Birinci Dünya Savaşı’nda Balkanlarda Ermeni Seferberliği ve Ermeni Gönüllüleri
Armenian Mobilization in the Balkans and Armenian Volunteers During World War I

Summary/Abstract: One of the most important reasons for the Ottoman State to dispatch and settle Armenians during World War I was that the Armenian komitacılar (supporters of secret society) helped the Allied Powers, especially the Russian army, in every aspect. The dialogues of Armenian committees with Russia, having started even before the Ottoman State entered the war, resulted in the dispatchment of the Armenians from the Ottoman lands to Europe and the USA to join the Caucasian front-line as voluntary corps. From XIXth century on, the Armenian Hnchak and Dashnaktsutyun committees started to be organized in the Balkans and to enrol volunteers to be sent to the Russian army during the war upon the encouragements from Russian diplomats especially in Bulgaria and Romania. The committees thus stated that they were struggling to establish an independent Armenia in Anatolia at the end of the War. The Ottoman Ambassadors in Bulgaria and Romania followed the committees’ activities closely and sent the information about the activities of volunteer movement to Istanbul. Sofia, Bucharest, Ruse, Constanta, Ibrail and Varna were the cities where Armenian committees worked the most to gather volunteers and send them to Russia. The Ottoman local authorities tried to prevent the illegal efforts of Armenians but couldn’t stop Armenians from joining the Russian army voluntarily. In this study, in the light of the documents from the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Ministry, the participation processes of Armenian komitacılar into the Russian army voluntarily and the role of the Balkans in this process are examined.

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