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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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The Seim's Response to the Ottoman Challenge

Obviously, the Transcaucasian delegation in Trabizond was not in consonance with the Transcaucasian legislature in Tiflis. The most influential Mensheviks had not been won over to Chkhenkeli's viewpoint. As Vehib prepared to prove that his ultimatum was not an empty threat, the Commissariat, the Presidium of the Seim, and representatives of the leading fractions were engrossed in an emergency meeting to consider that latest crisis. Evgeny Gegechkori, as chairman of Transcaucasia's executive body, reported that military authorities had sustained his conviction that the enemy lacked sufficient manpower to seize Batum. The city was well fortified and prepared for a determined stand. Irakli Tsereteli then exclaimed that it was not peace Turkey desired but the extirpation of the "Transcaucasian Democracy." Everything except Batum had already been relinquished. It was necessary to mobilise and "to consider all those who oppose the defence of Transcaucasia as enemies…" 102 With surprising unanimity, Dashnakist, Social Revolutionary, Kadet, Moslem Socialist, and Musavatist spokesmen concurred with Tsereteli. It must have been rewarding for the Armenians and Georgians to hear Shafi Bek Rustambekov announce that the Musavat party, though heavily taxed by the decision, would stand solid with the other democratic elements of Transcaucasia. The master draftsman, Noi Zhordania, then proposed that the Seim, scheduled to reconvene several hours later, be urged to recall the Trabizond delegation, to form a collegium of three invested with dictatorial powers, and to appeal to the peoples of Transcaucasia for support, explaining that events in Trabizond and along the front left no alternative but to acknowledge the existence of a state of war. 103

All member of the Seim knew what was to occur when they gathered that evening. The afternoon dress rehearsal became a stirring production at night. Oratory reigned supreme. Transcaucasia, Gegechkori cried, was at the threshold of slavery and could be rescued only by the concerted joint action of all her peoples. Tsereteli likened Brest-Litovsk to a death sentence on the "Revolutionary Russia" for whom so many Seim members had dedicated their lives. The despicable imperialistic treaty, maintained only by force of German bayonets, was already beginning to crumble in the face of growing opposition of the world masses. Even the Bolshevik government had begun to criticise the treaty. On the Caucasus front, the enemy would be victorious only if disunity and anarchy, on which the Turkish armies depended, paralysed Transcaucasia. Tsereteli concluded, "We are convinced that we will be victorious if we are not betrayed in the rear." 104 Martiros Haroutounian spoke for all Armenians when he expressed doubt that the Turks would be content even if they attained the boundaries granted at Brest-Litovsk. Would not the Ottoman government pursue its scheme of uniting Baku with Constantinople and populating the lands between with a solid Islamic mass? Only two small peoples, Georgians and Armenians, along with a few Assyrians, obstructed the fulfilment of such a project. From the Ottoman point of view, there had never been such a propitious moment to effect the Turanic ideal. Scarcely disguising his insinuations, the orator for Dashnaktsoutiun asserted that realisation of the Turkish goals was dependent on the active collaboration of certain elements within the Caucasus. With such assistance, the Ottomans planned to occupy Baku and exterminate first the Armenian nation, the all Georgians and other Christians. Haroutounian pledged that the Armenian people would fight as a single unit, and that "if we are to be defeated and if we are to die, then we Armenians will die with weapons in hand." 105

The tone of the Moslem declarations had transformed radically since the afternoon meeting. In the name of the Musavat, Non-partisan Moslem, and Moslems of Russia bloc, Rustambekov announced that because of racial-religious bonds with Turkey the Moslems of Transcaucasia could not actively support the proposed war and refused to accept any responsibility for the consequences. Nonetheless, he pledged that sincere efforts would be made for "all possible cooperation" with the other peoples of Transcaucasia and for "the favourable liquidation of war." 106 Valiko Jugheli, commander of the Menshevik Red Guard, rose to the podium amidst the applause of the socialist fractions. He did not refrain, as had Haroutounian, form identifying Turkey's Transcaucasian collaborators. He rebuked the Moslems and their leading party, questioning how they, being fully cognisant of the plight of the peoples of Turkey, could deign to speak of neutrality! Such men were not the true representatives of the "Tatar Democracy." The Musavatists, Jugheli shouted, were double-faced intriguers. They promised to work for the favourable conclusion of war, but their spokesman "did not say for what side and for whom it should be liquidated favourably." The Musavatists supported Turkish imperialism so that, with Ottoman power, they could retrieve the rights of feudal lords, the pomeshchiks, and grind the Moslem peasantry under their heels. 107 What Jugheli did not state was that most Moslems in Transcaucasia were in full accord with the Musavat tactic and, if at all critical, would probably have chastised Rustambekov for his excessive moderation.