1914 Armenian reforms

Reform plan devised by the European powers between 1912 and 1914 gov Соглашение между Россией и Турцией по армянским реформам January 2026 thumb|upright=1.3|Administrative-territorial division of Turkish Armenia according to the final Draft of Armenian reforms in the Ottoman Empire, signed on February 8, 1914 by representatives of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire and providing for the creation of 2 provinces (gouvernorats general) under the control of inspectors general appointed by the Great Powers.. thumb|upright=1.3|Autonomous Armenian province within the Ottoman Empire, proposed by the Russian Empire, the Armenian National Assembly and the Armenian Catholicosate in 1913. The Armenian reforms, also known as the Yeniköy accord, was a reform plan devised by European powers between 1912 and 1914 that envisaged the creation of two provinces in Ottoman Armenia placed under the supervision of two European inspectors general, who would be appointed to oversee matters related to the Armenian issues.Davison, Roderic H. "The Armenian Crisis, 1912-1914," The American Historical Review 53 (Apr., 1948), pp. 481-505.hy Karapetyan, N. V. (1981). "Հայկական բարենորոգումների խնդիրը 1912-14 թվականներին" [The Issue of the Armenian Reforms in the Years 1912-14] in Հայ Ժողովրդի Պատմություն [History of the Armenian People], eds. Tsatur Aghayan et al. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, vol. 6, pp. 520-35. The inspectors general would hold the highest position in the six eastern vilayets (provinces), where the bulk of the Armenian population lived, and would reside at their respective posts in Erzurum and Van. The reform package was signed into law on February 8, 1914,Hovannisian Richard G. Richard G. Hovannisian Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918 University of California Press Berkeley 1967 38–39 0-520-00574-0 though it was ultimately abolished on December 16, 1914, several weeks after Ottoman entry into World War I. Background The Balkan Wars had created an opportunity for the revival of new plans to improve the conditions of the Ottoman Armenians which were persecuted. The French, British and Italians were anxious to limit German influence in the Ottoman Empire.March 2025 In addition, the Russian government encouraged the Catholicos of Armenia to appeal through the viceroy of the Caucasus to the Ottoman government for intervention in favor of reforms in Armenian-inhabited vilayets. This project was prepared by André Mandelstam, the dragoman at the Russian Embassy in Istanbul, and representatives from the Armenian national assembly. It was introduced and discussed in Constantinople at a meeting of the ambassadors of France, Britain and Italy. The project suggested the formation of a two large provincesAkçam Taner https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691153339.001.0001 The Young Turks' Crime against Humanity 2012-04-15 Princeton University Press 10.23943/princeton/9780691153339.001.0001 978-0-691-15333-9 130 from six vilayets (Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Kharput and Sivas) under either an Ottoman Christian or a European governor general. The governor general was to be appointed by the Powerswho? March 2025 for the ensuing five years. Germany opposed the project and succeeded in obtaining significant modifications, including splitting the region into two provinces.Reynolds, Michael A. (2011). Shattering Empires: The Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman Empires, 1908-1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 73-77. Plan The reform package was signed on February 8, 1914, between the Ottoman Empire (represented by Grand Vezir Said Halim Pasha)Şeyhun, Ahmed. "Said Halim and the Armenian Reform Project of 1914," Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies 19/2 (2010), pp. 93-108. and Russia. Louis Constant Westenenk, an administrator for the Dutch East Indies, and Nicolai Hoff, a major in the Norwegian Army, were selected as the first two inspectors.Kévorkian, Raymond (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. London: I. B. Tauris, p. 171. Hoff was in Van when the war broke out, just as Westenenk was preparing to depart for his post in Erzurum.Hovannisian. Armenia on the Road to Independence, p. 39.L. C. Westenek, "Diary Concerning the Armenian Mission," Armenian Review 39 (Spring 1986), pp. 29-89. Historian Margaret Lavinia Anderson states: On the two demands existential for the Armenians— that muhacir not be settled in these seven provinces (which would make nonsense of proportional representation) and that measures be undertaken to return stolen lands to their original Armenian owners—the Porte remained adamant, and they went unmentioned in the Yeniköy accord. European negotiators were left with the hope that the two European inspector-generals stipulated in the accord might be able to adjudicate such problems.Anderson Margaret Lavinia Reynolds Michael Kieser Hans-Lukas Balakian Peter Moses A. Dirk Akçam Taner Taner Akçam, The Young Turks' crime against humanity: the Armenian genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012) Journal of Genocide Research 2013 15 4 463–509 10.1080/14623528.2013.856095 73167962 References Further reading Kieser Hans-Lukas Polatel Mehmet Schmutz Thomas Reform or cataclysm? The agreement of 8 February 1914 regarding the Ottoman eastern provinces Journal of Genocide Research 2015 17 3 285–304 10.1080/14623528.2015.1062283 58280593 Category:Ottoman period in Armenia Category:Politics of the Ottoman Empire Category:Armenian nationalism