Hovhannes Katchaznouni, the First Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia, and the Leader of the Dashnak Party
… We had embraced Russia whole-heartedly without any compunction. Without any positive basis of fact we believed that the Tzarist government would grant us a more-or-less broad self-government in the Caucasus and in the Armenian vilayets liberated from Turkey as a reward for our loyalty, our efforts and assistance. We had created a dense atmosphere of illusion in our minds. We had implanted our own desires into the minds of others; we had lost our sense of reality and were carried away with our dreams. …
However, it is important that we couldn't find suitable measures to improve our situation from inside and outside before and after the War we participated with the promises given to us (World War I.)… We couldn't take the administrative measures to establish order in the regions we occupied, and obliged to take up arms. We sent armies, set on fire and demolished, and massacred…242
H. A. Arslanian
Demonstrably, British pledges regarding Armenia, like those given to Arabs regarding Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine, were primarily a device to encourage the Armenian war efforts, favorably impress the neutral countries and ensure that the enemy, the Ottoman Empire, fell from within by appealing to the national aspirations of ethnic minorities living under its control.243
