The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13 ...

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southe
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Atrpatakan/Azarbaija
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to the arrival of the Saljuqa the Armenian people had been
subjected to a bloody campaign of religious persecution
from Orthodox Byzantium1. For this reason, and because
of the violently anti-Byzantine reaction such a policy
engendered, all segments of the Armenian population did not
respond in a uniform way either to the Saljuq invasions, or
to the domination. Indeed, some few Armenians saw the
anti-Byzantine Turks not as the agents of God sent to
punish Armenians for their sins, but as an excellent
vehicle opportunely available to themselves for vengeance
against the Greeks. The contemporary non-Armenian sources
in particular accuse the Armenians of siding with the Turks,
deserting from the Byzantine armies sent to "defend" Armenia,
2
and even joining the enemy .
three directions: (1) in the west, from Orthodox ChaleedoQiaQ
Byzantium; (2) in the east from Iran and Atrpatakan/Azarbaljan
(first Zoroastrian, later Muslim); and (3) in the south
from Muslim Syria and the Arab emirates established in southern
Armenia. Over the centuries, many Armenians living in areas
bordering thes three regions, or settled within these states
themselves had, for reasons of expediency or conviction
" apostasized". See Toumanoff's " Armenia and Georgia", passim.
1
2
Bart'ikyan, 2£'£ii«. iMS PP« 92-93.
pp. 93-110.
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