Attached is my translation of excerpts from the report of the Bureau-Government Prime Minister Ohanjanyan on Karabakh and Zangezur, made at a meeting of ARFers of Karabakh, Zangezur in July 1920, and my contextual interpretation of the message. The excerpt of Ohanjanian’s speech was posted by Tatul Hakobyan in his ANI Armenian Research Center website. 

V.H. Apelian’s Blog

First and foremost Ohanjanyan’s report in 1920, posted below, should be read in the context of the times when West was the Western Europe, the global powers of the day. But Europe was recovering from its devastating war that led to the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles, France (1919-1920). The so-called peace conference would levy inordinately heavy burdens and restrictions on Germany, which the rest of Europe defeated and it would lead to the Wilsonian Armenia, which the Paris Peace Conference delegated it to the U.S., a nascent power, cut off from the rest of the world by the two great oceans and under the ideals of president Woodrow Wilson. The only global power Armenia had dealt with was Russia, which also was a regional power that also happened to be Christian in that part of the world Christian Armenia is located, dominated by nations that are Muslims – the “stan”s. Therein was/is the engrained  natural notion that Russia was Armenia’s natural ally and protector.

However, this is what Kristapor Mikaelian, the ARF ideologue wrote about Tsarist Russia, in his treatise called “Mob Mentality”.

 «Moving forward, always faithful to its spirit of destruction, Russia, as in the past, as well as today, is a representation of a large-scale arena of general persecution, general destruction and violence. There was not a nation left in Russia that was not oppressed, there was not a people left that was not suffocated, there was no word, opinion, right, law – even proclaimed from the imperial throne – that was not violated. It is a terrible stage of rulers and slaves, predators and tyrants, spies and spiers, poisoned by the choices of mutual grudge and hatred. Russia competes with Turkey in all spheres of state life, equally successful in the negative, as well as in the positive. And the unfortunate Armenian is destined to live, to claim the right to see  the light of day, on the borders of those two brutal tyrants, “between the devil and the deep sea”, as the English say.”

This perception of Russia as Armenia’s natural Christian ally and proctector, lingered on after Lenin and the Bolshevik revolutionaries brought down the Tsarist Russia and brought about the Soviet Union led by Russia.  Hardly two years and a few months had passed since the creation of Armenian Republic, after over five centuries remaining stateless, Armenians brought Armenia into the Russian fold, as part of the Soviet Union.

This perception lingered in the Diaspora as well and pitted one segment of the Armenians in the Diaspora against another. My materal uncle  Antranig Chalabian, was a Russian orientation advocate and this is what he wrote in 1988:

 «As long as Turks are Turks and they are living in Turkey, Armenians inhabiting the southern boarders of the Soviet Union have no choice but to seek Russian protection, irrespective of the kind of government which rules that country. This is a political affinity and has nothing to do with ideologies.”  

In claiming that the greatest wound in Armenian life is being a Russophile, I do not think that the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hamo Ohanjanian, in July 1920, was advocating an anti-Russian stand, but he was advocating Armenia be a master of its own destiny and which could possibly be by not being dependent on Russia for its long  survival as a Republic.

I believe that is where Armenia is at the present in a world that has no resemblance of what it was, not only a century ago, but a few decades. A mulita-polar political world has come about. To forge a future for its long survival Armenia is advocating a policy giving what its due to the bald eagle of the west, and to the bear to its north. It remains to be seen if Armenia will be able to chart such a course.

Consequently, Hamo Ohanjanian’s message should be read within th context of his affirmation that “the only guarantee of lasting security and happiness, is the complete independence of the homeland.”

Below is my translation of the excerpts from PM Hamo Ohanjanian’s speech on that day in 1920. The original is also attached.

“Today we must consider beyond doubt the agreement concluded between Soviet Russia and the leader of the Turkish nationalists, Mustafa Kemal, which was published in the press months ago. We must consider it beyond doubt, because all the events that have taken place during the last two months and are taking place today both in our country and on the borders are nothing more than necessary attempts to implement the aforementioned agreement.

The Armenian people, due to their geographical and ethnographic conditions, have always had an unhealthy mentality deep in their souls, from which they have difficulty getting rid of. It is that blind Russophile, which at the same time has become the most painful wound in our social and state life.

Surrounded by unfriendly and hostile Muslim elements, the Armenian people had a blind faith that it was the Russians who should free them from this suffocating atmosphere, proof of what I said can be the recent events in Karabakh [in April 1920, when Azerbaijan was Sovietized, the Bolshevik 11th Army also entered Artsakh without encountering any resistance -:

The Armenians of Karabakh, who bravely resisted the enemy’s attacks for two or three years, stopping the invasion of the Turkish-Azerbaijani hordes, have not yet stood up to the violence of the Russian-Tatar bandits today, despite the fact that the enemies have entered their home under the guise of communism.

Our friends, who were in Karabakh, having lost contact with the center ten days ago, retreated to Zangezur and then, under the pressure of the attacking troops and the Russian-Tatar horde, also left part of Zangezur.

What should you, all of us, do to restore the situation in Karabakh and Zangezur and generally remove the Tatar-Bolshevik threat from Armenia?

Of course, after the exchange of ideas, you can outline the course of your activities in detail, but I consider it my duty once again reminding that the greatest wound in Armenian life is the Russophile, which must be eradicated by all means, since Russophile is currently our greatest enemy.

Changing the psychology of Armenian citizens, making them recognize their true enemies and freeing them from their naive beliefs will mean ensuring the existence and inviolability of Armenia to a large extent that “

Enter the people, explain to them the true picture of events, and let them see that Russia has become a fraternal brotherhood with Turkey, the archenemy of Armenia, let them be convinced that the attacks on our borders are aimed at opening a path to Turkey for the world-ruling and tyrannical Russia.

Let them understand that Russia, devastated, terrorized, exposed to hunger and frost, has never thought about the salvation of the Armenian people and, finally, let them realize that it is they who pave the way for their salvation, and the only guarantee of lasting security and happiness is the complete independence of the homeland.” 

Haratch, number 155, July 24, 1920