Armenia and Its Territorial Issue at the Paris Peace Conference

 (1919 Janury 18 - June 28)

Summary

The Armenian people actively participated in the military operations on the fronts of the World War I (of 1914-1918); 250 thousand men waged battles in the Tsar's Army and 50 thousands more fought in the Armies of France, Great Britain and the USA.

During the first stage of the Paris Peace Conference (January 18 - June 28, 1919) state leaders of the Entente interacted in the same way, just as the military used to do. They exchanged territories and zones of influence all around the world. On January 28, 30-31, on March 20, May 5-6, 14, 17, 21, 31, as well as on June 25-28, 1919, they had also discussed in detail the Armenian Question. Our nation, as a victimized side, was represented by the Armenian National Delegation of Boghos Nubar together with the Delegation of the Republic of Armenia, led by A. Aharonian. On February 12, 1919, they signed a memorandum on "The Armenian Question Before the Peace Conference" which they stated on February 26 at the meeting of the Council of Ten. The Peace Conference brought to light sharp contradictions between the Great Britain and France, France and the USA, Italy and the USA. Its member politicians gave a great deal of promises and worked up a lot of technical matters, endeavoring at the same time to find out if the USA was ready to accept the Armenian mandate. To sum up, the first stage of the Paris Peace Conference had completed without any specific decisions concerning the future of Armenians. //-124