The Anniversary Of The Establishment Of The Armenian Government

On May 15, 1919, the first government of Historical (Western) Armenia was formed from members of the National Delegation who were elected by the Armenian National Conference in Paris.

The government consisted of His Excellency Poghos Nubar Pasha, Professor A. Ter-Hakobyan, doctors G. Nevruz & G. Pastrmajyan, M. A. Chobanyan, and V. Tekeyan. This group was to cooperate with the delegation of the First Republic of Armenia that included A. Haghonyan, H. Ohanjanyan, and M. Bagadzhanyan. They formed a delegation of Indivisible Armenia whose motto was “United, free, independent Armenia within its historical borders”.

On December 29, 1917, Soviet Russia adopted a decree on Turkish Armenia (Western Armenia). This decree enforced the right of the Armenian people to self-determination and further independence. On January 19, 1920, the decree was signed by the Supreme War Council of the Allied Powers. And on May 11, 1920, at the conference of San Remo, Armenia was de jure recognized as an independent and sovereign state. On November 22, 1920, US President Woodrow Wilson drew the borders of to-be Armenia.

It should be noted that Western Armenia was not recognized by the United Nations as part of Turkey because of its occupation by the latter. Karin (Erzurum) was the official capital of Historical Armenia, which was recognized by the Allied Powers in 1920. In accordance with Article 93 of the Treaty of Sevres, the rights of minorities were to be fully recognized by the state of Historical Armenia.

Earlier, in 1894-1923, in the occupied territories of the western part of Armenia, the indigenous people of Armenia were subjected to genocide by three Turkish governments.

Despite all this, on July 18, 1932, Turkey became a member of the League of Nations.