International Recognition, the Treaty of Sèvres, and Wilsonian Armenia

40. The Paris Peace Conference

Following the defeat of the Central Powers in November 1918, the victorious Allied powers convened the Paris Peace Conference.

Armenian representatives sought international recognition, territorial guarantees, security arrangements, and assistance for genocide survivors.

Two principal Armenian delegations participated in the broader diplomatic effort.

One represented the Republic of Armenia, while another, associated with Boghos Nubar, represented Armenian national interests, particularly those of Ottoman Armenians.

The delegations did not always agree on the precise political and territorial arrangements that should be pursued.

Nevertheless, both sought an internationally protected future for the Armenian people.

41. The Treaty of Sèvres

On August 10, 1920, representatives of the Ottoman government and Allied powers signed the Treaty of Sèvres.

The treaty envisaged major territorial changes to the Ottoman Empire.

Its provisions concerning Armenia recognized the possibility of an expanded Armenian state.

Article 89 referred the determination of the frontier between Turkey and Armenia in the provinces of Erzurum, Trebizond, Van, and Bitlis to arbitration by United States President Woodrow Wilson.

The treaty also addressed Armenia's access to the sea and related boundary questions.

However, the Treaty of Sèvres was never implemented as the final postwar settlement.

The Turkish nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal rejected the treaty, and military developments soon made its provisions unenforceable.

42. Woodrow Wilson's Arbitral Award

On November 22, 1920, President Woodrow Wilson issued his arbitral determination concerning the proposed boundary between Armenia and Turkey.

The award envisioned a considerably larger Armenian territory than that controlled by the First Republic.

It reflected the Allied diplomatic framework established after the First World War.

Yet the award was not implemented on the ground.

By the time Wilson issued his determination, Armenian forces had suffered major defeats, and the First Republic was approaching its collapse.

The United States had also declined to accept a proposed mandate over Armenia.

The distinction between diplomatic recognition, legal claims, and effective territorial control is essential to understanding this episode.

Wilsonian Armenia remained an important concept in Armenian political memory, but the borders proposed in the award never became the administered borders of an independent Armenian state.

The United States Department of State's historical record confirms the arbitration and its timing.

Office of the Historian