ARMENIAN - Erevangala500

ought them safely to Marseilles. From there, they were
free to continue planning and carrying out terrorist attacks.
The raid had only partially fulfilled its purpose. The expected
riots had not materialized. These riots were needed
by the terrorists, because along with the dead and
wounded they would bring a flood o f contributions for
the "Armenian Cause". Other terrorist units therefore
helped out by arranging a number o f bomb explosions in
Galata on August 30.
This time things worked out better, since it was now possible
to dream up tales o f "4000-6000 Armenians killed in
the rioting". Not the least bit o f evidence could be found
to support these figures in the secret report o f the British
Embassy (F. O. 424/188, Nos. 149 and 169). But what
difference did that make?
The Armenians' Last Chance - Blown by the Dashnaks
The Koran school "with the two minarets" is a symbol o f
Erzurum. "Ars er Rum - Land o f the Romans" - was the
name given to the town by the Arab geographer Ibn B attuta.
It was first attacked by the Seljuks in 1049.
In the year 632, the Byzantines held a synod here, in the
course o f which the defeated Armenian principalities
were ordered to accept Greek Orthodoxy. Under the name
"Karen", Erzurum belonged to the Bagratid Empire,
which was tributary to the Caliphs. The Turks established
themselves in Erzurum following their victory at Mantzi-
kert (1071).
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A model had been created for all future terrorist raids,
complete with hostage-taking, forced publication o f a list
o f demands, and permission for the terrorists to leave the
country - plus all the P. R. that accompanies an action o f
this type.
In 1980 (!), the Briton Christopher Walker wrote in his
book Armenia - The Siti-vival o f a Nation the following passage
concerning the raid on the Ottoman Bank, "Those
Dashnaks who escaped were the lucky ones. They
were put on board the French steamer Gironde and set
sail for France. Their fellow Armenians were left
behind to ex-piate-many times over-the 'crime' o f terrorising
a terrorist society."
In 1914, a Dashnaktsutiun Party Congress was held here.
The Dashnaks regarded Erzurum as the capital o f a future
"Greater Armenia".
The outbreak o f the First World War represents a decisive
turning point in the history o f the Armenian people. It
was on the eve o f the Ottoman Empire's entry into the
war on the side o f the Central Powers (which did not
come until the beginning o f November) that the revolutionary
Dashnaktsutiun held its congress in Erzurum.
There are widely differing accounts o f the events o f the
congress, especially concerning the attitude o f the delegates
towards the Ottoman State.
Hovhannes Kachaznuni, who was later to become prime
minister o f the independent Armenian Republic, did, however,
present a statement concerning this matter to the
Bucharest Congress o f the Dashnaktsutiun in July, 1923:
"At the beginning o f the Fall o f 1914 when Turkey had not
yet entered the war but had already been making preparations,
Armenian revolutionary bands began to be formed in
Transcaucasia (i. e., in Czarist Russia, editor's note), with
great enthusiasm and, especially, with much uproar.
Contrary to the decision taken during their general meeting
at Erzurum only a few weeks before, the A. R. F. (Armenian
Revolutionary Federation - Dash-naksutyun) had active
participation in the formation o f the bands and their future
military action against Turkey ..." After commenting briefly
on the (for Hovhannes Kachaznuni) distressing fact that the
A. R. F. o f Transcaucasia had never stuck to its decisions,
the former prime minister o f the Republic o f Armenia continued:
"It would be useless to argue today whether our bands of
volunteers should have entered the field or not. Historical
events have their irrefutable logic. In the Fall o f 1914 Armenian
volunteer bands organized themselves and fought
against the Turks because they could not refrain themselves
from fighting. This was an inevitable result o f psychology
on which the Armenian people had nourished itself
during an entire generation: that mentality should have