Thus, in Trabizond, when Rauf Bey invited the Transcaucasian delegation ashore, Chkhenkeli first desired and explanation of Vehib's March 10 radiogram ordering the evacuation of Kars, Ardahan, and Batum. Rauf professed ignorance of the matter, but promised to communicate with the Third Army Commander for details. In the meantime he advised the Transcaucasian to disembark in order to avoid antagonising the local inhabitants. Reacting to Chkhenkeli's intransigence and insistence that Ottoman intensions be clarified, Rauf stressed that the mere presence of a Turkish delegation certainly reconfirmed the Port's willingness to establish peace and eternal friendship with Transcaucasia. He promised to answer Chkhenkeli's inquiries formally and officially as soon as the talks began. 10 The after quibbling about the Transcaucasian guards, the two presidents agreed that ten would remain with the delegation but the other forty would depart on the first ship to Batum. 11
With the preliminary bargaining concluded, the Transcaucasian mission, described satirically by the local Turkish newspaper as "too small for an invading military force but much too large for a peace delegation," 12 went ashore. In sending a host of delegates, advisers, and guards, the Seim revealed its inexperience in international diplomacy and, more important, its inability to eliminate the mutual distrust of the Transcaucasians. Counsellors and military attachés of each nationality were essential, for it was as impossible for an Armenian to rely on information supplied by a Moslem as it was for a Tatar to depend on statistics prepared by a Georgian. Eleven members had voting privileges:
| Name 13 |
Party 14 |
| Akaky Chkhenkeli |
Menshevik (Chairman) |
| Haidar Abashidze 15 |
Menshevik |
| Mahmed Hajinsky |
Musavat |
| Khalil Khas-Mamedov |
Musavat |
| Mir-Yakub Mehtiev |
Moslems of Russia |
| Ibrahim Haidarov |
Moslem Socialist Bloc |
| Akber Sheikh-ul-Islamov |
Hummet |
| Ruben Kachaznouni 16 |
Dashnaktsoutiun |
| Alexdre Khatisian |
Dashnaktsoutiun |
| Georgy Laskhishvili |
Georgian Social Federalist |
| Georgy Gvazava |
Georgian National Democrat 17 |
The interpreters were Dr. Gambashidze and Mehmed Emin Rasul-Zade, and the chief Armenian advisers, the noted historian Leo and the veteran revolutionary and representative of the militant arm of Dashnaktsoutiun, Ruben Ter Minasian. 18 The Seim had bound the delegation to act as a single unit and to work within the framework of the four adopted bases for peace. Chkhenkeli was to consult with the Seim on all important questions and to keep it fully informed about the proceedings. 19 The Ottoman representatives stood out in sharp contrast to the multinational Transcaucasian aggregation. Rauf commanded complete authority over his four colleagues, Mahmed Nusret Bey of the Foreign Ministry, Colonel Tewfik Salim and Major Husrev of the Ottoman Caucasus Army, and Major Yusuf Riza of the Quartermaster Corps. 20 The Trabizond Conference finally convened on March 14, just after Chkhenkeli had received the startling news that Erzurum had fallen.
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