Ռուբէն Սահակեան2026-01-222026-01-222012Սահակեան, Ռ., «Վանի նահանգապետութեան պատմութիւնից (Յունիս 14-Յուլիս 7-Յուլիս 25, 1915) եւ Ա-ԴՕՆ», «Հայկազեան հայագիտական հանդէս», 2012, Պէյրութ, էջ 407-430https://haigrepository.haigazian.edu.lb/handle/123456789/1090During WWI the Ottoman Empire launched its plans of massive extermination and deportation and carried out its genocidal policy against the Ottoman Armenians. In reaction to these acts, certain Armenian towns and cities of Western Armenia and Asia Minor took up arms in self-defense. The population of the city of Van was the first to take up arms against the Turks. The defense of the city extended from April 7 to May 4, 1915. Eventually they were rescued by the Armenian volunteer troops of the Russian Army, who were the first to arrive to Van. On May 7, the Russian Army command appointed Aram Manoogian as administrator of Van and its provinces. In a short period Manoogian established a regional administration and its subsidiaries, which won the trust of the population. Soon Eastern Armenian scholars. with administrative experience volunteered to work in the municipality of Van. In recruiting administrators Manoogian prioritized competence over partisanship and social stature. The author notes that since the disappearance of the Armenian princedoms of Sunik and Artsakh in the 18th century, this was the first time Armenians had had the chance to establish a political entity in an area exclusively inhabited by Armenians, as the Turks had left the area. Nonetheless, the Russian authorities were unhappy with the activities of the Armenian administration and particularly concerned with the fact that Van could become the center of an Armenian autonomous region. On July 11, 1915 the Russian authorities ordered the retreat of the army, for no real reason. The retreat occurred haphazardly, and the Armenian authorities had no time to organize the defense of the city. The Armenians were left with no choice but to leave the city and take refuge in Eastern Armenia. The experience gained by Manoogian during this period became an asset for him as he later on assumed the de facto leadership of the Yerevan Armenian National Council and, as of July 1918, held the post of Interior Minister of the Republic of Armenia. Against the backdrop of these developments Sahakian brings to light the eye-witness account of Hovhannes Der Krikorian (1867-1954), one of the best Armenian intellectuals of the time. Der Krikorian, known to scholarly circles by the name of A-Do, extensively researched Armenian liberation movements, socio-economic conditions, the administrative structure as well as gathering statistics on the population and settlements of Western Armenia. He personally went through the region of Van, registering and taking and took details of the resistance fights as well as details on the massive massacres of the Armenians, and published them as a research book in 1917.