page_title: Occupation of Western Armenia
section_title: Russian plans
hierarchical_section_title: Occupation of Western Armenia / History / Expansion, 1916 / Russian plans
context_page_description: The occupation of Western Armenia by the Russian Empire during World War I began in 1915 formally ended by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was sometimes referred to as the Republic of Van by Armenians. Aram Manukian of Armenian Revolutionary Federation was the de facto head until July 1915. It was briefly referred to as "Free Vaspurakan". After a setback beginning in August 1915, it was re-established in June 1916. The region was allocated to Russia by the Allies in April 1916 under the Sazonov–Paléologue Agreement.
  From December 1917, it was under Transcaucasian Commissariat, with Hakob Zavriev as the Commissar, and during the early stages of the establishment of First Republic of Armenia, it was included with other Armenian National Councils in a briefly unified Armenia.
  This provisional government relied on Armenian volunteer units, forming an administrative structure after the Siege of Van around April 1915. Dominant representation was from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Aram Manukian, or "Aram of Van," was the administration's most famous governor.
context_section_description: In April 1915, Nikolai Yudenich reported the following to Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov:
  The Armenians intend to occupy by means of their refugees the lands left by the Kurds and Turks, in order to benefit from that territory. I consider this intention unacceptable, because after the war, it will be difficult to reclaim those lands sequestered by the Armenians or to prove that the seized property does not belong to them, as was the case after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. I consider it very desirable
  to populate the border regions with a Russian element... with colonists from the Kuban and Don and in that way to form a Cossack region along the border.
  The agricultural possibilities located off the Black Sea coastal districts and the upper reaches of the Euphrates were considered suitable for Russian colonists.  Following the April 1916 Sazonov–Paléologue Agreement, the Rules for the Temporary Administration of Turkish Areas occupied by the Right of War was signed on June 18, 1916, instructing a governorship under the established system of Aram Manukian.
  However, the February 1917 Revolution deposed Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian crown, and the new establishment promised to reverse the policies in order to gain support of the Armenians.
caption: The area of Russian occupation of that region in summer 1916.
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