Turkish-Armenian War
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| Turkish-Armenian War | |||||||||||
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| Part of Turkish War of Independence | |||||||||||
 Armenian civilians fleeing Kars after its capture by Kazım Karabekir's forces. |
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| Combatants | |||||||||||
 Democratic Republic of Armenia |
 Turkish Revolutionaries |
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| Commanders | |||||||||||
| Drastamat Kanayan Movses Silikyan |
Kazım Karabekir | ||||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||||
| 50,000. | 14,000 | ||||||||||
| Casualties | |||||||||||
| Exact number unknown. | |||||||||||
| Turkish-Armenian War |
|---|
| Oltu – Sarıkamış – Kars – Alexandropol |
The Turkish-Armenian War was a conflict fought between the Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA) and Turkish Revolutionaries of the Turkish National Movement which lasted from 24 September to 2 December 1920 [1] and largely took place in present-day northeastern Turkey and northwestern Armenia.
Even though the armed conflicts began with the Oltu, Battle of Oltu, where the front line between the DRA and Turkish revolutionaries in 1920. The source of the problem begins with the Treaty of Sèvres and the "Wilsonian Armenia".
Contents |
[edit] Background
- See also: Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
The Armenian national liberation movement declared the Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA) before end of the World War One. Tovmas Nazarbekian become the first Commander-in-chief of DRA, who was the commander on the Caucasus front and the governor of the Administration for Western Armenia. With the Tovmas Nazarbekian becoming the Commander-in-chief of the whole Armenian state, Andranik Toros Ozanian took command of this region. He became the governor of the Administration for Western Armenia between March 1918 - April 1918. Andranik faced the Ottoman army during the last battles of the Caucasus Campaign and assigned the civil commissioner position to Drastamat Kanayan.
[edit] Caucasus Campaign, 1918
- See also: Caucasus Campaign
The Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (January 1, 1918) and the following Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918) signed by the Grand Vizier Talat Pasha set the condition that all lands Russia had captured in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), (Ardahan, Kars, and Batumi), were to be returned to Ottoman Empire
The new Armenian state was between the Russia and Ottoman Empire; more precisely the Armenian Congress of Eastern Armenians (unified form of Armenian National Councils) ruled by the Dashnak party which declared the DRA was in between. On March 1918, before the advance of Ottoman forces, the DRA became stable, secured western support under the guidance of Armenian Diaspora, and got ready to defend the regions of (Erzurum, Bitlis, and Van Province) which were high priority for this new establishment not become a land locked state. On March 1918, Vehib Pasha moved the Third Army where Armenian volunteer units reside, so facing the what will be the Armenian military of the newly established state. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the DRA withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. The city of Van was under Armenian control since the Van Resistance was abandoned as well. The DRA evacuated Erzurum and Sarıkamış after resisting at the Battle of Kara Killisse (1918), the Battle of Sardarapat, and Battle of Bash Abaran. Vehib Pasha was also occupied Trabzon on the north.
[edit] Treaty of Batum, June 4, 1918
- See also: Treaty of Batum
The border set in Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was reached. Some conditions were also forced to Democratic Republic of Armenia with Treaty of Batum. Interestingly the signature of this treaty and international deceleration of the establishment of DRA was at the same day.
The Ottoman Empire forced the DRA to abandon the region with the Treaty of Batum. The Treaty of Batum was not recognized by the Armenia and Ottoman Empire was forced to cede to the prewar boarders defined by Armistice of Mudros which was signed four months later October 30, 1918.
[edit] Kars, December 1, 1918
- See also: South West Caucasian Republic
The Armistice of Mudros did not give enough time to Ottoman Empire to establish authority set in the Treaty of Batum. This brought administrative vacuum. In this situation, a new state headed by Fakhr al-Din Pirioghlu and centered in Kars and constituted after the Armistice of Mudros. Its territory was to include the predominantly Muslim-inhabited regions of Kars and Batum, parts of the Erivan district in the province of the same name, and the Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki districts of the Tiflis province. However, in practical terms, the republic was confined to the Kars province. It existed alongside with the British general governorship created during the Entente's intervention in Transcaucasia. [4] It was abolished by British High Commissioner Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe. This enabled the ADR to fill the territories which was forced out by the Ottoman Empire before the Armistice.
[edit] Active stage
Turkish Revolutionaries perceived the activities of the Democratic Republic of Armenia with the Turkish tribes as insurgency and Democratic Republic of Armenia was perceived the Turkish Revolutionaries as invading its territory granted by international community.
[edit] The Oltu conflict, June 1920
The conflict began in June 1920 [2] when Armenian border troops became involved in skirmishes with militant Turkish tribes in the district of Oltu, a territory which was fomerly under the control of the Democratic Republic of Georgia but ended up in the hands of local Muslim warlords. [1] On October 6, the tenuous DRA government ordered the partial occupation of the district. [2] Using the move as a pretext for war, General Kazım Karabekir led four Turkish battalions into the district on September 3 and drove the Armenians out. [2] Karabekir then pushed into the DRA on September 20 [1] prompting the Armenian government to declare war on Turkey four days later. [3]
[edit] Treaty of Sèvres, August 1920
At Paris Peace Conference, 1919 Armenian National Assembly, with Boghos Nubar as the chairman, defended the idea that Armistice of Mudros should eliminate the Treaty of Batum and borders that set under the Ottoman Empire should be reshaped. Armenian Diaspora and the ARF defended the idea that the region which stayed outside the control of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 3 years, (1915-18) (Historical Armenia) should be part of DRA. In August 1919, President Woodrow Wilson sent a fact-finding mission to the Middle East, headed by James Guthrie Harbord and King-Crane Commission to investigate the feasibility of the Balfour Declaration and future of Ottoman. With the suggestion of Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic Republic of Armenia was to be expanded into present-day eastern Turkey known as Wilsonian Armenia.
[edit] Sarıkamış, Kağızman, and Merdeniq, September 1920
By September 28, Karabekir's forces had occupied Sarıkamış and the following day Kağızman. [2] They then moved towards Kars but this assault was delayed by Armenian resistance. The advancing Turkish battalions devastated the area and reportedly committed acts of ethnic cleansing against the civilian Armenian population that did not have time or willingness to leave their homes. [2] [1] After the Turks captured the city of Merdeniq, Armenians launched pogroms against local Muslims in Yerevan and Kars in response. [3][1]
In early October, the DRA government beseeched aid from the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the rest of the Allied powers, but little was done in response. Most of Britain's available forces in the Near East were concentrated on crushing the tribal uprisings in the British Mandate of Iraq, while France and Italy faced similar difficulties in the French Mandate of Syria and Italian-controlled Antalya. [1] Neighboring Georgia declared neutrality during the conflict. [3] Only Greece provided some degree of support with its active operations in western Anatolia. However, Greek military support was not enough to ease Turkish pressure on the DRA. [1]
[edit] Yerevan Agreement, October 1920
On October 11, A Soviet plenipotentiary, Boris Legran arrived to Yerevan with a text to negotiate Soviet-Armenian agreement[5]. The agreement signed at october 24 secured the Soviet support[5]. The most important part of this agreement was on Kars, which the agreement basically was signed by ADR to secure city.[5]. The Turkish national movement was not happy with possible agreement between Soviet and ADR. Karabekir was informed by Grand National Assembly of Turkey regarding the Boris Legran and ordered to resolve the Kars issue. The same day the agreement between ADR and Soviet was signed Karabekir was moving his forces toward Kars.
[edit] Kars and Alexandropol, October 1920
On October 24, Karabekir's forces launched a massive campaign on Kars. [2][3] Rather than fighting for the city, the Armenians abandoned Kars which by October 30 came under full Turkish occupation. [1][2] Those who could not escape in time were faced with pillage, rape, and massacre. [2]
Turkish forces continued to advance and soon captured and occupied the city of Alexandropol (present-day Gyumri, Armenia) one week after the capture of Kars. [1][2] 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. [3] On November 13, Georgia broke its neutrality after concluding an agreement with the DRA to invade the disputed region of Lori which was established as a Neutral Zone (the Shulavera Condominium) between the two nations in early 1919. Armenia feared the security of the Armenians in the region if the Turks were to invade. [3][1]
[edit] The Treaty of Alexandropol, November 1920
- See also: Treaty of Alexandropol
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. [2] On November 18, 1920, a cease-fire agreement was concluded. [3][1]
However, as the terms of defeat were being negotiated between Karabekir and Armenian Foreign Minister Alexander Khatisian, Joseph Stalin, on the command of Vladimir Lenin, ordered Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze to invade the DRA 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). [2] 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 the DRA 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. [1]
[edit] Aftermath
[edit] End of the DRA, December 1920
In late November there was yet another Soviet-backed communist uprising in Armenia. On November 28, 1920 blaming Armenia for the invasions of Sharur (20.11.1920) and Karabakh (21.11.1920), the 11th Red Army under the command of Anatoliy Hekker (or Anatoli Gekker), crossed the demarcation line between Democratic Republic of Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. The second Soviet-Armenian war lasted only a week. Exhausted by the 6 years of permanent wars and conflicts, 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; made up of mostly Armenians from Azerbaijan) also entered the city. Finally, on the following day, the December 6, Felix Dzerzhinsky's dreaded secret police, Cheka entered Yerevan, thus effectively ending all existence of the Democratic Republic of Armenia. [2]
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was then proclaimed, under the leadership of Aleksandr Miasnikyan.
[edit] Treaty of Kars, 23 October 1921
- See also: Armenian SSR
The violence in Transcaucasia was finally settled in a friendship treaty between TBMM (which was declared Turkey in 1923), and the Soviet Union. The peace Treaty of Kars, which was signed in Kars by the representatives of Russian SFSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR, Georgian SSR, and TBMM. TBMM had another agreement, "Treaty on Friendship and Brotherhood" also called Treaty of Moscow, signed on March 16, 1921 with the Soviet Union. By this treaty Turkey ceded Adjara to the USSR in exchange for the Kars territory (today the Turkish provinces of Kars, Iğdır, and Ardahan).
[edit] See also
- Armenian-Azerbaijani war (1918 - 1920)
- Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)
- Caucasus Campaign
- Treaty of Kars
- Armenian Genocide
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Dr. Andrew Andersen, Ph.D. Atlas of Conflicts: Turkish-Armenian War
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Robert H. Hewsen. Armenia: A Historical Atlas, p. 237. ISBN 0-226-33228-4
- ^ a b c d e f g h i (Russian) Turkish-Armenian War of 1920
- ^ Caucasian Knot (Moscow-based news agency)
- ^ a b c The Republic of Armenia, Vol. IV: Between Crescent and Sickle: Partition and Sovietization Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1996 page 259
