Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus


The Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus, Provisional National Government of South West Caucasia or Kars Republic was a short-lived nominally-independent provisional government based in Kars, northeastern Turkey. Born in the wake of the Armistice of Mudros that ended World War I in the Middle East, it existed from December 1, 1918 until April 19, 1919, when it was abolished by British High Commissioner Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe. Some historians consider it to have been a puppet state of the Ottoman Empire.
The government, headed by Fahrettin Pirioğlu, considered its territory to be the predominantly Muslim-inhabited regions of Kars and Batum, parts of Yerevan province and the Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki districts of 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 Transcaucasia.

Background

The terms of the Armistice of Mudros signed on 30 October 1918 by the Allies and the Ottomans required the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire to withdraw from all territory belonging to Russia in the Caucasus and to return to the west of the pre-war border with Russia. By 4 December 1918, Ottoman forces had retired as far as the old pre-1877 frontier with Russia, but they delayed leaving 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 provinceOltu, Kagizman, Igdir, Sarikamis, Ardahan and Kars itselfas well as in settlements in adjoining territories where there were Turkish-speaking or Muslim populations.
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.
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

The majority of the people in the southwestern part of Transcaucasia were Muslims and sought affiliation with Azerbaijan. 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 and elected Cihangirzade Ibrahim Bey as its president. The new republic laid claims to the districts of Kars, Batum, Akhaltsikh, Akhalkalaki, Sharur and Nakhichevan, a claim supported by Azerbaijan. It extended full rights to all except Armenians and received assurances from the British about the protection against the claims by Georgia and Armenia on its territory until the question would be decided by the Paris Peace Conference.
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.
The Parliament of the new republic assembled on January 17 and adopted an eighteen-article constitution. Women were granted voting rights, Kars was declared the capital city and Turkish proclaimed the official language. On March 27, the parliament approved the new government. The new government also applied the Imperial Government of Japan for recognition.

Dissolution

As fighting broke out between the South-Western Caucasian Republic and both Georgia and Armenia, British troops, dispatched from Batum on orders from General 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 İstanbul, 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.
The eleven Malta exiles from the Republic were:
1Aziz CihangiroğluJune 2, 1919Justice Minister
2Alibeyzade Mehmet BeyJune 2, 191927 16Civil Governor
3Hasan Han CihangiroğluJune 2, 1919Defense Minister
4İbrahim CihangiroğluJune 2, 191927 17Parliament leader
5Mehmetoğlu Muhlis BeyJune 2, 191927 27Communication chief
6Matroi RadjinskiJune 2, 191927 25Russian Member of the Parliament
7Musa Salah BeyJune 2, 191927 20Police chief
8Pavlo CamusevJune 2, 191927 14Greek Member of the Parliament
9Tauchitgin MemlejeffJune 2, 191927 22Interior Minister
10Stefani VafiadesJune 2, 191927 26Social help minister
11Yusufoğlu Yusuf BeyJune 2, 191927 21Food 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.

Timeline

Rus Kızı Vasilisa, a dissident history by Erkan Karagöz published in 2002, portrays the short life of the Republic in the context of a love story.

Footnotes