Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus

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Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus
Cenûb-i Garbî Kafkas Hükûmet-i Muvakkate-i Millîyesi
Güneybatı Kafkas Geçici Milli Hükûmeti
1918–1919
Flag of Southwestern Caucasus
Flag
Partition
1 December 1918
• British occupation
19 April 1919
CurrencyKuruş
Lira
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Caucasus Viceroyalty (1844–1881)
Democratic Republic of Armenia
Democratic Republic of Georgia
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Turkey

The Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus,

Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe. Some historians consider it to have been a puppet state of the Ottoman Empire.[citation needed
]

The government, headed by Fahrettin Pirioğlu, considered its territory to be the predominantly

Tiflis province. In practical terms, however, the government was confined to Kars province and existed alongside the British governorship created during the Entente's intervention in the South Caucasus.[4]

Background

The terms of the

Kars Oblast
for a further two months.

This delay had the effect of allowing time to set up a pro-Turkish provisional government to resist the expected incorporation of the historically-Armenian province into the

Armenian Republic proclaimed in May 1918. "National Islamic Councils" formed in the main population centers of Kars province – Oltu, Kagizman, Igdir, Sarikamis, Ardahan and Kars itself – as well as in settlements in adjoining territories where there were Turkish-speaking or Muslim populations (including Akhalkalaki, Akhaltzikhe and Batumi).[5]

The most significant council, the "Kars Islamic Council", dated from 5 November 1918. In December it changed its name to the "National Council", and in January 1919 to the "Kars National Council", before finally settling on the "Provisional National Government of South-West Caucasia" in March 1919.[6] It claimed authority over all of Kars province together with all Turkish or Muslim-populated areas between Batumi and Nakhchivan. Other than Azerbaijan, this amounted to most of the territory which the Ottoman army had evacuated.

Establishment

See also:
Democratic Republic of Armenia, and Democratic Republic of Georgia

The majority of the people in the southwestern part of Transcaucasia were Muslims and sought affiliation with Azerbaijan.[7] Georgia, however, blocked Azerbaijan's incorporation of Muslims in the southwest, which would have extended its frontiers to the Black Sea. As a result, on September 27, 1918, the Muslim National Committee under the leadership of Esad Oktay Bey was formed in Kars, which advocated an autonomy or independence similar to that of the newly formed republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

On December 1, 1918, in congress in Kars, the Muslim National Committee unilaterally declared an independent South-Western Caucasian Republic (Cenubî Garbi Kafkas Cumhuriyeti) and elected

Paris Peace Conference.[7]

On January 13, 1919, a delegation of 60 Armenians were sent to Kars by the British Command in Batum to install an

Armenian
politician, Stepan Korganov, as the governor of Kars. The Parliament of the Republic rejected this proposal and refused further negotiation with the Armenians. Incidents of violence between the parties then increased dramatically.

Also during January 1919, the Republic had seen democratic elections leading to the formation of a parliament on January 14, elected at a ratio of one deputy per 10,000 voters. The parliament consisted of 64 members, including 60 Muslims, three

Greeks and one Molokan Russian.[citation needed
]

The Parliament of the new republic assembled on January 17 and adopted an eighteen-article constitution (Teskilâtı Esasiye Kanunu). Women were granted

voting rights, Kars was declared the capital city and Turkish proclaimed the official language.[citation needed] On March 27, the parliament approved the new government. The new government also applied the Imperial Government of Japan for recognition.[citation needed
]

Dissolution

See also: Malta exiles

As fighting broke out between the South-Western Caucasian Republic and both

William M. Thomson, occupied Kars on April 19, 1919, broke up a parliamentary meeting and arrested thirty parliamentarians and government members. Eleven of the arrested were deported to Batum and then Istanbul, before being exiled to Malta on 2 June. Kars province was placed under Armenian rule and, on July 7, 1920, the Georgian army replaced the British in Batum, who had controlled it since the Turkish withdrawal.[7]

The eleven Malta exiles from the Republic were:

Malta exiles
# Name Exile date Exile number Role
1 Aziz Cihangiroğlu June 2, 1919 27 19 Justice Minister
2 Alibeyzade Mehmet Bey June 2, 1919 27 16 Civil Governor
3 Hasan Han Cihangiroğlu June 2, 1919 27 18 Defense Minister
4 İbrahim Cihangiroğlu June 2, 1919 27 17 Parliament leader
5 Mehmetoğlu Muhlis Bey June 2, 1919 27 27 Communication (postal-telegram-telephone) chief
6 Matroi Radjinski June 2, 1919 27 25 Russian Member of the Parliament
7 Musa Salah Bey June 2, 1919 27 20 Police chief
8 Pavlo Camusev June 2, 1919 27 14 Greek Member of the Parliament
9 Tauchitgin Memlejeff June 2, 1919 27 22 Interior Minister
10 Stefani Vafiades June 2, 1919 27 26 Social help minister
11 Yusufoğlu Yusuf Bey June 2, 1919 27 21 Food Minister

Aftermath

After the treaties concluding the Turkish–Armenian War, the present-day Kars Province and adjacent districts constituting the modern-day Ardahan and Iğdır provinces became part of Turkey.[8]

Timeline

  • March 1878: Kars annexed by Russia from the Ottoman Empire.
  • March 3, 1918: Russia evacuates Kars under provisions of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
  • April 14, 1918: Ottoman occupation of Kars region.
  • October 30, 1918: The Armistice of Mudros ended the hostilities in Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
  • October 30, 1918: Departure of Ottoman Army from Caucasus.
  • December 1, 1918: South-Western Caucasian Republic proclaimed with capital at Kars.
  • January 13, 1919: Armenians from
    Democratic Republic of Armenia
    sent to Kars.
  • April 10, 1919: Abolished by High Commissioner Admiral
    Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe
    .
  • April 19, 1919: General
    William M. Thomson
    occupied Kars region.
  • April 20, 1919: Troops of the Democratic Republic of Georgia gain control of Artvin.

In popular culture

Rus Kızı Vasilisa ("Russian girl Vasilisa"), a dissident history by Erkan Karagöz published in 2002, portrays the short life of the Republic in the context of a love story.[9]

See also

Sources

References

  1. ISBN 978-90-04-07262-6, p. 90.
  2. ISBN 975-6614-05-6
    , pp. 31-32.
  3. ^ "Cümhuriyyət dövründə yaranan türk respublikaları". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 4 October 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  4. ^ Caucasian Knot Archived 2008-10-22 at the Wayback Machine (Moscow-based news agency)
  5. ^ W.E.D. Allen, P. Muratoff, "Caucasian Battlefields", Cambridge, 1953.
  6. ^ H. Pehlivanli, "The Post Armistice situation on South-West Caucasia" in "Kars and Eastern Anatolia in the Recent History of Turkey", Ankara, 1994.
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-275-96893-6
    .
  8. ^ Recollection while journeying in Turkey[permanent dead link] by BBC journalist Jonny Dymond.
  9. ^ (in Turkish) 2002 Russian Girl Vasilisa
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