The aim of creating the Legion was to allow Armenians to contribute to
the liberation of Cilicia and to help them realize their national
aspirations towards the creation of a state in that region, under
Ottoman domination. The Legion was to fight only Turks and only in
Cilicia.
Six battalions were formed, each containing 800 volunteers. Most
soldiers were recruited from the survivors of the self-defense of Musa
Dagh in 1915, living in refugee camps in Port Said, Egypt. Others
were volunteers who came from France, the United States, and even
South America.
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| Legionnaire Hovhannes Garabedian (seated) |
The Legion was first deployed in Palestine, to help the French and
British armies against the Ottoman and German alliance. The
Palestinian front was crumbling upon the advance of the British
expeditionary forces. The Armenian volunteers had a decisive role in the Battle of Arara, which
was part of the Battle of Megiddo. British general Edmund Allenby
commended Armenian forces in his official dispatch to the Allied High
Command, "On the right flank, on the coastal hills, the units of the
Armenian Legion d'Orient fought with great valor. Despite the
difficulty of the terrain and the strength of the enemy defensive
lines, at an early hour, they took the hill of Dir el Kassis.” Allenby
remarked, "I am proud to have had an Armenian contingent under my
command. They have fought very brilliantly and have played a great part
in the victory.”
The Allied victory over the Ottoman-German troops opened the doors for
the occupation of Palestine and Syria. After the campaign was ended,
the Armenian Legion was deployed in Cilicia. They were active around
the cities of Adana and Mersin involved in skirmishes with local
civilians and unorganized Turkish militia, as well as protecting the
surviving members of the local Armenian population which was returning
from the deportation of 1915.
In May 1920, Armenians declared an independent state in Cilicia.
However, this state was short lived as France disbanded the Armenian
Legion and recognized Turkey's sovereignty over the region in 1920. The
advancement of the forces of Mustafa Kemal provoked new massacres of
the Armenian population and the evacuation of Cilicia by the survivors
in 1920-1921.
