He states that the role of the Great Britain in Armenia’s fate is much more significant than the events at the beginning of the 20th century.

“I do not want to talk about this now. Taking this chance, I would like to acquaint your readers with several main characters of the Armenian Freemasonry who had directed or indirect relations with the tragic events in the Ottoman Empire. And I also want to show their connection with England and the European Mason Organizations. Let’s start with first major masons of Armenia. Joseph Emin who was born in Iran in the early 18th century moved to Calcutta and studied at English school.

There, he was noted as a talented student and was sent to England where he became a mason. In England, famous masons including the Duke of Montagu, Lord Northumberland and members of the royal dynasty explained to him that the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were oppressed and should be freed. Actually, for this reason, he was dragged from India”.

Joseph gave questions in vain: why did Armenians not rise and suffered from national oppression for many centuries? Not finding convincing answers, he assumed that the obedience of the Armenians may have been caused by their illiteracy and unfamiliarity. However, it was strange because he knew well that there were educated and high- ranking Ottomans among Armenians. Being unable to find answers, in his future work he exclusively used the version that the British patrons told him. Becoming the member of the Grand Lodge of England, Emin devoted himself to liberation of Armenians from the Ottoman oppression.

He urged Armenians to rise against the Ottoman Empire prior to his trip to Erzurum. However, no one supported him. According to him, Armenians haven't matured to demand liberation yet. Then, there was Khachatur Abovyan, who was rushing to church and Freemasonry, became a bridge in the establishment of the Armenian freemasonry lodge.

In addition, the famous poet, the revolutionary and the mason Mikael Nalbandian – he was the only person who built ties with the Armenian masons following the youth revolutionary movements in Europe as well as with masons in London, Paris, St. Petersburg, Tbilisi and of course, in Constantinople. In 1860 in Constantinople (current Istanbul) " Brothers of Charity" was founded under control of the Armenian masons and under the protection of the Great Box of England.

In the same year during the trip across the Ottoman Empire, Nalbandian and his predecessor Iosif Emin convinced Armenians to rebel. M. Nalbandian persuaded the famous revolutionary J. Garibaldi to lead Armenians’ revolt against the Ottoman Empire through the famous creator and the leader of the youth organization of Italy, France, and Switzerland J. Mazzini. Nalbandian was one of the ideologists of the “Zeytunsky” revolt and also has provided him with money and weapon. In the early 20th century, Armenian masons in Constantinople were too strong and built a close relationship with young Turks and dashnaks ", - the historian has said.

In this fashion, there is a variety of documents which incontestably demonstrate that the violence, committed against Armenians in 1890 in east areas of the Ottoman Empire, was planned by the European Masonic organizations with the participation of the Armenian lodges of Constantinople of the Ottoman Empire.

Note, the number of Armenian masons is still increasing in Armenia, the USA, Russia, and Europe.

Seymour Mammadov

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