Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1918, Russia, Volume II
File No. 861.00/3127
The Chargé in Norway (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 1.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith copies and translations of a letter dated September 14, 1918, and a memorandum relative to the proclamation of the independence of Georgia in Russia, received by this Legation from Mr. Zourab Avaloff, member of the Georgian delegation, with the request that it be transmitted to the United States Government.
I have [etc.]
The Georgian Delegate (Avaloff) to the Minister in Norway (Morris)
Mr. Minister: The independence of Georgia was proclaimed on May 26, 1918, at Tiflis, its capital, by the National Council of Georgia, as a result of universal suffrage. A government responsible to the said council was established, of which the President is Mr. Zhordanya, while the direction of foreign affairs was entrusted to Mr. Ghenkelli, former member of the Russian Duma.
The Transcaucasian Diet declared itself dissolved on the same date, May 26, so that the Transcaucasian republic no longer exists.
Georgia includes the two governments of Tiflis and Kutais, as well as the districts of Sukhum and Zakataly. An integral part of Georgia, the district of Batum, including the town of that name, is occupied at the present time by [Page 640] Turkish forces; this is one of the provinces referred to in Article 4 (section 3) of the treaty of Brest Litovsk. Georgia considers this territory ceded by Russia as its legitimate patrimony.
After 117 years, therefore, of Russian domination the Georgian people, formerely freely united to the Russian Empire, resumes its place among independent nations and it intends to organize its internal affairs and its external relations in such a manner as will assure its perfect freedom of development.
In communicating the above to your excellency, I have the honor to request that you will be good enough to make known to your Government the fact of the formation of the Georgian state, in order that the republic of Georgia may be recognized by the United States of North America.
Please accept [etc.]
The Trans-Caucasus, its Connection with the Russian State, Relations with Turkey, and Dissolution of the Diet—Georgia Proclaims her Independence
After the Russian revolution of March 1917, the Provisional Government of Prince Lvov organized a special committee for the Trans-Caucasus delegated with full governmental powers. It was a sort of local autonomy having considerable extension while the Trans-Caucasus remained united to the Russian state by the ties of solidarity. The Maximalist coup d’état in November 1917 wrought a great change in these relations. The Bolshevist government was never recognized by the Trans-Caucasus, with the exception of the town of Baku. A “commissariat” was then formed at Tiflis where the principal nations of the country and the political parties were represented and which assumed the government of the Trans-Caucasus until the calling of the Russian Constitutive Assembly. But, as is known, this was dissolved, and the government of Tiflis considered it necessary to reunite a provincial parliament, the Diet of the Trans-Caucasus.
The government inaugurated by the Maximalists in Russia and the conclusion of the disastrous treaty of Brest Litovsk created an abyss between the Trans-Caucasus and Russia. The Transcaucasian government entered into direct negotiations with Turkey at Trebizond. At the same time the independence of the Trans-Caucasus was formally proclaimed by its parliament and the powers were notified.
The Transcaucasian delegation was obliged to accept, at the conclusion of the negotiations at Trebizond, the stipulations of the treaty of Brest Litovsk as a basis for subsequent negotiations. But without awaiting their result Turkey proceeded to the military occupation of the districts of Batum and of Kars, to which, unfortunately, it was impossible for the Trans-Caucasus to offer any resistance, in view of the state of dissolution of the Caucasian front at that time.
Another conference was held at Batum in the month of May (Batum was already occupied by the Turks), at which Germany was also represented by a special delegation with. General von Lossow, German military plenipotentiary at Constantinople, at the head. Notwithstanding the efforts of the Germans who endeavored to conciliate the opposing interests of the two parties, it was impossible to find a common basis for these negotiations. Turkey, whose delegation was presided over by the Minister of Justice, Khalil-bey, no longer desired to consider the treaty of Brest as a unique basis for an arrangement with the Trans-Caucasus; she demanded the total annexation, not only of the provinces referred to in Article 4 (section 3) of this treaty, but also parts of the governments of Tiflis and Erivan. As a matter of fact these territories were occupied by the Turkish troops. Officers and emissaries followed by their detachments [Page 641] were sent to the eastern provinces of the Trans-Caucasus (Azerbaijan) where there is such a pronounced Turcophile trend that the unity of the country could no longer be maintained and the separation of the different parts of the Trans-Caucasus became necessary and inevitable.
It was thereupon that the independence of Georgia was proclaimed by the National Council of Georgia at Tiflis on the 26th of May, 1918; and in view of the dismemberment which had taken place of the Trans-Caucasus the Transcaucasian Diet declared itself dissolved.
On the same date, but a few hours after the above events, an ultimatum was addressed by Turkey at Batum to the Transcaucasian delegation which replied that the Trans-Caucasus no longer existed. Delegations appointed separately by Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan arrived later at Batum and signed, on the 4th of June, a series of treaties accepting the ultimatum of Turkey. According to the Turco-Georgian treaty, Turkey not only secures Batum with its district but also the towns of Akhaltsikh and Akhalkalaki with their respective districts. From Akhaltsikh Turkey can always threaten the most vital centers of Georgia: Tiflis and Kutais.
The treaty of the 4th of June is not yet ratified. The idea was conceived of calling a conference at Constantinople to examine the stipulations signed at Batum. The Caucasian delegations have even arrived there, but so far the conference has not been held (September 14).
It should be noted that the Turks take military occupation de facto of the territories they wish to appropriate and that after having organized bases at Batum and at Kars they have taken possession of the railway Kars–Alexandropol–Julfa–Tabriz, which facilitates certain operations against the English army for them; they have prepared the route at the narrow pass of Delizhan, from Karaklis to Elisavetpol, whence they operate against Baku and control Azerbaijan. In this way half of the Trans-Caucasus is in reality dominated by Turkey, while Georgia, by proclaiming its independence, has remained outside the Turkish pressure, with the exception of the Georgian provinces occupied by the Ottoman army mentioned above.
The independence of Georgia was formally recognized by Turkey upon the signing of the treaty of the 4th of June at Batum; by the supplementary treaty to the treaty of Brest Litovsk, signed at Berlin on the 27th of August and already ratified, Russia consents to Germany’s recognizing the independence of Georgia.
The complete dissolution of the former Russian Empire was the principal cause of this movement in Georgia which resulted in the proclamation of its absolute independence; it was found necessary to abandon the policy adopted by Georgia during the first phase of the Russian revolution which had for its object a political autonomy included in the Russian state.
The Georgian government and parliament now have at their head politicians who played a great role in the Russian revolution until the arrival of the Maximalists in November 1917; for instance, Mr. Cheidze, now president of the Georgian parliament, and Mr. Tseretelli, leader of the socialists in the parliament. The government is presided over by Mr. Zhordanya, former member of the first Russian Duma and recognized chief of the moderate socialists in Georgia. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Chenkelli, was also a member of the last Russian Duma and member of the Transcaucasian Committee in 1917; he was president of the Transcaucasian government until the dismemberment of the Trans-Caucasus.
The constitution of Georgia has not yet been elaborated, but republican government will have a deep root in it; the government and the parliament (the [Page 642] National Council of Georgia), which is based on universal suffrage, enjoy great popularity.
The first steps of political independence are, of course, difficult and beset with dangers in a country overthrown by successive revolutions and the war; but the problems with which the Georgian government will occupy itself above all are: the reestablishment of public order, the reprovisioning of the country, the organization of administrative authority, of public force and finance, the settlement of the agrarian question.
The frontiers of Georgia are not definitely fixed. With the exception of minor modifications, the Georgian government considers as belonging to Georgia all the territories of the former Georgian kingdoms and principalities which concluded agreements with Russia from the year 1801 placing them under the Russian protectorate, as well as the Georgian territory belonging to the Turks in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and afterwards ceded to Russia by the treaty of Adrianople (1828) and the treaty of Berlin (1878). Georgia would include in its limits the two former governments of Tiflis and Kutais, with the districts of Sukhum and Zakataly, as well as the district of Batum. The Georgian element dominates everywhere in these districts and from an economic point of view all these provinces are closely united.
The Georgian government is firmly persuaded that, provided external circumstances render it possible, the unity of the Trans-Caucasus can ultimately be restored on the basis of a confederation of the three states: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. But above all it is necessary that Georgia should consolidate its own political existence and independence. In order that this existence may be guaranteed and preserved by the international public order which will result from the war of the world, Georgia must first of all be formally recognized by the principal powers; and the Georgian government hopes that the great democracies of the west will not refuse this recognition to the Georgian people at the dawn of its reconquered independence.