Ordzhonikidze’s Letter to Kasyan with Demands to Remove General Dro

A portion of the modern anti-Armenian Russian propaganda is directed against general Drastamat Kanayan (better known as Dro), Garegin Nzhdeh, and Andranik Ozanyan. A vivid example of the opposition against Ozanyan is the rather recent ban issued by Sochi authorities on the monument in memory of the Armenian commander.

Today, both Turks and Russians dislike the afore-mentioned individuals because they have been and still remain the greatest examples of an Armenian warrior.

And the Soviets realized the threat of the Armenian spirit almost a century ago, as evidenced by this document:

Letter of Member of the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Revolutionary Military Council G. Ordzhonikidze to the chairman of the revkom of Armenia S. Kasyan with the demand to remove general Dro and to put the Dashnak government of Armenia on trial for the sake of the “resolution of territorial questions”

December 1920

No matter how useful it is to have Dro in our ranks, I consider it politically unacceptable to keep him as a commander of the army. I consider shaking weapons against the Turks or the demonstration of Dro’s presence to the Turks as political short-sightedness. The spirit of the old government becomes the spirit of the new one. I think that Dro should be kept on secondary roles for the interest of the Soviet government as well as simply for the sake of the resolution of territorial questions. [Nariman] Narimanov would be million times right if he put Khosrov Sultanov in the place of Karayev. The government of [Hamo] Ohanjanian must be put on trial. I suggest Gai [probably Hayk Bzhishkyan] instead of Dro. Dro needs to be retained, but we can’t become his prisoners.

This letter is a testimony that the newly-established Soviet government wasn’t going to tolerate the patriotic spirit spread by Dro because that would undermine their developing relations with Turkey as well as disrupt the process of the Soviet government’s establishment.

Source of the document (Russian): Барсегов Ю.Г. Нагорный Карабах document 645, page 607.