Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1919, Russia
Paris Peace Conference 861 K.00/85
The Secretariat-General of the Paris Peace Conference to the Secretariat of the Commission to Negotiate Peace
The Secretariat-General of the Peace Conference has the honor to transmit herewith to the Secretariat of the Delegation of the [Page 766] United States of America a copy of a note dated June 26 [28] signed by a certain number of Russian Delegations.
The Delegations of Esthonia, Latvia, the Lithuanian Poles, Georgia, Republic of North Caucasus, Azerbaidzhan and Poland at Paris to the Paris Peace Conference
The Allied and Associated Powers have proclaimed several times that they were pursuing in Russia a policy tending towards the right of nations to self-determination, in Russia properly so-called, as well as in the countries of alien nationality formerly incorporated in the Russian Empire. This policy is moreover only the immediate consequence of the principles upon which the Powers declare that they [are] erecting the edifice of peace and the sincere application of which can alone give to Europe a status which will preserve it from new troubles and new wars.
Now, the occupation of the Ciscaucasian Republic by the troops of General Denikin and the threatening attitude of these troops towards the Republics of Georgia and Azerbeidjan seem on the contrary to be inspired by the avowed plan of the Russian reactionaries, who wish to bring back under their yoke the independent national states newly formed within the limits of the former Russian Empire; these reactionaries are trying to present to the Peace Conference a fait accompli by the military occupation of these states.
The inevitable consequence of such a plan would be to destroy the order in these new states. At the price of incredible efforts, and at the moment when anarchy was reigning over all the rest of the territory of the former Russian Empire, the people of these states were able to escape the horrors of civil war and to insure for themselves a free democratic development.
The success of the plan of the Russian reactionaries would strike a terrible blow at these nationalities. Moreover, it would have serious consequences for Russia herself. It would in fact create new centers of fermentation beside the regions already devastated by civil war. None of these nationalities will submit to power imposed by force of arms. All will continue to struggle by all the means in their power.
The undersigned delegates emphasize the fact that General Denikine is accomplishing this fatal work with the military and financial assistance of the Allied Powers, who can not nevertheless be desirous of destroying order in these states or of depriving these nations of their right to self-determination.
All the delegates of the states within the confines of Russia are unanimous in protesting against this intervention, along with the [Page 767] delegates of Georgia, of Azerbeidjan and the Republic of North Caucasus, and with all the delegates of the states of the Caucasus. They insist on thus showing that they have a clear consciousness of the solidarity that unites all the nations within the confines of Russia, so that each one of them feels any threat directed against the independence of another as strongly as if it were directed against its own independence. They proclaim that in view of a sincere application of the right to self-determination it is necessary to maintain the territorial integrity of the states at present existing in the Caucasus, while waiting for the establishment of a definitive regime which will be instituted, not by a Russian Constituent [Assembly], but by the Peace Congress, acting according to the will of the populations, expressed by the national assemblies of the new states. Consequently, the undersigned delegates bring their protests to the knowledge of the Allied and Associated Powers. They request them to put an end at once to the aggressive moves of General Denikine against the Republics of Georgia and Azerbeidjan, and to make him evacuate the occupied territory of the Georgian Republic. They request them to take all necessary measures to oblige General Denikine to observe strictly all the rules of international justice.
Signed:
| J. Poska, | Chief of the Esthonian Delegation | ||
| N. Köstner | } | Member of the Esthonian Delegation | |
| C. R. Pusta | |||
| J. Seskis | } | Members of the Lettish Delegation | |
| F. Zeelens | |||
| Br. Krzyżanowski, | Delegate of the Lithuanian Poles | ||
| Tcheidze, | President of the Georgian Delegation | ||
| Tseritelli | } | Members of the Georgian Delegation | |
| Gvarjaladze | |||
| Gobetchia | |||
| Tchermoeff, | President of the Delegation of the Republic of North Caucasus | ||
| H. Bammate | } | Members of the Delegation of the Republic of NorthCaucasus | |
| J. Haidar | |||
| H. Khadjazarague | |||
| Cheikh. Nl. Islamoff | } | Delegates of the Republic of Azerbeidjan | |
| M. Magueramoff | |||
The Polish signatories of this document are conscious of the fact that the independence of the Polish State, recognized by all the Powers, established in advance the severing of all the ties that bound one part of Poland to the former Russian State; they desire to manifest by their signatures that solidarity exists today as in [Page 768] the past among all the nations subjugated to Former Russia, in their struggle for independence.