Western Armenia

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This article is about the historical subregion in Eurasia. For other uses, see Armenia (disambiguation).

''The cultural history of the Western Armenians see History of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Western Armenia is a name given to the Armenian part of the Ottoman Empire, when the eastern part of this territory was ceded to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829. The remaining Armenian part of the empire, Western Armenia, was also referred to as Ottoman Armenia. Western Armenia was composed of Six Vilayets (vilâyat-ı sitte), the vilayets of Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Kharput, and Sivas.

The Armenian borders drawn by Woodrow Wilson at the Treaty of Sèvres incorporated parts of Erzurum, Trabzon, Bitlis, and Van vilayets, securing Armenia an outlet to the Black Sea at the port of Trabzon. Sèvres Treaty was recognized by both Armenian and Turkish governments, but was never put to motion. The Lausanne Treaty imposed by Mustafa Kemal nullified the previous treaty, even though Lausanne was signed by Kemalist Turkey only, and not by Armenia. Certain Armenian nationalist organizations consider Western Armenia as being rightfully part of the Republic of Armenia for these reasons.

The distinct Western Armenian dialect of the Armenian language is spoken primarily in Turkey, the Levant and in the Armenian Diaspora. In the diaspora, the Armenian schools, such as Sourp Hagop Armenian School and the Armenian Sisters Academy instruct Western Armenian to the students, instead of Eastern Armenian, the official dialect of the Republic of Armenia.

Western Armenia

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