User:Yerevantsi/Western Armenia

The distribution of Armenians in early 1600s, following the conquest of the area by the Ottomans, within the current borders of Turkey:[1]
  Armenian majority
  Significant Armenian presence


https://www.evnreport.com/raw-unfiltered/a-conceptual-gap-the-case-of-western-armenia

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Western Armenia[a] (Western Armenian: Արևմտեան Հայաստան, Arevmdean Hayasdan),[b] formerly known as Turkish Armenia[c] (Թրքահայաստան, T’rk’ahayastan or Տաճկահայաստան Tačkahayastan, Daǰkahayasdan)[20] is a term, primarily used by Armenians, to refer to the eastern parts of the Turkey (originally the Ottoman Empire) that are considered part of the traditional Armenian homeland. It held a significant Armenian population from antiquity to the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Influenced by the successful campaigns for independence of the Balkan nations, the Armenians began a struggle for independence. Sultan Abdul Hamid II reacted with widespread massacres of Armenians in the 1890s. The Armenians living in their ancestral lands were exterminated during the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and the following years. The over two thousand year Armenian presence in the area largely ended[21][22] and the cultural heritage was mainly destroyed by the Turkish government.[23][24][25]

Although virtually no Armenians live in the area today, some Armenian nationalist groups, most notably the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, claim it as part of United Armenia.

History edit

 
The Ottoman conquests int the 16th–17th centuries

Pre-Ottoman history edit

After the first partition of the Kingdom of Armenia in 387 AD, the western parts of Armenian Kingdom became part of the Byzantine Empire, while the eastern parts after semi-independence fell to the Sasanian Empire in 428. The parts of Armenia under the Byzantine rule became known as Byzantine Armenia. It was also called Western Armenia.[26][27][28] It was conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century, while in 885 the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia emerged. The Armenian kingdom fell in 1045. From the point on, Armenia was dominated by foreign empires and was often devastated by invasions.[29]

Ottoman conquest edit

Most of the Armenian lands were conquered by the Ottoman Empire by the 16th century after a long series of Ottoman–Persian Wars.[30] Armenia was first partitioed by the 1555 Peace of Amasya and then in 1639 by the Treaty of Zuhab. The rest of Armenia (also known as Eastern Armenia) remained part of Safavid Persia until 1828 when it was annexed by the Russian Empire.

The Ottoman Empire, which was divided into eyalets, called one of its provinces—the Erzurum EyaletErmenistan (Armenia).[31] French lexicographer Jacques Savary des Brûlons wrote the Dictionnaire universel de commerce, which was finished by his brother after his death in 1723. In a 1773 English version of the book published by Wyndham Beawes under the title Lex Mercatoria Rediviva: Or, The Merchant's Directory the city of Erzurum is called the "Capital of the Part of Turkish Armenia."[32] Edward Gibbon as well called Erzurum the "capital of Turkish Armenia" in his famous book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.[33][34]

Until late 1600s, the overwhelming majority of Western Armenia was Armenian.[35]

[36]

[35]

19th century edit

 
The Six vilayets circa 1900
 
The percentage of Armenians in the eastern parts of the Ottoman Empire in 1870s according to the YSU Institute for Armenian Studies.[37]

Western Armenia is an undefined region. During various stages of history its borders have changed. From the late 19th century until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the term Turkish Armenia generally referred to the the "Six vilayets" (Van, Erzurum, Mamuretülaziz, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Sivas). These vilayets (provinces) had significant Armenian populations. According to the Ottoman census of 1914, of the 3,818,170 people living in these provinces only 628,928 (16.5%) were Armenian, however, this data is often criticized by Armenian[38] and non-Armenian historians.[39] Kemal Karpat argues that the populates statistics were "manipulated for political purposes."[40]

Article 61 of the Treaty of Berlin stated that "The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds."[41]

Armenian struggle for independence edit

Extermination of the Armenian population edit

 
Map of massacre locations and deportation and extermination centers during the Armenian Genocide

During World War I, the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire, formally known as the Committee of Union and Progress, carried out a systematic extermination of the Armenian population of the declining empire. According to modern estimates around 1.5 million were killed in the deportations that started in mid-1915. Earlier, on April 24, 1915, the Armenian community leaders of Constantinople were deported into Anatolia and later killed. The male population was massacred, while the rest of the Armenian population was deported into the Syrian Desert.

Just before WWI, according to various estimates, around 2 million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. By 1927 only some 140,000 Armenians lived in Turkey, mainly in Constantinople.[42][43]

Outside of Constantinople, up to 30,000 Armenians lived in 1928.[44]

Status after the Great War edit

 
The Armenian-Turkish border by the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres

Treaty of Sèvres edit

Current status edit

Eastern Anatolia (Turkish: Doğu Anadolu), which is one of the 7 geographical regions of Turkey, roughly corresponds to Western Armenia.[45][46]

  • Armenians often call Western Armenia ergirə (էրգիրը), which literally means "the country".[47]
  • One of the few official documents mentioning the term "Western Armenia" is the Armenian Declaration of Independence, passed on 23 August 1990 by the parliament. Article 11 of the declaration states that "The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."[48]

Demographics edit

Armenian heritage edit

Armenian claims edit

 
Western Armenia as claimed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF or Dashnak/Tashnag) claims Western Armenia.[49][50][51]

See also edit

References edit

Notes
  1. ^ The term "Western Armenia" in reference to eastern Turkey is used in English-language publications as early as in the 1920s[2][3] and the 1930s,[4] however, it was not until after the second half of the 20th century when the term "Western Armenia" started to be used as a reference to eastern Turkey by Armenian and non-Armenian sources.[5][6][7]
  2. ^ Eastern Armenian: Արևմտյան Հայաստան Arevmtyan Hayastan
  3. ^ "Turkish Armenia" was used in English-language publications since the 18th century.[8][9][10] The Popular Educator edition of 1767 states that Turkish Armenia is one of the divisions of Turkey in Asia.[11] By the 19th century, the term "Turkish Armenia" was commonly used by the European and American press, encyclopedias and travelers.[12][13][14][15] In 1881, Henry Fanshawe Tozer published a book titled Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor in London.[16] The term was widely used through the Great War[17] and the Interwar period.[18][19]
Specific sources
  1. ^ State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre of the Republic of Armenia (2007). Հայաստանի Ազգային Ատլաս (National Atlas of Armenia), Yerevan: Center of Geodesy and Cartography SNPO, p. 102 see map
  2. ^ Charles Francis Horne, Sir Humphry Davy, Walter Forward Austin (1920). The collected works of Sir Humphry Davy ...: Discourses delivered before the Royal society. Elements of agricultural chemistry, pt. I. Smith, Elder and Company. p. 24. The fortress of Erzerum was the only fortified point in the interior of Asia Minor, protecting Western Armenia and Anatolia and commanding all the best roads of Transcaucasia and the interior of Asia Minor.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ The Calcutta Review. University of Calcutta. 1922. p. 218. Erzingian, an important town of Western Armenia, is situated near the centre of a wide plain several thousand feet above sea-level...
  4. ^ Papazian, Kapriel Serope (1934). Patriotism perverted: a discussion of the deeds and the misdeeds of the Armenian revolutionary federation, the so-called Dashnagtzoutune. Boston: Baikar press. p. 47.
  5. ^ American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, 1953, The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, Volume 5, Issues 14-26, p. 9 "The tragic fate of Western Armenia, which remained under the rule of Turkey of the Sultans, showed what would have awaited the Armenian people if they had not been annexed to..."
    • Patmutʻiwn Antʻēpi Hayotsʻ, Volume 3, Armenian Aintabtzy Cultural Association, 1953, Kevork A. Sarafian, Yervant Babayan, Armenian Aintabtzy Cultural Association (Los Angeles, Calif.), p. 660 "However, in addition to his medical profession, he is interested in the fate of the Armenians living in Western Armenia (Turkish Armenia) in 1914."
  6. ^ Marietta Shaginyan, Journey Through Soviet Armenia, 1954, Foreign Languages Publishing House p. 59 "The whole of Western Armenia was razed to the ground."
  7. ^ The Armenian Community (1955) by Sarkis Atamian p. 223 "Moreover, "Turkish" Armenia and "Western" Armenia are also confusions in definition."
  8. ^ The Scots Magazine ..., Volume 2. Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran. 1740. p. 332.
  9. ^ Religious Tract Society (1799). The Ottoman Empire: The Sultans, the Territory and the People. London. p. 279.
  10. ^ Walker, John (1798). "ERN". The universal gazetteer. London. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapter= (help)
  11. ^ The Popular Educator: A Complete Encyclopedia. Volume III. New York. 1867. p. 214.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ Worcester, Joseph Emerson (1817). A Geographical Dictionary: Or Universal Gazetteer, Ancient and Modern in Two Volumes, Volume 2. Andover, Massachusetts: Flagg and Gould. p. MOW.
  13. ^ Monthly Magazine, London, July to December 1840, Vol. IV, p. 374
  14. ^ The Living Age, Volume 48, Littell, Son and Company, 1856, p. 442
  15. ^ Schem, Alexander Jacob (1878). The War in the East: An Illustrated History of the Conflict Between Russia and Turkey with a Review of the Eastern Question. New York: O., H. S. Goodspeed & Company. p. 263.
  16. ^ Tozer, Henry Fanshawe (1881). Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
  17. ^ "Turks hard pressed in Turkish Armenia". New York Times. 5 July 1915. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  18. ^ "Armenian Independence". New York Times. 30 March 1922. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  19. ^ "Armenian Settlement". New York Times. 25 January 1921. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  20. ^ (in Armenian) Hrachia Adjarian Institute of Linguistics (1969). Ժամանակակից Հայոց Լեզվի Բացատրական Բառարան [Modern Armenian Language Etymological Dictionary]. Yerevan: Armenian National Academy of Sciences Publishing. p. 441.
  21. ^ Marie-Aude Baronian, Stephan Besser, Yolande Jansen (2007). Diaspora and Memory: Figures of Displacement in Contemporary Literature, Arts and Politics. Rodopi. p. 174. ISBN 9789042021297.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Shirinian, Lorne (1992). The Republic of Armenia and the rethinking of the North-American Diaspora in literature. E. Mellen Press. p. ix. ISBN 9780773496132.
  23. ^ http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/1861892055.html
  24. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (2008). The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. p. 22. ISBN 9781412835923.
  25. ^ Jones, Adam (2013). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Routledge. p. 114. ISBN 9781134259816.
  26. ^ Rivoira, Giovanni Teresio (1918). Moslem Architecture: Its Origins and Development. Oxford University Press. p. 188.
  27. ^ The Armenian Review, Volume 3. Boston: Hairenik Association. 1950. p. 25.
  28. ^ Baumstark, Anton (2011). On the Historical Development of the Liturgy. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. p. 102. ISBN 9780814660966.
  29. ^ Dickran Kouymjian, "Armenia from the Fall of the Cilician Kingdom (1375) to the Forced Emigration under Shah Abbas (1604)," The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Richard Hovannisian, editor (New York: St. Martin Press, 1997), vol. 2, pp. 1–50.
  30. ^ Migliorino, Nicola (2008). (Re)Constructing Armenia in Lebanon and Syria: Ethno-Cultural Diversity and the State in the Aftermath of a Refugee Crisis. New York: Berghahn Books, Inc. p. 11. ISBN 9780857450579.
  31. ^ Kévorkian, Raymond H. (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 266. ISBN 9781848855618.
  32. ^ Beawes, Wyndham (1773). Lex Mercatoria Rediviva: Or, The Merchant's Directory. Dublin: James Williams. p. 645.
  33. ^ Gibbon, Edward (1781). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The 2 Volume. London: W. Strahan. p. 324.
  34. ^ Gibbon, Edward (1787). The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 5. J.J. Tourneisen. p. 425.
  35. ^ a b SAE 1976, p. 43.
  36. ^ SAE 1976, p. 41.
  37. ^ (in Armenian) Yerevan State University Institute for Armenian Studies: Արևմտահայությունը XIXդ. 70-ական թթ. (էթնիկ քարտեզ) (Western Armenians in 1870s (ethnic map))
  38. ^ Kévorkian 2011, p. 269: "While it is an established fact that the official statistics were falsified, it is important to determine the extent of the falsification." sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFKévorkian2011 (help)
  39. ^ Jongerden, Joost (2012). Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915. Leiden: Brill. p. 88. ISBN 9789004225183. "The reliability of the populations statistics of the Ottoman Empire has been a subject of a fierce debate for nearly one and a half centuries. ...it is generally assumed that there was an undercount. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  40. ^ Dadrian, Vahakn N. (2004). Warrant for Genocide: Key Elements of Turko-Armenian Conflict. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. p. 173. ISBN 9781412841191.
  41. ^ "Treaty between Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey for the Settlement of Affairs in the East: Signed at Berlin, July 13, 1878", American Journal of International Law Volume II, 1908, p. 422
  42. ^ Kaser, Karl (2011). The Balkans and the Near East: Introduction to a Shared History. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 337. ISBN 9783643501905.
  43. ^ Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, Reşat Kasaba (2008). The Cambridge History of Turkey. Cambridge University Press. p. 176. ISBN 9780521620963.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  44. ^ Hakobyan, Tatul (24 January 2015). "Հայերի թիվը Արևմտյան Հայաստանում. 1928թ". aniarc.am. ANI Armenian Research Center.
  45. ^ de Waal, Thomas (2010). The Caucasus: An Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780199746200. This area is called both Eastern Anatolia and Western Armenia, which gives some idea of its changing status over the centuries.
  46. ^ Cornell, Svante E. (2000). Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus. Hoboken: RoutledgeCurzon. p. 62. ISBN 9780203988879.
  47. ^ Walker, Christopher J. (1990). Armenia: The Survival of a Nation (revised second ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 273. ISBN 9780312042301.
  48. ^ "Armenian Declaration of Independence". National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  49. ^ (in Armenian) "Ծրագիր Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցության (1998) [Armenian Revolutionary Federation Program (1998)]". Armenian Revolutionary Federation Website. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  50. ^ "The Supreme Goals of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation". ARF Shant Student Association. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 11 August 2006 suggested (help)
  51. ^ Harutyunyan, Arus (2009). Contesting National Identities in an Ethnically Homogeneous State: The Case of Armenian Democratization. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-109-12012-7.
General sources

Category:Western Armenia Category:History of Armenia Category:Medieval Anatolia by region Category:Ottoman Anatolia Category:Political terminology