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AMAA News: The 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Republic

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  • AMAA News: The 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Republic

    The 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Republic
    By Rev. Dr. Vahan H. Tootikian
    AMAA News
    Publication of the Armenian Missionary Association of America
    March/April 2008
    The year 2008 is the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Armenia. On May 28,
    1918, the independent Republic came into existence amidst the most trying
    conditions. Three years after the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians, in May
    1918, the Armenians in their homeland were once again threatened by their
    enemies. The Turkish forces had encircled the region of Yerevan and intended to
    destroy the Armenian Remnant. Surrounded by mortal foes, with no avenue of
    escape and no one around to extend a helping hand, Armenians of every age and
    rank, including women and the very old took a heroic stand. At the battlesof
    Sardarabad, Kara-Kilisa and Bash-Abaran, the little Armenian force of about
    35,000 fought against the Turkish army and triumphed. These triple battlesof May
    1918 led to the establishment of the Republic of Armenia in a small part of
    our historic Fatherland. If these three battles, particularly that of
    Sardarabad, had not been won, it is almost certain that the remaining Armenians in
    the Caucasus would have been murdered by the invading genocidal Turkish
    armies. Had the Turks broken the Armenian army they would have finished the rest of
    the Armenian people in that part of the world.
    The Armenian folk who survived because of their heroic valor later became
    the citizen nucleus of the Republic of Armenia and still later constitutedthe
    population of present-day Armenia.
    Much like the proverbial phoenix rising from its ashes, the victorious
    Armenian people proclaimed the independence of Armenia on May 28, 1918. Six
    hundred years after the fall of the last independent Armenian kingdom we had
    conquered our land for ourselves!
    The creation of the Republic, born out of the threat of annihilation, was a
    miracle. It was our only haven in the sea of despair. Preserving the infant
    Republic was an even greater challenge. The economic conditions within the
    country were catastrophic. Famine and privation, cholera and typhus epidemics,
    the presence of enemy armed bands who attacked the Armenian populace were
    devastating. World War I continued for another five months and the future of the
    Armenian state remained uncertain until the Armistice and the surrender of
    Turkey to the Allies. Armenians breathed a sigh of relief in November 1918.
    With the defeat of Turkey, the Allied nations demanded the Ottoman troopsto
    withdraw from some of their occupied Armenian territories. As a result, the
    Armenian Kars, Ardahan and Nakhichevan territories were added to the Republic.
    The territory of independent Armenia was considerably larger than that of the
    present-day Republic of Armenia. But in spite of the fact that its economy
    was a shambles, half its population scattered, the Armenian government did
    the best it could for its people. For two and a half years, Armenians clung to
    their independence and built a whole new infrastructure, a university,
    institutes and schools, with industries budding here and there. With great hopes
    they sent their representatives to the Paris Peace Conference and presented
    their demands for a united Armenia that encompassed Western Armenian territories
    as well. In August 1920, the Treaty of Peace with Turkey, signed at Sèvres
    (France), recognized the independence of Armenia and its right to Western
    Armenia. Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States of America, drew the
    borders of Armenia-a country with an area of around 87,500 square miles
    (227,500 square kilometers). Unfortunately, the signatories of the Treaty of
    Sèvres had disagreements with one another. Meanwhile, in Turkey a newleader came
    forth in the person of Musafa Kemal (Ataturk), who launched a new Turkish
    national movement, organized an army and was chosen president of the newly
    formed parliament. He made an agreement with socialist Russia and challenged the
    disunited Allies.
    Thereafter, the Turks and the Soviet Russians put pressure on little Armenia
    to renounce the Treaty of Sèvres. Armenia was caught between the Turkish
    anvil and the Russian hammer. The Turks tried to gain control of the Armenian
    Karabagh-Zankezour-Nakhichevan belt and unite with Azerbaijan; they attacked
    Armenia without any provocation. Meanwhile, the Armenian Socialists, with
    seventy thousand Russian soldiers, entered and occupied the northern Armenian city
    of Dilijan.
    The Armenian government asked the Socialist government of Russia to stop the
    Turkish advance but the Russians considered friendly relations with the
    Turks more important than the security of an insignificant Armenia. They
    suggested that the Armenians accept the Turkish conditions. On November 29, 1920,
    the Armenian Republic fell under the Socialists' dominion. Armenia signed the
    Treaty of Alexandropol, making huge territorial concessions to the Turks.
    In December 1920, a socialist system was set up in Armenia, and in 1921, the
    peoples of the Caucasus united to form the Transcaucasian Federated Republic,
    subject to Socialist Russia. With the new Soviet Constitution in 1936, each
    nation of the Caucasus formed a part of the Soviet Union as separate
    republics.
    Under the aegis of the Soviet Union, the Second Republic lasted from 1920 to
    1991. Despite the dictatorial political system and violation of human rights,
    the people of Armenia developed their economy and culture. With Soviet
    assistance great industrial advances occurred. Along with economy and industry,
    great impetus was also given to the educational, scientific and artistic ar
    eas. Illiteracy was almost completely eliminated.
    Soviet Armenia became a highly advanced and industrialized republic and
    major center for the development of Armenian arts and culture and maintained for
    more than 70 years the continuity of the Armenian state.
    With the decline of the USSR, Soviet Armenia was one of the first republics
    to declare independence. After a national referendum, 95.6% of over two
    million eligible voters overwhelmingly voted for independence on September21,
    1991. Thus, the Third Republic burst forth.
    The Third Republic, present-day Armenia, is just a tiny part of the historic
    Armenia. It covers 29,800 square kilometers, or 11,506 square miles. It
    represents only one-sixth of the Armenian territories delineated in the Treaty of
    Sèvres. Its current population is estimated 3.5 million.
    Considering the challenges that Armenia has faced since the creation of the
    Third Republic, the fact that it survived all the odds against it, is itself
    a miracle. After its devastating 1988 earthquake, the country was hardly
    prepared for the moment of destiny when it declared its independence. It was
    subjected to Turkish-Azeri attacks and an economic blockade.
    During the past sixteen years, the Republic has made every effort to
    consolidate its independence. Economic reforms are made to ensure smooth transition
    from the old system to a free market economy. Land reforms are made. The
    government has been working hard toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict in
    Nagorno Karabagh and the establishment of friendly relations with all its
    neighbors.
    On the other hand, however, there are some concerns about the free and
    democratic process in elections. There is corruption in the government. There is
    an increase in disparity on economic and social levels. There is also an exodus
    of Armenians from Armenia because of the aforementioned and other problems.

    But despite all of these difficulties, the Republic of Armenia has grown and
    prospered during the past 16 years and has become the actualization of the
    dream that a people without a land and a land without a people would be
    reunited.
    The Republic of Armenia, with all its faults and foibles, has given
    Armenians all over the world the pride of national identity, that they area people
    with a country, and have a national flag which readily identifies them and
    with which they are identified. And as someone once said, `Armenianism and
    pessimism are not compatible.' This has been our strength and our salvation-that
    we have lived with hope.
    This hope endured even during centuries in which Armenian history was the
    saga of Armenian endurance and suffering. Now the older chapter of passivity has
    ended, and the new chapter of creativity has begun. We can no longer be
    called `Starving Armenians,' or `Wandering Armenians.' We are no longer `a
    homeless people,' or `a captive nation,' but a nation in control of its
    destiny.
    Armenia is our beacon of hope because it is the best guarantee of our
    survival as a nationality. It is the irreplaceable base upon which our future can
    be built, especially when we consider the fact that the Diaspora faces a
    downhill struggle in the preservation of the national character as a new
    generation come along.
    For Armenians, the Republic of Armenia is a dream come true, a prayer
    answered and a faith renewed. It is the indomitable will of an undying people
    inspired by its divine assurance. It is a land made fertile by the work and sweat
    and hope of men and women, standing together in the valley with the Prophet
    Ezekiel and seeing dry bones come to life.
    Yes, the Republic of Armenia is 90 years old. Our ancestors pledged
    themselves never to forget the land of their inspiration, and we once morerenew the
    ancient pledge.
    We pray that God will protect the Republic of Armenia and keep our people
    filled with grace and reinforced with faith to live and work for the love and
    well being of our fatherland.

    # # #
    The Rev. Dr. Vahan H. Tootikian is the Minister Emeritus of the Armenian
    Congregational Church of Greater Detroit. He was the senior pastor of the church
    for 30 years, from 1975-2005. Rev. Dr. Tootikian is a graduate of the Near
    East School of Theology, and did his graduate work at Harvard and Andover
    Newton Theological seminaries, earning two masters and a doctorate. He andhis
    wife Rosette, live in Royal Oak, Michigan. Along with his pastoral duties,
    Rev.Tootikian has been a lecturer at Lawrence Technological University,
    Southfield, MI, and also a lecturer at the University of Michigan. He has authored
    twenty-eight books, and is a regular contributor to several papers and
    magazines. Since January 2003, Rev. Dr. Tootikian has been the Executive Director of
    the Armenian Evangelical World Council.
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