Treaty of Alexandropol

Infobox Treaty
name = Treaty of Alexandropol
long_name =

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image_width = 200px
caption = Kazım Karabekir, the signatory from Turkish side, on the road to Alexandropol
type = Peace treaty
date_drafted =
date_signed = December 2 1920
location_signed = Alexandropol, Democratic Republic of Armenia
date_sealed =
date_effective =
condition_effective =
date_expiration =
signatories = flagicon|Armenia Democratic Republic of Armenia
flagicon|Turkey Grand National Assembly of Turkey

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wikisource = tr:Gümrü AntlaşmasıThe Treaty of Alexandropol ( _tr. Gümrü Antlaşması) was a peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of Armenia and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ending the Turkish-Armenian War, signed before the declaration of the Republic of Turkey on December 2 1920. It was the first treaty signed by Turkish revolutionaries with an internationally accepted state. The terms of the treaty were negotiated between Kazim Karabekir and Armenian Foreign Minister Alexander Khatisyan.

The tenth item in the agreement stated that Armenia renounced the Treaty of Sèvres, which stipulated the Wilsonian Armenia.

The second item acknowledged the newly established border between the two countries [Exact line is stated in Turkish as: "Türkiye ile Ermenistan arasındaki sınır, aşağı Karasu'nun döküldüğü yerden başlayarak Aras Irmağı Kekaç kuzeyine dek Arpaçayı, müteakiben Karahan Deresi, Tignis batısı, Büyük Kimli doğusu, Kızıltaş, Büyük Akbaba Dağı çizgisinden oluşur."] . Essentially, the border agreed to was that identified in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) between the Russian SFSR and Ottoman Empire. The Democratic Republic of Armenia had previously denounced the Brest-Litovsk treaty. However, after armed conflict, the border was accepted by Armenia in the Treaty of Batum (1918). In the administrative vacuum created by the dissolution of Ottoman forces due to the Armistice of Mudros, a new state South West Caucasian Republic headed by Fakhr al-Din Pirioghlu and centered in Kars was formed. It existed along with the British general governorship created during the Entente's intervention in Transcaucasia. [ [http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/encyclopediatext/engencyclopedia/id/582432.html Caucasian Knot] (Moscow-based news agency)] It was abolished in 1919 by British High Commissioner Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe, after the occupation of Istanbul. This enabled the Democratic Republic of Armenia to fill these territories. [Pastirmadjian, Garegin. (1918) "Why Armenia Should Be Free". Hairenik Publishing Company, Boston. p 40. Pastirmadjian claims that a Greater Armenian State should be created due to a racial superiority of a supposed Armenian race:

In the interest of international justice and permanent peace in the future, the boundaries of the new Armenia ought to be extended as far as the Armenian race extends as an important element of the population, because the Armenians have proved their capacity for self-government even under the almost impossible conditions of Turkish misrule, while Turks and Kurds have again and again proved incapable of governing themselves, much less of governing others.

]

The Treaty of Alexandropol changed the boundary of the Democratic Republic of Armenia to the Ardahan-Kars borderline and ceded over fifty percent of Democratic Republic of Armenia to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The reasons for the military defeat are expressed in the publication "Dashnagzoutiun Has Nothing To Do Anymore" by Hovhannes Katchaznouni. ["The Manifesto of Hovhannes Katchaznouni, the First President of the Independent Armenian Republic." Armenian Information Service. 1955.]

The treaty signed by the Armenian government was to be ratified by the Armenian parliament within a month. This did not take place due to the Russian SFSR occupation of Armenia. In 1921 the treaty was replaced with the Treaty of Kars.

References