"Armenia without Armenians" is a phrase with different meanings.
Some Armenian and non-Armenian scholars use the phrase in reference to the aftermath of the Armenian genocide of 1915, which left the Turkish-controlled parts of the Armenian homeland without significant Armenian population. [1] [2] [3]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several Imperial Russian officials proposed the policy of "Armenia without Armenians", [4] most notably Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky, foreign minister in 1895–96. [5] [6] [7]
During World War I, the Russian army occupied Turkish Armenia with the help of the Armenian volunteer units. In 1916, the Russian government disbanded the Armenian volunteer units. General Nikolai Yudenich, who led the Russian army into the Armenian-populated areas of the Ottoman Empire during the Caucasian Campaign of World War I, proposed a plan of deporting the remaining Armenians from their ancestral homes. [8] The Russian government seriously considered the possibility of repopulating the Armenian lands by Russian peasants and Cossacks. [5] [9]
In the early 21st century, the phrase is often used to refer to emigration from Armenia. In 2009 the Russian government began a migration program, called "Compatriots", which encourages Armenians to settle in Russia. [10] Sociologist Ruben Yeganyan, [11] First Nagorno-Karabakh War veteran Sargis Hatspanyan, [12] and political analyst Ruben Mehrabyan [13] stated that the program leaves Armenia without Armenians. In 2013 Hatspanyan linked what he saw as Russia's policy of an "Armenia without Armenians" to the Armenian government's decision to join the Eurasian Union and the possibility of a mass emigration to Russia. [14]
The Remaining Documents of Talaat Pasha, also known in Turkey as The Abandoned Documents of Talaat Pasha and Talaat Pasha's Black Book, is the title of a 2008 book by the Turkish journalist Murat Bardakçı. It reproduces in modern Turkish script a selection of documents from the WWI period by Mehmed Talaat Pasha, the Ottoman Empire's Grand Vizier and Minister of Interior, that deal with the relocations of both Muslim Turks and Armenians and the expropriation of abandoned Armenian and Greek property. Its full English title is The Remaining Documents of Talaat Pasha: Documents and Important Correspondence Found in the Private Archives of Sadrazam Talaat Pasha about the Armenian Deportations.
Zori Hayki Balayan is an Armenian novelist, journalist, sports doctor, traveler and sports expert. He was awarded the "Renowned master of the Arts" an Armenian official title.
Cherkesogai, or Circassian Armenians ; sometimes referred to as Ermeli, Mountainous Armenians or Transkuban Armenians, are ethnic Armenians who have inhabited Russia's Krasnodar Krai and Republic of Adyghea since the end of 15th century and spoke the Adyghe language, in contrast to other Armenians living in the region. They reside mostly in the cities of Armavir and Maykop. The total number of Cherkosogai is about 50,000 people. According to the Russian 2002 Census, 230 Armenians speak Lowland Adyghe and 222 speak Kabardian Adyghe natively.
Alxanlı is a village and municipality in the Fuzuli District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 2,139. Alxanlı was located close to the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact prior to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Xanlıq is a village in the Qubadli District of Azerbaijan. It is situated along the Hakari river.
The Armenians in Crimea have maintained a presence in the region since the Middle Ages. The first wave of Armenian immigration into this area began during the mid-eleventh century and, over time, as political, economic and social conditions in Armenia proper failed to improve, newer waves followed them. Today, between 10 and 20 thousand Armenians live in the peninsula.
Mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia took place several times throughout the 20th century, and sometimes some of them have been described by some authors as acts of forced resettlement and ethnic cleansing.
The following table is the list of urban areas with the largest Armenian population, including in Armenia and the disputed Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and the Armenian diaspora.
The Karabakh dialect, also known as the Artsakh dialect is an ancient Eastern Armenian dialect with a unique phonetic and syntactic structure. It was mainly spoken in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh prior to the 2023 Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. Today, it is spoken in parts of southern and northeastern Armenia, as well as by the refugees of Nagorno-Karabakh who since 2023 have settled in various cities and villages throughout Armenia.
The Armenian Cathedral of Moscow, officially known as Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, is the seat of the Diocese of Russia of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Constructed in seven years, it was consecrated in September 2013 by leaders of the Armenian Apostolic and Russian Orthodox churches. It is considered the largest Armenian church and church complex outside Armenia.
The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) currently comprises 5 member states, which are party to the founding treaties of the EEU and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. The constituent states of the EEU are placed under binding laws and have equal representation within the EEU's executive and judicial bodies. They do however retain considerable autonomy, and must be unanimous for the EEU to adopt policies or new member states. Consensus is a founding principle of the EEU.
Karen Mikaelyan is an Armenian-Russian politician, diplomat, civic leader, and publicist.
Yervand Margaryan, armenian historian, doctor of historical sciences. Professor, Head of the Department of World History and Foreign Regional Studies in Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, Leading Researcher of Institute of History of Armenian National Academy of Sciences.
The Ministry of Defence of Armenia often abbreviated to the RA Ministry of Defence is an Armenian governmental agency in charge of overseeing the development of the Armed Forces of Armenia. The Ministry of Defense is also the executive body which implements the policies of the Armenian Government in the defense sector. It particularly oversees the budget of the armed forces and ensures the safety of troops. It is located on 5 Bagrevand Street, Yerevan. The ministry was officially established on 28 January 1992 by decree of the President of Armenia.
Falsification of history in Azerbaijan is an evaluative definition, which, according to a number of authors, should characterize the historical research carried out in Azerbaijan with state support. The purpose of these studies, according to critics, is to exalt the Caucasian Albanians as the alleged ancestors of Azerbaijanis and to provide a historical basis for territorial disputes with Armenia. At the same time, the task is, firstly, to root Azerbaijanis in the territory of Azerbaijan, and secondly, to cleanse the latter of the Armenian heritage. In the sharpest and most detailed form, these accusations are presented by specialists from Armenia, but the same is said, for example, by Russian historians Victor Schnirelmann, Anatoly Yakobson, Vladimir Zakharov, Mikhail Meltyukhov and others, Iranian historian Hasan Javadi, American historians Philip L. Kohl and George Bournoutian.
The Gugark pogrom was a pogrom directed against the Azerbaijani minority of the Gugark District in the Armenian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union.
The Lachin offensive was a military operation launched by Azerbaijan against the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh and their Armenian allies along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, with the suspected goal of taking control of the Lachin corridor. The offensive began in mid-October, when the Azerbaijani forces advanced into Qubadlı and Laçın Districts after capturing Zəngilan. On 25 October, the Azerbaijani forces seized control of the city of Qubadlı.
Sakasena is a historical region on the territory of modern Azerbaijan. The former core of the 7th - 6th century BCE of the Scythian kingdom of Ishkuz. It got its name from the tribes of the Scythians, who later entered the tribal union of the Caucasian Albanians. At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century BCE it was part of the satrapy Media under the Achaemenid Empire. At the beginning of the 2nd century BCE it was annexed to Greater Armenia, becoming the Gavar (district) of the Nahanga (province) of Utic. In the division of Great Armenia in 387, it went to the Caucasian Albania, which was, under the treaty, subordinate to the Sassanids. It was located South of the middle course of the Kura, in the area of modern Ganja.
On 24 May 1915, on the initiative of Russia, the Triple Entente—Russia, France, and the United Kingdom—issued a declaration condemning the ongoing Armenian genocide carried out in the Ottoman Empire and threatening to hold the perpetrators accountable. This was the first use of the phrase "crimes against humanity" in international diplomacy, which later became a category of international criminal law after World War II.
Deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia – is the resettlement of the Azerbaijani population of the Armenian SSR in 1947-1950, which was carried out in accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 4083 dated with 23 December 1947.
Massacres and deportations had answered the prayers of those who dreamed of an Armenian without Armenians. The act was given a name after the Jewish martyrdom during World War II. It was called 'genocide.' The horror of the genocide of 1915-1916 cannot be measured by the number of victims.
As it happened, the Turkish beneficiaries of an "Armenia without Armenians" and, despite worldwide pledges and promises to punish the perpetrators, escaped any responsibility for the crime.
Скрыть от мира физическое уничтожение одного из древнейших народов мира, внесшего крупный вклад в развитие человеческой цивилизации,—задача, конечно, 'непосильная. Армения без армян—сама по себе представляет неопровержимое доказательство геноцида.
The rulers of Christian Russia were relatively more tolerant than, let's say, their Ottoman counterparts. But the word "relative" needs to be understood in its full implication here, as Armenians subsequently heard warnings by Russian officials that Russia needs Armenia without Armenians. Just one example of Russian tyranny was that Armenian church property was confiscated by a decree of the czar.
"What does 'it worries' mean, if they [the government] cannot even prevent the program which leaves Armenia without Armenians, initiated by their strategic partner?" says sociologist, expert, Ruben Yeganyan (who has worked with UN and other international institutions on the issue).
"Russia implements the 'Armenia without Armenians' program. Migration in my country has reached such a level that one doesn't have to even offer a weapon. There has to be someone to use it," he noted.
Таможенный союз приведет к массовой миграции, считает бывший политзаключенный. "Россия уже давно ведет политику "Армения без армян". Тому доказательство российская программа "Переселение соотечественников", которая способствовала большой миграции из Армении в Россию целыми семьями", - отметил в своем выступлении Ацпанян.