Ottoman policy in the South Caucasus – Trabzon and Batumi Conferences (1917-1918)

Proceedings of The 4th International Conference on Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts

Year: 2023

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/4th.icsha.2023.04.008

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Ottoman policy in the South Caucasus – Trabzon and Batumi Conferences (1917-1918)

Tea Meshvelishvili

ABSTRACT: 

The aim of this paper is to present Turkish policy in the South Caucasus in 1917-1918, after the Bolshevik Coup, when the distribution of power changed and the government of the Young Turks hoped that they would take over not only the Caucasus, but also the Crimea and Central Asia.  After the peace decree was published by the Soviet Russia, Turkey’s initiative to start peace negotiations in the Caucasus can be considered as a kind of trick. In fact, Young Turkish government, which was obsessed with the Pan-Turanian ideas, was planning to restore “Great Turan” which should have stretched from the Caucasus to Central Asia. The Turkish government used the principle of the right of the self-determination – announced by the Soviet Russian government and urged to withdraw its troops from the territories lost during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 and therefore, determined its status by holding a referendum in this region. Recognizing the principle of self-determination of nations, Russia gave to  Ottomans a „weapon“ against their own.  Also after the collapse of the Russian Empire the Transcaucasian Seim, for which the years 1917-1918 were particularly critical, had to resist the Ottoman Empire,. Transcaucasian republics had to repel the aggressive imperialist actions of both Ottoman and Soviet Russia. Based on the historical facts and collecting data, we found that after the October revolution, a favorable situation was created for Turkey. Within the frames of the article, on the bases of primary sources, periodicals and fact-based data analysis, we concluded that the Turkish government took advantage of the change in the balance of power after the Bolshevik Coup, as well as the situation in the Caucasus, to implement various activities in disguise resulted in achieving their plans.

keywords: Caucasus front, Georgia, Negotiations, Soviet Russia, Young Turks