Newly discovered documents about Grigor Zohrap’s activity

Abstract

After the publication of the monograph “The chronicle of the life and activities of Grigor Zohrap” by Prof. Albert Sharuryan it would seem that all episodes of Zohrap’s life had been revealed. Yet the study of Russian-German diplomatic clash in regard to the Armenian reforms in 1913 shows that G. Zohrap was actively involved not only in that process but he also functioned as the main negotiator from the Armenian side, a fact which remained un-noticed by historians and philologists. While the Armenian national delegation headed by Poghos Nubar was the official body representing the Armenian problem to great powers in Europe, in Constantinople the official negotiating body was the Commission of Safety of Armenian Patriarchy. G. Zohrap was one of the five members of the Harassing commission which supported the Safety commission who in the course of negotiations became the main actor. His participation in the negotiations was hidden by Russian diplomacy and by the Armenian circles and G. Zohrap himself. He was a member of the Ottoman parliament and it would be quite dangerous since the Young Turks could accuse him of treachery. The documents presented in the article deal with the meetings of G. Zohrap with the first translator of the Russian embassy A.N. After the publication of the monograph “The chronicle of the life and activities of Grigor Zohrap” by Prof. Albert Sharuryan it would seem that all episodes of Zohrap’s life had been revealed. Yet the study of Russian-German diplomatic clash in regard to the Armenian reforms in 1913 shows that G. Zohrap was actively involved not only in that process but he also functioned as the main negotiator from the Armenian side, a fact which remained un-noticed by historians and philologists. While the Armenian national delegation headed by Poghos Nubar was the official body representing the Armenian problem to great powers in Europe, in Constantinople the official negotiating body was the Commission of Safety of Armenian Patriarchy. G. Zohrap was one of the five members of the Harassing commission which supported the Safety commission who in the course of negotiations became the main actor. His participation in the negotiations was hidden by Russian diplomacy and by the Armenian circles and G. Zohrap himself. He was a member of the Ottoman parliament and it would be quite dangerous since the Young Turks could accuse him of treachery. The documents presented in the article deal with the meetings of G. Zohrap with the first translator of the Russian embassy A.N. Mandelstam on August 20, 21, and 24, September 1-2, 1913 and the second translator of the German embassy Schönberg on August 30. These documents are kept in the archive of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. In the documents Zohrap’s name is missing but the comparison of documents of Great powers and memories of contemporaries comes to prove that it was he who negotiated on behalf of the patriarchy. After the end of the meetings G. Zohrap came to the Safety commission and talked about the course and results of the negotiations. His reports were recorded and sent to Gevorg V Surenyan, the Catholicos of All Armenians. The study of these documents shows that G. Zohrap had a considerable contribution in the achievement of a compromised Russian-German agreement in regard to the Armenian reforms.