About Armenia

Emergence of Armenia

The Armenian people are one of the most ancient modern peoples. He came to the world from such depths of centuries, when not only did the modern European peoples of our time not exist, but the peoples of ancient antiquity – the Romans and Hellenes – were barely born.
The Armenian Highlands are one of the centers of human civilization. In various areas of the highlands, at the foot of Mount Aragats, in the Hrazdan gorge (Arzni, Nurnus), primitive stone tools made about half a million years ago, during the ancient Stone Age – Paleolithic, were discovered. Agriculture was already developing during this era. Cereals and fruit plants, abundantly distributed in the wild in various regions of the highlands, were cultivated.
For the first time in history, the name “Armenia” is found in the inscription of the Persian king Darius, carved in three languages ​​in 521 BC. on the Bihistun rock near the city of Kermanshah. It is interesting that in the Elamite and Old Persian languages ​​the country is called Armenia, and in the Assyrian text – Urartu.
On one of the most ancient maps of the world – the Star-shaped Babylonian map on a clay slab (5th century BC), of the six countries depicted on it, one is Armenia. Early information about Armenians and Armenia is also found in ancient Greek authors of the 5th century BC. e. — Herodotus and Xenophon

 

Great Armenia

From the very beginning of its existence, the Armenian state was forced to wage a continuous struggle for independence against the Median kingdom, Achaemenid Persia and the Greco-Macedonian conquerors. In the second half of the 4th century. BC. Armenia became the prey of Alexander the Great’s successors, the Seleucids. In 190 BC. Taking advantage of the weakening of the Seleucids, two of their satraps (strategists) – the Armenian princes Artashes and Zarekh, united the Armenians around themselves, rebelled and completely liberated the country. Subsequently, Artashes annexed to Great Armenia part of Asia Minor and a number of regions to the north, from Lake Sevan to the Kura and Caspian Sea.
The most prominent representative of the Artashesid dynasty, Tigran the Great (95-55 BC), further expanded the possessions of Greater Armenia and created a vast empire from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea and in the south to the Mediterranean. With the reign of the Artashesid dynasty, the rapid development of the Armenian economy and the rise of the spiritual life of the people began. Armenia is becoming one of the centers of original culture, which coincides in time with the Greek culture of the Hellenistic era, having many common features with it. The ruins of architectural monuments of this time still amaze the imagination; Among them, a prominent place is occupied by the Garni fortress with the famous pagan temple.
The emergence of the Armenian theater dates back to this time. The Roman historian Plutarch says that the Armenian king Artavazd II created a theater in Artashat (56 BC), where plays by Greek and Armenian authors were staged. The ancient Armenians attached great importance to all kinds of oracles, omens and divine revelations. There was a belief in spirits and mythical creatures (vishaps, devas, etc.)

Creation of Armenian writing

In 301, Armenia was the first in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion, which led to a rapprochement between Armenia and Rome, but caused a conflict with Persia. At the same time, the struggle between Persia and Rome for dominance over Armenia flared up. Which ended the division of Armenia into two parts. The eastern (most part) fell under the rule of the Persians. At this time and after, there were significant migrations of Armenians to Byzantine Asia Minor, Constantinople and the European part of the empire.
During these difficult trials, the creation of the Armenian written language in 396 played a decisive role in preserving the national identity and culture of the Armenian people. Its creator was the brilliant Mesrop Mashtots. Writing was a powerful weapon for national self-preservation. In 438, the Persian king Yazdegerd II removed some privileges for the Armenians and ordered them to convert to Zoroastrianism. These demands provoked uprisings in Armenia, and a war began between the rebel troops and the Sasanian army. The decisive episode of the war was the Battle of Avarayr, during which the leader of the uprising, the Armenian commander (sparapet), prince and national hero Vardan Mamikonyan, died. Despite the Pyrrhic victory of the Persians, Ezdegerd II was not happy: Armenia was ruined, the influx of taxes and soldiers from there decreased sharply. In addition, the Huns began to bother us again. In an attempt to rectify the situation, he allowed Armenians to practice Christianity, and allowed those who were forced to convert to Zoroastrianism to return to Christianity. The Battle of Avarayr was a battle for the right to defend the Christian faith, which the Armenian people accepted in 301, for the right to be and remain Armenian.
During this period, the greatest thinker, mathematician, astronomer and geographer Anania Shirakatsi lived and worked, who gave a scientific explanation of the eclipses of the Sun and Moon, defending the idea of ​​the sphericity of the Earth. The period from Mashtots to Shirakatsi was one of the most fruitful in the history of Armenian culture.

Armenians in the Byzantine Empire

Armenians occupied a prominent place in the ruling class of Byzantium․ Many different ethnic and linguistic groups coexisted within the Byzantine Empire, but only the Armenians were allowed to maintain their own culture. Armenian was the second official language along with Greek. The most prominent representative of this dynasty, under whom Byzantium achieved power and prosperity, was the Armenian Vasily II․
Due to the fact that Armenia did not recognize the Fourth Ecumenical (Chalcedonian) Council (451), relations between Byzantium and Armenia were influenced by the attempts of the official Byzantine church to convert the Armenian Church to Chalcedonianism․

Golden Age in Armenian History

From the end of the 9th century, the Bagratid dynasty led Armenia to cultural, political and economic growth, thus marking a new golden age in Armenian history. In 885, Armenia was recognized as a sovereign kingdom by the region’s two major powers: the Arab Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire. About 450 years after the fall of Greater Armenia, the Armenian state was restored. From the beginning of the 10th century, the Byzantine Empire recognized the political hegemony of Armenia in Transcaucasia – at least in relation to Christian states. The Caliphate, in turn, awarded the Armenian kings the title “shahinshah” – king of kings․ During the existence of the Armenian Bagratid kingdom, historiography, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, literature, architecture, miniatures, fresco painting, decorative and applied arts and other branches of art and science developed even more; in general, the era was marked by a cultural revival․

Armenian Catholicosate

Despite the fact that by the end of the 11th century, for the most part, the Armenian kingdoms were destroyed, church authority continued to exist in the person of the Catholicos, traditionally elected from the Pahlavuni clan. As a result of the conquest of the capital of Armenia, the city of Ani, by the Byzantines in 1045, and then by the Seljuks in 1064, the expulsion of the Catholicosate began. For almost a century, the residence of the Catholicos of the Armenians, depending on the alignment of external and internal forces, was transferred from Cappadocia to Euphrates.
In the 12th century, the chair of the Catholicos of the Armenians was moved to Cilicia, first to the city of Romkla, and then to Sis. The residence of the Catholicos of the Armenians in Cilicia lasted for two centuries; with the fall of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, the throne of the Catholicos of all Armenians returned from Cilicia to Holy Etchmiadzin in 1441, where it is currently located.
Unlike other Armenian lands, in Cilicia, in addition to the dominant traditional Armenian church, there were also Christian churches of other movements, primarily the Catholic one. This circumstance is explained by the fact that the Armenian state was the trade gateway of the east, and was also considered by the papacy as an ally and a transit point during the Crusades. The Catholic Church, in the person of its head, the Pope of Rome, realizing the importance of Cilicia, tried to extend its influence over the Armenian state and reduce the influence of the Armenian church. Roman legates and missionaries tried to persuade the kingdom to embrace Catholicism. Despite the fact that they were active, it did not bring them tangible dividends, and the influence of the Armenian church did not decrease.

Chronological table of the history of Armenia

IV – III millennium BC. e. – The emergence of proto-Armenian tribal unions on the territory of the Armenian Highlands.
869 BC e. – Mention of the first kingdom of the state of Urartu-Aram in Assyrian cuneiform writings.
782 BC e. – Foundation of the fortress-city of Erebuni
550 BC e. – Mention of the Armenian kingdom in the chronicles of Xenophon.
520 BC e. – Mentions of the country Arminiya and the people Armina in the Behistun trilingual inscription of the Persian king Darius I.
VI – V centuries BC e. – Completion of the ethnic design of the Armenian people and the formation of the Armenian language.
95-56 BC e. – The reign of Tigran II (the Great), the heyday of ancient Armenian statehood.
301 – Armenians adopted Christianity as the state religion․
387 – Division of the ancient Armenian state between Rome and Persia.
405 – Creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots.
451, May 26 – Battle of commander Vardan Mamikonyan with the Persians at the Tkhmut River (Battle of Avarair).
859 – Formation of the Armenian Principality as a vassal to the Arab Caliphate.
885 – Founding of the Bagratid dynasty and restoration of statehood in the Armenian Bagratid kingdom.
1045 – Conquest of Armenia by Byzantium and the Seljuk Turks.
1080 – Founding of the Cilician-Armenian state by the Rubenid dynasty.
1124 – Liberation of the city of Ani from the Seljuk Turks.
1236 – Beginning of the Mongol invasion of Armenia.
1375 – Fall of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the invasion of the Egyptian Mamelukes.
1441 – Transfer of the Throne of the Catholicos of all Armenians to Etchmiadzin.
1639 – Division of Armenia between Ottoman Turkey and Persia.
XVI century – Appeals of Armenians to European states with requests for protection from the Turks and Persians.
XVII century – Armenian embassies in Russia.
1724 – Creation of an independent Armenian principality in Syunik by the Armenian commander David Bek.
1812 – Victory of Russian troops over the Persians at the Araks River.
1813 – Signing of the Treaty of Gulistan by Russia and Persia.
1826-1828 – Second war with Persia. Accession of Eastern Armenia to Russia under the Turkmenchay Treaty.
1828 – Formation of the Armenian region as part of the Russian Empire.
1849 – Creation of the Erivan province as part of the Russian Empire.
1878 – Signing of the Treaty of San Stefano.
1894 – 1909 – Massacre of Armenians in Sasun, Constantinople, Trebizond, Erzurum, Sebastia, Van, Bayazet, Adana.
1914 – Beginning of the First World War. Turkey’s entry into the war on the side of Germany. Destruction of military personnel of Armenian nationality in the Turkish army.
1915 – The Ottoman Empire commits the Armenian genocide․
1918 – Restoration of Armenian statehood. Proclamation of the Republic of Armenia․
1920 – Establishment of Soviet power in Armenia.
1991 – independence from the USSR, creation of the Republic of Armenia․

Armenian genocide

The term genocide in 1944 was put into circulation by a Polish lawyer of Jewish origin, Professor Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin’s family was one of the victims of the Jewish Holocaust, and with this term he wanted to describe and define the Nazi systematic policy of murder and violence, as well as the 1915 Atrocities committed against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

1948 On December 9, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, according to which genocide is defined as an international crime and the signatory states are obliged to prevent and punish those who commit genocide.

What is the Armenian Genocide?

The massacres of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War are called the Armenian Genocide.

Those massacres were carried out by the Young Turk government in different regions of the Ottoman Empire.

The first international response to these events was in 1915. It was the joint statement of France, Russia and Great Britain on May 24, where the violence committed against the Armenian people was described as a “crime against humanity and civilization”. The parties considered the Turkish government responsible for the committed crime.

Why was the Armenian Genocide carried out?

When the First World War began, the Young Turk government, trying to preserve the remnants of the weakened Ottoman Empire, adopted the policy of Pan-Turkism, that is, the creation of a vast Turkish Empire that would extend to China, including all the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Caucasus, Central Asia. The plan envisaged the Turkification of all ethnic minorities. The Armenian population was seen as the main obstacle to the implementation of this plan.

Perhaps the Armenian Genocide was planned as early as 1911-12, but the Young Turks used the start of World War I as an opportune moment to carry it out.

What is the number of victims of the Armenian Genocide?

On the eve of the First World War, more than two million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. Around one and a half million Armenians were killed in 1915-1923. period, and the rest were either forcibly converted to Islam or took refuge in different countries of the world.

The mechanism of the genocide

Genocide is the organized extermination of a group of people with the primary goal of ending their collective existence. Therefore, the implementation of genocide requires centralized planning and internal implementation mechanisms, which makes genocide a state crime, since only the state has all the resources that can be used to implement this policy.

1915 The first phase of the extermination of the Armenian population began with the arrests (mainly in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire) and the destruction of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals that began on April 24. Later, Armenians around the world began to celebrate April 24 as a day of remembrance for the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

The second stage of the implementation of the Armenian Genocide was the conscription of about 60,000 Armenian men into the Turkish army, who were later disarmed and killed by their Turkish comrades-in-arms.

The third stage of the genocide was marked by the slaughter of women, children, and the elderly and their deportation to the Syrian desert. During the deportation, hundreds of thousands of people were killed by Turkish soldiers, police, Kurdish and Circassian gangs. Many died of starvation and epidemic diseases. Thousands of women and children were subjected to violence. Tens of thousands of Armenians were forcibly converted to Islam.

Finally, the last phase of the Armenian Genocide is the absolute denial by the Turkish government of mass deportations and mass exterminations against the Armenian nation in its own homeland. Despite the ongoing process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey is fighting against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in every possible way, including using historical manipulations, various means of propaganda, lobbying, etc.

I remember and demand

The main organizers of the Armenian genocide

Action by representatives of studies and sciences, medicine and history of Turkey

«We are sorry» (арм. Հայեր, ներեցեք մեզ, Turkish, Özür Diliyorum). “I beg your pardon” is an action carried out in Turkey by representatives of the Turkish intelligentsia, in which they ask for forgiveness for the fact that “the Great Catastrophe suffered by the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is faced with indifference and denial.”

The essence of the action
The initiators of the campaign are Professor Ahmed Insel, journalist Cengiz Aktar, Professor Baskin Oran, journalist Ali Bayramoglu and another 300 representatives of Turkish academic circles, journalists, and public figures.

On December 15, 2008, they posted a petition on the website www.ozurdiliyoruz.com, which, in part, states:

My conscience cannot come to terms with the fact that the Great Catastrophe suffered by the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is faced with indifference and denial. I cannot accept such injustice. I sympathize with the experiences and grief of my Armenian brothers and sisters, and I ask their forgiveness as well

In the first 24 hours after the letter was published, about 8,000 people signed it. By mid-2013, the petition had received approximately 29,504 signatures.

Criminal investigation
It is worth noting that today, under Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (insulting the Turkish nation), the prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal case against those who signed the petition. But after some time, according to the conclusion of the Turkish prosecutor’s office, “The preliminary investigation established that there are no grounds for criminal prosecution, since the right to express opposing opinions is protected by law and is the norm in democratic societies”.

The initiators of this action have already been condemned[by whom?] and called “traitors and fascists.” According to sources, the nationalist forces of Turkey, with the support of the Turkish military forces, are ready in every possible way to obstruct the actions of the initiators of the action and to use force against those representatives of the Turkish intelligentsia who joined the “I beg your pardon” action.