THE END OF THE "NERKAGHT" CAMPAIN AND THE "REPATRIATES" LOST ILLUSIONS
In a 1947 speech delivered in New York, Andrei Vishinsky, then Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, demanded that the Kars and Ardahan districts be incorporated into Soviet Georgia. This “diplomatic” gesture may be taken to mark the end of the Soviet leaders’ ephemeral courtship of the Armenian diaspora, and the end of the repatriation campaign that ultimately enabled tens of thousands of Armenians to “return to the old country.” It should be noted that these massive departures for Armenia had done much to enfeeble pro-Soviet political organizations, particularly the Communist Parties of the Levant, whose most active members had almost all volunteered for “repatriation.” An official March 1947 French report clearly attests Moscow’s desire to maintain networks of influence in the area: “The USSR considers that after having, in 1946, arranged to have itself acclaimed by the Armenians of most of the world’s countries, its best interests now lie in keeping Armenians who belong to pro-Soviet organizations in the Middle East, where they can serve as a useful pressure group the day that certain foreign powers begin seeking spheres of influence of their own in the region.”103
With the end of the population transfer, the “Iron Curtain” came down over the roughly 100,000 Armenians who had just arrived in Armenia. It was now time for them to learn what life was really like in the Soviet “paradise” for which they had ... Read all
Armenians from Iran taken in hand by the Teheran AGBU in 1947 after the failure of their bid for repatriation (Arch. B. Nubar/Paris).
“Repatriation”and AGBU’s Cooperation with Soviet Armenia