Small excerpts from Armenian-Russian relations

During the reign of Nicholas II (the last tsar) many Armenian schools were closed and Armenian leaders were persecuted, arrested, and sent to exile. In 1903, a law was passed to legitimize the confiscation of Armenian Church properties.

In 1905, Armenian/Tatar (Azeri) clashes were artificially provoked by Russia. In the same period the Russian army, without explanation, retreated from the Van province condemning the Armenian population to death.

Serge Rachmaninoff’s concerto No. 2 in C Minor is one of his most enduring pieces. The second movement of opus 18 in C Minor Concerto has themes from an Armenian folk song.

Modest Mussorgsky wrote, “The Capture of Kars” (“Vzyatiye Karsa”) triumphal march which was edited by Rimsky-Korsakoff after Mussorgsky’s untimely death.

USSR period

Between 1921 and 1936, some 42,000 Diaspora Armenians settled in Soviet Armenia. In the late ‘40s, some 100,000 moved to Armenia although 360,000 people had stated their wish to leave for Armenia. Armenians recently arrived from the Middle East making coffee drinking popular in Armenia. Until their arrival, Armenia had been a tea-drinking country.

By Jirair Tutunjian, Toronto keghart.org