BY ARUNANSH B. GOSWAMI
As an Indian, I look at Armenia as an ancient civilization with Indo-Iranian heritage turned modern nation-state, with similar geo-political challenges as India. Indians and Armenians were early agents of globalization; they have had a similar trajectory of historical persecution by foreign powers, particularly Turkic powers, the establishment of large and prosperous diasporas, and similar contemporary geopolitical challenges. Not just this, the ideology of modern Armenian nationalism was born in India.
The first-ever Armenian constitution (Vorogayt Parats) was written in Madras (Chennai) in 1773 by Shahamir Shahamirian. Several Armenians in Madras formed the “Madras Group,” which played a pivotal role in Armenia’s struggle for independence. The prominent members of the Madras group were Movses Baghramian, Shahamir Shahamirian, his son, Hakob Shahamirian, and Joseph Emin.
Our history is a major reason for our present friendship. I recently returned from Yerevan, where I participated in the first Yerevan Dialogue, on the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. The friendship between our countries is strengthening as time passes; it is playing a constructive role in the establishment of durable and mutually acceptable peace in the South Caucasus.
Indians and Armenians share a similar pain. The genocide of Hindu Indians in Malabar (India) in 1921, committed as a part of the Khilafat movement by Moplahs to put pressure on the British regime in India to safeguard the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliphate, was similar to the Hamidian massacres, a series of atrocities carried out by Ottoman forces and Kurdish irregulars against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and later the Armenian Genocide, from 1915 to 1916, by the Turks.
Indians and Armenians have lost thousands of ancient monuments and skilled artisans due to Turkish aggression. One of the greatest centers of learning in the world, Nalanda in India, was destroyed by a Turko-Afghan Ikhtiyar al-Din Muḥammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, and several centuries later, in a single year—1915—the Armenians were robbed of their 3,000-year-old heritage by the Turks; their churches were desecrated, their libraries were burned, and their towns and villages were ruined. Amir Timur had invaded both India and Armenia; he took several Indians and Armenians, according to journalist Aris Ghazinyan, to Samarkand for improving his empire’s capital city and for developing different crafts and trade on its territory. Indians and Armenians had to go through centuries of persecution under Turkish rule, but still managed to maintain their distinct identities.
This cultural genocide is continuing still in Pakistan against Hindus and in Artsakh against ethnic Armenians. Hindu heritage, in what is now Pakistan, and Armenian heritage, in what is now Azerbaijan, have been systematically destroyed by those in power. For the countries that have occupied Indian and Armenian lands, it is just territory for them, but for Indian and Armenians, these territories are part of their several millennia-old history.
The friendship between India and Armenia is beyond geopolitics; it is civilisational and based on our shared pain. Both Indians and Armenians have struggled against our enemies to protect our civilisational heritage and are now independent countries with friendly relations with each other. The origins of Armenia’s struggle for independence are in fact from India.
According to Professor Sebouh Aslanian, who I happened to meet in Yerevan recently, “The Madras (India) community (Armenians)…sought to displace and replace the traditional Armenian (self) image as a geographically fragmented and dispersed ethno-religious community by a new Enlightenment conception of the nation as a political community grounded in its native territory and represented and led by its elected sovereign authorities.” It can clearly be understood that Armenians in India played an important role in the birth of modern Armenian nationalism.
David Zenian wrote, in an edition of an Armenian General Benevolent Union magazine, that “the bold efforts by a group of Armenians in the Indian city of Madras in 1772 were the first step in the long struggle for an independent Armenian state… But unlike the traditional Armenian political parties that were formed in the early 1900’s, the so-called ‘Madras Group’ did not evolve into a political party. The ‘Madras Group’ was so fervent that one of its members, a merchant by the name of Khojah Krikor, offered to give all his personal wealth to finance the liberation of Armenia from foreign occupation—provided the endeavor had the support of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin.”
Our enemies try to negate our historical identities and lay claims on our historical lands, but we are working together to assert that we are proud carriers of the legacy of several millennia-old civilizations, with shared Indo-Iranian heritage. Our independence is dear to us, and thanks to our brave soldiers, it is protected. India became a land of opportunity for the Armenian diaspora to prosper, which, in turn, helped the strengthening of the Armenian independence struggle.
During the age of European imperialism, India was colonized by the British and Armenia by Tsarist Russia, two colonial powers whose diplomatic confrontation that existed for most of the 19th century came to be called the “Great Game.” The British Crown replaced British East India Company in India, and Bolsheviks replaced Tsars of Russia in Armenia as rulers. India was made a part of the British Empire, and like Poland, Armenia was made to disappear from the map of the world as an independent country.
The British partitioned India and created West and East Pakistan on historically Indian land; similarly, Artsakh was arbitrarily carved out of Armenia in 1921 by Joseph Stalin and placed under Soviet Azerbaijani administration, but with autonomous status, as part of the Soviet divide-and-conquer strategy in the Caucasus. According to Razmik Panossian, “The politics of nationalism dominated the Armenian political process between 1988 and early 1992. All other considerations were subjected to the logic of ‘national interests’ and the struggle for Karabakh (Artsakh). The nationalist fervor that engulfed Soviet Armenia in early 1988 was one of the major flash points that led to the eventual collapse of the USSR.”
On September 21, 1991, Armenia declared independence from the Soviet Union through a referendum voted by 95 percent of Armenians. Levon Ter-Petrosyan was elected as Armenia’s first president on October 16, 1991, and India recognized Armenia on December 26, 1991. In 1992, Armenia entered the United Nations. Armenia and India have been close friends, and are now working together to establish peace in the South Caucasus. Armenians have struggled hard for their independence, and Indians helped them. September 21 is celebrated as independence day by Armenians. I would like to wish my Armenian readers a very happy Independence Day!
Arunansh B. Goswami is an author, historian and advocate in the Supreme Court of India. He is a member of the Bar Association of Delhi and the Supreme Court Bar Association in India. Goswami has written on the history, culture and politics of various countries in several national and international publications. He is a visiting fellow of the L.A. Orbeli Institute of Physiology NAS RA in Armenia.
