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CONGRESS OF BERLIN, 1878 - an international Congress convened (13 June to 13 July), on the initiative of Austria-Hungary and England, with the support of Germany for the purpose of revising the San Stefano peace treaty of 1878. It ended with the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, by which Bulgaria was proclaimed a sovereign state with the viceroy, chosen and approved by Great Powers and the Turkish sultan.

The Treaty of  Berlin is an important international document, which remained in force until the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. However, a number of unresolved key issues (national unification of Serbians, Macedonian, Greek and Cretan, Armenian issues) as well as the growing Russian and Serb-Austrian-Bulgarian competition led to the First World War of 1914-1918.

Armenian political circles of Constantinople sent the national delegation, led by M. Khimyanom to Berlin  for drawing attention of the European countries to the Armenian issue and the plight of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and to reach the implementation of reforms by the treaty of San Stefano, but the delegation was not allowed to take part in Congress. The delegation presented a draft autonomy of Western Armenia, as well as a memorandum addressed to the states, which was also not taken into account.

The Armenian issue at the Berlin Congress was discussed in the 4th and 6th sessions, during which there were two opposite viewpoints: the Russian delegation demanded reforms until the withdrawal of Russian troops from Western Armenia and the British delegation based on the Anglo-Russian agreement of May 30, 1878 (which obliged Russia to return Alashkert valley and Bayazet) and the secret Anglo-Russian Convention of 4 June, by which Britain was to confront Russia by military means in the Armenian provinces, tried not to link the issue of reforms to the presence of Russian troops. In the end, Congress accepted the English edition of Article 16 of the San Stefano peace treaty and it entered the Berlin Treaty as the 61st article and was formulated as follows: “The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds. It will periodically make known the steps taken to this effect to the powers, who will superintend their application”. (Сборник договоров России с другими государствами. 1856-1917 гг., 1952, с. 205):

Thus, the more or less real guarantee of the Armenian reforms (the presence of Russian troops in the Armenian-populated areas) was replaced by unreal general guarantee of controlling the reforms by powers. By the Treaty of Berlin the Armenian issue turned from the internal issue of the Ottoman Empire into an international issue, becoming the subject of political interests of the imperialist states and international diplomacy that had serious consequences for the Armenian people. At the same time, the Berlin Congress was the turning point in the history of the Armenian issue and promoted the Armenian liberation movement in Turkey. The Armenian political circles, disappointed in European diplomacy, were convinced that the liberation of Western Armenia from the Turkish rule was possible only through armed struggle.

J. Torosyan