The closer the defeat of Ottoman Turkey in the First World War came, the more he realized the possible consequences of all this and was forced to accept the existence of an independent Armenia, provided that it was within within the borders of Armenia, the South Caucasus and not in Western Armenia. Its goal was to separate Western and Eastern Armenia once and for all, to put an end to the interference of the great powers in the internal affairs of the Turkish government, using the question of the Armenians of Western Armenia as a pretext. to try to consider the question “resolved” and to prevent a possible request for autonomy or reforms for the Armenians of Western Armenia during the future international meeting of the Entente Powers.

Meanwhile, the Ottoman government, before convening various assemblies, had long been implementing its traditional policy aimed at rapidly and fundamentally changing the demographic composition of Western Armenia in order to Turkify it, that is, to exclude the return of refugees from Western Armenia who were dispossessed due to the genocide to their original homes and settle in Transcaucasian Western Armenia and to inform Muslims in other regions and the international community that it There is no region in Western Armenia where Armenians are in the majority.

Even after the depopulation of Western Armenia (around 500,000 immigrants from Western Armenia had accumulated in Eastern Armenia), the Ottoman political and military leaders organized a fake referendum with pressure and threat of force against the Christian population to show to the international community that the Armenians are there. a national minority. In fact, their official position was to no longer allow the return of Armenians from Western Armenia to Western Armenia.