Agreement regarding the Independence of Armenia and its Conversion to a Soviet Socialist Republic. December 2, 1920

This agreement marked the end of the First Republic of Armenia and its transformation into a Soviet republic in December 1920. Exhausted by war and economic crisis and facing a renewed Turkish offensive, the Armenian government negotiated from a position of extreme weakness. The document formalized the transfer of authority to a Communist-led revolutionary committee and aligned Armenian institutions with Soviet Russia, ending independence while promising order, protection, and relief. It shows how sovietization in the Caucasus often advanced through military pressure, diplomatic instruments, and the claim that power was passing to local revolutionary forces.

Original Source: Sbornik deistvuiushchikh dogovorov, soglashenii i konventsii, zakliuchennykh RSFSR s inostrannymi gosudarstvami, No. 79 (Moscow: Narodnyi komisariat po inostrannym delami, 1924).

On the 2nd of December 1920, the Plenipotentiary Representative of RSFSR, Comrade Legrand, on behalf of the Russian Soviet Government on the one hand, and Comrades Dro and Terterian, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia on the other, have concluded an Agreement regarding the following:

1. Armenia is declared an independent Socialist Republic.

2. Until the convention of a Congress of Soviets, Armenia shall form a Temporary Military-Revolutionary Committee which shall assume power in Armenia.

3. The Russian Soviet Government shall recognize as forming an indisputable part of the territory of SSRA: the Erevan Government with all the districts forming part of it; a part of the Kars area which guarantees it (Armenia), from a military point of view, the possession of the Djadjur-Araks railroad line; the Zengazur district of the Elizabethpol government, a part of the Kazakh district of the same government-within the limits of the Agreement of August 10 --- and those parts of the Tiflis Government which were in the possession of Armenia before October 28, 1920.

4. The commanders of the Armenian Army shall not be held responsible for actions committed in the ranks of the army prior to the proclamation of Soviet power in Armenia.

5. Present members of the "Dashnaktzutiun" Party and other socialist parties of Armenia shall not be subject to any repression for their membership in these parties.

6. The Military-Revolutionary Committee shall consist of five members appointed by the Communist Party mid two members from the leftist "Dashnak" groups, upon agreement with the Communist Party.

7. The Russian Soviet Government shall take measures for an immediate concentration of military forces necessary for the defense of the independence of the Armenian Socialist Soviet Republic.

8. Upon the signature of the present Agreement the Government of the Republic of Armenia shall be removed from power; power shall temporarily, until the arrival of the Revolutionary Committee, pass to the military command, at the head of which shall be Comrade Dro. Comrade Silyn shall be appointed the Commissar of RSFSR to the Military Command of Armenia.

Source: Walter Russell Batsell, Soviet Rule in Russia (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1929), pp. 258-259.