The above photo is unique in many ways. In Turkish Van in 1877-1879, an underground paramilitary organization called Surb Khach (Holy Cross) was neutralized. These "forerunners" of the future Armenian terrorists and militants are shown in the photo. The uniqueness of this photo is as follows - it shows the FIRST IN HISTORY "Fighters for Armenia" on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Before that, until 1877, there were simply no such people. For one simple reason - there was neither the very concept of Armenian statehood nor even a clear idea to create this statehood.

How so? Those who allegedly "know the history of long-suffering Armenia" will object. If you listen to the Armenian historians, then from their stories it turns out that about the "long-suffering" Armenians in the Ottoman Empire throughout its entire existence they did nothing but "genocide", and the Armenians, at the same time, constantly for many centuries only did that " fought for freedom "and dreamed of restoring their" ancient "state.

OK! Suppose it is like this ...

But then there should be documentary evidence of "genocide" (or at least materials in the same European periodicals on this topic) on the one hand and documents on the "struggle of Armenians for freedom" on the other.

But nothing of the kind is close. If we take the first centuries of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, which is at war with the Safavid state on the one hand and with European powers on the other, including such powerful ones as Spain and Austria, there is not a single documentary mention of the Armenians as a factor in this struggle. Although, it would seem, is the right time for the Armenians to “fight for freedom”. Including with the help of "civilized" Christian Europeans. But there is not a single historical evidence of the "struggle of Armenians for" freedom ", let alone the" Armenian genocide "!

Let's take the 19th century, which is closer to our time, or rather its beginning, when, after the Napoleonic wars, the European powers and European Freemasons provoked the “freemasons” part of the Greeks to separatism. The so-called. "The struggle for the independence of Greece." It would seem that it is high time, on the one hand, for the Armenians to “intensify the struggle”. After all, if you listen to the Armenian historical falsifiers, they always “fought for freedom”, and on the other hand, there should be evidence, if not another “genocide”, then at least some kind of persecution of Armenians. But no! Not a single fact! Moreover, both in Europe and in Russia they "worry" about the Greeks, describe the "atrocities of the Turks against the Greeks" (keeping silent about the atrocities of the separatist rebels against the peaceful Muslim population), but not a word is said about the fact that the "cruel" Turks oppress Greeks are still Slavs, who also lived in the Ottoman Empire, and no less "ancient" than the Greeks, Armenians.

Yes, of course, during the invasion of the Russian army in 1828-1829. to the East of Turkey, the mass of Armenians living there betrayed the Ottoman Empire and went over to the side of the Russian Empire. But, that was the usual collaboration. Moreover, the traitors did not think about any “great Armenia” at that time. They simply “under the protection of Russian bayonets” looted and plundered their Muslim neighbors. And then they had to get out after the Russian army. As a result, they were resettled by the Russian Empire to the Georgian lands in Samtskhe-Javakheti.

And later, a stream of Armenian settlers came from the Ottoman Empire, they were settled in the Georgian and Azerbaijani lands. But only not because of the "genocide", but because the Russian Empire deliberately settles them on the lands of other peoples.

Mid 19th century. Crimean War. Britain and France formed an alliance with Turkey against Russia. The war is also going on in the Caucasus. And again, there is no information either about the "genocide" of the Armenians or about their "struggle for freedom". And about the "freedom-loving" Greeks, as that all sharply forgotten. Also in Russia, they do not even "know" that the Slavs are "oppressed" in the Ottoman Empire. Not before.

The 70s of the 19th century. In Russia, suddenly, they "remembered," that "under the yoke" of the Asian "barbarians" -Turks, "brothers-Slavs" is groaning, first of all, the Bulgarians (also, by the way, who came from Asia and have, in addition to Slavic and Turkic roots, but for some reason then they forgot ). Russian public opinion literally "exploded" with love and sympathy for the "oppressed" Slavs, who had not been noticed at all for a couple of decades before. The Bulgarians fell in love especially sharply and "selflessly".

But what about "love for the Greeks"? To the "ancient cultured Hellenes"? And she passed. And it was replaced by "dislike". Part of the Bulgarian clergy in 1872 went to church schism along ethnic lines. Russia, contrary to the canons of Orthodoxy, actually supported this split. Moreover, after the Bulgarian rebels (or as the Russian press called them “freedom fighters”) raised an anti-Ottoman rebellion in 1876, the first thing they did was to kill the Greeks (regardless of the common faith), among whom there were many minor Ottoman officials In Bulgaria. But in the same Russia, which just some 50 years ago shed tears for “the unfortunate Greeks who are being slaughtered by the Turks”, and there was no sympathy for these Greeks, who fell at the hands of “brothers”.

In 1877, the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire begins. "For the liberation of Bulgaria" and the southern Slavs in general. And again, under the attraction of almost the entire war, no one even remembers "the unfortunate Armenians groaning under the Ottoman yoke." All "liberate the Slavs."

But at the end of the Russian-Turkish war, the Armenians are "finally" being paid attention to. But not because they are “fighting for freedom,” but because the Caucasian front of this war, which is secondary in comparison with the Balkan one, is trusted to command the ethnic Armenian Mikhail Loris-Melikov. And it is he who raises the issue of "liberation of the unfortunate Armenians groaning under the Turkish yoke", by analogy with the Bulgarians. And it was then that the aforementioned Surb Khach organization began to operate in Van, in the Turkish rear, which can be regarded as a sabotage group created by the same Loris-Melikov in the Ottoman rear.

And unexpectedly, following the results of the Russian-Turkish war, during the talks in San Stefano, for the first time in world history, the notorious "Armenian question" arose in the international arena, which Russia, as a winner, began to impose on Turkey. This is all the more unexpected for Turkey, since if everyone knew about the “Slavic issue” before the war, then the Turks did not even think and did not even suspect that the issue of “oppressing the Armenians” was the same. Indeed, most of the capital of the empire was controlled by the Armenian community and there was no question of any "oppression".

Nevertheless, it was precisely under the terms of the San Stefano Peace Treaty that Turkey, in fact, was forced to cede control over the territories where there was a certain percentage of the Armenian population (the majority did not makeup anywhere else).

According to the 16th article of the treaty: The Ottoman Empire was obliged to carry out reforms in the “Armenian” vilayets, and also undertook to provide guarantees for the safety of the “Christian” population from the raids of Kurds, Circassians, and Syrians. The Russian army remained on the territory of the Erzurum vilayet until Emperor Alexander II was convinced "of the sufficiency of the measures taken to ensure and guarantee the safety of the Christian population."

At the Berlin Congress, the "Armenian question" was somewhat "softened" and the "zone of separatism" on Turkish territory was not organized at that time. It is interesting that the same commander of the Caucasian corps during the Russian-Turkish war, Mikhail Loris-Melikov, suddenly begins to make a dizzying career in the Russian Empire.

At the same time, the "Armenian question" is raised and right there in Russia "as by agreement" the Armenian Loris-Melikov is being "promoted" to the actual rulers of the vast Russian Empire.

A very strange "coincidence".

Loris-Melikov, from a mass of unremarkable generals and governors of peripheral provinces, suddenly becomes the second person in the empire, which raises a lot of questions.

Moreover, after the failure of the "Armenian question" at the Berlin Congress, Loris Melkov's power in the Russian Empire acquired an exaggerated character. On February 14, 1880, Loris-Melikov was appointed chief of the Supreme Administrative Commission established on February 12 of the same year. Soon after the appointment of Loris-Melikov, Senate revisions were equipped at various ends of the European part of the empire and, in fact, a particularly unknown official concentrated in his hand's enormous power. And in August 1880, Loris-Melikov became Minister of Internal Affairs and began to prepare a constitutional reform. If this constitution were adopted, the emperor would become only a nominal figure with the omnipotent "reformers".
However, this was prevented by the assassination of the emperor, largely due to the outbreak of revolutionary terror provoked by the same Loris-Melikov.

Countess Kleinmichel recalled Loris-Melikov:

“Both amiable and rude at the same time, not devoid of cunning, he knew how about men and women, to please them, to apply techniques that were always successful. Being a man without erudition, Loris-Melikov knew how to hide it perfectly. Starting a conversation on a political or literary topic, he suddenly immediately fell silent, leaving it to others to speak, and he himself only grinned evilly to show that he contained a whole world of knowledge. In clubs, in salons, there was only talk about a wonderful Armenian. At Mrs. Nelidova's, he met and became close to the Minister of Finance Abaza, whose liberal opinions he flatteringly encouraged. With Count Adlerberg and with the Minister of the Interior Timashev, he was a conservative, with the Grand Duke Constantine, a Slavophile, with the German ambassador, General Werder, a Germanophile, an ardent adherent of English politics, with Lord Dusserin, and with General Chancy, he admired the French army; so everyone liked him. "

What do we see from this recollection if it were commented on by modern political scientists? Loris Melikov, they would say, was a kind of “protege of the then globalists”. And suddenly they raised the Armenian question “for no reason at all” after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. and they began to move Loris-Melikov to power, most likely at the initiative of the same global forces.

By this time, the Armenian historical mythology had already been developed. The ideology of the “revival of Great Armenia” has been prepared. The Armenian Church became obsessed with nationalism, which enslaved and absorbed the Albanian Catholicosate in the Caucasus. But its very influential forces kept it in reserve for a long time. Although it would seem, they could begin to "fight for the rights of Armenians" and simultaneously with the Greeks, and simultaneously with the "struggle for the liberation of the Slavs."

But they didn't. And they "fired off with the Armenian idea" only in 1878. At the same time, the "first Armenian onslaught" was successfully neutralized. The above-mentioned underground paramilitary organization called Surb Khach "Holy Cross", which operated in Turkish Van in 1877-1879, was quickly neutralized. The very name of the organization (this is the name of the monastery on Akhtamar Island on Lake Van) shows that it was created not without the participation of the Armenian Church.

In 1881, the Armenian issue in Turkey temporarily "calmed down", and Loris-Melikov was dismissed in the Russian Empire. But a start was made. Quite a little time will pass and much more brutal terrorist organizations "Hnchak" and "Dashaktsutyun" will appear. Such a terror will begin, which the Greek and Slavic "fighters for independence" never dreamed of before.

All this suggests that the notorious "Armenian question" was part of a very serious global game, which, alas, has not yet been completed. The Armenian project had a much more global scale than the "Greek" and "South Slavic" ones.

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