THE BRITISH FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT OF ARMENIANS OF WESTERN ARMENIA IN THE LAST THIRD OF THE XIXTH CENTURY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF COLONEL D.V. PUTYATA

Abstract

D.V. Putyata is known in Russia as a major orientalist, diplomat, traveler and military officer, his studies of China became famous in our country and abroad at the beginning of the XXth century. However, D.V. Putyata left interesting notes about his stay in Western Armenia in the summer of 1895. Unfortunately, that work of the author is practically unknown in modern historiography, which explains the relevance of this article. D.V. Putyata, as one of the problems that had a significant impact on the position of the Armenian population in Western Armenia, as well as the Ottoman Empire, in general, highlights the active intervention of Great Britain in solution of the Armenian question. This problem caused active discussions among representatives of the ruling elite of Russia at the turn of the XIXth and XXth centuries, in Soviet and modern historiography. Therefore, paying attention to the work of D.V. Putyata, on the one hand, will make it possible to analyze one of the channels of information flow in St. Petersburg about the situation in Western Armenia, on the basis of which Russian establishment formed the country policy on the Armenian issue, and, on the other hand, get an appealing factual material. It should be noted that D.V. Putyata’s views on the position of affairs in Western Armenia are not indisputable and they are not always coincident with the positions of modern studies. But, it does not implore the value of this work for orientalists. In the conclusion of the article, it is emphasized that D.V. Putyata, while recognizing the objective reasons for the uprising of the Armenian population in 1894-1896, at the same time the article focuses on the activities of British diplomats, the press and politicians oriented to developing the national identity of Armenians and their national liberation movement in Western Armenia. D.V. Putyata did not approve such actions of Great Britain, believing that it seeks to strengthen its own positions in the Middle East by hiding behind concern for the oppressed Christian people by hiding behind concern for the oppressed Christian people. The author has a fellow feeling for supporters of moderate reforms based on a compromise with the Porte, they were constantly discredited by British newspapers and diplomats.