Armenia

Armenia, or by its official name called The Federation of Hayastan, is a West Asian nation situated in the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia, with outlets to the black and Mediterranean Sea.

## **Before The Partition of The Ottoman Empire**

Armenia before the Partition of the Ottoman Empire was complicated. They were split between eastern Armenia in Russia and western Armenia in the Ottoman Empire. After Greece won its independence in 1820, and due to the Armenian cultural renaissance in Russia after the treaties of gulistan and turmenchay Armenian nationalism began to grow. Slowly, nationalism spread from community to community, even resulting in Pontic Greeks and Assyrian nationalism growing. By 1890, for 60 years, nationalism was swelling in the Armenian population. Many political parties, like the Dashnaks, Hunchins socialist party and the Azgan nationalist party bolstered Armenian spirits further.

## **During and After The Partition**

Armenians were the first people to rise up against the empire. (See Partition of The Ottoman Empire). Although for many many moths a stalemate ensued, thanks to the Pontic Greeks, Assyrians and the relief of Russian forces, Armenians broke the stalemate, capturing Bitlis, Van and Karin (or Erzurum ). But as the rebellion continued, especially after the Russians declared war on 1895, the Russians largely took over the rebels and largely carried it. Russian forces combined Cilicia and eastern Anatolia territory as well as the capture of Sivas. During the Treaty of Baku, Armenian claims to eastern Anatolia were largely guaranteed by the Russians, due to them wanting the valuable ports of the Mediterranean. Despite Kurdish protests, they were ignored by the rest of the delegates due to the powerful Russia. Everyone knew if they got Russia on their side of the cause, it would almost immediately mean their land claims would be realized. Despite Arab claims and protests, Assyrians received Mosul, and despite Kurdish and Armenian protests also received Diyarbakir. By the end, Russia would directly annex eastern Anatolia with Cilicia under the guise of “protecting the peace”. Many Armenians felt betrayed as the Russians promised them a free state to no avail. It was after the treaty was signed and ratified that caused the decline of Russian Armenian relations. But the Russians would keep anything but peace. The Armenians didn’t want to be ruled by the Russians either. But it was mostly the western Armenians who felt this way, as the eastern Armenians felt protected by the Russians. Russians began to experience violence in eastern Anatolia, even resulting in the Port of Adana being destroyed by Armenian nationalists. This caused severe reprisals in the 1900s, but it also worried France and Britain. France and Britain were already worried about Russia gaining a port on the Mediterranean, as the port of Adana was vital to the eastern Mediterranean. When the port was destroyed in 1901, Britain and France, fearing about the halt of trade because of the destroyed port forced Russia and the Armenian delegates into what would be known as the Adana Settlement. In Cairo, Armenian, Russian, French and British delegates met to finally settle any sort of disputes. The French and British were just gaining new assets in Anatolia and new trade leases to the new resources being found in the region, and they didn’t want those to be damaged. The settlement lasted 2 weeks, and in the end eastern Anatolia would be granted special rights (too autonomous to be annexed but too dependent on Russia to be a puppet). The port of Adana would be rebuilt by French and British aid and as a result the city, when rebuilt became international, administered by a small league of Armenians under the Azgan party, as well as British French and Russian leagues. Partly also due to the fact that Britain liked Russia trapped out of the Mediterranean.

## **1906-Independence (1926)**

Once the dust had finally settled and peace really came to the region, Russian United Armenia experienced one of the greats growths in the 20th century. Russia gave Armenians special autonomy, which allowed Armenian culture to settle and ushered in a renaissance. The Armenian population likewise exploded. Thanks to the exodus of thousands of Kurds and Turks Armenians resettled the empty city centers and abandoned towns. During the Partiton, Operation Settle was thought upon. The entire operation was a plan to settle eastern Anatolia with Russians, like what happened to the north Caucasus after Russian expansion. Once the war was won in 1909 the operation was put into effect. New towns were made just for the Russian populations alone. Towns near lave Van and the numerous rivers in the Anatolian terrain were settled. In 1912, the operation settled around 30000 Russians, and the operation expanded. The Transcaucasian railway was going to be expanded into the Russian towns that were settled, creating a massive railroad ring in eastern Anatolia. This resulted in a further boom of the economy and population, especially by the Russians.