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French Armenian Legion

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The Armenian Legion was a foreign legion unit within French Army which was founded during World War I.

The initial name of the legion was "La Légion d'Orient" (The Eastern Legion) [1]. It was renamed as "La Légion Arménienne" (The Armenian Legion) in February 1st, 1919.

Signed in Paris by General Roques, Minister of War, and General Lacaze, Minister of Navy, the official decision regarding the establishment of the Armenian Legion dates November 15th, 1916 in Paris.

According to this initial decision,

  • The Eastern Legion was to be stationed in Cyprus
  • Armenians and Assryians of Ottoman nationality would be volunteer conscripts
  • The Legion would be commanded by French officers
  • The conscripts would have an equivalent status compared to French soldiers and would be under responsibility of French War Ministry
  • Infantry commander Romieu would be supervising the establishment of the Legion
  • The Legion was to be deployed in Cilicia, now known as Çukurova, on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) [2]
  • 10,000 Francs were to be allocated from the war budget of French Navy in Syria to use in establishment of camps
  • The volunteers were to be organized by local Armenian committees and sent to Bordeaux and Marseille. The committees were to be reimbursed by French goverment for travel expenses.

The Legion was established officially in Cairo, Egypt in November 1916, with the accord of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an Armenian delegation. Several Armenian organizations pledged contribution to form several batalions under the planned Armenian Legion.

According to the accord, the following was decided:

  • The aim of creating the Legion was to allow Armenians' contribution to the liberation of Cilicia region in Ottoman Empire and help them to realize their national aspirations of creating a state in that region.
  • The Legion was to fight only Turks and only in Clicia.
  • The Legion was to become the core of a planned future Armenian Army.

The number of volunteers was an equivalent of 6 batallions, each containing 800 volunteers, and another 6 batallions was planned to be formed. Armenian committees were organizing the conscription process to recruite these soldiers in France and United States.

Following the initial training in Cyprus, the Armenian Legion was first deployed in Palestine, to help French and British armies against Ottoman and German armies. Following this campaign, they were deployed in Anatolia (Asia Minor) according to the initial decisions. They were active in the cities of Adana and Mersin. [3]

In May 1919, the Armenians declared an independent state in Clicia. However this republic was short lived as France disbanded the Armenian Legion and recognized Turkey's sovereignty over the region in 1920.

Sources

  1. ^ http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/may_2003/history003.html
  2. ^ http://www.haydjampa.org/Dossiers/HayLegion/p2.htm
  3. ^ http://legionarmenian.free.fr
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