Hovhannes Katchaznouni

[bell-the-cat]

Armenia 1920, or Nagorno Karabakh next year.

The Armenian-Turkish war which broke our back began in the Fall of 1920. Would it have been possible to evade it? Probably not. The crushed Turkey of 1918 had recovered during the two years. Despite these hypotheses there remains an irrefutable fact. That we had not done all that was necessary for us to have done to evade war. We ought to have used peaceful language with the Turks whether we succeeded or not, and we did not do it. We did not do it for the simple reason -no less culpable - that we had no information about the real strength of the Turks and relied on ours. This was the fundamental error. We were not afraid of war because we thought we would win. With the carelessness of inexperienced and ignorant men we did not know what forces Turkey had mustered on our frontiers.

[bell-the-cat]

Armenia 1918-1920, or Armenia and the ceasefire in NK, the 14 wasted years between 1994 and 2008.

I should point out that in the autumn of 1920 we were not a quantity negligible in the eyes of Turks. The terrible incidents of the past years were forgotten. Our people were well rested and our army was well armed with British arms. We had sufficient ammunition. We were holding a very important fortress called Kars in our hands. Finally there was the Sevres Treaty and it was not simply a piece of paper in those days, it was an important gain against Turks. We were not in a similar position to what we were in May 1918 in Batoum. We could easily believe we could be heard, because Turks were considered the defeated party.

We did not make an attempt.
If we had accepted their offer what would they have proposed to us? They would probably have started from where we had left at Batoum and Brest and then they would have given further concessions and receded behind the 1814 borderlines. They could possibly have withdrawn further and could have handed over Beyazit and Eleshkirt too.

Turks would never have given any further concessions than these in September 1920 and in return, they were going to demand from the Armenian government that they give up the rights advanced by the Sevres Treaty.
How would the Armenian government have reacted to this?

They would certainly have refused the offer. The government would never have agreed to these conditions; they would have preferred fighting.

Not only the Dashnag Bureau-Government but any Armenian government would have acted in the same way. I am calling attention to this fact. And this quite significantly alleviates the crime committed by our party. The government could never have accepted these conditions; because all the political parties and groups, all our diplomats, all the appointed and voluntary patriots... all would have revolted, rejected the government and accused it of treason. The Sevres Treaty had blinded everyone's eyes.

We now see that if we had agreed on a settlement with the Turks directly (in spite of the Sevres Treaty) we might have gained a lot. But we could not see this at that point.

All these are possibilities, but they are also the reflections of our thoughts then.
War, on the other hand, was a reality.
It is also a reality, an unforgivable reality that we did not do anything to avoid war but did just the opposite; we created excuses for it. What is unforgivable is that we had no idea about the military power of Turkey and neither did we know our own army.

BTW, this text is from the Perincik version.

[bell-the-cat]

Like 2008, but the ARF has much less power.

2008 equivalent is not ARF, is HHK

[bell-the-cat]

And about that "Wilsonian Armenia" that we still hear so much about.

In the meanwhile, what had been our diplomatic activity with the outer world during our liberty as an independent nation -Constantinople, Europe and America - and what were the results? In the Spring of 1919, the Paris Delegation of our Republic presented a Memorandum of our demands to the Peace Conference in Paris jointly with the National Delegation of the Armenians in Turkey. According to that Memorandum the frontiers of the Armenian State would include:

A. The Caucasian Republic with enlarged territory (the entire district of Yerevan, the districts of Kars without the northern part of Ardahan, the southern section of the Tiflis territory, the south-western part of Kantzag);

B. The seven vilayets of Turkish Armenia (Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Harput, Sivas, Erzurum and Trabzon, excluding only the southern section of Diyarbakir and the western section of Sivas);

C. The four sanjaks of Cilicia (Maras, Sis, Djebel-Bereket and Adana with Alexandretta).

A vast state was being organized and demanded - a great Armenia from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, from the mountains of Karabagh to the Arabian Desert. Where did that imperial, amazing demand emanate from? Neither the government of Armenia nor the Dashnagtzoutiun had envisaged such a childish and foolish plan. On the contrary, our Delegation had carried with it from Yerevan very moderate demands, commensurate with our very modest ability.

How did it happen that our Delegation signed the "From Sea to Sea" demand? It was told that if they did not demand those fascinating frontiers, the Turkish-Armenians (through their National Delegation) would sever their Cause from that of the "Republic of Ararat" and will apply to the Powers accordingly. Our Delegation was also told that America would not accept a mandate over a small Armenia but would accept one over a "From Sea to Sea" Armenia. Because it would have been dangerous to proceed with the defense of our Cause with two separate bodies, each with a contradictory demand, and because the American mandate was what we wanted, our delegates signed the Memorandum and presented it to the Powers.

I wish [therefore] to prove once more that our Party has not managed national affairs, has not had a strong will, has not followed our own program, but it has been led by others and has allowed the others to lead our Party.

The Paris Memorandum of course thrilled us. A kind of mentality was created according to which the drawing of frontiers on paper actually gave us those territories. To doubt it was a treachery. Of course there followed the rude awakening - the Treaty of Sevres - the refusal of the Senate of the United States to accept the mandate; even the frontiers drawn by President Wilson did not satisfy us. We thought he could have demanded a larger territory . . . There were the usual complaints that the powers were unfair, did not appreciate us and did not compensate us according to what we deserved.

The agony of the Armenian Cause began in 1922. At the London Conference was heard for the first time the word "Home". The Treaty of Sevres was entirely forgotten. There was no question of an independent Armenian State. Only a doubtful "Home" in someone else's home. This was the blow dealt us in March. Things got worse at Lausanne toward the end of the year. No "Home" was demanded for us. The Turks politely refused everything. The Great Allies, in a desperate gesture, confessed and bewailed that they had done everything possible to help the Armenians but could not do anything.

Then, here came comrade Tchicherin and offered in the name of Soviet Russia to locate the Armenians of Turkey in Crimea, on the shores of Volga, in Siberia. Thus, the "State" was reduced to a "Home", and the "Home" was converted into colonies in Siberia. The mountain did not even give birth to a mouse.

[ardakilic]

I think i touched a hot issue about Armenian recent history with political struggle between the parties.

[Gavur]

Some choice sour grapes for Gavur.

From its introduction





From the first few pages of Katchaznouni's address:

What's your point?

[bell-the-cat]

What's your point?

That the book still has important lessons to teach, even though it was written some 85 years ago. Lessons you don't seem to want to study even they are so plain to see and so easy to understand.

[Gavur]

Explain if you know.

[bell-the-cat]

I think i touched a hot issue about Armenian recent history with political struggle between the parties.

That's why you won't get any worthwhile responses to this thread from Armenians.

[Gavur]

Don't be afraid,say whats on your mind.