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WOODROW WILSON'S ARBITRAL AWARD THE BEST SOLUTION, SAYS ARA PAPIAN
asbarez
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
A scene from the Vigil (photo by Nora Yacoubian)
Dr. Ara Papian, the director of the Modus Vivendi center in Yerevan,
delivered the keynote address at the annual Armenian Genocide
commemoration vigil, organized by the San Gabriel Valley community
at the Montebello Armenian Genocide Martyrs' Monument. This year,
the event took place on Saturday, April 23.
Below is the text of his address:
Dear friends, distinguished guests, The Armenian Genocide during the
World War I and after went down the history as a crystal-clear example
of unpunished crime that reinvented itself in Nazi extermination of
the Jews, the Gypsies and the Slavic peoples. The annihilation of an
entire civilization that occurred under the apathetic eye of the world
at the turn of the XX century ricocheted right into our lifetime with
the destruction of innocent people in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The
principle of an ignored crime backfired again.
All Genocides have a common denominator - it is brutal and premeditated
killing of hundreds of thousands and millions of people, huge loses
of cultural values and property. Unfortunately, the Armenian Genocide
has something in particular that makes it deferent and it stands
separately from all other Genocides. In addition to human loses and
destruction of our heritage we lost the most valuable thing that a
nation can possess - we lost our Homeland. The Armenian massacres
and deportations uprooted men, women and children who were living
on their ancestral homeland for several millennia, reducing a once
vibrant region into open graves and ghost towns throughout Anatolia and
Western Armenia. It is a sad fact that today there are less than 60,000
Armenians left in Turkey. After the 1.5 million killed, the remaining
survivors and their descendants are now dispersed throughout the world.
Dear friends, Armenian territorial rights are based upon several
international instruments. The most important of them is the Arbitral
Award by the United States President Woodrow Wilson, done on November
22, 1920, which by a binding decision and conclusively defined the
boundary between Armenia and Turkey. Because of the time constraint,
I will not go into details of this document. Especially when the full
text of the Arbitral Award in English (more than 240 pages) with
detailed notes and indices will come out in Yerevan at the end of
next month - on May 28. However, it is important to give the general
overview of the Arbitral Award, which we Armenians rightfully consider
as the Bible of our territorial rights.
As you may know, the Republic of Armenia declared her independence on
May 28, 1918. One and half years after this declaration, on January
19, 1920, the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers finally agreed
to recognize the government of the Armenian State on the condition
that the recognition should not prejudge the question of the eventual
frontier.1 The United States recognized the Republic of Armenia on
April 23, 1920, on the same condition. By the way, the United States
refused to recognize the independence of Georgia and Azerbaijan
because of their unlawful claims to Armenian territory.2
On April 26, 1920, the Supreme Council meeting at San Remo requested
the President of the United States two things:
1. The United States assume a mandate over Armenia;
2. The President of the United States to make an Arbitral Decision
to fix the boundary of Armenia with Turkey.3 As you may know, the
Armenian mandate was rejected by Senate vote on June 1, 1920.
Nevertheless, the American answer to the second request was
positive and on May 17, 1920, the Secretary of State informed the
American Ambassador in France that the President had agreed to
act as arbitrator.4 For the implementation of the task, the State
Department began to assemble a team of experts in mid-July 1920 headed
by Professor William Westermann, from Wisconsin University. The state
department put together a committee, entitled: "The Committee upon
the Arbitration of the Boundary between Turkey and Armenia". As
the Treaty of Sevres was signed on August 10, 1920, the boundary
committee began its deliberations. The fact of signing the Treaty
of Sevres is important because the compromis, i.e. the application
for the arbitration, is included in the Treaty as Article 89. It
must be underlined that the status of the compromis has nothing to
do with the status of the main Treaty, thus with ratification or
non-ratification of the Treaty. Therefore, as the State Department
received the authenticated copy of the Treaty on October 18, 1920,
it was sufficient for the President officially to conclude the
arbitration without waiting the ratification of the Treaty of Sevres.
On November 22, 1920,5 Woodrow Wilson signed the final award with
seven enclosed appendices. So under the Arbitral Award of November 22,
1920, the border between Armenia and Turkey was settled conclusively
and without appeal, because, as clearly states The Hague Convention6
(article 54 of the 1899 edition and article 81 of the 1907 edition):7
"The award, duly pronounced and notified to the agents of the parties,
settles the dispute definitively and without appeal." 8
Few words on the content of the Arbitral Award. According to the
Arbitral Award, the title and the rights of the Republic of Armenia
were recognized on the large part of the provinces of Van, Bitlis,
Erzerum and Trebizond. It was less than the half of the territory
on which the Armenian title was recognized by the article 24 of the
Mudros armistice on October 30, 1918. This drastic cutback was due
to far-reaching reduction of native Armenian population, because of
the Armenian Genocide.
Now briefly on the most important issue - the present status of the
Arbitral Award. As indicates the official Manual of the Terminology
of Public International Law of the United Nations, for the arbitral
award to be valid it must meet four criteria:9
Criterion 1: The arbitrators must not have been subjected to any
undue external influence such as coercion, bribery or corruption;
Criterion 2: The production of proofs must have been free from fraud
and the proofs produced must not have contained any essential errors;
Criterion 3: The compromis must have been valid; Criterion 4: The
arbitrators must not have exceeded their powers.
Due to time limits, I will not go into details. However, after
assessing Wilson's Arbitral award against the abovementioned criteria,
it can be declared confidently: The Arbitral Award of Woodrow
Wilson is still a valid and legally obligatory document, because the
indispensable feature of an arbitral award is that it produces an
award that is final and binding. By agreeing to submit the dispute to
arbitration, i.e. signing a compromis, the parties in advance agree
to accept the decision.10 Therefore, in spite of the long-standing
occupation, Turkey does not possess any legal title to the territory
of Wilsonian Armenia. After the arbitral award of the US President,
signed and sealed on November 22, 1920, Turkish presence over there
is not more than an administrative control alike of Turkish status in
Northern Cyprus. Thus, the presence and all acts taken by the Turkish
Republic in the "Wilsonian Armenia" are illegal and invalid, because
the belligerent occupation does not yield lawful rule over a territory.
It is true that international law by itself will not be able to bring
about a solution for the Armenian-Turkish confrontation. Nonetheless,
there is no doubt that international law is the only way to bring
about a just and peaceful resolution, thus a durable and permanent
solution. The main basis for the lawful solution of long-standing
Armenian- Turkish problem are not the infamous Armenian-Turkish
protocols, but the Arbitral Award, done over 90 years ago in the
capital city of this country by 28th President of the United States
of America Woodrow Thomas Wilson.
Notes
1 G. H. Hackworth, Digest of International Law, Turkishâ~@~PArmenian
Boundary Question, vol. I, Chapters I-V, Washington, 1940, p. 715.
2 (H. Lauterpacht, Recognition in International Law, Cambridge, 1947,
p. 11. Papers Relating to Foreign Relations of the United States,
1920, v. III, Washington, 1936. p.
778.) [hereinafter - FRUS].
3 The Treaties of Peace, 1919â~@~P1923, (Preface by
Lt.â~@~PCol. Lawrence Martin).vol. I, New York, 1924, p. xxxii.
4 Ibid., p. 783.
5 Cukwurah A. O., The Settlement of Boundary Disputes in International
Law, Manchester, 1967, pp. 165-166.
6 The 1899 Convention was ratified by Turkey on July 12, 1907. (The
Hague Court Reports, op. cit., p. cii).
7 This notion was comprised in article # 54 of the 1899 Convention
with slightly deferent wording: "The award, duly pronounced and
notified to the agents of the parties [at variance, puts an end to]
the dispute definitively and without appeal."( The Hague Court Reports,
op. cit., p. lxxxix).
8 Ibid.
9 Manual of the Terminology of Public International Law, op.cit.,
§ 508, pp. 588â~@~P590.
10 Ibid., p. 27.
From: A. Papazian
asbarez
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
A scene from the Vigil (photo by Nora Yacoubian)
Dr. Ara Papian, the director of the Modus Vivendi center in Yerevan,
delivered the keynote address at the annual Armenian Genocide
commemoration vigil, organized by the San Gabriel Valley community
at the Montebello Armenian Genocide Martyrs' Monument. This year,
the event took place on Saturday, April 23.
Below is the text of his address:
Dear friends, distinguished guests, The Armenian Genocide during the
World War I and after went down the history as a crystal-clear example
of unpunished crime that reinvented itself in Nazi extermination of
the Jews, the Gypsies and the Slavic peoples. The annihilation of an
entire civilization that occurred under the apathetic eye of the world
at the turn of the XX century ricocheted right into our lifetime with
the destruction of innocent people in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The
principle of an ignored crime backfired again.
All Genocides have a common denominator - it is brutal and premeditated
killing of hundreds of thousands and millions of people, huge loses
of cultural values and property. Unfortunately, the Armenian Genocide
has something in particular that makes it deferent and it stands
separately from all other Genocides. In addition to human loses and
destruction of our heritage we lost the most valuable thing that a
nation can possess - we lost our Homeland. The Armenian massacres
and deportations uprooted men, women and children who were living
on their ancestral homeland for several millennia, reducing a once
vibrant region into open graves and ghost towns throughout Anatolia and
Western Armenia. It is a sad fact that today there are less than 60,000
Armenians left in Turkey. After the 1.5 million killed, the remaining
survivors and their descendants are now dispersed throughout the world.
Dear friends, Armenian territorial rights are based upon several
international instruments. The most important of them is the Arbitral
Award by the United States President Woodrow Wilson, done on November
22, 1920, which by a binding decision and conclusively defined the
boundary between Armenia and Turkey. Because of the time constraint,
I will not go into details of this document. Especially when the full
text of the Arbitral Award in English (more than 240 pages) with
detailed notes and indices will come out in Yerevan at the end of
next month - on May 28. However, it is important to give the general
overview of the Arbitral Award, which we Armenians rightfully consider
as the Bible of our territorial rights.
As you may know, the Republic of Armenia declared her independence on
May 28, 1918. One and half years after this declaration, on January
19, 1920, the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers finally agreed
to recognize the government of the Armenian State on the condition
that the recognition should not prejudge the question of the eventual
frontier.1 The United States recognized the Republic of Armenia on
April 23, 1920, on the same condition. By the way, the United States
refused to recognize the independence of Georgia and Azerbaijan
because of their unlawful claims to Armenian territory.2
On April 26, 1920, the Supreme Council meeting at San Remo requested
the President of the United States two things:
1. The United States assume a mandate over Armenia;
2. The President of the United States to make an Arbitral Decision
to fix the boundary of Armenia with Turkey.3 As you may know, the
Armenian mandate was rejected by Senate vote on June 1, 1920.
Nevertheless, the American answer to the second request was
positive and on May 17, 1920, the Secretary of State informed the
American Ambassador in France that the President had agreed to
act as arbitrator.4 For the implementation of the task, the State
Department began to assemble a team of experts in mid-July 1920 headed
by Professor William Westermann, from Wisconsin University. The state
department put together a committee, entitled: "The Committee upon
the Arbitration of the Boundary between Turkey and Armenia". As
the Treaty of Sevres was signed on August 10, 1920, the boundary
committee began its deliberations. The fact of signing the Treaty
of Sevres is important because the compromis, i.e. the application
for the arbitration, is included in the Treaty as Article 89. It
must be underlined that the status of the compromis has nothing to
do with the status of the main Treaty, thus with ratification or
non-ratification of the Treaty. Therefore, as the State Department
received the authenticated copy of the Treaty on October 18, 1920,
it was sufficient for the President officially to conclude the
arbitration without waiting the ratification of the Treaty of Sevres.
On November 22, 1920,5 Woodrow Wilson signed the final award with
seven enclosed appendices. So under the Arbitral Award of November 22,
1920, the border between Armenia and Turkey was settled conclusively
and without appeal, because, as clearly states The Hague Convention6
(article 54 of the 1899 edition and article 81 of the 1907 edition):7
"The award, duly pronounced and notified to the agents of the parties,
settles the dispute definitively and without appeal." 8
Few words on the content of the Arbitral Award. According to the
Arbitral Award, the title and the rights of the Republic of Armenia
were recognized on the large part of the provinces of Van, Bitlis,
Erzerum and Trebizond. It was less than the half of the territory
on which the Armenian title was recognized by the article 24 of the
Mudros armistice on October 30, 1918. This drastic cutback was due
to far-reaching reduction of native Armenian population, because of
the Armenian Genocide.
Now briefly on the most important issue - the present status of the
Arbitral Award. As indicates the official Manual of the Terminology
of Public International Law of the United Nations, for the arbitral
award to be valid it must meet four criteria:9
Criterion 1: The arbitrators must not have been subjected to any
undue external influence such as coercion, bribery or corruption;
Criterion 2: The production of proofs must have been free from fraud
and the proofs produced must not have contained any essential errors;
Criterion 3: The compromis must have been valid; Criterion 4: The
arbitrators must not have exceeded their powers.
Due to time limits, I will not go into details. However, after
assessing Wilson's Arbitral award against the abovementioned criteria,
it can be declared confidently: The Arbitral Award of Woodrow
Wilson is still a valid and legally obligatory document, because the
indispensable feature of an arbitral award is that it produces an
award that is final and binding. By agreeing to submit the dispute to
arbitration, i.e. signing a compromis, the parties in advance agree
to accept the decision.10 Therefore, in spite of the long-standing
occupation, Turkey does not possess any legal title to the territory
of Wilsonian Armenia. After the arbitral award of the US President,
signed and sealed on November 22, 1920, Turkish presence over there
is not more than an administrative control alike of Turkish status in
Northern Cyprus. Thus, the presence and all acts taken by the Turkish
Republic in the "Wilsonian Armenia" are illegal and invalid, because
the belligerent occupation does not yield lawful rule over a territory.
It is true that international law by itself will not be able to bring
about a solution for the Armenian-Turkish confrontation. Nonetheless,
there is no doubt that international law is the only way to bring
about a just and peaceful resolution, thus a durable and permanent
solution. The main basis for the lawful solution of long-standing
Armenian- Turkish problem are not the infamous Armenian-Turkish
protocols, but the Arbitral Award, done over 90 years ago in the
capital city of this country by 28th President of the United States
of America Woodrow Thomas Wilson.
Notes
1 G. H. Hackworth, Digest of International Law, Turkishâ~@~PArmenian
Boundary Question, vol. I, Chapters I-V, Washington, 1940, p. 715.
2 (H. Lauterpacht, Recognition in International Law, Cambridge, 1947,
p. 11. Papers Relating to Foreign Relations of the United States,
1920, v. III, Washington, 1936. p.
778.) [hereinafter - FRUS].
3 The Treaties of Peace, 1919â~@~P1923, (Preface by
Lt.â~@~PCol. Lawrence Martin).vol. I, New York, 1924, p. xxxii.
4 Ibid., p. 783.
5 Cukwurah A. O., The Settlement of Boundary Disputes in International
Law, Manchester, 1967, pp. 165-166.
6 The 1899 Convention was ratified by Turkey on July 12, 1907. (The
Hague Court Reports, op. cit., p. cii).
7 This notion was comprised in article # 54 of the 1899 Convention
with slightly deferent wording: "The award, duly pronounced and
notified to the agents of the parties [at variance, puts an end to]
the dispute definitively and without appeal."( The Hague Court Reports,
op. cit., p. lxxxix).
8 Ibid.
9 Manual of the Terminology of Public International Law, op.cit.,
§ 508, pp. 588â~@~P590.
10 Ibid., p. 27.
From: A. Papazian