The
history of Armenia
covers the topics related to the history of the
Republic of Armenia
, as well as the
Armenian people
, the
Armenian language
, and the regions of
Eurasia
historically and
geographically
considered
Armenian
.
[1]
Armenia
is located between
Eastern Anatolia
and the
Armenian highlands
,
[1]
surrounding the Biblical mountains of
Ararat
. The
endonym
of the Armenians is
hay
, and the old
Armenian
name for the country is
Hayk'
(
Armenian
:
????
, which also means "Armenians" in
Classical Armenian
), later
Hayastan
(
Armenian
:
????????
).
[1]
Armenians traditionally associate this name with the legendary progenitor of the Armenian people,
Hayk
. The names Armenia and Armenian are
exonyms
, first attested in the
Behistun Inscription
of
Darius the Great
. The early Armenian historian
Movses Khorenatsi
derived the name Armenia from Aramaneak, the eldest son of the legendary Hayk.
[2]
Various theories exist about the origin of the endonym and exonyms of Armenia and Armenians (see
Name of Armenia
).
In the
Bronze Age
, several states flourished in the
Armenian highlands
, including the
Hittite Empire
(at the height of its power),
Mitanni
(southwestern historical Armenia), and
Hayasa-Azzi
(1600?1200 BC). Soon after the Hayasa-Azzi were the
Nairi tribal confederation
(1400?1000 BC) and the
Kingdom of Urartu
(1000?600 BC). Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the
ethnogenesis
of the
Armenian people
.
[3]
[4]
Yerevan
, the modern capital of Armenia, dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of
Erebuni
in 782 BC by King
Argishti I
at the western extreme of the
Ararat plain
.
[5]
Erebuni has been described as "designed as a great administrative and religious centre, a fully royal capital."
[6]
The Iron Age kingdom of
Urartu
was replaced by the
Orontid dynasty
, which ruled Armenia first as
satraps
under
Achaemenid Persian
rule and later as independent kings.
[7]
[8]
Following Persian and subsequent Macedonian rule, the
Kingdom of Greater Armenia
was established in 190 BC by
Artaxias I
, founder of the
Artaxiad dynasty
. The Kingdom of Armenia rose to the peak of its influence in the 1st century BC under
Tigranes the Great
before falling under Roman suzerainty.
[9]
In the 1st century AD, a branch of the ruling
Arsacid dynasty
of the
Parthian Empire
established itself on the throne of Armenia.
In the early 4th century,
Arsacid Armenia
became the first state to accept
Christianity
as its
state religion
. The Armenians later fell under
Byzantine
,
Sassanid Persian
, and
Islamic
hegemony, but reinstated their independence with the
Bagratid kingdom of Armenia
in the 9th century. After the fall of the kingdom in 1045, and the subsequent Seljuk conquest of Armenia in 1064, the Armenians established a kingdom in
Cilicia
, which existed until its destruction in 1375.
[10]
In the early 16th century, much of Armenia came under
Safavid Persian
rule; however, over the centuries
Western Armenia
fell under
Ottoman
rule, while
Eastern Armenia
remained under Persian rule.
[11]
By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia was conquered by Russia and Greater Armenia was divided between the Ottoman and Russian empires.
[12]
In the early 20th century, the Ottoman government subjected the Armenians to a
genocide
in which up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed and many more
were dispersed
throughout the world via
Syria
and
Lebanon
. In 1918, an independent
Republic of Armenia
was established in Eastern Armenia in the wake of the collapse of the
Russian Empire
. This republic fell under Soviet rule in 1920, and Armenia became a
republic
within the
Soviet Union
after its founding. In 1991, with the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
, the modern-day independent
Republic of Armenia
was established.
[13]
[14]
[15]
Prehistory
Stone tools from 325,000 years ago have been found in Armenia which indicate the presence of early humans at this time.
[16]
In the 1960s, excavations in the Yerevan 1 Cave uncovered evidence of ancient human habitation, including the remains of a 48,000-year-old heart, and a human cranial fragment and tooth of a similar age.
[
citation needed
]
The
Armenian Highland
shows traces of settlement from the
Neolithic
era. Archaeological surveys in 2010 and 2011 have resulted in the discovery of the world's earliest known leather shoe (3,500 BC), straw skirt (3,900 BC), and wine-making facility (4,000 BC) at the
Areni-1 cave complex
.
[17]
[18]
[19]
The
Shulaveri-Shomu culture
of the central
Transcaucasus
region is one of the earliest known prehistoric cultures in the area, carbon-dated to roughly 6000?4000 BC.
[
citation needed
]
Bronze Age
An early Bronze-Age culture in the area is the
Kura-Araxes culture
, assigned to the period between c. 4000 and 2200 BC. The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the
Ararat plain
; thence it spread to
Georgia
by 3000 BC (but never reaching
Colchis
), proceeding westward and to the south-east into an area below the Urmia basin and
Lake Van
.
From 2200 BC to 1600 BC, the
Trialeti-Vanadzor culture
flourished in Armenia, southern Georgia, and northeastern Turkey.
[20]
[21]
It has been speculated that this was an Indo-European culture.
[22]
[23]
[24]
Other, possibly related, cultures were spread throughout the Armenia Highlands during this time, namely in the
Aragats
and
Lake Sevan
regions.
[25]
[26]
[27]
Early 20th-century scholars suggested that the name "Armenia" may have possibly been recorded for the first time on an inscription which mentions
Armani
(or Armanum) together with
Ibla
, from territories conquered by
Naram-Sin
(2300 BC) identified with an
Akkadian
colony in the current region of
Diyarbekir
; however, the precise locations of both Armani and Ibla are unclear. Some modern researchers have placed Armani (Armi) in the general area of modern
Samsat
,
[28]
and have suggested it was populated, at least partially, by an early Indo-European-speaking people.
[29]
Today, the
Modern Assyrians
(who traditionally speak
Neo-Aramaic
, not
Akkadian
) refer to the Armenians by the name Armani.
[30]
It is possible that the name
Armenia
originates in
Armini
, Urartian for "inhabitant of Arme" or "Armean country."
[31]
The Arme tribe of Urartian texts may have been the Urumu, who in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north with their allies the
Mushki
and the
Kaskians
. The Urumu apparently settled in the vicinity of
Sason
, lending their name to the regions of Arme and the nearby land of Urme.
[32]
Thutmose III
of
Egypt
, in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BC), mentioned as the people of "Ermenen", claiming that in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars".
[33]
Armenia is possibly connected to
Mannaea
, which may be identical to the region of Minni mentioned in
The Bible
. However, what all these attestations refer to cannot be determined with certainty, and the earliest certain attestation of the name "Armenia" comes from the
Behistun Inscription
(c. 500 BC).
The earliest form of the word "Hayastan", an
endonym
for Armenia, might possibly be
Hayasa-Azzi
, a kingdom in the Armenian Highlands that was recorded in
Hittite
records dating from 1500 to 1200 BC.
Between 1200 and 800 BC, much of Armenia was united under a confederation of tribes, which Assyrian sources called
Nairi
("Land of Rivers" in Assyrian").
[34]
Iron Age
The Kingdom of Urartu, also known as the Kingdom of Van, flourished between the 9th century BC
[35]
and 585 BC
[36]
in the
Armenian Highland
. The founder of the Urartian Kingdom,
Arame
, united all the principalities of the Armenian Highland and gave himself the title "King of Kings", the traditional title of Urartian Kings.
[37]
The Urartians established their sovereignty over all of
Taron
and
Vaspurakan
. The main rival of Urartu was the
Neo-Assyrian Empire
.
[38]
During the reign of
Sarduri I
(834?828 BC), Urartu had become a strong and organized state, and imposed taxes on neighbouring tribes. Sarduri made
Tushpa
(modern
Van
) the capital of Urartu. His son,
Ishpuinis
, extended the borders of the state by conquering what would later be known as the
Tigranocerta
area and by reaching
Urmia
.
Menuas
(810?785 BC) extended the Urartian territory up north, by spreading towards the Araratian fields. He left more than 90 inscriptions by using the Mesopotamian
cuneiform
writing system in the
Urartian language
.
Argishtis I of Urartu
conquered
Latakia
from the Hittites,
[
citation needed
]
and reached
Byblos
,
[
citation needed
]
and
Phoenicia
.
[
citation needed
]
He built the
Erebuni Fortress
, located in modern-day
Yerevan
, in 782 BC by using 6600 prisoners of war.
[
citation needed
]
In 714 BC, the
Assyrians
under
Sargon II
defeated the Urartian King
Rusa I
at
Lake Urmia
and destroyed the holy Urartian temple at
Musasir
. At the same time, an
Indo-European
tribe called the
Cimmerians
attacked Urartu from the north-west region and destroyed the rest of his armies. Under
Ashurbanipal
(669?627 BC) the boundaries of the
Assyrian Empire
reached as far as Armenia and the Caucasus Mountains. The
Medes
under
Cyaxares
invaded Assyria later on in 612 BC, and then took over the Urartian capital of
Van
towards 585 BC, effectively ending the sovereignty of Urartu.
[39]
According to the Armenian tradition, the Medes helped the Armenians establish the
Orontid
dynasty.
[40]
Antiquity
Orontid dynasty
After the fall of Urartu around 585 BC, the
Satrapy of Armenia
arose, ruled by the Armenian
Orontid Dynasty
, which governed the state in 585?190 BC. Under the Orontids, Armenia during this era was a
satrapy
of the
Persian Empire
, and after its disintegration (in 330 BC), it became an independent kingdom. During the rule of the Orontid dynasty, most Armenians adopted the
Zoroastrian
religion.
[41]
Artaxiad dynasty
The Hellenistic
Seleucid Empire
, controlled Syria, Armenia, and vast other eastern regions. However, after their defeat by Rome in 190 BC, the Seleucids relinquished control of any regional claim past the Taurus Mountains, limiting Seleucids to a quickly diminishing area of Syria. A Hellenistic Armenian state was founded in 190 BC. It was a
Hellenistic
successor state of
Alexander the Great
's short-lived empire, with Artaxias becoming its first king and the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty (190 BC?AD 1). At the same time, a western portion of the kingdom split as a separate state under Zariadris, which became known as
Lesser Armenia
while the main kingdom acquired the name of
Greater Armenia
.
[36]
The new kings began a program of expansion which was to reach its zenith a century later. Their acquisitions are summarized by Strabo. Zariadris acquired
Acilisene
and the "country around the Antitaurus", possibly the district of Muzur or west of the
Euphrates
. Artaxias took lands from the Medes, Iberians, and Syrians. He then had confrontations with
Pontus
, Seleucid Syria and Cappadocia, and was included in the treaty which followed the victory of a group of Anatolian kings over Pharnaces of Pontus in 181 BC. Pharnaces thus abandoned all of his gains in the west.
[42]
At its zenith, from 95 to 66 BC, Greater Armenia extended its rule over parts of the Caucasus and the area that is now eastern and central
Turkey
, north-western
Iran
,
Israel
,
Syria
and
Lebanon
, forming the second Armenian empire. For a time, Armenia was one of the most powerful states east of Rome. It eventually confronted the
Roman Republic
in wars, which it lost in 66 BC, but nonetheless preserved its sovereignty. Tigranes continued to rule Armenia as an ally of Rome until his death in 55 BC.
[43]
The
Third Mithridatic War
and defeat of the King of Pontus by Roman
Pompeius
resulted in the Kingdom of Armenia becoming an allied client state of Rome. Later on, in 1 AD, Armenia came under full
Roman
control until the establishment of the Armenian Arsacid dynasty. The Armenian people then adopted a Western political, philosophical, and religious orientation. According to Strabo, around this time everyone in Armenia spoke "the same language."
[44]
Roman Armenia
From
Pompeius
' campaign Armenia was, for the next few centuries, contested between Rome and Parthia/Sassanid Persia on the other hand. Roman emperor
Trajan
even created a short-lived Province of Armenia between 114 and 118 AD.
[45]
Indeed, Roman supremacy was fully established by the
campaigns
of
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
,
[46]
that ended with a formal compromise: a Parthian prince of the
Arsacid
line would henceforth sit on the Armenian throne, but his nomination had to be approved by the Roman emperor.
Because this agreement was not respected by the Parthian Empire, in 114
Trajan
from
Antiochia
in Syria marched on Armenia and conquered the capital
Artaxata
. Trajan then deposed the Armenian king
Parthamasiris
(imposed by the Parthians) and ordered the annexation of Armenia to the Roman Empire as a new province.
The new province reached the shores of the
Caspian Sea
and bordered to the north with
Caucasian Iberia
and
Caucasian Albania
, two vassal states of Rome. As a Roman province Armenia was administered by Catilius Severus of the
Gens Claudia
. After Trajan's death, however, his successor
Hadrian
decided not to maintain the province of Armenia. In 118 AD, Hadrian gave Armenia up, and installed
Parthamaspates
as its "vassal" king.
Arsacid dynasty
Armenia, under its
Arshakuni dynasty
, which was a branch of the eponymous Arsacid dynasty of Parthia, was often a focus of contention between Rome and Parthia.
[47]
The Parthians forced Armenia into submission from 37 to 47, when the Romans retook control of the kingdom.
Under
Nero
, the Romans fought a
campaign (55?63)
against the
Parthian Empire
, which had invaded the kingdom of Armenia, allied to the Romans. After gaining (60) and losing (62) Armenia, the Romans under
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
,
legate
of
Syria
entered (63) into an agreement of
Vologases I of Parthia
, which confirmed
Tiridates I
as king of Armenia, thus founding the Arshakuni dynasty.
The Arsacid dynasty lost control of Armenia for a few years when emperor
Trajan
created the "Roman Province of Armenia", fully included into the
Roman Empire
from 114 to 117 AD. His successor,
Hadrian
, reinstalled the Arsacid Dynasty when he nominated
Parthamaspates
as "vassal" king of Armenia in 118 AD.
Another campaign was led by Emperor
Lucius Verus
in 162?165, after
Vologases IV
of Parthia had invaded Armenia and installed his chief general on its throne. To counter the Parthian threat, Verus set out for the east. His army won significant victories and retook the capital.
Sohaemus
, a Roman citizen of Armenian heritage, was installed as the new
client king
.
[48]
The
Sassanid
Persians occupied Armenia in 252 and held it until the Romans returned in 287. In 384 the kingdom was split between the
Byzantine Empire
and the Persians.
[49]
Western Armenia quickly became a province of the Roman Empire under the name of
Armenia Minor
; Eastern Armenia remained a kingdom within Persia until 428, when the local nobility overthrew the king, and the Sassanids installed a governor in his place.
According to tradition, the
Armenian Apostolic Church
was established by two of Jesus'
twelve apostles
?
Thaddaeus
and
Bartholomew
? who preached Christianity in Armenia in the 40s?60s AD.
[50]
Between 1st and 4th centuries AD, the Armenian Church was headed by patriarchs.
Christianization
In 301, Armenia became the first nation to adopt
Christianity
as a state religion,
[55]
amidst the long-lasting geo-political rivalry over the region. It established a church that today exists independently of both the
Catholic
and the
Eastern Orthodox
churches, having become so in 451 after having rejected the
Council of Chalcedon
.
[56]
The
Armenian Apostolic Church
is a part of the
Oriental Orthodox
communion, not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox communion. The first
Catholicos
of the Armenian church was Saint
Gregory the Illuminator
.
[57]
Because of his beliefs, he was persecuted by the pagan king of Armenia, and was "punished" by being thrown in
Khor Virap
, in modern-day Armenia.
[58]
He acquired the title of Illuminator, because he illuminated the spirits of Armenians by introducing Christianity to them. Before this, the dominant religion amongst the Armenians was
Zoroastrianism
.
[59]
Scholars have suggested that Armenia adopted Christianity "partly . . . in defiance" of the Sassanids.
[60]
In 405?06, Armenia's political future seemed uncertain. With the help of the King of Armenia,
Mesrop Mashtots
created a unique alphabet to suit the people's needs.
[
clarification needed
]
[61]
By doing so, he ushered in a new
Golden Age
and strengthened Armenian national identity.
[
citation needed
]
After years of rule, the Arsacid dynasty fell in 428, with Eastern Armenia being subjugated to Persia and Western Armenia, to Rome. In the 5th century, the Sassanid Shah
Yazdegerd II
tried to tie his Christian Armenian subjects more closely to the Sassanid Empire by reimposing the Zoroastrian religion.
[62]
The Armenians greatly resented this, and as a result, a rebellion broke out with Vartan Mamikonian as the leader of the rebels. Yazdegerd thus massed his army and sent it to Armenia, where the
Battle of Avarayr
took place in 451. The 66,000 Armenian rebels,
[63]
mostly peasants, lost their morale when Mamikonian died in the battlefield. They were substantially outnumbered by the 180,000- to 220,000-strong
[64]
Persian army of
Immortals
and
war elephants
. Despite being a military defeat, the Battle of Avarayr and the subsequent guerilla war in Armenia eventually resulted in the Treaty of Nvarsak (484), which guaranteed religious freedom to the Armenians.
[65]
Persian Armenia
With the partition of Armenia in 387 by the Byzantines and
Sassanids
, the western half became part of the Byzantines known as
Byzantine Armenia
, while the eastern (and much larger half) became a vassal state within the Sassanid realm.
[66]
In 428, the
Arsacid dynasty of Armenia
was completely abolished by the Sassanid Persians, and the territory was made a full province within Persia, known as
Persian Armenia
.
[66]
Persian Armenia remained in Sassanid hands up to the
Muslim conquest of Persia
, when the invading Muslim forces annexed the Sassanid realm.
[67]
Middle Ages
Arab Caliphates, Byzantium and Bagratid Armenia
In 591, the Byzantine Emperor
Maurice
defeated the Persians and recovered much of the remaining territory of Armenia into the empire.
[68]
The conquest was completed by the Emperor
Heraclius
, himself ethnically Armenian,
[69]
[70]
[71]
in 629. In 645, the Muslim Arab armies of the
Caliphate
had
attacked and conquered the country
. Armenia, which once had its own rulers and was at other times under Persian and Byzantine control, passed largely into the power of the Caliphs, and established the province of
Arminiya
.
Nonetheless, there were still parts of Armenia held within the Empire, containing many Armenians. This population held tremendous power within the empire. Emperor
Heraclius
(610?641) was of Armenian descent, as was Emperor
Philippikos Bardanes
(711?713). The Emperor
Basil I
, who took the Byzantine throne in 867, was the first of what is sometimes called the Armenian dynasty (see
Macedonian dynasty
), reflecting the strong effect the Armenians had on the
Byzantine Empire
.
[72]
Evolving as a feudal kingdom in the ninth century, Armenia experienced a brief cultural, political and economic renewal under the
Bagratuni dynasty
.
Bagratid Armenia
was eventually recognized as a sovereign kingdom by the two major powers in the region: Baghdad in 885, and Constantinople in 886.
Ani
, the new Armenian capital, was constructed at the Kingdom's apogee in 964.
[73]
Sallarid dynasty
The
Iranian
[74]
[75]
Sallarid dynasty
conquered parts of Eastern Armenia in the second half of the 10th century.
[76]
Seljuq Armenia
Although the native Bagratuni dynasty was founded under favourable circumstances, the feudal system gradually weakened the country by eroding loyalty to the central government. Thus internally enfeebled, Armenia proved an easy victim for the Byzantines, who captured Ani in 1045. The
Seljuk dynasty
under
Alp Arslan
in turn took the city in 1064.
[78]
In 1071, after the defeat of the Byzantine forces by the Seljuk Turks at the
Battle of Manzikert
, the Turks captured the rest of Greater Armenia and much of
Anatolia
.
[79]
So ended Christian leadership of Armenia for the next millennium with the exception of a period of the late 12th-early 13th centuries, when the Muslim power in Greater Armenia was seriously troubled by the resurgent
Kingdom of Georgia
. Many local nobles (
nakharars
) joined their efforts with the
Georgians
, leading to liberation of several areas in northern Armenia, which was ruled, under the authority of the Georgian crown, by the
Zakarids-Mkhargrzeli
, a prominent Armeno-Georgian noble family.
Mongol Armenia
The
Mongol invasions of Armenia and Georgia
brought a lot of devastation, but several
Armenian dynasties
of the 13th?14th century CE also managed to prosper as allies of the Mongols, such as the
Zakarians
, the
Orbelians
or the
Proshyans
.
[80]
They benefited from trade routes to China under the control of the Mongols, and their prosperity led them to build many magnificent churches and monasteries, such as
Spitakavor Astuatsatsin
.
[80]
[81]
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
To escape death or servitude at the hands of those who had assassinated his relative,
Gagik II
, King of
Ani
, an Armenian named
Roupen
with some of his countrymen went into the gorges of the Taurus Mountains and then into Tarsus of Cilicia. Here the Byzantine governor gave them shelter in the late 11th century. Two great dynastic families, the
Rubenids
and the
Hethumids
, ruled what became in 1199, with the coronation of
Levon I
, the
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
and through skillful diplomacy and military alliances (explained below) maintained their political autonomy until 1375.
[82]
The kingdom's political independence relied on a vast network of castles which controlled the mountain passes and the strategic harbours.
[83]
Almost all of the civilian settlements were located directly below or near these fortifications.
[84]
After the members of the first Crusade appeared in Asia Minor, the Armenians developed close ties to European
Crusader States
. They flourished in south-eastern
Asia Minor
until it was conquered by
Muslim
states. Count
Baldwin
, who with the rest of the Crusaders was passing through Asia Minor bound for Jerusalem, left the Crusader army and was adopted by
Thoros of Edessa
, an Armenian ruler of Greek Orthodox faith.
[85]
As they were hostile towards the
Seljuks
and unfriendly to the Byzantines, the Armenians took kindly to the crusader count. So when Thoros was assassinated, Baldwin was made ruler of the new crusader
County of Edessa
. It seems that the Armenians were pleased with Baldwin's rule and with the crusaders in general, and some number of them fought alongside the crusaders. When
Antioch
had been taken (1097), Constantine, the son of Roupen, received from the crusaders the title of baron.
[86]
The
Third Crusade
and other events elsewhere left Cilicia as the sole substantial Christian presence in the Middle East.
[85]
World powers, such as Byzantium, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy and even the
Abbasid
Caliph competed and vied for influence over the state and each raced to be the first to recognise
Leo II
, Prince of Lesser Armenia, as the rightful king. As a result, he had been given a crown by both German and Byzantine emperors. Representatives from across Christendom and a number of Muslim states attended the coronation, thus highlighting the important stature that Cilicia had gained over time.
[85]
The Armenian authorities was often in touch with the crusaders. No doubt the Armenians aided in some of the other crusades. Cilicia flourished greatly under Armenian rule, as it became the last remnant of Medieval Armenian statehood.
[87]
Cilicia acquired an Armenian identity, as the kings of Cilicia were called kings of the Armenians, not of the Cilicians.
In Lesser Armenia, Armenian culture was intertwined with both the European culture of the Crusaders and with the Hellenic culture of Cilicia. As the Catholic families extended their influence over Cilicia, the Pope wanted the Armenians to follow Catholicism. This situation divided the kingdom's inhabitants between pro-Catholic and pro-Apostolic camps. Armenian sovereignty lasted until 1375, when the Mamelukes of Egypt profited from the unstable situation in Lesser Armenia and destroyed it.
[88]
Early Modern period
Persian Armenia
Due to its strategic significance, the historical Armenian homelands of
Western Armenia
and
Eastern Armenia
were constantly fought over and passed back and forth between
Safavid Persia
and the
Ottomans
. For example, at the height of the
Ottoman?Persian Wars
, Yerevan changed hands fourteen times between 1513 and 1737. Greater Armenia was annexed in the early 16th century by Shah
Ismail I
.
[89]
Following the
Peace of Amasya
of 1555, Western Armenia fell into the neighbouring
Ottoman hands
, while Eastern Armenia stayed part of Safavid Iran, until the 19th century.
[
citation needed
]
In 1604,
Shah Abbas I
pursued a scorched-earth campaign against the Ottomans in the Ararat valley during the
Ottoman?Safavid War (1603?1618)
. The old Armenian town of
Julfa
in the province of
Nakhichevan
was taken early in the invasion. From there Abbas' army fanned out across the Araratian plain. The Shah pursued a careful strategy, advancing and retreating as the occasion demanded, determined not to risk his enterprise in a direct confrontation with stronger enemy forces.
While laying siege to
Kars
, he learned of the approach of a large Ottoman army, commanded by Djghazade
Sinan Pasha
. The order to withdraw was given; but to deny the enemy the potential to resupply themselves from the land, he ordered the wholesale destruction of the Armenian towns and farms on the plain. As part of this the whole population was ordered to accompany the Persian army in its withdrawal. Some 300,000 people were duly herded to the banks of the
Araxes River
. Those who attempted to resist the
mass deportation
were killed outright. The Shah had previously ordered the destruction of the only bridge, so people were forced into the waters, where a great many drowned, carried away by the currents, before reaching the opposite bank. This was only the beginning of their ordeal. One eye-witness, Father de Guyan, describes the predicament of the refugees thus:
- It was not only the winter cold that was causing torture and death to the deportees. The greatest suffering came from hunger. The provisions which the deportees had brought with them were soon consumed ... The children were crying for food or milk, none of which existed, because the women's breasts had dried up from hunger ... Many women, hungry and exhausted, would leave their famished children on the roadside, and continue their tortuous journey. Some would go to nearby forests in search of something to eat. Usually they would not come back. Often those who died, served as food for the living.
Unable to maintain his army on the desolate plain, Sinan Pasha was forced to winter in
Van
. Armies sent in pursuit of the Shah in 1605 were defeated, and by 1606 Abbas had regained all of the territory lost to the Turks earlier in his reign. The scorched-earth tactic had worked, though at a terrible cost to the Armenian people. Of the 300,000 deported it is calculated that less than half survived the march to
Isfahan
. In the conquered territories Abbas established the
Erivan Khanate
, a Muslim principality under the dominion of the
Safavid Empire
. Armenians formed less than 20% of its population
[90]
as a result of
Shah Abbas I
's deportation of many of the Armenian population from the Ararat valley and the surrounding region in 1605.
[91]
An often-used policy by the Persians was the appointment of Turks as local rulers as so called
khans
of their various
khanates
. These were counted as subordinate to the
Persian Empire
. Examples include: the
Khanate of Erevan
,
Khanate of Nakhichevan
and the
Karabakh Khanate
.
Even though Western Armenia had already once been conquered by the Ottomans following the Peace of Amasya, Greater Armenia was eventually decisively divided between the vying rivals, the Ottomans and the Safavids, in the first half of the 17th century following the
Ottoman?Safavid War (1623?1639)
and the resulting
Treaty of Zuhab
under which Eastern Armenia remained under Persian rule, and Western Armenia remained under Ottoman rule.
[11]
Persia continued to rule Eastern Armenia, which included all of the modern-day Armenian Republic, until the first half of the 19th century. By the late 18th century, Imperial Russia had started to encroach to the south into the land of its neighbours;
Qajar Iran
and Ottoman Turkey. In 1804,
Pavel Tsitsianov
invaded
the Iranian town of
Ganja
and massacred many of its inhabitants while making the rest flee deeper within the borders of Qajar Iran. This was a declaration of war and regarded as an invasion of Iranian territory.
It was the beginning of the
Russo-Persian War (1804?1813)
. The following years were devastating for the Iranian towns in the Caucasus as well as the inhabitants of the region, as well as for the Persian army. The war eventually ended in 1813 with a Russian victory after their successful
storming of Lankaran
in early 1813. The
Treaty of Gulistan
that was signed in the same year forced Qajar Iran to irrevocably cede significant amounts of its
Caucasian
territories to Russia, comprising modern-day
Dagestan
,
Georgia
, and most of what is today the
Republic of Azerbaijan
.
[93]
[94]
Karabakh
was also ceded to Russia by Persia.
[94]
The Persians were severely dissatisfied with the outcome of the war which led to the ceding of so much Persian territory to the Russians. As a result,
the next war between Russia and Persia was inevitable, namely the
Russo-Persian War (1826?1828)
. However, this war ended even more disastrously, as the Russians not only occupied as far as
Tabriz
, the ensuing treaty that followed, namely the
Treaty of Turkmenchay
of 1828, forced it to irrevocably cede its last remaining territories in the
Caucasus
, comprising all of modern-day Armenia,
Nakhchivan
and
I?dır Province
.
[96]
By 1828, Persia had lost Eastern Armenia, which included the territory of the modern-day Armenian Republic after centuries of rule. From 1828 until 1991, Eastern Armenia would enter
a Russian dominated chapter
. Following Russia's conquest of all of
Qajar Iran's
Caucasian territories, many Armenian families were encouraged to settle in the newly conquered Russian territories.
[
citation needed
]
[97]
Ottoman Armenia
Mehmed II
conquered
Constantinople
from the Byzantines in 1453, and made it the Ottoman Empire's capital. Mehmed and his successors used the religious systems of their subject nationalities as a method of population control, and so Ottoman Sultans invited an Armenian archbishop to establish the
Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople
. The Armenians of Constantinople grew in numbers, and became respected, if not full, members of Ottoman society.
The Ottoman Empire ruled in accordance to
Islamic law
. As such, the
People of the Book
(the
Christians
and the
Jews
) had to pay an extra tax to fulfil their status as
dhimmi
and in return were guaranteed religious autonomy. While the Armenians of
Constantinople
benefited from the
Sultan
's support and grew to be a prospering community, the same could not be said about the ones inhabiting
historic Armenia
.
During times of crisis the ones in the remote regions of mountainous
eastern Anatolia
were mistreated by local
Kurdish
chiefs and feudal lords. They often also had to suffer (alongside the settled Muslim population) raids by nomadic Kurdish tribes.
[98]
Armenians, like the other Ottoman Christians (though not to the same extent), had to transfer some of their healthy male children to the Sultan's government due to the
dev?irme
policies in place. The boys were then forced to convert to Islam (by threat of death otherwise) and educated to be fierce warriors in times of war, as well as
Beys
,
Pashas
and even
Grand Viziers
in times of peace.
[
citation needed
]
The Armenian national liberation movement was the Armenian effort to free the
historic Armenian homeland
of eastern
Anatolia
and
Transcaucasus
from
Russian
and Ottoman domination and re-establish the independent Armenian state. The national liberation movement of the
Balkan peoples
and the immediate involvement of the European powers in the Eastern question had a powerful effect on the development of the national liberation ideology movement among the
Armenians of the Ottoman Empire
.
[99]
The Armenian national movement, besides its individual heroes, was an organized activity represented around three parties of Armenian people,
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
,
Armenakan
and
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
, which ARF was the largest and most influential among the three. Those Armenians who did not support national liberation aspirations or who were neutral were called
chezoks
. In 1839, the situation of the Ottoman Armenians slightly improved after
Abdul Mejid I
carried out
Tanzimat
reforms in its territories. However, later Sultans, such as
Abdul Hamid II
stopped the reforms and carried out massacres, now known as the
Hamidian massacres
of 1895?96 leading to a failed Armenian attempt to
assassinate
him.
[100]
Russian Armenia
In the aftermath of the
Russo-Persian War, 1826?1828
, the parts of historic Armenia (also known as
Eastern Armenia
) under Persian control, centering on
Yerevan
and
Lake Sevan
, were incorporated into
Russia
after Qajar Persia's forced ceding in 1828 per the
Treaty of Turkmenchay
.
[101]
Under Russian rule, the area corresponding approximately to modern-day Armenian territory was called "Province of Yerevan". The Armenian subjects of the
Russian Empire
lived in relative safety, compared to their Ottoman kin, albeit clashes with
Tatars
and
Kurds
were frequent in the early 20th century.
[
citation needed
]
Even though Russian Armenians benefited from the advanced Russian culture, and greater access to European thought, and broader economic initiative, they were denied equal educational and administrative opportunities like many other racial and religious minorities.
[102]
The Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828 had further stipulated the rights of the Russian Tsar to resettle
Persian Armenians
within the newly conquered Caucasus region, which had been taken over from
Iran
. Following the resettlement of Persian Armenians alone in the newly conquered Russian territories, significant demographic shifts were bound to take place. The Armenian-American historian
George Bournoutian
gives a summary of the ethnic make up after those events:
[103]
In the first quarter of the 19th century the Khanate of Erevan included most of Eastern Armenia and covered an area of approximately 7,000 square miles [18,000 km
2
]. The land was mountainous and dry, the population of about 100,000 was roughly 80 percent Muslim (Persian, Azeri, Kurdish) and 20 percent Christian (Armenian).
After the incorporation of the
Erivan Khanate
into the Russian Empire, Muslim majority of the area gradually changed, at first the Armenians who were left captive were encouraged to return.
[104]
As a result of which an estimated 57,000 Armenian refugees from Persia returned to the territory of the Erivan Khanate after 1828, while about 35,000 Muslims (Persians, Turkic groups, Kurds, Lezgis, etc.) out of a total population of over 100,000 left the region.
[105]
20th century
The Armenian genocide (1915?1921) and First World War
In 1915, the Ottoman Empire systematically carried out the
Armenian genocide
. This genocide was preceded by a
wave of massacres
in the years 1894 to 1896,
[100]
as well as another massacre
in 1909 in Adana
. On 24 April 1915, Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported
235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
from
Constantinople
to the region of
Ankara
, where the majority were murdered. The genocide was carried out during and after
World War I
and implemented in two phases?the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to
forced labour
, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and the infirm on
death marches
leading to the
Syrian Desert
. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre.
[106]
Most frequently, the exact number of deaths is estimated to have been 1.5 million,
[107]
with other estimates ranging from 800,000 to 1,800,000.
[108]
[109]
[110]
: 98
[111]
These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on 24 April, the Armenian Christian martyr day.
[112]
First Republic of Armenia (1918?1920)
Between the 4th and 19th centuries, the traditional area of Armenia was conquered and ruled by Persians, Byzantines,
Arabs
,
Mongols
, and
Turks
, among others. Parts of historical Armenia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire after the collapse of these two empires in the wake of the
First World War
.
[113]
[114]
Transcaucasian Federation (1917?1918)
During the
Russian Revolution
, the provinces of the
Caucasus
seceded and formed their own federal state called the
Transcaucasian Federation
. Competing national interests and war with
Turkey
led to the dissolution of the republic half a year later, in April 1918.
After the
Russian Revolution of 1917
and the takeover of the
Bolsheviks
,
Stepan Shaumyan
was placed in charge of Russian Armenia. In September 1917, the convention in Tiflis elected the
Armenian National Council
,
[115]
the first sovereign political body of Armenians since the collapse of Lesser Armenia in 1375. Meanwhile, both the Ittihad (Unionist) and the Nationalists moved to win the friendship of the Bolsheviks.
Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk)
sent several delegations to Moscow in an attempt to win some support for his own post-Ottoman movement in what he saw as a modernised ethno-nationalist Turkey. This alliance proved disastrous for the Armenians. The signing of the Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (1 January 1918), helped
Vehib Pasha
to attack the new Republic. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the Republic was forced to withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. In the end, the Republic had to evacuate Erzurum as well.
Further southeast, in Van, the Armenians resisted the Turkish army until April 1918, but eventually were forced to evacuate it and withdraw to Persia. Conditions deteriorated when Azerbaijani Tatars sided with the Turks and seized the Armenian's lines of communication, thus cutting off the Armenian National Councils in Baku and Yerevan from the National Council in Tiflis. The
First Republic of Armenia
was established on 28 May 1918.
[115]
Georgian?Armenian War (1918)
During the final stages of
World War I
, the Armenians and Georgians had been defending against the advance of the Ottoman Empire. In June 1918, in order to forestall an Ottoman advance on
Tiflis
, the Georgian troops had occupied the
Lori Province
which at the time had a 75% Armenian majority.
[116]
After the
Armistice of Mudros
and the withdrawal of the Ottomans, the Georgian forces remained. The Georgian
Menshevik
parliamentarian
Irakli Tsereteli
suggested that the Armenians would be safer from the Turks as Georgian citizens. The Georgians offered a quadripartite conference comprising Georgia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan
, and the
Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus
in order to resolve the issue. The Armenians rejected this proposal. In December 1918, the Georgians were confronting a rebellion chiefly in the village of
Uzunlar
in the Lori region. Within days, hostilities commenced between the two republics.
[116]
The
Georgian?Armenian War
was a border war fought in 1918 between the
Democratic Republic of Georgia
and the
First Republic of Armenia
over the then disputed provinces of
Lori
and
Javakheti
which had been historically bi-cultural Armenian-Georgian territories, but were largely populated by Armenians in the 19th century.
[117]
Armenian-Azerbaijan War
A considerable degree of hostility existed between Armenia and its new neighbor to the east, the
Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan
, stemming largely from racial, religious, cultural and societal differences. The Azeris had close ethnic and religious ties to the Turks and had provided material support for them in their drive to
Baku
in 1918. Although the borders of the two countries were still undefined, Azerbaijan claimed most of the territory Armenia was sitting on, demanding all or most parts of the former Russian provinces of
Elizavetpol
,
Tiflis
,
Yerevan
,
Kars
and
Batum
.
[118]
As diplomacy failed to accomplish compromise, even with the mediation of the commanders of a British expeditionary force that had installed itself in the Caucasus, territorial clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan took place throughout 1919 and 1920, most notably in the regions of
Nakhichevan
,
Karabakh
, and
Syunik
(Zangezur). Repeated attempts to bring these provinces under Azerbaijani jurisdiction were met with fierce resistance by their Armenian inhabitants. In May 1919,
Dro
led an expeditionary unit that was successful in establishing Armenian administrative control in
Nakhichevan
.
[119]
Paris Peace Conference
At
Paris Peace Conference
in 1919 it was proposed to create large (330,200 km
2
or 127,491 sq mi) Armenian state, including the territory of former
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
with total population of 4.3 million, 2.5 million of which would be Armenians.
[120]
Treaty of Sevres
The
Treaty of Sevres
was signed between the Allied and Associated Powers and Ottoman Empire at
Sevres
,
France
on 10 August 1920. The treaty included a clause on Armenia: it made all parties signing the treaty recognize Armenia as a free and independent state. The drawing of definite borders was, however, left to U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson
and the United States State Department, and was only presented to Armenia on 22 November 1920. The new borders gave Armenia access to the Black Sea and awarded large portions of the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire to the republic.
[121]
: 40?44
The Treaty of Sevres was signed by the Ottoman Government, but Sultan
Mehmed VI
never signed it and thus never came into effect. The
Turkish Revolutionaries
, led by
Mustafa Kemal Pasha
, began the
Turkish National Movement
which, in opposing any territorial concessions to either the Greeks or the Armenians.
[
citation needed
]
Turkish and Soviet Invasion
On 20 September 1920, Turkish nationalist militants invaded the region of
Sarikamish
.
[122]
In response, Armenia declared war on Turkey on 24 September and the
Turkish invasion of Armenia (1920)
began. In the regions of
Oltu
, Sarikamish,
Kars
, and
Alexandropol
(Gyumri), Armenian forces clashed with those of the Turkish armies.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha
had sent several delegations to Moscow in search of an alliance, where he had found a receptive response by the Soviet government, which started sending gold and weapons to the
Turkish revolutionaries
, which would prove disastrous for the Armenians.
[
citation needed
]
Armenia gave way to
communist
power in late 1920. In November 1920, the
Turkish revolutionaries
captured Alexandropol and were poised to move in on the capital. A cease fire was concluded on 18 November. Negotiations were then carried out between
Kazım Karabekir
and a peace delegation led by
Alexander Khatisian
in Alexandropol; although Karabekir's terms were extremely harsh the Armenian delegation had little recourse but to agree to them. The
Treaty of Alexandropol
was signed on 3 December 1920, although the Armenian government had already fallen to the Soviets the day before.
[123]
As the terms of defeat were being negotiated, Bolshevik
Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze
invaded from Azerbaijan the First Republic of Armenia in order to establish a new pro-Bolshevik government in the country. The
11th Red Army
began its virtually unopposed advance into Armenia on 29 November 1920 at
Ijevan
. The actual transfer of power took place on 2 December 1920 in Yerevan.
[124]
The Armenian leadership approved an ultimatum presented to it by the Soviet plenipotentiary
Boris Legran
. Armenia decided to join the Soviet sphere, while Soviet Russia agreed to protect its remaining territory from the advancing Turkish army. The Soviets also pledged to take steps to rebuild the army, protect the Armenians and to not pursue non-communist Armenians, although the final condition of this pledge was reneged when the Dashnaks were forced out of the country.
[125]
On 5 December, the Armenian Revolutionary Committee (
Revkom
, made up of mostly Armenians from Azerbaijan) also entered the city.
[126]
Finally, on the following day, 6 December,
Felix Dzerzhinsky
's
Cheka
entered Yerevan, thus effectively ending the existence of the Democratic Republic of Armenia. At that point what was left of Armenia was under the influence of the
Bolsheviks
.
[
citation needed
]
Although the Bolsheviks succeeded in ousting the Turks from their positions in Armenia, they decided to establish peace with Turkey. In 1921, the Bolsheviks and the Turks signed the
Treaty of Kars
, in which Turkey ceded
Adjara
to the USSR in exchange for the Kars territory (today the Turkish provinces of
Kars
,
Surmalu
, and
Ardahan
). The land given to Turkey included the ancient city of
Ani
and
Mount Ararat
, the spiritual Armenian homeland. In 1922, the newly proclaimed
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic
, under the leadership of
Alexander Miasnikyan
, became part of the Soviet Union as one of three republics comprising the
Transcaucasian SFSR
.
[124]
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1922?1991)
The Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved in 1936, and as a result Armenia became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union as the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic
.
[127]
The transition to
socialism
was difficult for Armenia, and for most of the other republics in the Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities placed Armenians under supervision. The rate of
freedom of speech
was considered low, even less so during secretaryship of
Joseph Stalin
. Any individual who was suspected of using or introducing
nationalist
,
racist
and
conservative
rhetoric
or elements in their works were labelled traitors or propagandists, and were sent to
prisons
in
Siberia
. Even
Zabel Yesayan
, a writer who was fortunate enough to escape from ethnic cleansing during the Armenian genocide, was quickly exiled to Siberia after returning to Armenia from France.
Armenian
SSR
participated in
World War II
by sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the front line in order to defend the USSR.
Marxist?Leninist
system had several positive aspects. Armenia benefited from the Soviet economy, especially when it was at its apex. Provincial villages gradually became towns and towns gradually became cities. Peace between Armenia and
Azerbaijan
was reached, albeit temporarily. During this time, Armenia had a sizeable Azeri minority, mostly centred in Yerevan. Likewise, Azerbaijan had an Armenian minority, concentrated in
Baku
and
Kirovabad
.
Many Armenians still had nationalist and conservative sentiments, even though they were discouraged from expressing them publicly. On 24 April 1965, tens of thousands of Armenians flooded the streets of Yerevan to remind the world of the horrors that their parents and grandparents endured during the Armenian genocide of 1915. This was the first public demonstration of such high numbers in the USSR, which defended national interests rather than collective ones. In the late 1980s, Armenia was suffering from pollution. With
Mikhail Gorbachev
's introduction of
glasnost
and
perestroika
, public demonstrations became more common. Thousands of Armenians demonstrated in Yerevan because of the USSR's inability to address simple ecological concerns. Later on, with the conflict in
Karabakh
, the demonstrations obtained a more nationalistic flavour. Many Armenians began to demand
statehood
.
In 1988, the
Spitak earthquake
killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed multiple towns in northern Armenia, such as Leninakan (modern-day
Gyumri
) and
Spitak
. Many families were left without electricity and running water. The harsh situation caused by the earthquake and subsequent events made many residents of Armenia leave and settle in
North America
,
Western Europe
and
Australia
.
On 20 February 1988, interethnic fighting between the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijanis broke out shortly after the parliament of
Nagorno-Karabakh
, an autonomous oblast in Azerbaijan, voted to unify the region with Armenia. The
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
pitted Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Armenia, against the
Army of Azerbaijan
.
Independent Armenia (from 1991)
Armenia declared its
independence
from the Soviet Union on 23 August 1990.
[129]
Independence was confirmed by
referendum
on 21 September 1991. However, widespread recognition did not occur until the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union on 25 December 1991.
Armenia faced many challenges during its first years as a
sovereign state
. Several Armenian organizations from around the world quickly arrived to offer aid and to participate in the country's early years. From Canada, a group of young students and volunteers under the
CYMA - Canadian Youth Mission to Armenia
banner arrived in Ararat Region and became the first youth organization to contribute to the newly independent Republic.
Following the Armenian victory in the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
, both Azerbaijan and
Turkey
closed their borders and imposed a blockade which they retain to this day, severely affecting the economy of the fledgling republic. In October 2009 Turkey and Armenia signed a treaty to normalize relations.
Ter-Petrosyan Presidency (1991?1998)
Levon Ter-Petrosyan
was popularly elected the first President of the newly independent Republic of Armenia on 16 October 1991 and re-elected on 22 September 1996.
[130]
His re-election was marred by allegations of electoral fraud reported by the opposition and supported by many international observers. His popularity waned further as the opposition started blaming him for the economic quagmire that Armenia's post-Soviet economy was in. He was also unpopular with one party in particular, the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
, which he banned and jailed on the grounds that the party had a foreign-based leadership?something which was forbidden according to the Armenian Constitution.
Ter-Petrosyan was forced to step down in February 1998 after advocating compromised settlement of the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh
which many Armenians regarded as undermining their security. Ter-Petrosyan's key ministers, led by then-Prime Minister
Robert Kocharyan
, refused to accept a peace plan for Karabakh put forward by international mediators in September 1997. The plan, accepted by Ter-Petrosyan and Azerbaijan, called for a "phased" or "step-by-step" settlement of the conflict which would postpone an agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh's status, the main stumbling block. That agreement was to accompany the return of most
Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories around Nagorno-Karabakh
and the lifting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish blockades of Armenia.
[
citation needed
]
In January 1998, Ter-Petrosyan's ministers forced Ter-Petrosyan to resign.
[131]
Kocharyan Presidency (1998?2008)
After the resignation of his predecessor
Levon Ter-Petrosyan
,
Robert Kocharyan
was elected Armenia's second President on 30 March 1998, defeating his main rival,
Karen Demirchyan
, in an
early presidential election marred by irregularities and violations
by both sides as reported by international electoral observers. Complaints included that Kocharyan had not been an Armenian citizen for ten years as required by the constitution.
[132]
In early 1998, Kocharyan rejected the 1997 OSCE Minsk Group peace plan and initiated a new phase of Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations, where Heydar Aliyev and Kocharyan negotiated secret from their publics and senior officials. In 1999, they orally agreed to a land swap that would annex Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia in exchange for a strip of land connecting Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhichvan along the Iranian-Armenian border. In the fall of that year, Aliyev and Kocharyan informed the Minsk Group Co-Chairs of their plan and asked them to put it in writing.
[131]
Weeks later, several opposition leaders in the Armenian Parliament and the Prime Minister of Armenia were killed by gunmen in an episode known as the
1999 Armenian parliament shooting
. Kocharyan himself negotiated with terrorists to lease the MP hostages. It is widely believed by Armenians at large that Kocharyan is responsible for the parliament shooting.
[133]
[134]
Thereafter, Kocharyan informed the Minsk Group that he was not able to support the peace deal anymore.
[131]
The
2003 Armenian Presidential election
were held on 19 February and on 5 March 2003. No candidate received a majority in the first round of the election with the
incumbent
President Kocharyan winning slightly under 50% of the vote. Therefore, a second round was held and Kocharyan defeated
Stepan Demirchyan
with official results showed him winning just over 67% of the vote. In both rounds, electoral observers from the
OSCE
reported significant amounts of
electoral fraud
by Demirchyan's supporters and numerous supporters of Demirchyan were arrested before the second round took place.
[135]
Demirchyan described the election as having been rigged and called on his supporters to rally against the results.
[136]
Tens of thousands of Armenians protested in the days after the election against the results and called on President Kocharyan to step down.
[135]
Kocharyan was sworn in for a second term in early April and the
constitutional court
upheld the election, while recommending that a
referendum
be held within a year to confirm the election result.
[13]
[14]
As President, Kocharyan continued to negotiate a peaceful resolution with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev
on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Talks between Aliyev and Kocharyan were held in September 2004 in
Astana
,
Kazakhstan
, on the sidelines of the
CIS
summit. Reportedly, one of the suggestions put forward was the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the Azeri territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, and holding
referendums
(plebiscites) in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan proper regarding the future status of the region. On 10?11 February 2006, Kocharyan and Aliyev met in
Rambouillet
,
France
to discuss the fundamental principles of a settlement to the conflict, including the withdrawal of troops, formation of international peace keeping troops, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
[137]
Contrary to the initial optimism, the Rambouillet talks did not produce any agreement, with key issues such as the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and whether Armenian troops would withdraw from
Kalbajar
still being contentious. The next session of the talks was held in March 2006 in
Washington, D.C.
[137]
Russian President
Vladimir Putin
applied pressure to both parties to settle the disputes.
[138]
No progress arose from further meetings in Minsk and Moscow in November 2006.
[139]
Sargsyan Presidency (2008-2018)
Serzh Sargsyan
, then
Prime Minister of Armenia
and having President Kocharyan's backing, was viewed as the strongest contender for the post of the President of Armenia in the
February 2008 presidential election
.
[140]
[141]
Ter-Petrosyan officially announced his candidacy in the
2008 presidential election
in a speech in Yerevan on 26 October 2007. He accused Kocharyan's government of massive corruption, involving the theft of "at least three to four billion dollars" over the previous five years. He was critical of the government's claims of strong economic growth and argued that Kocharyan and his Prime Minister,
Serzh Sargsyan
, had come to accept a solution to the problem of
Nagorno-Karabakh
that was effectively the same solution that he had proposed ten years earlier. A number of opposition parties have rallied behind him since his return to the political arena, including the
People's Party of Armenia
, led by
Stepan Demirchyan
; the Armenian Republic Party, led by
Aram Sargsyan
;
[142]
the
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
;
Azadakrum
, led by
Jirair Sefilian
; the
New Times Party
; and the
Heritage Party
, led by
Raffi Hovannisian
.
[143]
Final results from the election, which was held on 19 February 2008, officially showed Sargsyan winning about 53% of the vote, and Ter-Petrosyan in second place with 21.5% of the vote.
[144]
Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters accused the government of rigging the election and claimed victory;
[145]
beginning 20 February, he led
continuous protests
involving tens of thousands of his supporters in Yerevan.
[146]
On the early morning of 1 March, reportedly acting on evidence of firearms in the camp, the authorities moved in to inspect the tents set up by demonstrators. Law enforcement agents then violently dispersed the hundreds of protestors camped in. Ter-Petrosyan was placed under de facto house arrest, not being allowed to leave his home, though the authorities later denied the allegations.
[147]
A few hours later, tens of thousands of protestors or more gathered at Miyasnikyan Square to protest the government's act. Police, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the crowd, pulled out. A state of emergency was implemented by President Kocharyan at 5 p.m., allowing the army to be moved into the capital. By nightfall, a few thousand protesters had barricaded themselves using commandeered municipal buses. As a result of skirmishes with the police, ten people died, including policemen.
[148]
[149]
This was followed by mass arrests and purges of prominent members of the opposition, as well as a
de facto ban
on any further anti-government protests. Sargsyan was recognized as legitimate president
[150]
[151]
On 10 October 2009, the Turkish-Armenian protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations constituted a novelty in Turkish-Armenian relations. Sargsyan accepted the proposal of studying the issue of the Armenian genocide through a commission, and recognized the current Turkish-Armenian border. In 2009?10, the Azerbaijan's military build-up along with increasing war rhetoric and threats risked causing renewed problems in the
South Caucasus
.
[152]
In 2011,
protests
erupted in Armenia as part of the
revolutionary wave
sweeping
through the
Middle East
. Protesters continue to demand an investigation into the 2008 violence, the release of political prisoners, an improvement in socioeconomic conditions, and the institution of democratic reforms. The
Armenian National Congress
and
Heritage
have been influential in organizing and leading protests.
[153]
Between 1 and 5 April 2016, there were renewed clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces. (see
2016 Armenian?Azerbaijani clashes
).
In March 2018, Sargsyan was re-elected Prime Minister, despite opposition protests.
[154]
After military forces joined the protests on 23 April, Sargsyan resigned his position.
[155]
[156]
Former Prime Minister
Karen Karapetyan
succeeded Sargsyan as acting Prime Minister.
Nikol Pashinyan Premiership (2018-present)
In March 2018, Armenian parliament elected
Armen Sarkissian
as the new President of Armenia. The controversial constitutional reform to reduce presidential power was implemented, while the authority of the prime minister was strengthened.
[157]
In May 2018, parliament elected opposition leader
Nikol Pashinyan
as the new prime minister. His predecessor Serzh Sargsyan resigned two weeks earlier following widespread anti-government demonstrations.
[158]
On 27 September 2020, a
full-scale war
erupted due to the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Both the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan reported military and civilian casualties.
[159]
A
ceasefire agreement
was signed on 10 November, in which the
occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh
were handed over to Azerbaijan.
Protests
were held in Armenia over this and hundreds stormed the Parliament building in Yerevan. Protests continued throughout November, with demonstrations in Yerevan and other cities demanding the resignation of Pashinyan.
[160]
On 25 February 2021, The Armenian military called for Pashinyan to resign. The declaration, which Pashinyan described as a
coup attempt
, caused a political crisis that ended with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces
Onik Gasparyan
's dismissal.
[161]
[162]
On 25 April 2021, Pashinyan announced his formal resignation from his post of prime minister to allow snap parliamentary elections in June. He continued to act as interim prime minister in the leadup to the election.
[163]
His party won the
2021 election
, receiving more than half of all votes. Nikol Pashinyan was officially appointed Armenia's prime minister.
[164]
On 23 January 2022, Armen Sarkissian left the office, saying the constitution does not any more give the president sufficient powers to influence.
[165]
On 3 March 2022,
Vahagn Khachaturyan
was elected as the fifth president of Armenia in the second round of parliamentary vote.
[166]
See also
References
Citations
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The lands of the
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Eastern Anatolia
, on the
Armenian Highlands
, and into the
Caucasus Mountain range
. First mentioned almost contemporaneously by a Greek and Persian source in the 6th century BC, modern DNA studies have shown that
the people themselves had already been in place for many millennia
. Those people the world know as Armenians call themselves
Hay
and their country
Hayots' ashkharh
?the land of the Armenians, today known as Hayastan. Their language,
Hayeren
(Armenian) constitutes a separate and unique branch of the
Indo-European linguistic family tree
. A spoken language until
Christianity became the state religion
in 314 AD,
a unique alphabet was created
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Persian literary world
.
- ^
Moses of Chorene,
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Kurkjian, Vahan (196).
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Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, Jean M. Evans,
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{{
cite journal
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..their centres at Tarum and Samiran, and then in Azerbaijan and Arran..
", "
..into Azerbaijan, Arran, some districts of Eastern Armenia and as far as Darband in the Caspian coast.
"
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The devastation caused by the Mongols is recorded in the colophons of many manuscripts of the period. Some Armenians, however, prospered as allies of, and soldiers and merchants for, the Mongols, including the Zakarian, Orbelian, and Proshian families. They continued or extended their existing trade routes into China, now controlled by the Mongols. Examples of Proshian success are seen at the church of the White Virgin (Spitakavor Astuatsatsin) with its relief carving of Amir Hasan (cat. 35) and in the exquisite, richly gilded reliquary presented by his father (cat. 36).
- ^
Bedrosian, Robert (2004). "Despite the serious shortcomings of life under the Mongols, for most of the thirteenth century Armenian culture developed freely. This was due as much to the generally free status of the church as to the largesse of the lords and merchants. In the thirteenth and early fourteenth century, there were a number of large monastic complexes where clerics were educated and where the many manuscripts surviving from this period were written, copied, and illuminated. Among the flourishing monasteries were Ayrivank. Sanahin, Haghbat, Nor Getik (Goshavank), Khoranashat, Kayenadzor, Khor Virap, Kecharuyk, and Gladzor.".
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Edwards, Robert W. (1987).
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b
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Auron, Yair (2000).
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Forsythe, David P. (11 August 2009).
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Chalk, Frank Robert; Jonassohn, Kurt (10 September 1990).
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Freedman, Jeri (2009).
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- The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century / Edited by Richard G. Hovannisian. ? Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ? Т. I.
- The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century / Edited by Richard G. Hovannisian. ? Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ? Т. II.
- Nicholas Adontz
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, trans. Nina G. Garsoian (1970)
- George A. Bournoutian,
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(1982)
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A History of the Armenian People
, 2 vol. (1994)
- Chahin, M. 1987.
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. Reprint: Dorset Press, New York. 1991.
- Armen Petrosyan. "The Problem of Armenian Origins: Myth, History, Hypotheses (JIES Monograph Series No 66)," Washington DC, 2018
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- Louise Nalbandian,
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(1963).
- Comprehensive list of historical documents relating to the treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
Publications
This article incorporates
public domain material
from
The World Factbook
.
CIA
.
Films
- The Armenian Genocide ? Director Andrew Goldberg. (During World War I, over 1,500,000 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in death camps of Western Armenia and the Syrian Desert and 1,500,000 were forcibly islamized and turkified. Another 600,000 Armenians escaped to Eastern Armenia in Russian Empire). 2006
- Seven Songs About Armenia (Yot yerg Hayastani masin) ? doc. Director Grigoriy Melik-Avagyan 1972
- Armenian Eyes (Haykakan achker), (documentary).1980 Ruben Gevorgyants
- The Manuscript of independence (Matyan Ankakhutyan) This film is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of independence of Armenia. Director Levon Mkrtchyan 2002
Primary sources
- Ghazar P'arpec'i
,
History of the Armenians and Letter to Vahan Mamikonean
, trans. R. Bedrosian, (1985)
- Hacikyan, A. J. (Editor),
The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Oral Tradition to the Golden Age
(Heritage of Armenian Literature, vol. 1), (Detroit, 2000) [PK 8532 .H47 2000 vol.1] [anthology of Armenian texts]
- Koriun,
The Life of Mashtots
, trans. B. Norehad, (New York: Caravan, 1985) [hagiography of the monk who invented the Armenian alphabet]
- Łewond
,
The History of Lewond
, trans. Z. Arzoumanian, (Philadelphia, 1982) [History of the Arab conquest of Armenia, 7C-8C]
- Movses Khorenatsi
Moses of Chorene
, History of the Armenians (trans. R. Thomson, Harvard, 1978)
Further reading
External links
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