page_title: Occupation of Western Armenia
section_title: Recognition Efforts
hierarchical_section_title: Occupation of Western Armenia / History / Recognition Efforts
caption_attribution_description: English: Title Boundary between Turkey and Armenia&#160;: as determined by Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States of America / Description Scale 1:1,000,000. Relief shown by spot heights. From the President Woodrow Wilson papers. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Includes location map. LC copy 2 signed by Woodrow Wilson. DLC 1 map&#160;: col.&#160;; 70 x 74 cm.
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: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, between the Ottoman Empire and Russian SFSR, included the establishment of Armenia in Russian Armenia. The Administration for Western Armenia had a setback with the Treaty of Batum, forcing the Armenian borders to be pushed deeper into Russian Armenia.
  The Armenian Diaspora argued that it was natural to extend the borders to Armenian control, since after the Russian Revolution the region was controlled by Armenian volunteer units, and later by Armenia. The Armenian provisional government used as a primary argument "the ability to control the region".
  The majority of the population was becoming Armenian, as the Turkish inhabitants of the region moved to western provinces, this becoming the secondary argument. With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the triple Entente Powers meant to determine the fate of Anatolia.
  During the Conference of London, David Lloyd George encouraged American President Woodrow Wilson to accept a mandate for Anatolia, particularly with the support of the Armenian diaspora, for the provinces claimed by the Administration of Western Armenia during its largest occupation in 1916. "Wilsonian Armenia" became part of the Treaty of Sèvres.
  The realities on the ground, however, were slightly different. The idea was blocked by both the Treaty of Alexandropol and the Treaty of Kars. The Treaty of Sèvres was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne, and the fight for the "Administration for Western Armenia" was dropped off the table.
  As a continuation of the initial goal, the creation of a "free, independent, and united" Armenia including all the territories designated as Wilsonian Armenia by the Treaty of Sèvres — as well as the regions of Artsakh, Javakhk, and Nakhchivan — was the main goal of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
caption: Summary of Wilsonian Armenia
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