmiadzin was emblazoned on them, with the script, ‘A present from His Majesty Emperor Tsar Nicolas II to the Catholicos of All Armenians’. The Catholicos asked Khalil, ‘How did you like the environs of Etchmiadzin, and especially the view of the lake? Did you see the countless Armenian refugees who used to be your citizens? I am thankful that at least this many survived’.”
“Khalil Pasha was very uneasy. To change the subject he said, ‘I am drinking to you, Your Holiness. It is an amazing wine’.”
The foreign envoys returned from Etchmiadzin that same day and that night had a long discussion on Armenian issues with the Chairman of Armenia’s Council and the Prime Minister. The government held a luncheon for the guests, in which other Turkish officers in Yerevan also participated. In the evening, Kressenstein returned to Tbilisi, but Fankelstein stayed to participate in the opening of Armenia’s Council. It was the first diplomatic reception on Armenian soil.
According to Shahkhatuni, some time after the first visit, in October 1918, Khalil Pasha sent a secret telegram to Aram and requested a secret meeting. Khalil reached a deserted spot half a kilometer from Yerevan’s train station by car. Shahkhatuni was also present at the meeting. Khalil kissed Aram and nervously asked that several Armenians help him to move to Karin (Erzurum) from Alexandrapol. Khalil said that the Turkish and German armies were losing and were going to ask for peace. “We have decided to entirely retreat from this front and go to Erzurum. We may even be forced to leave Erzurum to you. I am letting you in on these secrets as you are an old friend. We need to flee. I worry that during our escape Armenians will kill us from the rear.”
“Armenians do not kill a fleeing soldier in the back,” replied Aram. He promised to help Khalil reach Karin safely, if the Turkish general hands over the bullets stored in Kars to the Armenians. When through Khalil’s mediation the Armenians received the demanded ammunition, Aram ordered his four solders to safely convey Khalil to Karin.
In mid-November, Armenia’s War Minister receives a note from Mehmet Ali Pasha, the Turkish Representative in Yerevan, saying, “The Chief of the Head Officers’ Corps of the Ottoman Empire has ordered me to convey that, starting October 24, the lands outside of the Brest-Litovsk borders, occupied by the Turkish armies are to be evacuated within six weeks.” Armenia’s government orders Dro, the head of the Dilijan-Lori military unit, to occupy the positions of the departing Ottoman armies.
The Turks gradually begin withdrawing, the main reason for which was the defeat of the Ottoman armies on other fronts. On November 18, the Armenian armies entered Gharakilisa. According to Vratsyan, “The town was in ruins and looted. The Turks had taken everything: cows, farming tools, carts, and furniture. Four hundred corpses were strewn between Gharakilisa and Ghshlagh. Near Ghshlagh, in the great gorge, people had counted 500 corpses. Thousands of corpses, skulls, and human bones had been thrown in the Altun Takht and the Vanants gorges. The railway had been destroyed. On November 22, the Turks began to vacate Alexandrapol. The Turks had taken everything that was possible to move. The city and its surrounding villages had been looted, down to the last needle. There was immeasurable poverty all around.”
During the month of November, the occupying Ottoman army gradually withdrew from the Yerevan guberniya. In the last phase of this operation, the Turkish forces abandoned the railway from Yerevan to Alexandrapol in December and delivered the fortress of Alexandrapol to Armenian units. The Ottoman Empire thus relinquished nearly 10,000 square kilometers of the Yerevan guberniya. As the Armenian soldiers advanced, the full significance of the saying, “the Turk has passed through here,” was painfully demonstrated. Subsequent depositions of the victims filled countless pages. But words, no matter how descriptive, failed to convey the magnitude of the horror and destruction in the lands retrieved by the Republic of Armenia.
Meetings with Murderers
From June to November 1918, the Armenian delegation in Constantinople was trying to amend the humiliating Treaty of Batum. However, the months that followed were no less humiliating, when the Armenian delegation (Aharonyan, Papajanyan, and Khatisyan) spent time in Constantinople and had to conduct negotiations with the murderers of Armenians. Until the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was in the hands of the Pashas Enver, Talât, and Cemal.
At the end of June, a conference was to have begun in Constantinople with the participation of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.The Transcaucasian republics had also been invited.
The Ottoman government had promised to the Caucasian states to assist in reconciliation with her other allies – Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria. Both to discuss the details of this subject and to solve problems amongthe Georgians, the Azerbaijanis, and the Armenians, convening a conference in Istanbul was accepted.
The Armenians side was under the impression that Germany wanted to review the Batum treaty according to the Brest-Litovsk provisions. The delegation, which had left for Constantinople, was instructed not to spare any efforts in order to expand Armenia’s borders. They stayed in Constantinople for more than four months, until November, and, according to Khatisyan, “tried to prove our incontestable rights to Akhalkalak, Lori, Zangezur, Karabakh and Nakhijevan, over which our Caucasian neighbours were laying claim.”
The Armenian delegation, together with a Georgian mission led by Gegechkori, arrived in Constantinople on June 18. They were soon joined by North Caucasus and Azerbaijani representatives who had also come to the conference to revise the Batum treaties. “The Turks were well aware of our plans and aims, but they did not want the existence of a viable Armenia. They were against uniting Karabakh and Zangezur with Armenia, because they wanted to keep their road towards Baku open,” wrote Khatisyan. “They were against Akhalkalak and Lori being handed to us, because they wanted to keep the road towards Kazakh and Gandzak open. When we presented our map with the borders drawn to the Turks, we saw that the Azerbaijanis and Georgians had also included a string of Armenian lands within their borders. A dangerous internal conflict was arising which later resulted in Armenian-Georgian and Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes, and which has been temporarily suppressed today and will probably surface tomorrow in some form or another.”
After waiting for more than four months, the conference did not take place. The main reason was the failures of the Germans and Turks on the frontlines. The diplomatic activities of the Armenian delegation in Constantinople were limited to meetings within Ottoman officials and foreign ambassadors. “Hakob Kocharyan, the delegation’s first secretary, has recorded the details of the humiliating interviews in pursuance of the first goal. In the presence of numerous Turkish officials, the suppliants proclaimed thanks to the Ottoman Empire for allowing the formation of the Armenian Republic,” wrote historian Richard Hovannisian. “When the delegation called at the Sublime Porte, Talât lamented the misfortune that had befallen the Armenians. He blamed the Kurds, the military, and irresponsible local administrators for the calamity, but the Ottoman Vizier also pointed an accusing finger at the Armenians.”
Khatisyan and Aharonyan met with Talât concerning the September 1918 Armenian massacres in Baku. According to Khatisyan, “When we protested to Talât that the Turkish armies were preparing to attack Karabakh, Talât grabbed the phone and began talking with Enver, saying that, ‘The Armenians are asking not to order the attack on Karabakh.’ After this conversation,Talât informed us that he guaranteed that there will be no attack on Karabakh. After seeing Talât, we felt the need for a new visit to Enver Pasha. Enver once again assured us that he had given orders not to occupy Karabakh.”
In October, the Armenian delegation was also received by the Sultan. According to Khatisyan, “After a religious liturgy, Enver Pasha presented us to the Sultan in the Mosque. Aharonyan made a speech in the name of Armenia and expressed the hope that, from now on, independent Armenia and Turkey would be good neighbours. The Sultan answered that he was delighted that the ‘centuries-old friendly’ relations between the Armenians and the Turks would transform into political friendly relations between Turkey and Armenia. The Sultan expressed the hope that, after returning to Armenia, we would convey the greetings of the Sultan and Turkey to the entire Armenian nation.”
A few days later, Enver Pasha invited Armenia’s delegates to his house for dinner. “The entire magnificence of the Orient opened up in front of us,” wrote Khatisyan. “Enver’s residence was full of gold, silk, carpets, and all sorts of expensive items. The German general von Seeckt, Talât and Izzet Pasha, and the three Caucasian delegations were also invited to dinner. The subject of discussion around the tablewas the future of the newly-formed Caucasian republics.”
The border disputes of the three Transcaucasian republics should also have been discussed in Constantinople. Armenia suggested that Azerbaijan receive 38 percent of the Transcaucasus, Georgia, 33, and Armenia, 29. The Georgian and Azerbaijani delegations rejected it.
The Armenian delegation had an interview with Izzet Pasha, the Grand Vizier of the new cabinet. In the meeting, the withdrawal of the Ottoman army to the borders which had been determined at Brest-Litovsk was accepted. Moreover, Izzet Pasha promised to make necessary arrangements for the return of the refugees and to solve all problems relating to Armenia within one month. For its part, the Armenian delegation expressed the insistence on establishing good relations with the Ottoman government and to prevent the emergence of negative intentions.
After the conclusion of the Soviet-German Supplementary Treaty, Enver confidentially informed Khatisyan and Aharonyan that Turkey would champion Armenian rights to Lori-Pambak and that he was confident a satisfactory arrangement could be worked out with Azerbaijan. It was even possible that the boundaries of Armenia might be extended to the shore of the Akhurian River. After Talât returned from Berlin, more sweeping promises were made. Khatisyan wrote Hamazasp Ohanjanyan that the change in Turkish heart was undoubtedly prompted by the unfavourable course of the war. Then, at the end of September, Talât Pasha announced that his government would grant Armenia concessions even greater than those sought by Aharonyan’s delegation in the preceding weeks.
These, however, were his last official words on the subject, for a few days later, in the prelude to Ottoman capitulation to the Allies, Talât’s cabinet fell.
The Armenian delegates returned to Armenia. As Khatisyan put it, “On October 20, Rauf Bey’s adjutant came to us and asked us to visit the Naval Minister. He told us, ‘Tonight I have to go visit the British Admiral to sign a ceasefire. I would like to suggest that you join me. Let the British see that we have reconciled’. Recalling Rauf Bey’s implacable stance during the Trebizond conference, I asked what our borders would be. He answered, ‘The 1914 borders, amended at the cost of the Alashkert valley’. We, of course, could not approve of this. The Allies had won and our hopes relied on their victory. So we did not go.”
From TATUL HAKOBYAN’s book ARMENIANs and TURKs
To be continued
See previous chapter here – https://www.aniarc.am/2015/08/22/the-fall-of-kars-april-25-1918/
