(East) Armenia
Present day Armenia is in fact only a small part of what could have been Armenia. For a long time Armenia, one of the oldest European countries, was diveded between the Turks and the Russians. The Russian part gained independence after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
West Armenia
The Turkish part was conquered by the Russians in WW1, promised independence by the US, and gained independence by the Treaty of Sèvres (1920). But after Ataturk conquered Western Armania this treaty was cancelled and the area remained Turkish.
Republic of Pontus
The northern part was initially granted to Armenia to provide them with an outlet to the sea. This Trabzon province was not one of the 6 Armenian provinces (vilayets) during the Ottoman period. Since a lot of Greeks lived over there, the creation of an autonomous Greek state called ‘Republic of Pontus’ was considered, most likely as part of a Ponto-Armenian Federation, before the Greeks lost their war with the Turks in 1922.
I take advantage of this map, to reveal a particular thas usually is not well written in the reports of history. In the year 1453 the Turks conquered Constantinople, killing the "Eastern Roman Empire". But the last Byzantine territory to fall down it was the Empire of Trebizond. In there, the Greeks resisted until the year 1461.
ReplyDeleteTrebizond (in Greek = Trapezounta and in Turkish = Trabzon) would be the capital of the Republic of Pontus marked on the map.
Interesting! There are still Greek speaking people living over there.
ReplyDeleteafter armenian genocide in 1915 there is no armenians in West Armenia alredy ...
ReplyDeleteI know, it is poignant. See www.robswebstek.com/2013/05/the-deserted-city-of-ani.
DeleteNot true, there are 100.000 Armenians in Istanbul and other parts of Turkey like Hatay. And there are around 50.000 Hemsin in the area between Trabzon and Georgia.
DeleteThat is good to hear, thanks. Hatay (with the old city of Antiochië) is a peculiar region, it used to be part of Syria, at least that's what they claim. And it is interesting to read about the Hemshin people.
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