Turkish-Armenian War
Encyclopedia
The Turkish–Armenian War stemmed from an invasion of the Democratic Republic of Armenia
by the Turkish Revolutionaries of the Turkish National Movement
in the autumn of 1920. In a span of four months, Mustafa Kemal Pasha's Turkish Nationalist armies, financed and armed largely by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
, were able to occupy the western portions of Armenia and impose a harsh settlement which resulted in the loss of over half its territory.
The Turkish military victory was followed by Soviet Russia's occupation and sovietization of the rest of the DRA. The Treaty of Moscow
between Soviet Russia and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
(March 1920) and the identical Treaty of Kars
(October 1920) finalized the effective partitioning of Armenia between Turkey and Soviet Russia, with the subsequent creation of the USSR's Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
in the wake of the February 1917 revolution
and the Transcaucasian Federation in May 1918 the Armenians of the South Caucasus were left little recourse but to declare their independence and formally establish the Democratic Republic of Armenia
. In its two years of existence, the tiny republic, with its capital in Yerevan
, was beset with a number of debilitating problems, ranging from fierce territorial disputes with its neighbors and an appalling refugee crisis.
Armenia's most crippling problem, however, was its dispute with its neighbor to the west, the Ottoman Empire
. In 1915, the Young Turk leadership of the Ottoman Empire had embarked on a systematic campaign to annihilate the Armenians
living both within its borders and those living in former Russian Armenia
. Although the armies of the Ottoman Empire eventually occupied the South Caucasus in the summer of 1918 and stood poised to crush the republic, Armenia was able to resist until the end October, when the empire surrendered
to the Allied powers
. Though the Ottoman Empire saw their country come under partial occupation by the Allies, they did not immediately withdraw their forces from the pre-war Russo-Turkish boundary until February of the following year, and many troops remained mobilized along this frontier.
, the victorious Allies had vowed to punish the Young Turks and reward the eastern provinces of the empire to the nascent Armenian republic. The Allies, however, placed their main priority on concluding the peace treaties with Germany and the other European members of the Central Powers. In matters related to the Near East, the principal powers, Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States, had conflicting interests over the spheres of influence they were to assume. The crippling internal disputes between the Allies, as well as the United States' indecisiveness in accepting a mandate over Armenia, in particular, ultimately allowed disaffected elements in Anatolia in 1920 to coalesce and form the Turkish National Movement
, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Opposed to any territorial concessions to Armenia, as outlined in the Turkish National Pact
, the Nationalists attempted to play off the rivalry of one power against the other and to develop closer ties with the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia
.
In his message to Vladimir Lenin
, the leader of the Russian Bolshevik
s, dated 26 April 1920, Kemal promised to coordinate his military operations with the Bolsheviks' "fight against imperialist governments" and requested five million lira
in gold as well as armaments "as first aid" to his forces. In 1920 alone, the Lenin government supplied the Kemalists with 6,000 rifles, over five million rifle cartridges, 17,600 projectiles as well as 200.6 kg of gold bullion; in the following two years the amount of aid increased. Conversely the Armenians
received from the Allies
in July
1920 about 40,000 uniforms and 25,000 rifles with a great amount of ammunition.
It was only in August 1920 that the Allies drafted the peace settlement of the Near East in the form of the Treaty of Sèvres
. Despite the fact that the United States had refused to assume the Armenian mandate in May of that year, the Allies delegated that the US draw the western boundaries of the republic, which ultimately awarded it with four of the six eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, with an outlet to the Black Sea
. The Treaty of Sèvres only served to confirm Kemal's suspicions about Allied plans to partition the empire and his decision to order the invasion of Armenia was, in historian Richard G. Hovannisian
's words, meant to show them that "the treaty would not be accepted and that there would be no peace until the West was ready to offer new terms in keeping with the principles of the Turkish National Pact."
was assigned command of the newly formed Eastern Front
on June 9, 1920 and was given the authority of a field army
over all civil and military officials in the Eastern Front on June 13 or 14. Skirmishes between Kemal's forces and the Armenian military in the border of Kars were frequent during that summer, although full-scale hostilities did not break out until September. Convinced that the Allies would not come to the defense of Armenia and aware of the fact that Armenia's leaders had failed to get Soviet Russia to recognize the country's independence, Kemal gave the order to commanding general Kâzım Karabekir
to advance into Armenia. At 2:30 in the morning of September 13, five battalions from the Turkish XV Army Corps
crossed the Turkish-Armenian border and surprised the thinly spread and unprepared Armenian armies at Olti and Peniak (now Penek village in Şenkaya
district). By dawn, Karabekir's forces had occupied Peniak and the Armenians had suffered at least 200 casualties and been forced to retreat east towards Sarikamish
. As neither the Allied powers nor Soviet Russia reacted to the Turkish invasion, on September 20 Kemal authorized Karabekir to push onwards and take Kars
and Kaghisman
.
By this time, Karabekir's army had grown to the size of four divisions (consisting of 25,000 men). At 3:00 in the morning of September 28, the four divisions of the XV Army Corps advanced towards Sarikamish and created such anxiety and panic that the town was abandoned by the Armenians when they entered it at dawn the next day. They then started towards Kars but this assault was delayed by Armenian resistance. In early October, the Armenian government pleaded that the Allies intervene and put a halt to the Turkish advance, to no avail. Most of Britain's available forces in the Near East were concentrated on crushing the tribal uprisings in the Iraq, while France and Italy faced similar difficulties in the French Mandate of Syria
and Italian-controlled Antalya
. Neighboring Georgia declared neutrality during the conflict.
On October 11, Soviet plenipotentiary Boris Legran
arrived in Yerevan with a text to negotiate a new Soviet-Armenian agreement. The agreement signed at October 24 secured Soviet support. The most important part of this agreement was on Kars, which Armenia agreed to secure. The Turkish national movement was not happy with possible agreement between the Soviets and Armenia. Karabekir was informed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
regarding the Boris Legran agreement and ordered to resolve the Kars issue. The same day the agreement between Armenia and Soviet was signed, Karabekir moved his forces toward Kars.
, Armenia
) On November 12, the Turks also captured the strategic village of Agin, northeast of the ruins of the former Armenian capital of Ani and then planned to move towards Yerevan. On November 13, Georgia broke its neutrality after concluding an agreement with Armenia to invade the disputed region of Lori
which was established as a Neutral Zone (the Shulavera Condominium) between the two nations in early 1919.
The Turks, headquartered in Alexandropol, presented the Armenians with an ultimatum which they were forced to accept. However, this was followed by a more radical demand which threatened the existence of Armenia as a viable entity. The Armenians at first rejected this demand, but when Karabekir's forces continued to advance, they had little choice but to capitulate. On November 18, 1920, a cease-fire agreement was concluded.
However, as the terms of defeat were being negotiated between Karabekir and Armenian Foreign Minister Alexander Khatisyan
, Joseph Stalin
, on the command of Vladimir Lenin
, ordered Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze
to enter Armenia from Azerbaijan in order to establish a new pro-Bolshevik government in the country. On November 29, the Soviet Eleventh Army invaded Armenia at Karavansarai (present-day Ijevan
). Fearing the capture of Yerevan
and Echmiadzin
by Turkish forces in the case that the Bolsheviks should not arrive, the Armenians signed the Treaty of Alexandropol
on December 2 with Turkey in which Armenia was to disarm most of its military forces, cede more than 50% of its pre-war territory, and to give up all the territories granted to it at the Treaty of Sèvres, which was not ratified by the Armenian Parliament as the Soviet invasion took place at the same time.
(20 November) and Karabakh
(21 November), the 11th Red Army under the command of Anatoliy Hekker (Anatoli Gekker)
crossed the demarcation line between the Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. The second Soviet-Armenian war lasted only a week. Exhausted by the six years of permanent wars and conflicts, the Armenian army and population were incapable of any further active resistance.
When, on December 4, 1920, the Red Army entered Yerevan, the government of Armenian Republic effectively surrendered. On December 5, the Armenian Revolutionary Committee (Revkom, consisting mostly of Armenians from Azerbaijan
) also entered the city. Finally, on the following day, the December 6, the Cheka
, Felix Dzerzhinsky's dreaded secret police, entered Yerevan. At this point, Armenia ceased to exist.
Soon afterward, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed.
(which proclaimed Turkish Republic in 1923), and the RSFSR. The "Treaty on Friendship and Brotherhood" also called the Treaty of Moscow
, signed on March 16, 1921 and the following Treaty of Kars
, which was signed in Kars
by the representatives Azerbaijan SSR
, Armenian SSR
, Georgian SSR, and the GNAT ceded Adjara
to Soviet Georgia in exchange for the Kars territory (today the Turkish provinces of Kars
, Iğdır
, and Ardahan
).
Under the treaties, an autonomous Nakhchivan oblast under Azerbaijan's protectorate was established.
Democratic Republic of Armenia
The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...
by the Turkish Revolutionaries of the Turkish National Movement
Turkish National Movement
The Turkish National Movement encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries which resulted in the creation and shaping of the Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I....
in the autumn of 1920. In a span of four months, Mustafa Kemal Pasha's Turkish Nationalist armies, financed and armed largely by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
, were able to occupy the western portions of Armenia and impose a harsh settlement which resulted in the loss of over half its territory.
The Turkish military victory was followed by Soviet Russia's occupation and sovietization of the rest of the DRA. The Treaty of Moscow
Treaty of Moscow (1921)
The Treaty of Moscow or Treaty of Brotherhood was a friendship treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Bolshevist Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, signed on 16 March 1921...
between Soviet Russia and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
(March 1920) and the identical Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
(October 1920) finalized the effective partitioning of Armenia between Turkey and Soviet Russia, with the subsequent creation of the USSR's Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Background
With the dissolution of the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in the wake of the February 1917 revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
and the Transcaucasian Federation in May 1918 the Armenians of the South Caucasus were left little recourse but to declare their independence and formally establish the Democratic Republic of Armenia
Democratic Republic of Armenia
The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...
. In its two years of existence, the tiny republic, with its capital in Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, was beset with a number of debilitating problems, ranging from fierce territorial disputes with its neighbors and an appalling refugee crisis.
Armenia's most crippling problem, however, was its dispute with its neighbor to the west, the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. In 1915, the Young Turk leadership of the Ottoman Empire had embarked on a systematic campaign to annihilate the Armenians
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
living both within its borders and those living in former Russian Armenia
Russian Armenia
Russian Armenia is the period of Armenia's history under Russian rule beginning from 1829, when Eastern Armenia became part of the Russian Empire to the declaration of the Democratic Republic of Armenia in 1918...
. Although the armies of the Ottoman Empire eventually occupied the South Caucasus in the summer of 1918 and stood poised to crush the republic, Armenia was able to resist until the end October, when the empire surrendered
Armistice of Mudros
The Armistice of Moudros , concluded on 30 October 1918, ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I...
to the Allied powers
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
. Though the Ottoman Empire saw their country come under partial occupation by the Allies, they did not immediately withdraw their forces from the pre-war Russo-Turkish boundary until February of the following year, and many troops remained mobilized along this frontier.
Bolshevik and Turkish nationalist movements
During the First World War and in the ensuing peace negotiations in ParisParis Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
, the victorious Allies had vowed to punish the Young Turks and reward the eastern provinces of the empire to the nascent Armenian republic. The Allies, however, placed their main priority on concluding the peace treaties with Germany and the other European members of the Central Powers. In matters related to the Near East, the principal powers, Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States, had conflicting interests over the spheres of influence they were to assume. The crippling internal disputes between the Allies, as well as the United States' indecisiveness in accepting a mandate over Armenia, in particular, ultimately allowed disaffected elements in Anatolia in 1920 to coalesce and form the Turkish National Movement
Turkish National Movement
The Turkish National Movement encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries which resulted in the creation and shaping of the Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I....
, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Opposed to any territorial concessions to Armenia, as outlined in the Turkish National Pact
Misak-i Millî
Misak-ı Millî is the set of six important decisions made by the last term of the Ottoman Parliament. Parliament met on 28 January 1920 and published their decisions on 12 February 1920...
, the Nationalists attempted to play off the rivalry of one power against the other and to develop closer ties with the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
.
In his message to Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, the leader of the Russian Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s, dated 26 April 1920, Kemal promised to coordinate his military operations with the Bolsheviks' "fight against imperialist governments" and requested five million lira
Turkish lira
The Turkish lira is the currency of Turkey and the de facto independent state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The lira is subdivided into 100 kuruş...
in gold as well as armaments "as first aid" to his forces. In 1920 alone, the Lenin government supplied the Kemalists with 6,000 rifles, over five million rifle cartridges, 17,600 projectiles as well as 200.6 kg of gold bullion; in the following two years the amount of aid increased. Conversely the Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
received from the Allies
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
in July
July
July is the seventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days. It is, on average, the warmest month in most of the Northern hemisphere and the coldest month in much of the Southern hemisphere...
1920 about 40,000 uniforms and 25,000 rifles with a great amount of ammunition.
It was only in August 1920 that the Allies drafted the peace settlement of the Near East in the form of the Treaty of Sèvres
Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...
. Despite the fact that the United States had refused to assume the Armenian mandate in May of that year, the Allies delegated that the US draw the western boundaries of the republic, which ultimately awarded it with four of the six eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, with an outlet to the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. The Treaty of Sèvres only served to confirm Kemal's suspicions about Allied plans to partition the empire and his decision to order the invasion of Armenia was, in historian Richard G. Hovannisian
Richard G. Hovannisian
Richard G. Hovannisian is an American historian and scholar. He was born and raised in Tulare, California. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles. He was also Associate Professor of History at...
's words, meant to show them that "the treaty would not be accepted and that there would be no peace until the West was ready to offer new terms in keeping with the principles of the Turkish National Pact."
Armenian offensive towards Muslim shuras
Armenian offensive towards Olti and Bardiz areas
Sarikamish
According to Turkish and Soviet sources, Turkish plans to invade Armenia were already in place as early as June 1920. Using Turkish sources, Bilâl Şimşir has identified mid-June as to when exactly the Ankara government began to prepare for a campaign in the east. Kâzım KarabekirKazim Karabekir
Musa Kâzım Karabekir was a Turkish general and politician. He was commander of the Eastern Army in the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey before his death.-Early years:Karabekir was born in 1882 as the son of an Ottoman General,...
was assigned command of the newly formed Eastern Front
Eastern Front (Turkey)
The Eastern Front is one of the fronts of the Army of the Grand National Assembly during the Turkish War of Independence. Its commanded all military units in Eastern Region...
on June 9, 1920 and was given the authority of a field army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
over all civil and military officials in the Eastern Front on June 13 or 14. Skirmishes between Kemal's forces and the Armenian military in the border of Kars were frequent during that summer, although full-scale hostilities did not break out until September. Convinced that the Allies would not come to the defense of Armenia and aware of the fact that Armenia's leaders had failed to get Soviet Russia to recognize the country's independence, Kemal gave the order to commanding general Kâzım Karabekir
Kazim Karabekir
Musa Kâzım Karabekir was a Turkish general and politician. He was commander of the Eastern Army in the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey before his death.-Early years:Karabekir was born in 1882 as the son of an Ottoman General,...
to advance into Armenia. At 2:30 in the morning of September 13, five battalions from the Turkish XV Army Corps
XV Corps (Ottoman Empire)
The XV Corps of the Ottoman Empire was one of the corps of the Ottoman Army. It was formed during the World War I...
crossed the Turkish-Armenian border and surprised the thinly spread and unprepared Armenian armies at Olti and Peniak (now Penek village in Şenkaya
Senkaya
Şenkaya is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is Görbil Özcan . the population is 2,803 ....
district). By dawn, Karabekir's forces had occupied Peniak and the Armenians had suffered at least 200 casualties and been forced to retreat east towards Sarikamish
Sarıkamış
Sarıkamış is a town and a district of Kars Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The population is 17,860 as of 2010.The town sits in a valley and is surrounded by mountains, many of which are covered with pine forests. It has very long winters, with average of 7–8 ft of...
. As neither the Allied powers nor Soviet Russia reacted to the Turkish invasion, on September 20 Kemal authorized Karabekir to push onwards and take Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
and Kaghisman
Kagizman
Kağızman is a town and district of Kars Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The population is 17,144 as of 2010. The mayor is Mehmet Alkan.-References:...
.
By this time, Karabekir's army had grown to the size of four divisions (consisting of 25,000 men). At 3:00 in the morning of September 28, the four divisions of the XV Army Corps advanced towards Sarikamish and created such anxiety and panic that the town was abandoned by the Armenians when they entered it at dawn the next day. They then started towards Kars but this assault was delayed by Armenian resistance. In early October, the Armenian government pleaded that the Allies intervene and put a halt to the Turkish advance, to no avail. Most of Britain's available forces in the Near East were concentrated on crushing the tribal uprisings in the Iraq, while France and Italy faced similar difficulties in the French Mandate of Syria
French Mandate of Syria
Officially the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
and Italian-controlled Antalya
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...
. Neighboring Georgia declared neutrality during the conflict.
On October 11, Soviet plenipotentiary Boris Legran
Boris Legran
Boris Vasilyevich Legran or Legrand was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet official who represented the interests of the Russian SFSR in Armenia and Transcaucasia, during the 1920s and worked as a consular official in China during the 1920s.He also was the director of the State Hermitage Museum...
arrived in Yerevan with a text to negotiate a new Soviet-Armenian agreement. The agreement signed at October 24 secured Soviet support. The most important part of this agreement was on Kars, which Armenia agreed to secure. The Turkish national movement was not happy with possible agreement between the Soviets and Armenia. Karabekir was informed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
regarding the Boris Legran agreement and ordered to resolve the Kars issue. The same day the agreement between Armenia and Soviet was signed, Karabekir moved his forces toward Kars.
Capture of Kars and Alexandropol
On October 24, Karabekir's forces launched a new, massive campaign against Kars. Rather than fighting for the city, the Armenians abandoned Kars which by October 30 came under full Turkish occupation. Turkish forces continued to advance, and a week after the capture of Kars, they took control of the city of Alexandropol (present-day GyumriGyumri
Gyumri is the capital and largest city of the Shirak Province in northwest Armenia. It is located about 120 km from the capital Yerevan, and, with a population of 168,918 , is the second-largest city in Armenia.The name of the city has been changed many times in history...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
) On November 12, the Turks also captured the strategic village of Agin, northeast of the ruins of the former Armenian capital of Ani and then planned to move towards Yerevan. On November 13, Georgia broke its neutrality after concluding an agreement with Armenia to invade the disputed region of Lori
Lori (province)
Lori is a province of Armenia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Georgia. Its capital is Vanadzor and Stepanavan is its second largest city...
which was established as a Neutral Zone (the Shulavera Condominium) between the two nations in early 1919.
Treaty of Alexandropol
However, as the terms of defeat were being negotiated between Karabekir and Armenian Foreign Minister Alexander Khatisyan
Alexander Khatisyan
Alexander Khatisyan was an Armenian politician and a journalist. He served as the mayor of Tiflis from 1910 to 1917. During this period Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov consulted with him, the primate of Tbilisi, Bishop Mesrop, and the prominent civic leader Dr. Hakob Zavriev about the...
, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, on the command of Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, ordered Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze
Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze
Grigol Ordzhonikidze ორჯონიკიძე - Grigol Orjonikidze, , generally known as Sergo Ordzhonikidze ; – February 18, 1937) was a Georgian Bolshevik, later member of the CPSU Politburo and close friend to Joseph Stalin...
to enter Armenia from Azerbaijan in order to establish a new pro-Bolshevik government in the country. On November 29, the Soviet Eleventh Army invaded Armenia at Karavansarai (present-day Ijevan
Ijevan
Ijevan now is a city in Armenia and the capital of Tavush region. It is located in the northern part of the region, on the foot of Ijevan ridge and Nal'teket ridge on both banks of Aghstev River. The city's current name, Ijevan, and its former name Karavansara both mean "inn" , in Armenian and...
). Fearing the capture of Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
and Echmiadzin
Echmiadzin
Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin is a 4th century Armenian church in the town of Ejmiatsin, Armenia. It is also the central cathedral of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church....
by Turkish forces in the case that the Bolsheviks should not arrive, the Armenians signed the Treaty of Alexandropol
Treaty of Alexandropol
The Treaty of Alexandropol was a peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of Armenia and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ending the Turkish-Armenian War, signed on December 2, 1920, before the declaration of the Republic of Turkey. It was the first treaty signed by Turkish...
on December 2 with Turkey in which Armenia was to disarm most of its military forces, cede more than 50% of its pre-war territory, and to give up all the territories granted to it at the Treaty of Sèvres, which was not ratified by the Armenian Parliament as the Soviet invasion took place at the same time.
Aftermath
In late November 1920, there was yet another Soviet-backed communist uprising in Armenia. On November 28, 1920, blaming Armenia for the invasions of SharurSharur
Sharur is an rayon of Azerbaijan in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.-History:Sharur formed part of the territory of the Nakhichevan Khanate until its abolition in 1828. In the Russian empire it was made a part of the Armenian Oblast. After the oblast was abolished, it became a part of...
(20 November) and Karabakh
Karabakh
The Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...
(21 November), the 11th Red Army under the command of Anatoliy Hekker (Anatoli Gekker)
Anatoli Gekker
Anatoli Ilyich Gekker was a Soviet military commander involved in the Russian Civil War.Gekker was born into a family of a military doctor in Tiflis , Georgia, then part of Imperial Russia. Having graduated from Vladimir Military School in St Petersburg , he briefly attended the General Staff...
crossed the demarcation line between the Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. The second Soviet-Armenian war lasted only a week. Exhausted by the six years of permanent wars and conflicts, the Armenian army and population were incapable of any further active resistance.
When, on December 4, 1920, the Red Army entered Yerevan, the government of Armenian Republic effectively surrendered. On December 5, the Armenian Revolutionary Committee (Revkom, consisting mostly of Armenians from Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
) also entered the city. Finally, on the following day, the December 6, the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
, Felix Dzerzhinsky's dreaded secret police, entered Yerevan. At this point, Armenia ceased to exist.
Soon afterward, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed.
Settlement
The violence in Transcaucasia was finally settled in a friendship treaty between the Grand National Assembly of TurkeyGrand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
(which proclaimed Turkish Republic in 1923), and the RSFSR. The "Treaty on Friendship and Brotherhood" also called the Treaty of Moscow
Treaty of Moscow (1921)
The Treaty of Moscow or Treaty of Brotherhood was a friendship treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Bolshevist Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, signed on 16 March 1921...
, signed on March 16, 1921 and the following Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
, which was signed in Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
by the representatives Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
, Armenian SSR
Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet...
, Georgian SSR, and the GNAT ceded Adjara
Adjara
Adjara , officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara , is an autonomous republic of Georgia.Adjara is located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea...
to Soviet Georgia in exchange for the Kars territory (today the Turkish provinces of Kars
Kars Province
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were until the 1990s part of Kars Province.-History:...
, Iğdır
Igdir Province
Iğdır Province is a province in eastern Turkey, located along the border with Armenia, Azerbaijan , and Iran. Its adjacent provinces are Kars to the northwest and Ağrı to the west and south...
, and Ardahan
Ardahan Province
Ardahan Province is a province in the far north-east of Turkey, at the very end of the country, where Turkey borders with Georgia . The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan.- Geography :...
).
Under the treaties, an autonomous Nakhchivan oblast under Azerbaijan's protectorate was established.
See also
- Armenian-Azerbaijani war (1918 - 1920)
- Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)The Greco–Turkish War of 1919–1922, known as the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey and the Asia Minor Campaign or the Asia Minor Catastrophe in Greece, was a series of military events occurring during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I between May...
- Caucasus CampaignCaucasus CampaignThe Caucasus Campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, later including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Central Caspian Dictatorship and the UK as part of the Middle Eastern theatre or alternatively named as part of the Caucasus Campaign during World War I...
- Treaty of KarsTreaty of KarsThe Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...