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THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
Apollon SILAGADZE
D.Sc. (Philol.), professor, head of the Department of Arabic Studies, Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, corresponding member, National Academy of Sciences of Georgia (Tbilisi, Georgia).
Vakhtang GURULI
D.Sc. (Hist.),
professor at the St. Andrew the First Called University
at the Georgian Patriarchate (Tbilisi, Georgia).
THE RUSSO-TURKISH CONFRONTATION IN THE CENTRAL CAUCASUS IN 1918-1921
Abstract
At nearly all times, the history of the Central Caucasus and Georgia as its part amounted to confrontation between the great powers which, as the key political players, left the region’s countries little chance of settling their domestic problems and becoming involved in external, including territorial, issues on an equal footing. At different times the Roman Empire, Persia, Byzantium, the Arabian Caliphate, and the Seljuks and Mongols played the key roles. In the 19th century, two empires, the
Russian and the Ottoman, moved to the fore to become the main geopolitical actors in the Central Caucasus. Their relations, alternating between wars and peace treaties, determined the regional climate.
The authors offer an overview of the process, concentrating, in particular, on the 20th century. The events described below have not yet lost their urgency: today, too, the Central Caucasus can be described as a place where regional and global interests (including territorial issues) clash.
I n t r o d u c t i o n
The rivalry between the Ottoman Empire and Iran over domination in the south of the Caucasus began in the early 16th century and continued with alternating success until the early 18th century when Russian joined in the fracas for domination in the Central Caucasus. It won its confrontation with the Ottoman Empire and Iran, and early in the 19th century subjugated Georgia.
Russia’s arrival in the Caucasus created tension between it and the Ottoman Empire because the kingdoms and princedoms of Western Georgia (the Imereti Kingdom and the Megrelian, Gurian, and Abkhazian princedoms) were Ottoman vassals. The other Georgian territories found in the Central
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Caucasus (Samtskhe-Saatabago, Ajaria, Artvin, Artaani, and others) were part of Turkey. The Russian conquerors in Georgia undermined Turkey’s position in the Caucasus: after losing Imeretia, Megrelia, and Guria, Turkey was threatened with the same thing in Abkhazia, Samtskhe-Saatabago, and Adjaria.
The Bucharest, Adrianople, San Stefano, and Berlin Treaties
After winning the war of 1806-1812 with Turkey, which ended with the Bucharest Treaty of 1812 under which Istanbul ceded Abkhazia together with Sukhumi to Russia,1 the Russian Empire continued its advance in the Caucasus. Under the Adrianople Peace Treaty of 1829, which ended the war of 1828-1829, the Ottoman Empire retreated from Samtskhe-Saatabago (Akhaltsikhe, Akhalka-laki, Aspindza, etc); the war of 1877-1878 delivered the final and crushing blow: under the San Stefano Peace Treaty of 19 February (3 March), 1878 and the Berlin Treaty of 1 (13) July, 1878, Russia moved into Ajaria (Batum), Artvin, Kars, Artaani, etc.2
The Brest-Litovsk Treaty
By the 20th century the Russian and Ottoman empires were separated by a demarcation line established by the Treaty of Berlin. Under Art LVIII of the Berlin Treaty, “the Sublime Porte cedes to the Russian Empire the territories of Ardahan (Artaani.—A.S., V.G.), Kars and Batum, together with the latter port.” The treaty went on to say: “All other territories found between the old Russian-Otto-man border and the new line shall also go to Russia.
“The new border shall stretch from the Black Sea along the border set by the Peace Treaty of San Stefano to reach a point to the northwest of Khorda and to the south of Artvin; from that point it goes straight to the Chorukh River, crosses it, and continues to the west of Ashmishen along a straight line to the south to meet the Russian border under the San Stefano Treaty at a point to the south of Nariman. This leaves the town of Olti to Russia. From the point at Nariman the border turns eastward, crosses Tebrenek (which remains in Russia’s possession), and reaches the Penek-Chai River.
“It follows this river to Barduz; then turns to the south, thus leaving Barduz and Ionikioi to Russia. From the point to the west of the village of Karaugan, the border continues on to Mejingerg; then it follows a straight line to the top of Kassadag Mountain and passes along the divide of the Arax tributaries in the north and the Murad-Su in the south until it meets the old Russian border.”3
By 1903, the territories Russia had acquired under the Treaty of Berlin had been organized into the following administrative-territorial units: the Batum Region (with the Batum and Artvin districts) and the Kars region (with the Kars, Artaani, and Olti districts).
Russia retained these possessions until 1918. The two countries resumed their opposition at the concluding stage of World War I (1914-1918) and later. During World War I, the old opponents
1 See: T. Iuzefovich, Dogovory Rossii s Vostokom, The State Public Historical Library of Russia, Moscow, 2005, pp. 72-73.
2 See: Sbornik dogovorov Rossii s drugimi gosudarstvami, 1856-1917, ed. by E.A. Adamov, State Publishing House of Political Literature, Moscow, 1952, pp. 169-171.
3 Ibid., pp. 169-171, 204.
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fought on different sides. In 1914-1918, the fighting in the Caucasus showed that Russia was much stronger. Before the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian Caucasian Army moved beyond the Berlin Treaty borders and established control over part of Turkish territory proper (Anatolia). The Russian Caucasian Army was still battle worthy; Russia’s Black Sea fleet was also strong. It looked as if the Turks could no longer stand up to Russia in the Central Caucasus. However, the February 1917 Revolution in Russia changed everything: during its brief existence (March-October 1917), the Interim Government managed to preserve jurisdiction over the Transcaucasus. The government of Soviet Russia, however, which came to power on 25 October, 1917, lost it: the political forces of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia cut their ties with Soviet Russia. On 15 November, 1917, they set up a regional power structure in the form of the Transcaucasian Commissariat with Evgeni Gegechkori as its chairman.4 Even though the Transcaucasus (the Central Caucasus) detached itself from Soviet Russia, no independent state was set up there: the world still looked at it as part of Russia. The fact that the Russian Caucasian Army refused to recognize Soviet Russia and fought Turkey as an independent force was no less important in this respect.5
In these conditions, Soviet Russia had no choice but to withdraw from the war: continued fighting might have cost Lenin his power. The Soviet leaders opted for a separate peace treaty with Germany and its allies (Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria). Under the peace treaty signed in Brest-Litovsk on 3 March, 1918, Russia lost big chunks of its territory in the Central Caucasus, as well as in other places. Art IV of the Treaty said in part: “Russia will do everything within her power to insure the immediate evacuation of the provinces of eastern Anatolia and their lawful return to Turkey.”6 This referred to the territories occupied, by the time the treaty was signed, by Russian troops. The last part of Art IV was related directly to the territories of the Russian Empire: “The districts of Ardahan, Kars, and Batum will likewise and without delay be cleared of Russian troops. Russia will not interfere in the reorganization of national and international relations of these districts, but leave it to the population of these districts to carry out this reorganization in agreement with the neighboring States, especially with Turkey.”7
This means that a referendum should be held to find out what the people living in the Batum, Kars, Ardahan (Artaani) districts really wanted. On the whole, it became clear that the Ottoman Empire had finally gained supremacy over Russia. In March 1918, the 4th All-Russia Congress of Soviets ratified the Brest-Litovsk Treaty.
The Transcaucasian Commissariat refused to recognize the part of Art IV of the treaty related to the Batum, Artaani, and Kars districts. In March 1918, the delegations of the Transcaucasian Commissariat and Turkey met in Trabzon to discuss this issue. The Turks insisted on unconditional implementation of Art IV and offered the Transcaucasian delegation headed by Akaki Chkhenkeli two weighty arguments to confirm their demand:
(1) the Transcaucasus was not one of the sides to the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and
(2) as part of Russia the Transcaucasus had never been an independent state.
The Trabzon Conference was suspended.8 Istanbul moved forward to capture the districts enumerated in the Brest-Litovsk Treaty; in March-April, Ajaria was totally occupied together with a large part of Samtskhe-Saatabago (as far as Borjomi). Nothing had changed when the Transcaucasian Sejm set up an independent state, the Transcaucasian Federative Democratic Republic, in April 1918. On 11 May, 1918, the Transcaucasian and Turkish delegations met in occupied Batum,9 where even
4 See: Dokumenty i materaily po vneshney politike Zakavkazia i Gruzii, Tiflis, 1919, pp. 7-8.
5 See: A History of Georgia, 20th century, ed. by Prof. V. Guruli, Artanudji Publishers, Tbilisi, 2003, pp. 45-55 (in
Georgian).
6 Dokumenty vneshney politiki SSSR, Vol. 1, State Publishing House of Political Literature, Moscow, 1957, p. 121.
7 Ibidem.
8 See: Dokumenty i materaily po vneshney politike Zakavkazia i Gruzii, pp. 107-184.
9 See: A History of Georgia, 20th century, pp. 53-54.
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more severe demands were voiced. The Brest-Litovsk Treaty was supplemented with another condition: in case of war, Turkey would be given the right to move its troops along the Transcaucasian railway.10
The Batum Treaty and Moudros Armistice
In these conditions, Georgia restored its state independence on 26 May, 1918.11 By that time Georgia had already lost vast stretches of its southwestern and southern parts (Ajaria and Samtskhe-Saatabago). In this very difficult situation, the government of the Georgian Democratic Republic had to cede Adjaria to Turkey. Under the Batum Treaty of 4 June, 1918 between the Georgian Democratic Republic and Turkey, the latter acquired considerable parts of the Central and Southern Caucasus (including Georgian’s historical territories).
Art II of the Treaty said: “The border line which separates the Ottoman Empire from the republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan begins at the place where the Cholok River falls into the Black Sea and coincides with the old border (dating to the period before the 1877 war between the Ottoman Empire and Russia). It reaches Shavnobud Mountain and runs along the mountain tops to reach the Khalkhama and Mepiskaro mountains along the 1856 border. Having reached them, the border turns to the south, goes by the top of Pirsagat Mountain and, two kilometers to the south of Abastuman, turns to the northeast to reach Karkhuldag Mountain. From that place it runs for five kilometers to the northeast and then to the southeast; it reaches the Gorkel area, crosses the Kura two kilometers to the south of Atskur and, after passing along the tops of mountains Kayabashi, Ortatavi and Karakaya, reaches Lake Tapiskhorska immediately to the south of the Molita Monastery. It crosses the lake to leave on Ottoman territory the part to the south of the straight line which goes to the south of the Molita Monastery directly to a point on the opposite coast separated by a kilometer and a half from the lake’s northern point. It reaches Tavkoteli Mountain to turn south and run along the tops of Shavnabad, Karakuzu, and Samsar mountains; after turning east, it passes along the mountain tops of the Dovskiran range; then turning south, it runs along the tops of Achri-kar, Bashrirap, and Nurrakhman mountains. Beyond Nurrakhman Mountain it continues in the southward direction and, still following the mountain range, reaches the Alexandropol-Tiflis railway five kilometers from Akbulak, from where it follows the mountain range to the Khanvali area where it continues in a nearly straight line to the highest mountain of Alagez; it continues in a straight line to cross the Echmiadzin-Serderabad highway 7 kilometers to the west of Echmiadzin. At a distance of 7 kilometers from the city, it goes along the Alexandropol-Julfa railway at a distance of 10 kilometers from it. At a distance of 16 kilometers to the southwest of Bashkiaran, it crosses the road which connects the area with the railway to turn to the southeast; there it passes 1 kilometer from the village of Ashagi Karabaglar and crosses the areas of Shagablu, Karakach, and Ashagi Chenakizhi to reach Elpinchai, along which it passes into the Arpa area. Here it coincides with the Arpachai River, reaches Kaialu and, along the Kay River, reaches the top of Aktaban Mountain. Then it passes along the tops of Karakurna, Arajiy, and Araklin mountains to reach the Belianchai divide. It follows this river to reach Alijin (to the south of the Aza area) on the former Russo-Persian border.”12
10 See: Dokumenty i materaily po vneshney politike Zakavkazia i Gruzii, pp. 268-316.
11 See: A. Silagadze, V. Guruli, Restoration of Georgia's State Independence (1917-191S), Intellekti Publishers,
Tbilisi, 1998 (in Georgian).
12 Dokumenty i materaily po vneshney politike Zakavkazia i Gruzii, pp. 344-345.
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After acquiring new territories, the Turks got down to the business of consolidating their advantages. In June 1918, they carried out what they called a referendum in occupied Adjaria and announced that the people wanted to become part of the Ottoman Empire.
Then everything went wrong: defeated in World War I, the Turks had to evacuate Batum and Ajaria under the Moudros Armistice of October 1918. Adjaria became part of the British occupation zone; British warships entered the Batum port in December 1918 and January 1919, where they remained until July 1920.13
The Moscow Treaty
In violation of the Georgian-Russian Treaty of 7 May, 1920, Soviet Russia attacked Georgia in the small hours of 12 February, 1921. On 25 February, 1921, it captured Tbilisi. The Georgian government moved to Batum, from where it emigrated during the night of 17 March. In March 1921, while the war between Russia and Georgia was in full swing, Russia and Turkey met in Moscow to discuss the spheres of influence in the Transcaucasus. The talks were based on two important conditions: Turkey was to abandon all its territorial claims in the Transcaucasus, while Russia was to refrain from its demand that Turkey’s northeastern border be moved to the line established by the Berlin Congress of 1878.
On 16 March, 1921, while the government and the Constituent Assembly of the Georgian Democratic Republic were still in Georgia, Russia and Turkey signed the Moscow Treaty. By that time, Russia and Turkey were no longer immediate neighbors: they were separated by the formally independent Georgian, Armenian, and Azeri states, which meant that the treaty could not draw the border line between Russia and Turkey. The treaty described the northeastern border of Turkey, beyond which the country had to abandon all territorial claims: the northeastern border of Turkey passed along a line which began at the Sarp village on the Black Sea coast, crossed Khedismta Mountain, and continued along the divide of the Shavshet-Kanny-dag mountains to follow the north administrative border of the Ardahan and Kars sandzaks.14 This meant that Soviet Russia exchanged Georgia for the following territories it had acquired under the Treaty of Berlin of 1878: the Artvin district (Artvin and Artanuji), the Artaani district (Artaani, Digviri, Potskhovi, Childiri, Kola, and Taoskari), and the Kars district (Kars). Attachment I(a) based on Art I of the treaty specified the state border of Turkey in the Central Caucasus, including in Georgia’s historical territories.15
On 20 July, 1921, the All-Russia Central Executive Committee ratified the treaty; the Grand National Assembly of Turkey followed suit on 31 July. On 22 September, 1921, the sides exchanged ratification documents in Kars.
By March 1921, Soviet Russia had conquered the Central Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia). Despite the military occupational regime, the states remained de jure independent. For this reason, Moscow sought their recognition of the Moscow Treaty of 16 March, 1921, the newly established state borders in the Central Caucasus in particular.
The Moscow Treaty touched on Georgia’s interests in certain other respects. Art 2 of the document said:
“Turkey agrees to cede to Georgia its suzerainty over the port and city of Batum and the territory to the north of the border described in Art 1 of the present Treaty which belonged to the Batum District, providing that
13 See: A History of Georgia, 20th century, pp. 69-70.
14 See: Dokumenty vneshney politiki SSSR, Vol. 3, 1959, p. 598.
15 See: Ibid., pp. 602-603.
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(1) the population of the territories enumerated in this article shall enjoy broad local autonomy in the administrative respect, which will ensure each of the communities its cultural and religious rights and the population of which will be able to draw up a land law corresponding to its wishes.
(2) Turkey shall enjoy free transit for goods shipped into Turkey or from it through the Batum port duty free and without delays or the levying of any other fees; Turkey will have the right to use the Batum port without paying special duties.”16
Art III of the Russo-Turkish treaty was related to Azerbaijan. It said: “the Nakhchivan Region... forms an autonomous territory under Azeri protectorate, providing that Azerbaijan never cede this protectorate to a third state.”17
The Kars Treaty
We have already written that in March 1921 Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, occupied by Russia de jure, remained sovereign states: there were still no Transcaucasian Federation or Soviet Union. On the other hand, a plan for building a Soviet empire had been devised, although the status of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia within it still remained unclear. Meanwhile, Russia decided to strengthen its position in the Central Caucasus and resolve the problems with its main regional rival. On 23 September, 1921, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, as well as Russia as one of the sides, opened negotiations in Kars. The official Russian publications offered the following title for the Kars Treaty of 13 October, 1921: The Treaty of Friendship between the Armenian S.S.R., Azerbaijanian S.S.R., and Georgian S.S.R., on the one hand, and Turkey, on the other, signed with the R.S.F.S.R.’s participation in Kars. The Preamble said that Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey “decided to open negotiations with the participation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.”18
People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Shalva Eliava and People’s Commissar for Foreign Relations and Finances Alexander Svanidze signed the document for Georgia. On the Russian side, the document was signed by Yakov Ganetski (Furstenberg), a member of the Collegium of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of Russia; Bekhbud Shakhtakhtinski signed for Azerbaijan; Kazim Karabekir Pasha, Veli Bey, Mukhtar Bey, and Memdoukh Shevket Bey signed for Turkey; and Askanaz Mravian and Pogos Makintsian, for Armenia.19
The Kars Treaty was based on the principles outlined by the Moscow Treaty between Russia and Turkey; the northeastern border of the latter remained unchanged. Art I of the Kars Treaty annulled all previous treaties related to the Central Caucasus with the exception of the treaty of 16 March, 1921. Art II demanded that Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan refuse to accept any treaty related to Turkey which the Turkish government and the Grand National Assembly rejected. In turn, Turkey pledged not to recognize any international treaty that was rejected by Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.20 Art IV established that the northwestern border of Turkey “begins at the Sarp village on the Black Sea coast, crosses Khedismta Mountain, and passes along the divide of Shavshet-Kanny-dag mountains to follow the former north administrative borders of the Ardahan and Kars sandzaks.”21
16 Ibid., p. 598.
17 Ibid., pp. 598-599.
18 Dokumenty vneshney politiki SSSR, Vol. 4, 1960, pp. 420-421.
19 See: Ibidem.
20 See: Ibid., pp. 421-422.
21
Ibid., p. 422.
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Art VI was related to Ajaria: “Turkey agrees to cede to Georgia its suzerainty over the port and city of Batum and the territory to the north of the border described in Art 4 of the present Treaty which belonged to the Batum District, providing that
“(1) the population of the territories enumerated in this article shall enjoy broad local autonomy in the administrative respect which will ensure each of the communities its cultural and religious rights and the population of which will be able to draw up a land law corresponding to its wishes.
“(2) Turkey shall enjoy free transit for goods shipped into Turkey or from it through the Batum port duty free and without delays or the levying of any other fees; Turkey shall have the right to use the Batum port without paying special duties.
“To implement this article immediately after the signing of the present Treaty “a Commission of representatives of the interested sides will be set up.”22
Art VII of the Treaty said that the sides agreed “to facilitate border crossing for the people living in the border areas, providing that all customs, police and sanitary rules established by the Mixed Commission are observed.”23
This means that the Kars Treaty repeated, nearly word for word, Arts I and II of the Moscow Treaty of 16 March, 1921. The same can be said about Art III of the Moscow Treaty related to the Nakhchivan Autonomy. Art V of the Kars Treaty said that it was “an autonomous territory under Azeri protectorate.”24
Six out of the twenty articles of the Kars Treaty entered into force on the day it was signed, 13 October, 1921; Art VI, one of the six articles, was related to Ajaria; the others were to be enforced after ratification; Art XX obliged the sides to change the ratification documents in the shortest time possible.25 The exchange took place in Yerevan on 11 September, 1922.
The Kars Treaty had no secret articles; none of the three attachments were secret; they were repeatedly published. The first of them described in detail Turkey’s northeastern border; the second, the Turkish border in the Arpa-chai and the Arax River zone; while the third dealt with the borders of Nakhchivan Autonomy. All three appendices were signed by representatives of all five countries.26
The Kars Treaty was drawn up in five copies in the Turkish, Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, and Armenian languages. The term of the treaty was not specified.
C o n c l u s i o n
On 30 July, 1992, Georgia and Turkey signed a Georgian-Turkish Treaty in Tbilisi. On the Georgian side, it was signed by Chairman of the State Council Eduard Shevardnadze; on the Turkish side, by Premier Suleyman Demirel. The Preamble said that the sides pledged to observe all earlier treaties and agreements starting with the Kars Treaty of 13 October, 1921.
The Treaty of 30 July, 1992 was concluded for a term of 10 years. The treaty said that if any of the sides did not announce its intention to discontinue the treaty three months before its expiry the treaty would be extended for 5 more years. In 2002, neither Georgia nor Turkey wished to discontinue the treaty.
22 Dokumenty vneshney politiki SSSR, Vol. 4, 1960, p. 423.
23 Ibidem.
24 Ibidem.
25 See: Ibid., p. 426.
26 See: Ibid., pp. 427-429.
