ARMENIAN - Erevangala500

The Reconquest o f Kars and the
End o f Armenian Expansion
In the last days o f August and the first days o f September,
1920, a "Congress o f the Peoples o f the East" was held in
Baku on the invitation o f the International. At this congress
appeared a united front o f all the peoples o f the
Caucasus and the Turkic peoples living in and around the
Caucasus.
All the tribes and ethnic groups represented - great or
small - seemed to have a common motive: fear o f Armenian
rule. In the case o f the Soviets, there was also o f
course the intent to bring the Republic o f Armenia under
Soviet-Russian control, just as Russian Armenia had been
totally under the control o f the White Czars.
For the Armenians, nothing really changed in the end.
After having shed a tremendous amount o f Islamic and
Armenian blood, the Armenians landed right back where
they had almost always been - dependent on another state.
The only difference was that now they would be under the
Russian Bolsheviks instead o f under the Czars.
Meanwhile 0 11 the international front, the young Armenian
Republic had lost all credibility. The incessant wars
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With their Georgian and Azerbaijani neighbors had destroyed
the illusion o f the "unarmed, peaceful martyr-
nation". In constructing this illusion, the Armenian extremists
had shown great skill in making the world forget
their decades o f terrorist activity. The same Dashnaks
who had once led terrorist groups were now in charge of
an entire (though admittedly small) state machinery.
On June 27, 1920, Armenian troops attacked Tuzla, not
far from Oltu. When they were beaten and had to retreat,
they lauched an artillery attack on Oltu (June 30, 1920).
On July 8, they advanced to Diigiin Tepe, and a few days
later they were in Cambar. Immediately thereafter, they
set their sights on the border regions o f Nakhichevan and
Kagizman and advanced as far as Kulp.
After a careful and conscientious period o f preparation,
Kazim Karabekir launched a counter-offensive in September
o f 1920. The Turks had only very old-fashioned.
In April o f 1919, the Armenians occupied Kars with British
help. They made it their key position for the assault on
Anatolia. Their objective was to win access to two seas: in the
north at Trabzon and in the south at Adana. This would mean a
"Greater Armenia" stretching from the Black Sea to the
Mediterranean. The Armenians had always been a small minority
in this region.
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