Conference Dedicated to 85th Anniversary of Severes Treaty

YEREVAN (Armenpress)--Parliament deputy chairman Vahan Hovhanesian (ARF) said today the failure of the Allied Powers to implement the Sevres Treaty in the wake of the World War I, was the major cause of instability and volatility in the region, and questioned the validity of the subsequent Moscow and Kars agreements.

He was speaking at a conference dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the Sevres Treaty, and organized by the Igdir and Surmalu compatriatic union.

The Treaty of Sevres between the Allied Powers and the government of Ottoman Turkey, was signed at the end of World War I. It abolished the Ottoman Empire, obliged Turkey to renounce rights over Arab Asia and North Africa, and provided for an independent Armenia, an autonomous Kurdistan, and Greek control over the Aegean islands commanding the Dardanelles. These provisions were rejected by the new Republic of Turkey, and the treaty was replaced in 1923 by the Treaty of Lausanne.

In August 1920, the Treaty of Sevres, signed by England, France, and Turkey, bound Turkey to recognize the independence of Armenia and the Wilsonian boundaries. The new Armenian state was recognized by most of the countries, including the United States. After the triumph of Mustafa Kemal, however, the Turks, with the support of Bolshevik Russia, again attacked the infant Armenian Republic.

On November 29, 1920, Armenia was declared a Soviet state.

On December 1, 1920 as the news about the Sovietization of Armenia reached Azerbaijan, Narimanov, the chief of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan, in a surprise move, declared that Azerbaijan would stop its claims on Armenian territories, and proclaimed Karabagh, Nakhichevan, and Zankezour, integral parts of Armenia.

However, just a day later, Narimanov's decree was revised: Nakhichevan and Zankezour were recognized as parts of Armenia, whereas Karabagh was given the right of self-determination.

Nonetheless, the strange alliance between the Turks and the Russian Bolsheviks played a fatal role in the final determination of borders. The Treaty of Alexandropol, signed in December of 1920 asserted the defeat of Armenia. Then in March of 1921, Turkey and Russia signed a mysterious Treaty of Moscow to tear Nakhichevan away from Armenia and to attach it to the Soviet Azerbaijan.

In summer of 1921, the Caucasus Office of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks held a number of sessions to resolve the issue of Karabagh. On July 4, the plenary session issued a decree confirming that it belonged to Armenia.

The next day, Stalin convened an extraordinary session and transfered Karabagh to Azerbaijan. The Treaty of Kars, signed in October of 1921, completed the carving-up of Armenia—and reducing its territory to 30,000 square kilometers.