Page 78 - History of War - Issue 30-16

BRIEFING

as thousands expressed solidarity alongside “ARMENIA’S CURRENT Azeri soldiers feed ammunition belts
– inspired further demonstrations in Yerevan
the secessionists. In February that same year, BORDERS DON’T REFLECT while another assembles a rocket in
preparation for another attack near
a vote by local Soviet ofi cials in Nagorno- the village of Gulabird
Moscow, knowing this could inl ame ethnic ITS TRUE EXPANSE THAT
Karabakh favoured unii cation.
hatred, remained cautious and refused to STRETCHES WELL INTO TURKEY
act. This was a prudent move. In 1986, the
appointment of a Russian to the Kazakhstan AND NORTHERN IRAN”
Soviet’s highest ofi ce sparked riots that
were put down with force. Then came the
massive earthquake that devastated Yerevan threatened by the Sassanid Persians, Armenia
in December 1988. Meanwhile, in Azerbaijan was recognised as the i rst truly Christian
angry mobs launched pogroms against nation. Therefore, it was natural to seek aid
Armenians in the cities of Sumqayit and Baku from the i rst Christian Empire, the Byzantines.
History was moving at too fast a pace. A As Constantinople’s power ebbed, domination
cataclysm was bound to happen. by Islamic Arabs, Islamised Persia and the
Mongols would shape the lives and customs
The People of Ararat of their Armenian subjects. Imperial Russia’s
With a total population numbering less than 3 involvement with the Christian Armenians only
million, Armenia today is a poster child for a occurred during the reign of the czar, Peter
small developing country. It’s a scenic nation, the Great, who sought to chip away at the
typical of the greater Caucasus, where rolling gunpowder empires, both Ottoman and Safavid,
hills give way to orchards and snow-capped at his doorstep.
mountains. Its capital, Yerevan, is an appealing It was this constant cycle of warfare,
mix of utilitarian apartment blocks and broad invasion, and displacement that further
avenues. Foreign investors, who are lured by its scattered the Armenian people and lent them
agricultural sector and mines, bring their money cosmopolitanism that benei ts their host
to Armenia. nations. Almost two centuries of intermittent
From the rooftops of Yerevan it’s possible warfare would culminate in the Armenian
to gaze at Mount Ararat, an ancient biblical protectorate annexed by Czar Nicholas I in
landmark that symbolises Armenia’s despair. 1840. By then the localised interests of the
The other side of Ararat is controlled by Turkey Armenians and the strategic interests of Russia
– whose earlier incarnation, the Ottoman were joined at the hip.
Empire, annexed Armenia in the 16th century But Christian Armenia under the Russians
and perpetrated the single greatest outrage on was a different world from the Armenians
its people a hundred years ago. The ultimate across the border that numbered among the
lesson is a tragic one. Armenia may survive non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman sultans.
and endure but it’s never completely and Although capable of rendering service to the
totally free, just like Artsakh. This shows in its most powerful Muslim empire in the 19th
demographics, where a greater percentage of century, the Armenians risked persecution from
Armenians are found abroad – Russia, France, their neighbours, the Kurds, and the intrigues
and North America host the largest Diaspora conceived by pashas.
communities – than in their homeland. It’s quite bizarre how the spirit of pan-Turkish
Armenia’s current borders don’t rel ect its nationalism inl uenced the Ottoman leadership
true expanse that stretches well into Turkey and once the Great War broke out. Fearing Russian
northern Iran. The modern Republic of Armenia meddling along their eastern border, a sinister
subscribes to the territory of ‘Eastern’ Armenia, project was undertaken to depopulate the
namely the chunk annexed by the Russians area of its Christian Armenians – even when
in the 18th century, minus the Nakhchivan 100,000 Armenian men had enlisted to i ght
enclave that’s part of Azerbaijan. against the Allies.
The Armenian peoples’ origins can be traced The result, of course, was the wholesale
9,000 years in the past. Like the Phoenicians, persecution, deportation, and slaughter visited
their reach and spread is difi cult to measure, on up to 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and
ranging from Europe, the Levant, Arabia, and children, although this i gure is widely disputed.
India. This long and twisting heritage, complete
with dynasties, martyrs, and embattled Caspian fi re
kingdoms, does reveal a single recurring thread The conl ict with the Azeris over Nagorno-
across two millennia. Karabakh is a parochial dispute that has
Whichever empire seeks to rule the vast unfortunately drawn regional giants. After all, the
frontier between Europe and Asia must control successor states of the three empires (Russian,
Armenia. At i rst it was the Romans in 30 BCE. Persian, Ottoman) who have always vied for the A statue of Lenin dominates a street
occupied by Armenian soldiers
By the time the grand churches of Yerevan were Caucasus each have a stake in the game.

1874 1905 1915 1920 1922
The Nobel brothers of The Russian Empire is gripped As the Russian empire is The Armenian genocide decimates The Transcaucasian republics
Sweden establish an oil by revolt as dissatisfaction battered on the Eastern front, the Transcaucasia’s Christian population, join the Union of Soviet Socialist
rei nery in Baku and strike with Czar Nicholas’ rule unites Armenian question is decided but the chaotic Russian Civil War Republics (USSR). This reduces the
it rich. 135 years later and workers, anarchists, and by Turkey: the plan is a mass leads to the short-lived independence independence of Georgia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan is recognised socialists against him. The displacement to Mesopotamia. of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both and Azerbaijan to mere autonomy
today as one of the oldest Czar feigns a compromise The consequences of this policy countries are eventually overrun by with their respective capitals
oil producing countries. then suppresses the revolt. are mass genocide. Bolshevik forces. subordinate to Moscow.

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