ARMENIAN - Erevangala500

found its expression and did so ... If the formation o f
bands was wrong, the root o f that error must be sought
much further and more deeply . . . The Winter o f 1914
and the Spring o f 1915 were the periods o f greatest enthusiasm
and hope for all the Armenians in the Caucasus,
including, o f course, the Dash-nagtzoutiun. We had no
doubt the war would end with the complete victory o f the
Allies; Turkey would be defeated and dismembered, and
its Armenian population would at last be liberated.
We had embraced Russia wholeheartedly without any
compunction. Without any positive basis o f fact we believed
that the Tzarist government would grant us a more-
or-less broad self-government in the Caucasus and in the
Annenian villayets liberated from Turkey as a reward for
our loyalty, our efforts and assistance." No one from the
inner ranks ever told the truth to the Armenians in such a
dry, matter-of-fact, uncompromising fashion as their own
prime minister o f the Annenian Republic, Hovhannes
Kachaznuni. When he says, "We had implanted our own
desires into the minds o f others," he knows what he is
talking about.
As they have almost always done with their politics, the
Russians let the whole truth be known in 1914 concerning
their intentions towards the Armenians (in the same
way as Lenin openly pronounced his intentions towards
the "capitalist world"; it is just that hardly anyone in the
West has ever believed him). It was enough just to read
the appeal issued by the Czar, and even that did not have
to be read very closely, considering how blatantly it destroyed
all Armenian illusions: - "Armenians!
From East to West, all the peoples o f Greater Russia have
answered my call respectfully. - Armenians!
The hour has come to free yourselves from the tyranny
that has ruled over you for five hundred years - this tyranny
that has massacred, and continues to massacre, so
many o f you. The Russians gladly remember their glorious
Armenian compatriots. The Lazaroffs and the Meli-
koffs and others have fought on the side o f their Slavic
brothers for the glory o f the Fatherland. Their loyalty is
our guarantee o f your loyalty as well. We are certain that
you will all fulfill your duty and contribute everything to
the victory o f our forces and o f our just cause.
Armenians! You will be united with your brothers under
the regime o f the Czars and finally experience the blessings
o f freedom and justice!"
What did this appeal contain, aside from the assertion that
the Annenians would be united under the regime o f the
Czars (assuming a Russian victory)?
No trace o f a promise o f independence. Not even a hint at
autonomy or autonomous self-government.
Nevertheless: The Armenians delivered themselves up to
the Russian slaughter. They willingly let themselves be
sacrificed on the chessboard o f Russian superpower poli-
A Seljuk double eagle on the medrese in Erzurum. The old
Seljuk cities o f Sivas, Erzurum, and Konya, with their rich
symbolism, became centers o f Turkish resistance to the partitioning
o f Anatolia.
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