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Wilsonian Armenia
Wilsonian Armenia (Armenian: Վիլսոնյան Հայաստան, romanized: Vilsonyan Hayastan) was the unimplemented boundary configuration of the First Republic of Armenia in the Treaty of Sèvres, as drawn by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Department of State. The Treaty of Sèvres was a peace treaty that had been drafted and signed between the Western Allied Powers and the defeated government of the Ottoman Empire in August 1920, but it was never ratified and was subsequently superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne. The proposed boundaries of Wilsonian Armenia incorporated Armenian-populated sections of Western Armenia — specifically the Ottoman vilayets of Erzurum, Bitlis, Van, and Trabzon. The inclusion of portions of Trabzon Vilayet was intended to provide the First Republic of Armenia with access to the Black Sea via the port of Trabzon. A proposed Republic of Pontus was discussed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, but the Greek government of Eleftherios Venizelos feared the precarious position of such a state, so a portion of it was instead included in the proposed state of Wilsonian Armenia.
The United States Senate rejected the mandate for Armenia in 1920. The outbreak of the Turkish War of Independence led to the Ottoman Empire not ratifying the Treaty of Sèvres. A few months later, Turkey invaded Armenia. Under the Treaty of Alexandropol on November 2, 1920, Armenia forfeited all claims to Western Armenia which had been promised under the Treaty of Sevres. Among other territory forfeited included Kars which was transferred to Turkey and Nakhchivan which was transferred to Azerbaijan. These border changes were ratified by the Treaty of Kars and the Treaty of Moscow (1921) which were negotiated between Soviet Russia and Turkey following the Sovietization of the First Republic of Armenia.
Today Armenians — both in the diaspora and indigenous to modern Turkey — have pursued political representation within Western Armenia or reunification with the Republic of Armenia, with a congress of genocide survivors' descendants active in the diaspora. In 2020, the three traditional Armenian political parties—the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaks), Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchaks) and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavars)—issued a joint statement on the centenary of the Sèvres Treaty, stating that it is the only internationally legal document that demarcates the border between Armenia and Turkey.
During the Conference of London, David Lloyd George encouraged Woodrow Wilson to accept a mandate for Anatolia, and particularly, with the support of the Armenian diaspora, for the provinces claimed by the occupied Turkish Armenia. Wilson sent the King-Crane Commission and General James Harbord to the region to study the claims made by the Armenian national movement, and to determine if these claims were compatible with Wilson's Fourteen Points. The 12th point was:
The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.
The King-Crane Commission noted that the Armenians had suffered a traumatic experience, that they could not trust the Ottoman Empire to respect their rights anymore, and that the Armenians were "a people." The Commission therefore recommended that the hard-won Armenian independence established during the Caucasus Campaign should be respected by the international community and insured by the Allies.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), using their position of leaders of the Armenian national movement, claimed that this region should not be part of the Ottoman Empire based on their assertion that Armenians had the capability to build a nation. Armenians had de facto control over a region surrounding the Van Province of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 3 years (1915–1918). The ARF stated that it was natural to annex this region to the newly established First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920), the first modern Armenian republic created after the collapse of the Russian Empire.[citation needed]
Another argument developed during this period was that the population was becoming increasingly more Armenian, and therefore Armenians were not a minority but a plurality; moving the displaced Armenians to this area should be considered as an option. In 1917, some 150,000 Armenians relocated to the provinces of Erzurum, Bitlis, Muş, and Van. The Armenians had already begun building their houses and creating their farmlands. In 1917, the provincial governor Aram Manukian stated that a new autonomous state in the region should be founded, under Russia or the Ottoman Empire. Armen Garo (Karekin Pastermajian) and other spokesmen proposed to have Armenian soldiers in Europe transfer to the Caucasus front for the protection and stability of the new establishment. Armenian soldiers began to create a protective line between the Ottoman Army and Armenian front.[citation needed]
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Wilsonian Armenia
Wilsonian Armenia (Armenian: Վիլսոնյան Հայաստան, romanized: Vilsonyan Hayastan) was the unimplemented boundary configuration of the First Republic of Armenia in the Treaty of Sèvres, as drawn by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Department of State. The Treaty of Sèvres was a peace treaty that had been drafted and signed between the Western Allied Powers and the defeated government of the Ottoman Empire in August 1920, but it was never ratified and was subsequently superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne. The proposed boundaries of Wilsonian Armenia incorporated Armenian-populated sections of Western Armenia — specifically the Ottoman vilayets of Erzurum, Bitlis, Van, and Trabzon. The inclusion of portions of Trabzon Vilayet was intended to provide the First Republic of Armenia with access to the Black Sea via the port of Trabzon. A proposed Republic of Pontus was discussed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, but the Greek government of Eleftherios Venizelos feared the precarious position of such a state, so a portion of it was instead included in the proposed state of Wilsonian Armenia.
The United States Senate rejected the mandate for Armenia in 1920. The outbreak of the Turkish War of Independence led to the Ottoman Empire not ratifying the Treaty of Sèvres. A few months later, Turkey invaded Armenia. Under the Treaty of Alexandropol on November 2, 1920, Armenia forfeited all claims to Western Armenia which had been promised under the Treaty of Sevres. Among other territory forfeited included Kars which was transferred to Turkey and Nakhchivan which was transferred to Azerbaijan. These border changes were ratified by the Treaty of Kars and the Treaty of Moscow (1921) which were negotiated between Soviet Russia and Turkey following the Sovietization of the First Republic of Armenia.
Today Armenians — both in the diaspora and indigenous to modern Turkey — have pursued political representation within Western Armenia or reunification with the Republic of Armenia, with a congress of genocide survivors' descendants active in the diaspora. In 2020, the three traditional Armenian political parties—the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaks), Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchaks) and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavars)—issued a joint statement on the centenary of the Sèvres Treaty, stating that it is the only internationally legal document that demarcates the border between Armenia and Turkey.
During the Conference of London, David Lloyd George encouraged Woodrow Wilson to accept a mandate for Anatolia, and particularly, with the support of the Armenian diaspora, for the provinces claimed by the occupied Turkish Armenia. Wilson sent the King-Crane Commission and General James Harbord to the region to study the claims made by the Armenian national movement, and to determine if these claims were compatible with Wilson's Fourteen Points. The 12th point was:
The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.
The King-Crane Commission noted that the Armenians had suffered a traumatic experience, that they could not trust the Ottoman Empire to respect their rights anymore, and that the Armenians were "a people." The Commission therefore recommended that the hard-won Armenian independence established during the Caucasus Campaign should be respected by the international community and insured by the Allies.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), using their position of leaders of the Armenian national movement, claimed that this region should not be part of the Ottoman Empire based on their assertion that Armenians had the capability to build a nation. Armenians had de facto control over a region surrounding the Van Province of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 3 years (1915–1918). The ARF stated that it was natural to annex this region to the newly established First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920), the first modern Armenian republic created after the collapse of the Russian Empire.[citation needed]
Another argument developed during this period was that the population was becoming increasingly more Armenian, and therefore Armenians were not a minority but a plurality; moving the displaced Armenians to this area should be considered as an option. In 1917, some 150,000 Armenians relocated to the provinces of Erzurum, Bitlis, Muş, and Van. The Armenians had already begun building their houses and creating their farmlands. In 1917, the provincial governor Aram Manukian stated that a new autonomous state in the region should be founded, under Russia or the Ottoman Empire. Armen Garo (Karekin Pastermajian) and other spokesmen proposed to have Armenian soldiers in Europe transfer to the Caucasus front for the protection and stability of the new establishment. Armenian soldiers began to create a protective line between the Ottoman Army and Armenian front.[citation needed]
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