July 24, 2019 marked the 96th anniversary of the conclusion of the Treaty of Lausanne, which basically legally formalized the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the borders of the current Turkish Republic. It is symbolic that on this day, on July 24, Armenian President Armen Sargsyan left for France on a working visit. Moreover, it was especially emphasized that the plans of the Armenian president include a visit to the Paris suburb of Sevres, the place where the enslaving Sevres peace treaty that was dividing Turkey was signed 99 years ago.

Recall that, according to the Treaty of Sevres, the entire north-east of Turkey was to become part of the so-called “Wilson’s Armenia” (by the name of US President Woodrow Wilson who lobbied for the Armenian interests).

The Lausanne Peace Treaty abolished the unfair Treaty of Sevres. As a result, the Armenian nationalist dreams of a “great Armenia” remain dreams. But Armenian nationalists are not trying to reanimate the Treaty of Sevres.

Reanimation of the Sevres Peace Treaty is dangerous not only for the territorial integrity of Turkey, but also for Georgia.

The fact is that Georgia, which at that time was an independent state, was not allowed to sign the Sevres peace treaty, because, at the suggestion of the leaders of the Entente countries, for some reason was considered the “ally” of the losers in World War I Germany and Turkey. And Armenia, which also appeared on the world map thanks to the same Germany and Turkey, for some reason was recorded among the “winning states”.

Therefore, in Sevres, they “shared” not only Turkey, but also Georgia. The Turkish vilayets Van, Bitlis, Erzurum and Trabzon retired to Armenia. And although through Trabzon, “Wilson's Armenia” received access to the Black Sea, this was not enough for Armenian nationalists.

The fact is that the railway was not connected to the city of Trabzon (it is not there now). Therefore, Armenia demanded “access” to the Black Sea through Batumi, which was fixed in the Treaty of Sevres. In the Armenian interests, it was planned to build a railway linking directly Yerevan and Batumi, in addition, Armenia was provided with a guarantee of transit privileges and rental of a part of the port of Batumi.

At the same time, the issue of ownership of Batumi and Adjara and Samtskhe-Javakheti, according to the Sevr Treaty, “remained open” and formally had to be resolved by a bilateral Georgian-Armenian agreement. But since the possibilities of the Armenian lobby in the West were incomparable with the possibilities of Georgia, practically none of the Armenian nationalists doubted that the Treaty of Sevres “gives” to “Great Armenia” all of South Georgia together with Batumi.

There is nothing surprising that today the Armenian and pro-Armenian media are the most shouting about the mythical “Turkish domination in Batumi”. In reality, the Armenian nationalists, trying to revive the Treaty of Sevres, are working to prepare the dismemberment not only of Turkey, but also of Georgia, and they have long ago laid eyes on Batumi as their “own” city.

KavkazPlus