Armenian nationalism
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Armenian nationalism in the modern period has its roots in the romantic nationalism of Mikayel Chamchian (1738–1823), the Mekhitarist historiographer who calculated the date of Hayk's battle with Bel, the legendary point of origin of the Armenian nation, to 2492 BC.
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[edit] Background
The situation of the non-Muslim minorities within the Ottoman Empire changed substantially as a result of reforms introduced during the Tanzimat era. The early reforms were generally addressed at changing the organisation of, and systems within, the Ottoman Empire as a whole. However, as a result of diplomatic pressures exerted by the Great Powers that had supported the Ottoman Empire against Russia during the Crimean War, in 1856 reforms were made that sought to give non-Muslims citizens of the Ottoman Empire the same rights as Muslim citizens. The capitation tax on non-Muslims was abolished, non-Muslims were allowed to become soldiers, and schools for the non-Muslim communities were allowed to open.
Under these new and relatively liberal conditions, many Armenian schools were opened throughout the Ottoman Empire. The majority of these schools quickly acquired a secular aspect. The Armenians also established numerous cultural associations to set a minimum standard for the curricula and qualifications for the teachers. In 1880 these associations united together as the "General Union of Armenian Schools".[1]
After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, the Armenian National Assembly and Patriarch Nerses II of Constantinople sent Catholicos Mgrdich Khrimian to the Congress of Berlin to represent the Armenians in the debate on the "Armenian Question". In his famous patriotic speech "The Paper Ladle" Mgrdich Khrimian advised Armenians to take the national awakening of Bulgaria as a model as the hopes of the Armenian people for self-determination were ignored by the European powers.[2]
Article 61 of the Berlin Congress mentioned the possibility of an "autonomous Armenia", transforming the "Armenian Question" from an internal problem of the Ottoman Empire into an international one. In the treaty, Ottoman Turkey undertook to protect its Armenian subjects from oppression and violence, however, the treaty did not provide any instruments to force Turkey to make reforms. [3]Both Turkey and Russia began to look upon all expressions of Armenian national identity, however innocent, as possible instruments for the realisation of that autonomy.
In the Russian Empire, attempts were made to reduce the powers and privileges of Etchmiadzin, to influence the election of the Catholicos, and the study of Armenian history and culture was actively discouraged. In the Ottoman Empire, subjects such as the history of Armenia were banned at Armenian schools. In response, such subjects often continued to be taught in secret, creating further suspicion in the eyes of the Ottoman authorities. Images that depicted scenes from Armenian history were forbidden to be sold or be displayed in public. Armenian newspapers also began to be either closed down or be heavily censored. In the 1890s many Armenian schools were closed down, and in 1893 the "General Union of Armenian Schools" was abolished. Many teachers at Armenian schools were specifically targeted and killed during the 1894-96 massacres.
The fate of the Armenians took a worse course within the Ottoman Empire, with the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1917. Following World War I, the Armenians not scattered in the Armenian diaspora found themselves after the fall of the short-lived Democratic Republic of Armenia reduced to a minor republic within the Soviet Union, the Armenian SSR.
An enlarged Armenia was advocated by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation during Soviet times, which would incorporate Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan and territory in Eastern Turkey. Armenian nationalism in the 20th century never tired to emphasize the "ancient origin of the Armenians", and consequently embraced the Armenian hypothesis of Indo-European origins forwarded by Soviet scholars in the 1980s.[4] During Soviet times, Armenian nationalism within Soviet Armenia was distinguished from other nationalisms of peoples absorbed into the Soviet Union, such as Georgian, Ukrainian or Estonian, in that it did not direct itself against the dominant Russians, but continued to focus on the traditional enemy, the Turks, and was consequently subtly encouraged by the communist government. Armenia emerged as an independent state in 1991.
Armenian nationalism has notably been opposed to Turkish nationalism, especially over the Turkish refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide. The Armenian diaspora derives much of its unity from campaigns against this denial. According to Brannen (2004), to the Armenian diasporic communities in the United States and Canada, historical memory of the Ottoman Turkish and Kurdish genocide of Armenians in April 1915 has taken on the role of a "central nationalist fetish", around which formation of Armenian identity takes place[citation needed]. Armenian diasporic nationalism has a strong nostalgic component for a lost time and place, powerfully symbolized by Mount Ararat, which although visible from Yerevan, is a Turkish militarized zone.
| “ | The first upsurge of Armenian nationalism starting in the 1880s had caused both the Ottoman and the Russian Empires to be increasingly suspicious of the loyalty of their Armenian subjects. Thus, in retaliation for an 1894 uprising in the old Armenian heartland of eastern Anatolia, the Ottoman government organized a series of massacres over the course of two years with, according to Armenian sources, hundreds of thousands of Armenian deaths the result. [5] | ” |
[edit] See also
- Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire
- Nationalism and ancient history
- Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia
- Martiros Kavoukjian
[edit] References
- ^ H. Inalcik & G. Renda (eds), "Ottoman Civilisation", 2nd edition, 2004, Ankara, p392-395.
- ^ Haig Ajemian, Hayotz Hayrig, page 511–3 [translated by Fr. Vazken Movsesian].
- ^ V. G. Krbekyan, "The Armenian Cause at the Berlin Congress", English summary in "Armeniaca 2002".
- ^ P. Kohl and G. Tzetzkhladze, "Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology in the Caucasus", in: Kohl, Fawcett (eds.), Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology, Cambridge University Press (1996), ISBN 0521558395, p. 176.
- ^ Modern Hatreds, the Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War by Stuart J. Kaufman, page 51.
- Brannen, Sam. Diasporic Armenian Nationalist Invocations of Metaphorical Space, Frozen Time, and the 1915 Genocide Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mar 17, 2004[1]
- Eduard L. Danielian, "The Historical Background to the Armenian State Political Doctrine," 279-286 in Nicholas Wade, Armenian Perspectives (Surrey, UK, 1997)
