Armenophile

An Armenophile (Armenian: հայասեր, hayaser, lit. "Armenian-lover")^[1] is a non-Armenian person who expresses a strong interest in or appreciation for Armenian culture, Armenian history or the Armenian people. It may apply to both those who display an enthusiasm in Armenian culture and to those who support political or social causes associated with the Armenian people. During and after the First World War and simultaneous Armenian genocide, the term was applied to people like Henry Morgenthau who actively drew attention to the victims of massacre and deportation, and who raised aid for refugees. President Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt have also been called Armenophiles, due in part to their support for the creation of Wilsonian Armenia.

Notable Armenophiles

Georgia

According to the 12th century Armenian historian Matthew of Edessa, the Georgian King David the Builder (r. 1089–1125) "received and loved the Armenian people." Armenian lords found warm welcome in his kingdom.^[2]

Britain

Lord Byron Street and plaque in Yerevan.

English Romantic poet Lord Byron (1788–1824) showed appreciation of the Armenian people,^[3][4][5] and has been described as being an "early enthusiast who spoke for the Armenians."^[6] Byron lived in San Lazzaro degli Armeni, a small island in Venice home to an important Armenian Catholic monastery, from late 1816 to early 1817. He acquired enough Armenian to translate passages from Classical Armenian into English.^[7] He co-authored English Grammar and Armenian (published in 1817) and Armenian Grammar and English (published in 1819), where he included quotations from classical and modern Armenian.^[8] Byron is considered the most prominent of all visitors of the island.^[9] The room where Byron studied now bears his name and is cherished by the monks.^[9][10]

British academic, jurist, historian and Liberal politician James Bryce^[11] (1838–1922) visited Armenian lands twice (in 1876 and 1880).^[12] In 1876 he climbed Mount Ararat, Armenia's national symbol.^[13] During the Hamidian massacres and the Armenian genocide he was the leading Armenophile in Britain.^[14][15] His October 6, 1915 speech at the parliament about the genocide was included in Arnold J. Toynbee's book Armenian Atrocities: the Murder of a Nation. Toynbee's edited Bryce's documents (mostly testimonies of eyewitnesses)^[12] about the genocide, titled The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915–1916. He wrote an article titled "The Future of Armenia" in The Contemporary Review in 1918.^[16]

British Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), stated in a speech in 1895, during the Hamidian massacres,^[17] that "To serve Armenia is to serve civilization."^[18][19]

Elsewhere

Protestant missionary Johannes Lepsius (1858–1926) is described as the "German who knew the most about the Armenians for he had been supporting their cause vehemently since the massacres of the Armenians by Sultan Abdul Hamid at the end of the 19th century."^[20][21]

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen supported the plight of the Armenians during the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide.^[22]

One author describes U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) as "an ardent, even hawkish Armenophile."^[23]

Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), a Norwegian explorer, has been described as a "friend of the Armenian nation"^[24] for his work in the 1920s to help Armenian refugees, many of them being genocide survivors.^[25] Nansen supported Armenian refugees in acquiring the Nansen passport, which allowed them to travel freely to various countries.^[22] Nansen wrote the book, Armenia and the Near East in 1923 which describes his sympathies to the plight of the Armenians in the wake of losing its independence to the Soviet Union.^[26] After visiting Armenia, Nansen wrote two additional books called "Gjennem Armenia" ("Across Armenia"), published in 1927 and "Gjennem Kaukasus til Volga" ("Through Caucasus to Volga").^[27]

Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov (1837–1916), a notable representative of the Vorontsov family, along with his spouse Elizaveta Andreevna Shuvalova have been regarded as Armenophiles - so Armenophiliac that in 1915 the Council of Ministers of Russia argued that Dashkov, as the viceroy of the Caucasus, sacrificed Russian interests for Armenian ones.^[28]

The Bulgarian Symbolist poet Peyo Yavorov wrote the poem "Armenians" in 1896, inspired by the sorrow and difficulties he saw of the Armenian refugees in Bulgaria. Because of this, in 1966, a school in Yerevan was named after him.^[29]

Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938), a Russian Jewish poet and essayist, has been described as an Armenophile.^[30]

Contemporary

In the 21st century several politicians in the West have been described as pro-Armenian, mostly for their activism for the recognition of the Armenian genocide and support for Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). They include Baroness Caroline Cox (born 1937), a member of the British House of Lords,^[31] Adam Schiff (born 1960), U.S. Congressman from California and a Democrat,^[32][33] Valérie Boyer (born 1962), member of the National Assembly of France from the center-right Republicans.^[34][35]

Recognition in Armenia

Prominent Armenophile figures have been recognized in Armenia in several ways: a street in Yerevan^[36] and a school in Gyumri are named after Byron; a park, a school^[37] and a statue of Nansen in Yerevan;^[38] Bryce Street in Yerevan.^[39]

See also

• Europhile
• Kartvelophile
• Persophile
• Philhellenism

References

1. Petrosian, Irina; Underwood, David (2006). Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction & Folklore. Bloomington, Indiana: Yerkir Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-1411698659.
2. Bedrosian, Robert G. (1979). The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13-14th Centuries. Columbia University. p. 252. Others found a very warm reception in Georgia. During the reign of David the Restorer (1089-1125), Georgia became a haven for Armenian lords and lordless azats . Matthew of Edessa says that David "received and loved the Armenian people. The remnants of the Armenian forces assembled by him"
3. Cardwell, Richard A., ed. (2004). The Reception of Byron in Europe. A&C Black. p. 390. ISBN 9780826468444. Byron's warm attitude towards the Armenians...
4. "Byron and the Monks". Commonweal. 34: 441. 1941. Armenian was one of the poet's little-known avocations. ... he gives his impressions of the Mekhitarist monks and goes on to an appreciation of the Armenian people at large...
5. Walker, Christopher J., ed. (1997). Visions of Ararat: Writings on Armenia. I.B. Tauris. p. 35. ISBN 9781860641114. Byron cannot really be credited with making any section of the British people aware of the Armenians and their history, language and culture. His personal enthusiasm for them is evident from his letters...
6. George, Joan (2002). "'It was in Armenia that Paradise was Placed.' Byron". Merchants in Exile: The Armenians in Manchester, England, 1835-1935. Gomidas Institute. p. 13. ISBN 9781903656082. An early enthusiast who spoke for the Armenians...
7. Mesrobian, Arpena (1973). "Lord Byron at the Armenian Monastery on San Lazzaro". The Courier. 11 (1). Syracuse University: 31.
8. Elze, Karl (1872). Lord Byron, a biography, with a critical essay on his place in literature. London: J. Murray. pp. 217–218.
9. Saryan, Levon A. (July–August 2011). "A Visit to San Lazzaro: An Armenian Island in the Heart of Europe Part I, Part II, Part III". Armenian Weekly.
10. Garrett, Martin (2001). Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion. New York: Interlink Books. p. 166.
11. Fromkin, David (2010). A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East. Macmillan. p. 214. The Liberal statesman, historian, and jurist, James Bryce, a pro-Armenian
12. "James Bryce-175". genocide-museum.am. Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. 2013.
13. Bryce, James (1878). "On Armenia and Mount Ararat". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London. 22 (3). London: Royal Geographical Society: 169–186. doi:10.2307/1799899. JSTOR 1799899.
14. Grabill, Joseph L. (1971). Protestant Diplomacy and the Near East: Missionary Influence on American Policy, 1810-1927. University of Minnesota Press. p. 112. ISBN 1452911312. He led the Armenophile lobby in Britain partly because of his Christian idealism.
15. Smith, Walter George (1971). "Journal of a Journey to the Near East". The Armenian Review. 24: 74. Lord Bryce was the oldest and most influential of British Armenophiles.
16. Bryce, Lord James (1918). "The Future of Armenia". The Contemporary Review (114): 604–611.
17. Danielyan, Eduard (2009). "Civilization's Theory in Geopolitical Conceptions" (PDF). 21st Century. 1 (5). Noravank Foundation: 62.
18. Anderson, Margaret Lavinia (March 2007). ""Down in Turkey, far away": Human Rights, the Armenian Massacres, and Orientalism in Wilhelmine Germany". The Journal of Modern History. 79 (1): 84. doi:10.1086/517545. JSTOR 10.1086/517545. S2CID 153331698. The Liberal warhorse William Ewart Gladstone proclaimed that "to serve Armenia is to serve civilization," a line quoted in New York on the masthead of Armenia, a monthly.
19. Payaslian, Simon (2010). "Imagining Armenia". In Gal, Allon; Leoussi, Athena S.; Smith, Anthony David (eds.). The Call of the Homeland: Diaspora Nationalisms, Past and Present. BRILL. p. 117. ISBN 9789004182103. ...a quote from William E. Gladstone: "To serve Armenia is to serve civilization."
20. Palakʻean, Grigoris (2010). Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918. New York: Vintage Books. p. 20. ISBN 978-1400096770. ...a well-known Armenophile, Dr. Johannes Lepsius...
21. Gust, Wolfgang. "Magical Square: Johannes Lepsius, Germany and Armenia". armenocide.de. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Vicar Johannes Lepsius was without doubt the German who knew the most about the Armenians for he had been supporting their cause vehemently since the massacres of the Armenians by Sultan Abdul Hamid at the end of the 19th century.
22. "Fridtjof Nansen – 150". Armenian Genocide Museum.
23. Peterson, Merrill D. (2004). "Starving Armenians": America and the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1930 and After. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0813922676. The idea captured the imagination of Theodore Roosevelt, an ardent, even hawkish Armenophile....
24. "A monument dedicated to Fridtjof Nansen was erected in the capital". genocide-museum.am. Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. 10 November 2011.
25. "Fridtjof Nansen - Biographical". nobelprize.org.
26. Abalyan, Karine (17 October 2011). "Fridtjof Nansen and the Armenians". Massis Post. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013.
27. "FRIDTJOF NANSEN". ArmeniaHouse.
28. Suny, Ronald Grigor; Göçek, Fatma Müge; Naimark, Norman M. (eds.). A Question of Genocide. Oxford University Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-19-979276-4.
29. Пейо Яворов и неговите „Арменци“
30. Zeeman, Peter (1988). The later poetry of Osip Mandelstam: text and context. Amsterdam: Rodopi. p. 28. ISBN 9789051830286.
31. "Hovik Abrahamyan Welcomes Baroness Caroline Cox". gov.am. Government of Armenia. 17 September 2014. The Prime Minister praised the pro-Armenian activities of Caroline Cox....
32. Danielyan, Emil (23 January 2007). "U.S. unable to name new Armenia envoy amid genocide row". Jamestown Foundation. ...Adam Schiff (D-CA), another pro-Armenian congressman, said on December 25.
33. "Knights, Daughters of Vartan to Honor 'Man and Woman of Year' at National Convocation". Armenian Weekly. 19 June 2014. Schiff is one of the most influential and Armenian-friendly U.S. Congressmen in Washington.
34. "French Lawmakers Visit Karabakh". RFE/RL Armenian Service. 27 May 2013. A pro-Armenian member of that group, Valerie Boyer....
35. "French Parliament to establish a friendship group with Artsakh. Who's next?". Public Radio of Armenia. 20 March 2013. ...pro-Armenian MP Valerie Boyer.
36. "Byron St · Yerevan, Armenia".
37. "Պետական փաստաթղթեր". ԵՐԵՎԱՆԻ Ֆ. ՆԱՆՍԵՆԻ ԱՆՎԱՆ Հ.150 ՀԻՄՆԱԿԱՆ ԴՊՐՈՑ. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
38. "Nansen's statue – in the heart of Yerevan". Armenpress. 9 November 2011. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
39. "James Bryce St · Yerevan, Armenia".