Armenian SSR
The
Armenian SSR (
Armenian: Հայկական ՍովետականՍոցիալիստական Հանրապետություն;
Russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика) or
Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia came into being when the
Communist Party of Armenia proclaimed control of
Armenia on
29 November 1920. On
1 December 1920 Prime Minister Simon Vratsian ceded control of the country. It later changed its name to the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. The period is sometimes known as the
Second Republic of Armenia, which followed the short lived
Democratic Republic of Armenia (also known as the First Republic of Armenia).
On
August 23 1990, it was renamed into
Republic of Armenia, remaining in the
USSR for a year before independence.
After suffering numerous casualties under Ottoman rule with the
Armenian Genocide and the subsequent
Turkish-Armenian War, the historic Armenian area was overrun with despair and devastation. When the Democratic Republic of Armenia was invaded by the
Bolsheviks in 1920, it was declared a Soviet republic. Afterwards, both
Turkey and the new proclaimed Soviet republic negotiated the
Treaty of Kars, in which Turkey ceded
Adjara to the USSR in exchange for the Kars territory (today the Turkish provinces of
Kars,
Iğdır, and
Ardahan). The land given to Turkey included the ancient city of
Ani and
Mount Ararat, the spirtual Armenian homeland. To this day, Armenia does not recognize the Kars treaty.
From
March 12 1922 to
December 5 1936 it was part of the
Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic together with the
Georgian SSR and the
Azerbaijan SSR. Armenians enjoyed a period of relative stability under Soviet rule. They received medicine, food, and other provisions from Moscow and the communist rule proved to be a soothing balm in contrast to the turbulent final years of the Ottoman Empire. The situation was, of course, difficult for the church which struggled under Soviet rule.
Stalin's reign
After the death of
Vladimir Lenin,
Joseph Stalin took the reins of power. Armenian society and its economy were changed dramatically by Stalin and his fellow Moscow policy makers. In 1936, under Stalin's watch, the TFSSR was dissolved and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia became separate republics. On its coat of arms, the Armenian SSR prominently featured Mount Ararat. This brought objections from Turkey because Ararat was part of their territory. The Kremlin retorted that although the Turkish symbol was the crescent, surely it did not mean that they laid claim to the moon.
[Louis, Victor and Jennifer. The Complete Guide to the Soviet Union. New York, 1976.] Despite this spiritual boost, Armenia suffered another territorial loss when Stalin transferred the areas of
Nakhichevan and
Nagorno-Karabakh (both of which were promised to Armenia by the Bolsheviks in 1920) to Azerbaijan. For the Armenians themselves, conditions only became worse under Stalin's iron fist.
In a period of twenty-five years, Armenia was industrialized and educated under strictly prescribed conditions, and nationalism was harshly suppressed. Stalin took several measures in persecuting the
Armenian Apostolic Church already weakened by the Armenian Genocide and
russification policy of the
Russian Empire. In the
1920s the Church was robbed of its worldly possessions. In the
1930s Soviets began attempts to physically eliminate the Church culuminated by the murder of Catholicos
Khoren I in
1938, as part of the
Great Purge, and closing the Catholicate of
Echmiadzin on
4 August 1938. The Church however survived underground and in the diaspora.
As with various other ethnic minorities who lived in the Soviet Union under Stalin, millions of innocent Armenians were executed and deported. In 1936, together with
Lavrenty Beria, Stalin worked to deport Armenians to
Siberia in an attempt to bring Armenia's population under 700,000 and so justify its annexation into Georgia. Under his command, the
Communist Party of Armenia used police terror to strengthen its political hold on the population and suppress all expressions of nationalism. Many writers, artists, scientists and political leaders were executed or forced into exile.
Additionally, in 1944, roughly 200,000
Hamshenis (Sunni Muslim Armenians who live near the Black Sea costal regions of Russia, Georgia and Turkey) were deported from Georgia to areas of
Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan. Further deportations of Armenians from the coastal occurred in 1948, when 58,000 nationalist Armenian
Dashnaks and Greeks were forced to move to Kazakhstan.
Armenia was spared the devastation and destruction that wrought most of the western Soviet Union during the
Great Patriotic War of
World War II. The
Nazis never reached the South Caucasus, intending to capture the oil fields in Azerbaijan. Still, Armenia played a valuable role in aiding the allies both through industry and agriculture. It should also be noted that Armenians of the
Soviet 89th "Tamanyan" Division fought in grueling battles against the German
Wehrmacht in the
Battle of the Caucasus, the
Battle of the Crimea, the
Battle of the Baltic, the
Vistula-Oder Offensive, and the
Battle of Berlin. During an attack on the German-held city of
Novorossiysk, senior
sergeants Hunan Avetisyan and
S. Arakelyan both earned the rank of
Hero of the Soviet Union. Avetisyan was awarded
posthumously after he had thrown himself on to the firing path of a German
pillbox, killing him but allowing his squad to take advantage to outflank the nest which had been delaying their advance; a feat similar to
Alexander Matrosov.
[Armenian Military Divisions in the Great Patriotic War". Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. 1980, Yerevan, Armenia SSR.] Hamazasp Babadzhanian, commander of the 3rd Mechanized Brigade was awarded the title of
Hero of the Soviet Union for retaking of the river
Dniester. Fighter bomber pilot
Nelson Stepanyan was recorded to have destroyed several hundred tanks, trucks, artillery, mortars, and railroad lines and was also awarded the title of Hero.
[World Battlefronts. What Can One Man Do?. Time Magazine. 16 November 1942.]Under the command of
Soviet marshal Ivan Bagramian, Armenian and other Soviet divisions entered
Poland on
January 12,
1945. As the 89th raced towards
Berlin on its trek towards the German capital, the unit itself was recorded to have liberated a total of 900 cities, towns, and villages in both Poland and
Czechoslovakia. The division entered Berlin and played a key role in defeating the Germans. For its achievements in Berlin, the Tamanyan division was embraced with a Level II
Order of Kutuzov and one of its commanders, Colonel Major H. Babayan attained the status of Hero. In a final count, the Tamanyan division advanced a total of 3,700 kilometers since its original efforts in the
Caucasus with 7,333 of its members receiving commendations, 9 being decorated with the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Those Armenians and Georgians who were captured by the Germans as POWs were formed into the
812th Armenian Battalion. Mistrust stemming from Nazi Germany's leader
Adolf Hitler, led to the battalion to be primarily stationed to serve in anti-aircraft role in
Holland. Though many deserted, some, according to
Josef Moisevich Kogan, a Jewish Red Army POW, played an active role in helping Jews escape the Nazi-orchestrated
Holocaust. Because of their deeds, the Armenians are considered by the Jews as among the
Righteous Among the Nations.
At the end of the war, after Germany's capitulation, many Armenians in both the Republic and worldwide lobbied Stalin to reconsider the issue of taking back the provinces of Kars and
Ardahan that Turkey had won in the war against Armenia in 1920. On
September 25, 1945 the Soviet Union announced that it would annul the Soviet-Turkish treaty of friendship that was signed in 1925. Head Soviet diplomat
Vyacheslav Molotov, presented the claims put forth by the Armenians to the leaders of the
Allies of World War II however opposition stemmed from British leader
Winston Churchill who objected to these territorial claims as additional areas of where the Soviet government could exert its influence while
President of the United States Harry S. Truman of the
United States felt that matter shouldn't concern other parties. Turkey itself was in no condition to fight a war with the Soviet Union which had emerged as a superpower after the second world war. By the autumn of 1945, Soviet troops under the command of Caucasian front commander Ivan Bagramyan were already assembling for a possible invasion of Turkey. However, as the feelings of hostility between the East and West transpired into the
Cold War, Truman proclaimed his namesake doctrine which said it would assist any country which was threatened by Communist aggression. This namely applied to Turkey which strengthened its ties with the West and where the Soviet Union ceased its claims over the two territories after realizing the United States might enter and aid in such a conflict.
[Walker, Christopher J. Armenia: The Survival of a Nation. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1990.]After Stalin's death,
Nikita Khruschev emerged as the country's new leader. The Kremlin soon began a process allowing for greater expression of national feeling. Khruschev's
De-Stalinization process also eased fears for many Soviet residents. Additionally, he also put more resources into the production of consumer goods and housing. Almost immediately, Armenia began a rapid cultural and economic rebirth. Also, to a limited degree, some religious freedom was granted to Armenia when Catholicos
Vazgen I assumed the duties of his office in 1955.
On
April 24,
1965, thousands of Armenians demonstrated in the streets of Yerevan during the fiftieth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Soviet troops entered the city and attempted to restore order. To prevent this from happening again, the Kremlin agreed to have a memorial built in honor of those who perished during the atrocities. By
1967, the memorial (by
architects Kalashian and Mkrtchyan) was completed at the Tsitsernakaberd hill above the
Hrazdan gorge in Yerevan. The 44 metre
stele symbolizes the national rebirth of
Armenians. 12 slabs are positioned in a circle, representing 12 lost provinces in present day
Turkey. In the centre of the circle, in depth of 1.5 metres, there is an eternal flame. Along the park at the memorial there is a 100 metre wall with names of towns and villages where massacres are known to have taken place.
|
A 1961 postcard of Lenin Square in Yerevan. |
Mikhail Gorbachev's introduction of the policies of
Glasnost and
Perestroika in the
1980s also fueled Armenian visions of a better life under Soviet rule. The Hamshenis who were deported by Stalin to Kazakhstan began petitioning for the government to move them to the Armenian SSR. However, this move was denied by the Soviet government because of fears that the Muslim Hamshenis might spark ethnic conflicts with their Christian Armenian cousins. However, another event that occurred during this time made an ethnic clash between Christian Armenians and Muslims inevitable.
Armenians in the region of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which was promised to Armenia by the Bolsheviks and transferred to the Azerbaijan SSR by Stalin, began a peaceful, democratic movement to unite the area with Armenia. The majority Armenian population in the area claimed to be fearful of the "forced Azerification" of the region. On
February 20,
1988, Armenian deputies to the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to unify that region with Armenia. However, ethnic riots soon began breaking out between both Armenians and Azeris, thus preventing a solid unification from taking place. Even worse, Soviet Armenia suffered a devastating blow with the 1988
Leninakan Earthquake.
Armenia was one of the first republics to declare independence from the Soviet Union on August 23, 1990, three months after
Latvia, the last of the Baltic states declared its independence. On
March 17, 1991, Armenia, along with the Baltics, Georgia and
Moldova boycotted a union-wide
referendum in which 78 % of all voters voted for the retention of the Soviet Union in a reformed form. Finally, on September 21, 1991, the state of Armenia was fully recognized and re-established. Still, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan continued to escalate, ultimately leading to the
Nagorno-Karabakh War. Despite a
cease-fire in place since
1994, Armenia has yet to resolve its conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Aside from this, Armenia has seen substantial development since independence and, although blockaded by both Turkey and Azerbaijan over the Karabakh dispute, maintains friendly relations with its neighboring states of
Russia,
Georgia, and
Iran.
Chairmen and the Presidium of the Supreme Council
*Alexandr Myasnikyan
*Sargis Lukashin Srapionyan
*Sargis Hmbardzumyan
*Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan
*Abraham Guloyan
*Aram Piruzyan
*Aghasi Sargsyan
*Sahak Karapetyan
*Anton Qochinyan
*Badal Muradyan
*Grigor Arzumanyan
*Fadey Sargsyan
*Vladimir Margaryan
*Levon Ter-Petrossyan
* Bauer, Elisabeth.
Armenia: Past and Present. New York, 1981.
* Louis, Victor and Jennifer.
The Complete Guide to the Soviet Union. New York, 1976.
Footnotes
