The 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Republic
By Rev. Dr. Vahan H. Tootikian
AMAA News
Publication of the Armenian Missionary Association of America
March/April 2008
The year 2008 is the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Armenia. On May 28,
1918, the independent Republic came into existence amidst the most trying
conditions. Three years after the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians, in May
1918, the Armenians in their homeland were once again threatened by their
enemies. The Turkish forces had encircled the region of Yerevan and intended to
destroy the Armenian Remnant. Surrounded by mortal foes, with no avenue of
escape and no one around to extend a helping hand, Armenians of every age and
rank, including women and the very old took a heroic stand. At the battlesof
Sardarabad, Kara-Kilisa and Bash-Abaran, the little Armenian force of about
35,000 fought against the Turkish army and triumphed. These triple battlesof May
1918 led to the establishment of the Republic of Armenia in a small part of
our historic Fatherland. If these three battles, particularly that of
Sardarabad, had not been won, it is almost certain that the remaining Armenians in
the Caucasus would have been murdered by the invading genocidal Turkish
armies. Had the Turks broken the Armenian army they would have finished the rest of
the Armenian people in that part of the world.
The Armenian folk who survived because of their heroic valor later became
the citizen nucleus of the Republic of Armenia and still later constitutedthe
population of present-day Armenia.
Much like the proverbial phoenix rising from its ashes, the victorious
Armenian people proclaimed the independence of Armenia on May 28, 1918. Six
hundred years after the fall of the last independent Armenian kingdom we had
conquered our land for ourselves!
The creation of the Republic, born out of the threat of annihilation, was a
miracle. It was our only haven in the sea of despair. Preserving the infant
Republic was an even greater challenge. The economic conditions within the
country were catastrophic. Famine and privation, cholera and typhus epidemics,
the presence of enemy armed bands who attacked the Armenian populace were
devastating. World War I continued for another five months and the future of the
Armenian state remained uncertain until the Armistice and the surrender of
Turkey to the Allies. Armenians breathed a sigh of relief in November 1918.
With the defeat of Turkey, the Allied nations demanded the Ottoman troopsto
withdraw from some of their occupied Armenian territories. As a result, the
Armenian Kars, Ardahan and Nakhichevan territories were added to the Republic.
The territory of independent Armenia was considerably larger than that of the
present-day Republic of Armenia. But in spite of the fact that its economy
was a shambles, half its population scattered, the Armenian government did
the best it could for its people. For two and a half years, Armenians clung to
their independence and built a whole new infrastructure, a university,
institutes and schools, with industries budding here and there. With great hopes
they sent their representatives to the Paris Peace Conference and presented
their demands for a united Armenia that encompassed Western Armenian territories
as well. In August 1920, the Treaty of Peace with Turkey, signed at Sèvres
(France), recognized the independence of Armenia and its right to Western
Armenia. Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States of America, drew the
borders of Armenia-a country with an area of around 87,500 square miles
(227,500 square kilometers). Unfortunately, the signatories of the Treaty of
Sèvres had disagreements with one another. Meanwhile, in Turkey a newleader came
forth in the person of Musafa Kemal (Ataturk), who launched a new Turkish
national movement, organized an army and was chosen president of the newly
formed parliament. He made an agreement with socialist Russia and challenged the
disunited Allies.
Thereafter, the Turks and the Soviet Russians put pressure on little Armenia
to renounce the Treaty of Sèvres. Armenia was caught between the Turkish
anvil and the Russian hammer. The Turks tried to gain control of the Armenian
Karabagh-Zankezour-Nakhichevan belt and unite with Azerbaijan; they attacked
Armenia without any provocation. Meanwhile, the Armenian Socialists, with
seventy thousand Russian soldiers, entered and occupied the northern Armenian city
of Dilijan.
The Armenian government asked the Socialist government of Russia to stop the
Turkish advance but the Russians considered friendly relations with the
Turks more important than the security of an insignificant Armenia. They
suggested that the Armenians accept the Turkish conditions. On November 29, 1920,
the Armenian Republic fell under the Socialists’ dominion. Armenia signed the
Treaty of Alexandropol, making huge territorial concessions to the Turks.
In December 1920, a socialist system was set up in Armenia, and in 1921, the
peoples of the Caucasus united to form the Transcaucasian Federated Republic,
subject to Socialist Russia. With the new Soviet Constitution in 1936, each
nation of the Caucasus formed a part of the Soviet Union as separate
republics.
Under the aegis of the Soviet Union, the Second Republic lasted from 1920 to
1991. Despite the dictatorial political system and violation of human rights,
the people of Armenia developed their economy and culture. With Soviet
assistance great industrial advances occurred. Along with economy and industry,
great impetus was also given to the educational, scientific and artistic ar
eas. Illiteracy was almost completely eliminated.
Soviet Armenia became a highly advanced and industrialized republic and
major center for the development of Armenian arts and culture and maintained for
more than 70 years the continuity of the Armenian state.
With the decline of the USSR, Soviet Armenia was one of the first republics
to declare independence. After a national referendum, 95.6% of over two
million eligible voters overwhelmingly voted for independence on September21,
1991. Thus, the Third Republic burst forth.
The Third Republic, present-day Armenia, is just a tiny part of the historic
Armenia. It covers 29,800 square kilometers, or 11,506 square miles. It
represents only one-sixth of the Armenian territories delineated in the Treaty of
Sèvres. Its current population is estimated 3.5 million.
Considering the challenges that Armenia has faced since the creation of the
Third Republic, the fact that it survived all the odds against it, is itself
a miracle. After its devastating 1988 earthquake, the country was hardly
prepared for the moment of destiny when it declared its independence. It was
subjected to Turkish-Azeri attacks and an economic blockade.
During the past sixteen years, the Republic has made every effort to
consolidate its independence. Economic reforms are made to ensure smooth transition
from the old system to a free market economy. Land reforms are made. The
government has been working hard toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict in
Nagorno Karabagh and the establishment of friendly relations with all its
neighbors.
On the other hand, however, there are some concerns about the free and
democratic process in elections. There is corruption in the government. There is
an increase in disparity on economic and social levels. There is also an exodus
of Armenians from Armenia because of the aforementioned and other problems.
But despite all of these difficulties, the Republic of Armenia has grown and
prospered during the past 16 years and has become the actualization of the
dream that a people without a land and a land without a people would be
reunited.
The Republic of Armenia, with all its faults and foibles, has given
Armenians all over the world the pride of national identity, that they area people
with a country, and have a national flag which readily identifies them and
with which they are identified. And as someone once said, `Armenianism and
pessimism are not compatible.’ This has been our strength and our salvation-that
we have lived with hope.
This hope endured even during centuries in which Armenian history was the
saga of Armenian endurance and suffering. Now the older chapter of passivity has
ended, and the new chapter of creativity has begun. We can no longer be
called `Starving Armenians,’ or `Wandering Armenians.’ We are no longer `a
homeless people,’ or `a captive nation,’ but a nation in control of its
destiny.
Armenia is our beacon of hope because it is the best guarantee of our
survival as a nationality. It is the irreplaceable base upon which our future can
be built, especially when we consider the fact that the Diaspora faces a
downhill struggle in the preservation of the national character as a new
generation come along.
For Armenians, the Republic of Armenia is a dream come true, a prayer
answered and a faith renewed. It is the indomitable will of an undying people
inspired by its divine assurance. It is a land made fertile by the work and sweat
and hope of men and women, standing together in the valley with the Prophet
Ezekiel and seeing dry bones come to life.
Yes, the Republic of Armenia is 90 years old. Our ancestors pledged
themselves never to forget the land of their inspiration, and we once morerenew the
ancient pledge.
We pray that God will protect the Republic of Armenia and keep our people
filled with grace and reinforced with faith to live and work for the love and
well being of our fatherland.
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The Rev. Dr. Vahan H. Tootikian is the Minister Emeritus of the Armenian
Congregational Church of Greater Detroit. He was the senior pastor of the church
for 30 years, from 1975-2005. Rev. Dr. Tootikian is a graduate of the Near
East School of Theology, and did his graduate work at Harvard and Andover
Newton Theological seminaries, earning two masters and a doctorate. He andhis
wife Rosette, live in Royal Oak, Michigan. Along with his pastoral duties,
Rev.Tootikian has been a lecturer at Lawrence Technological University,
Southfield, MI, and also a lecturer at the University of Michigan. He has authored
twenty-eight books, and is a regular contributor to several papers and
magazines. Since January 2003, Rev. Dr. Tootikian has been the Executive Director of
the Armenian Evangelical World Council.