The Ararat Revolution and the role of regional powers in the collapse of a revolution

Abstract

the aim of this paper is to explore the regional factors which had caused the fall of the Ararat Revolution during the years 1927-1930. Numerous scholars have addressed this revolution,  but the problem  is that they tend to be wide in scope  and the causes of the fall of the revolution has been dealt with in  passing manner .Although the regional factors as  causes for the fall of this revolution, it has been hitherto unexplained by the writers in the field. The main finding of this paper  is that Mustafa Kemal's skillful diplomacy and positive relations with both USSR and Reza Shah of Iran were the reason for the fall of the  Ararat  revolution. The methodology utilized in this research is ,to a large extent , a critical discourse analysis and the data is presented in a chronological order. The Ararat Revolt is a good example of this reality.         

In preparing this research, we relied on primary sources such as documents from the Kurdish movement and documents from the Turkish, Iranian, and Soviet governments. In the first section, we briefly discuss the geographical features of Dersim region  and survey of development of Kurdish cuase revolutions in northern Kurdistan prior to the Ararat Movement . In the second, we discuss the nature of bilateral ties between Turkey and Iran. In the third section, we discuss the Soviet factor  in the fall the Ararat  revolution.

.As with any scholarly endeavor, this study faces its challenges, the most important of which is the lack of access to some specific Armenian documents in Yerevan, particularly those related to the activities of Khoybun, the Dashnak, and the Armenian Soviet Republic.