THE STATE POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION OF WESTERN ARMENIAN REFUGEES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF STATEHOOD OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Abstract

The article examines the state policy on accommodation of Western Armenian refugees from May 1918 to May 1919 in the first Republic of Armenia (RA) (1918-1920). The problem of Western Armenian refugees confronted the national authorities of the republic from the irst days of its formation. In solving this problem, the republican authorities had to take into account both its socio-economic and national-political, fragmental aspects. On the one hand, the RA authorities had to accomodate the refugees and tackle socio-economic and internal political issues. On the other hand, they intended to involve Western Armenian refugees into the socio-political life of the country, in the process of independent national state construction. Therefore, the refugee policy was proclaimed in August 1918 and legislatively fixed in September-October 1918, the main part of which was the Western Armenian refugees accommodation policy on free or abandoned lands. In November 1918 after the victory of the Entente countries in the First World War the question of the return and subsequent resettlement of Western Armenian refugees in their native villages in Western Armenia was inevitably added on the foreign policy agenda of the irst RA as one of the priorities. To achieve this goal, the authorities of the republic in the first half of 1919 took a number of external and internal political steps that did not lead to the implementation of the task.