As always, the first article in the 47th issue of our journal is “Facts and Comments”. This article covers the domestic and international developments of Armenia, the background to why the peace agreement envisaged and outlined in the armistice of November 2020 could not be realized in the two and half years that elapsed, how the current efforts proceed, and relations between Türkiye and Armenia in the light of the normalization of relations process in the period of December 2022-June 2023. Russia’s war against Ukraine failing in its aim of a quick victory, and the prolongation of the war and its transformation into a war of attrition has revealed the military deficiency of Russia. The West, seeking other means of pressing and further jeopardizing Russia, has seen the opportunity in approaching Armenia, an ally and traditionally under very tight reins of Russia, to broker the peace agreement with Azerbaijan and eventually drive Russia away and to establish its own domain. The region becoming a new flash point in the West-Russia adversity has not caused discomfort in Armenia. To the contrary, Armenia appears to have seen an advantage in dealing with parties with varying interests and calculations in the region to minimize its losses in the Second Karabakh War and possibly make new gains. Relations with Türkiye have moved within the framework of the normalization process, albeit experiencing sharp ups and downs. Armenia’s humanitarian assistance following the earthquake disaster of 6 February in Türkiye, the opening of the border crossing for Armenian vehicles to this end, the visit of the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs to Ankara and to the disaster area have raised the hope for good-neighborly and compassionate relations. However, immediately after, the inauguration of a monument in Yerevan consecrating radical Armenian nationalist terrorism has once again confirmed that there is no change in the anti-Turk or Türkiye sentiments and policies. Prime Minister Pashinyan’s attendance to Turkish President Erdoğan’s new term reception after his election win provided another glimmer of hope for the progress of relations.

In his article titled “An Examination on the Demographic Structure of Armenians in Tbilisi (1897-2014)”, Sinan Koçak analyzes the demographic structure of Armenians living in Tbilisi between the years 1897 and 2014. The article includes information about the total population of Armenians, their distribution according to various attributes, and the Armenians’ political, socio-cultural, and economic structures. The article focuses on three periods for its demographic analysis:  the Tsarist Period, the Soviet Union, and the post-Soviet Georgia. The numerical data for these periods are provided from the official population censuses carried out during the mentioned periods. Koçak seeks to present the numerical and sociological assets of the Armenians in Tbilisi in a holistic way through a combination of demographic and human data.

In his article titled “A Historical Overview of the Armenian Diaspora in Germany”, Fuat Ozan Birkan evaluates the history, structure, and activities of the Armenian Diaspora community in Germany. The presence of the large number of Turks living in Germany potentially complicates the activities of the Armenian community. The author argues, however, that the community’s persistent initiatives, the intersection of Armenians’ and German politicians’ interests against Türkiye, and the weak organizational capacity of the Turks in Germany have proven favorable for the Armenians. Thus, Birkan indicates that although the Armenian community in Germany has traditionally remained in the background in comparison to the examples where the Armenian Diaspora is highly influential (such as in France and the US), the community is growing and becoming more visible.

In their article titled “The Impact of the Second Karabakh War on the Armenian Economy and Financial Markets in the Framework of Armenia's Foreign Relations”, Fatih Kocaoğlu and Mehmet Kuzu dissect the implications of the Second Karabakh War for Armenia from multiple perspectives and through detailed data gathering techniques, but with a focus on economic and financial matters. The authors seek to make deductions about the military and strategic consequences of the Second Karabakh War for Armenia. Armenia’s place in the complicated nexus involving Russia, Iran, Western countries, Türkiye, Israel, and Azerbaijan have had substantial implications for Armenia’s economy and financial markets. In the end, Kocaoğlu and Kuzu conclude that Russia's positive impact on the Armenian economy has decreased and is being replaced with the positive impact of Western capital, thereby highlighting Armenia’s traditional capacity to play major powers against each other for its own benefit.

In her article titled “Diplomatic Activity of the Azerbaijani Government against the Territorial Claims of the Republic of Armenia (1918-1920)”, Nigar Jamalova examines the diplomatic efforts of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) to counter the First Republic of Armenia’s (FRA) territorial ambitions in 1918-1920. The author indicates that ADR’s efforts fell under three categories: 1) correspondence and meetings with representatives of foreign countries in the South Caucasus; 2) correspondence and meetings with FRA; and 3) Initiatives at the Paris Peace Conference. Jamalova concludes that, except for the concession that had to be made in handing Yerevan to FRA, ADR successfully prevented FRA from realizing its ambitions, and none of the major powers of the time or the Paris Peace Conference as a whole officially recognized FRA’s territorial claims against ADR.

Our 47th issue also contains one book review by Fatma Jale Gül Çoruk on the book titled “From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean: The Global Trade Networks of Armenian Merchants from New Julfa”. The book offers a fascinating account of the resourcefulness of the Armenian merchants based in Isfahan in building a vast trade network in the 17th and 18th centuries. It also delves into these merchants’ trading practices, correspondence methods, and relations within the community and with the outside world. Çoruk argues that these characteristics make the book a major source for studies on trade networks.

Have a nice reading and best regards,

Editor

ARTICLES:

Alev KILIÇ – “Facts and Comments”

Sinan KOÇAK – “An Examination on the Demographic Structure of Armenians in Tbilisi (1897-2014)”

Fuat Ozan BİRKAN – “A Historical Overview of the Armenian Diaspora in Germany”

Fatih KOCAOĞLU and Mehmet KUZU – “The Impact of the Second Karabakh War on the Armenian Economy and Financial Markets in the Framework of Armenia's Foreign Relations”

Nigar JAMALOVA – “Diplomatic Activity of the Azerbaijani Government against the Territorial Claims of the Republic of Armenia (1918-1920)”

BOOK REVIEW:

Fatma Jale Gül ÇORUK – “From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean: The Global Trade Networks of Armenian Merchants from New Julfa”

Ambassador (R) Alev KILIÇ graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University in 1968. The next year, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. Kılıç served as Ambassador to F.R. of Yugoslavia between 1996 and 1998 and Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg between 1998 and 2001. In 2001-2004, he served as the Deputy Undersecretary for Economic Affairs of the Ministry. He served as Ambassador to Switzerland (2004-2009) and Ambassador to Mexican United States (2009-2011). He retired from the Ministry in 2011. Ambassador (R) Kılıç has been the Director of Center for Eurasian Studies (AVİM) since 2013.

Res. Assist. Sinan KOÇAK graduated from Department of History of Bartın University in 2016. In 2019, he completed his master’s degree education in the History of the Republic of Türkiye Program by preparing his dissertation titled “Birinci Balkan Savaşının Bulgar Yazar İvan Lesiçkof'un 'Balkan Muharebatı Hatıratından' Adlı Eseri Ekseninde Tahlili” (“The Analysis of the First Balkan War Through Bulgarian Author Ivan Lesickov’s Work Titled ‘Memoirs from the Balkan War’”). In 2020, he began his doctorate degree education at the Department of Armenian Language and Culture of Ankara University. Since 2021, Koçak has been serving as a Research Assistant at the Department of Caucasian Languages and Cultures of the Faculty of Language and History-Geography at Ankara University. Through his linguistic skills in Ottoman Turkish, English, and Armenian, he has produced works on the demographic structure of the Armenians.

Res. Assist. Dr. Fuat Ozan BİRKAN graduated from the Department of International Relations of Uludağ University in 2011. In 2014, he received his master’s degree from the same department with the dissertation titled “Germany-Armenia Relations since the 19th Century and the Impact of These Relations on Turkish Foreign Policy”. He obtained his doctoral degree on Political Science and International Relations in 2023 at Marmara University with the dissertation titled “The State, the Sultan and the City: Representation of State through Architecture and Ceremony in the Ottoman Empire”. Since 2020, he has been serving as a Research Assistant in Political Science and International Relations Department at Istanbul Aydın University. He continues his studies on political history, the Turkish-Ottoman history, and the history of migration.

Res. Assist. Dr. Fatih KOCAOĞLU graduated from Anadolu University’s Political Science and Public Administration undergraduate program in 2014. In September of the same year, he was appointed as a Research Assistant to the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Gazi University within the scope of Türkiye’s Teaching Staff Training Program (ÖYP). In 2016, he graduated from Gazi University’s Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration with the thesis titled "Savaşın Ekonomi Politiği Üzerine Sümer Dünya Sistemi Örneği” (“Introduction to the Politics of Economy of War with the Example of Sumerian World System"). In 2021, he defended his doctoral thesis at Gazi University’s Department of Political and Social Sciences with the dissertation titled “Mekân Ve Siyaset İlişkisi Bağlamında Dünya Tarihsel Mekânı: Antik Yakındoğu Örnekleri” (“World Historical Space in the Context of the Relationship Between Space and Politics: Examples of the Ancient Near East”) and received his PhD title. After the name change of Gazi University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Dr. Kocaoğlu continues to work as a Research Assistant at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration. His professional field of study is political science.

Dr. Faculty Member Mehmet KUZU completed his undergraduate degree with honors (second place) from Selçuk University’s Department of Business Administration in 2010. In January 2011, he was appointed as a Research Assistant in the Accounting and Finance Program of the Department of Business Administration at Bayburt University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences within the scope of Türkiye’s Teaching Staff Training Program (ÖYP). In September 2011, he started his master’s degree education at the Accounting and Finance Program of Department of Business Administration at Gazi University’s Institute of Social Sciences. In December 2011, he was assigned to Gazi University’s Institute of Social Sciences and then to the same university’s Business Administration Department at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences as a Research Assistant. In 2014, he completed his master's degree with the thesis titled “Reel Efektif Döviz Kuru Endeksini Etkileyen Faktörlerin Avrupa Borç Krizi Çerçevesinde Analizi” (“The Analysis of the Factors that Affect Real Effective Exchange Rate Index within the Framework of the European Debt Crisis"). In August 2014, he started his doctorate degree education in the Accounting-Finance Program of the Department of Business Administration at Gazi University’s Institute of Social Sciences. With the end of his assignment period in December 2017, he was reappointed as a Research Assistant in the Accounting and Finance Program of the Department of Business Administration at Bayburt University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. In November 2019, he defended his dissertation titled “Döviz Kuru, Faiz Oranı Ve Enflasyon Çerçevesinde Cari İşlemler Dengesinin Yönetimi” (“Management of Current Account Balance within the Framework of Exchange Rate, Interest Rate and Inflation”) and received his PhD title. Since August 2021, he has been serving as a Dr. Faculty Member at the Banking and Insurance Program of the Department of Finance, Banking and Insurance at Bayburt University’s Vocational School of Social Sciences. Dr. Kuzu’s professional fields of study include International Finance, Corporate Finance, Financial Markets, and History of Finance and Political Economy of Finance.

Researcher Nigar Imran gizi JAMALOVA received her bachelor's degree in History in 2006 from Baku State University by defending her thesis titled "The Activities of Azerbaijani Legions during World War II". In 2009, she received master's degree in Baku State University by defending her thesis titled "The Activities of the Azerbaijani Political Emigration for he Implementation of the ‘Caucasian House’ Idea”. She completed both of her degrees of education with honors diplomas. In 2014, she completed her doctoral thesis titled "The Policy of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of the Republic of Ararat (Armenia) against the Azerbaijani People (1918-1920)".  She has participated in international conferences, seminars, trainings and courses held in the Republic of Azerbaijan and abroad, and has been rewarded diploma and certificates for her participation. She is the author of articles and publications on historical topics. These include two collections of German archival documents, one collection of articles by a historian, and many of her own articles. Jamalova previously worked as a Lecturer at Baku College of Food Industry and as a Researcher in the Gobustan State Historical Preserve. Currently, she works as a Researcher at the Institute of History named after A. Bakikhanov of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS).