tfeJDiocument is the Property.

of His Britannic Majesty^ GovernmentJ ^

CONFIDENTIAL. Political Intelligence Department, 35

Foreign Office.
[October 4, 1918.J
Turkey/006.
MEMORANDUM
1 T
5 ^ 1 , ON
T UMffl-GE IIMAN RELATIONS OVER THE CAUCASUS.

1. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

2. T h eNegotiations a t Trebizoncl.
3. Protests lo Germany against Turkish Atrocities.
4. T h e N e g o t i a t i o n s at; B a t u o i .
5. T h e Georgian Mission t o Berlin.
6. The German Press Campaign against Turkish Policy int h e Caucasus.
7. T h e Turkish Treaties of Batuin and German Intervention in Georgia.
8. The (Abortive) Conference a t Constantinople.
9. Turkish a n d German Intrigues with t h ethree Nationalities.
10. T h eProstration o fTurkish Policy b y Germany.

1. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsh.

THE settlements imposed on Russia and Rumania last spring at Brest-Litovsk and
JBukarest have given rise to a number of disputes between Turkey and her Allies—
oartly through the elimination of Russia as a Power, which has removed a fear that
D o u n d them together; partly through the appetites aroused by the division of spoils.
The Turco-Bulgar boundary dispute, with its reactions on the relations of each
country to Germany, has been discussed in a previous memorandum (Turkey/005). In
this dispute Germany has inclined to the Turkish side. But other questions have arisen
—over the Caucasus, the Crimea, and Prussian shipping in the Black Sea—in which
Turkey and Germany are themselves at issue.
The present memorandum deals with the dispute over the Caucasus, which
promises to be the most serious, and in which British policy is most directly concerned.
Before the signing of the Brest Treaty no Turco-German problem over the Caucasus
existed. The Turks took their stand on the status quo of 1914 (threatened by the
Russian advance into Turkish Armenia) and on their right to settle national questions
within their own frontiers without foreign interference. Even as late as the earlier
stages of the Brest negotiations, Talaat limited himself to this in an interview with the
"Vossische Zeitung." * And the Germans on their side accepted the Turkish point of
view. For example, nfter the Armenian atrocities of 1915, they took the line either
that no atrocities had been committed (von Bernstorff at Washington) or that the-
Armenians deserved what they had got (von Reventlow in the " Tageszeitung"), and
discussion of the subject was stifled in the Reichstag and the press. Till the military
breakdown of Russia on all fronts in the autumn of 1917, the problem of t h e .
nationalities on the Russian side of the 1914 frontier in the Caucasus was beyond the
effective range of either Turkish or German policy, though Germany had for some time­
been conducting a Georgian propaganda.
In the final version of the Brest Treaty, however, which was signed on the 3 r d
March. 1918, the Bolsheviks undertook, in the name of Russia, to cede and evacuate
the three Trans-Caucasian districts of Kars, Ardahan, Batum, the destiny of which was
to be "determined by their inhabitants in agreement with Turkey."
This was a restoration of the status quo of 1877—a " disannexation," from the
Turkish point of view—and it is obvious that it must have been introduced into the
treaty with the full concurrence of Germany. The Independent Socialist deputy
Ledebour protested, on humanitarian grounds, against this clause of the treaty in a
debate in the Reichstag,f but he seems to have secured little support.

2. The Negotiations at Trebizoncl.

Meanwhile the validity of the proceedings at Brest as regarded Trans-Caucasia
had been repudiated by the autonomous Trans-Caucasian Government, which had
never recognised the Bolshevik regime.
* "Voix d e 1'Armenie," February 1 , 1 9 1 8 .
t Reported in"Vonviirts," March 20, 1918,
[367-41] B
 This Government had concluded an armistice with the Turkish commander on the
Armenian front in December, and since then the Russian troops holding that lino htid
disbanded. The Trans-Caucasian Government was attempting to replace them by new
formations recruited from the Trans-Caucasian nationalities, but the front could not be
effectively restored. In February, when the Germans advanced in the Baltic provinces
and the Ukraine, the Turks began to reoccnpy the Turkish-Armenian territories which
had been occupied by Russia. On the 24th February they retook Trebizond, and the
Trans-Caucasian Government now agreed to enter into separate peace negotiations at
that city. The Tuikish delegates sailed from Constantinople on the 9th March.
The Trans-Caucasian delegates still demanded the status quo of 1914, and even
the autonomy of Turkish Armenia. On the other side, an agitation was started at
Constantinople against dealing with a Christian Government of Trans-Caucasia,, on the
ground that two-thirds of the population of that country was Moslem.* The Turkish
advance continued—the inoccupation of Erzerum being announced on the 12th. March
--and on the 31st March the negotiations were broken off. The Trans-Caucasian
delegates complained that the Turks had prevented them from getting into touch with
Turkey's Allies.
?). Protests to Germany against Turkish Atrocities.
Thefightingbetween the advancing Turkish troops and the Trans-Caucasian levies
seems to have been accompanied by isolated atrocities on the part of the Armenians
(e.g. at Erzinjan), which were natural, though deplorable, and by systematic massacres
like those of 1915 on the part of the Turks, particularly in the vilayet of Trebizond,
and then in the districts on the Russian side of the 1914 frontier.
On the 13th April the Russian wireless circulated an appeal from the Moscow
Commissariat for Foreign Affairs to the German Foreign Office, and another from the
Armenian National Council to the German Foreign Office and the President of the
Reichstag,
These appeals are significant as thefirstdeliberate attempt to deal with Germany
on the Caucasian question over Turkey's head,
" Russia was forced to give up Kars--Ardahan-Batum only because Germany
was the ally of Turkey The Peopled Commissariat for Foreign Affairs
insists on the necessity for immediate and energetic intervention on. the part of
Germany in the Caucasus, with a view to stopping further massacres."
(Chicherin.)
" In spite of the terms of the Brest Treaty, which recognises the right of self­
determination for the three (ceded) Caucasian districts, the Turkish army is killing
the Christian population The responsibility for the iuture destiny of the
Armenians lies entirely with Germany The National Council firmly
believes that you will take the necessary measures, which depend solely on you."
(Zavrian.)
4. The Negotiations at Batum.
Meanwhile, the Turks continued to advance. On the 15th April they announced
the reoccupation of Batum. The presidency of the Trans-Caucasian Government now
passed from the more intransigeant Gegechgori to Chehengeli, who was willing to accept
the terms of Brest-Litovsk as a basis of settlement. On the 22nd April the recon­
structed Government proclaimed the independence of Trans-Caucasia, arid proposed the
resumption of negotiations, for which the Turks designated Batum. Before the delegates
met, the Turks announced the capture of Kars on the 26th April.
The Turkish delegation, which sailed from Constantinople for Batum on the 1st
(dv 2nd) May, included Halil Bey, the Minister for Foreign Affairs; Jemal Pasha,
Behaeddin Shakir (a Caucasian expert), and the Turanian irredentist Agayev. This
time it was accompanied by German naval, military, and diplomatic representatives,!
and about the same time it was reported in the German press that a German and an
Austrian journalist had arrived a t Turkish headquarters to " convince themselves of the
untruth of" the alleged Turkish atrocities.;]: But the Germans do not seem to have
taken things into their own hands, and the negotiations again broke down about the
18th May,^ because the Brest terms, which were now accepted by the Trans-Caucasian
Government, no longer satisfied Turkey.
* " T a n i n , " F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 1 9 1 8 . T h e r e is a c t u a l l y s o m e t h i n g ' like a t w o - t h i r d s m a j o r i t y of Christians,
f " E n e m y S u p p l e m e n t , " A u g u s t , 1, 1 9 1 8 . ' t "Daily Review,' M a y 2 , 1918.
8 Telegram from M o s c o w dated-May 20, 1918.

A
 As early as the 4th March, when the Brest terms were announced in the Turkish
Parliament. Enver had declared, in answer to an interpellation, that Tut key did not
consider herself debarred from entering into friendly relations with new independent
Governments in former Russian territory, even beyond the Brest frontiers,* and during
the Batum negotiations these frontiers were already being passed by the Turkish troops.
During the month following the fall of Kara (26th April) the improvised forces of the
Armenian National Council had been organising a defence against this Turkish
aggression on the Alexandropol-Envan line; and in doing so they appear to have
evicted the Tatar inhabitants of the Erivan Government (where the population is
very mixed), and even in some cases to have burnt their villages.f Since the Tatars
were hostile to the Armenians, and had been in active relations since December at least
with Turkish agents, this was probably a legitimate military measure ; but it gave the
Turks an excuse for continuing their advance. On the :22nd May they announced the
occupation of Alexandropol, and on the 26th May the Constantinople Government sent
a telegram to Selim Fuad, the Turkish Minister at Berne, to the effect that:—
" The Armenians of the Caucasus have turned on the Moslem villages, and are
plundering and massacring. In response to an appeal from our co-religionists, we
have sent them the necessary help, and have taken steps for the safety of both the
lives and property of Moslems. It is therefore necessary to answer mendacious
statements in the press with the reply that this military help has been sent solely
for the suppression of Armenian brigandage, the responsibility for which must fall
on the shoulders of the Armenians."

On the same day (26th May) the Turkish Government sent an ultimatum to the
Trans-Caucasian Government demanding not only (a) acceptance of the Brest-Litovsk
terms (already agreed to); but also (b) the cession, in addition, of the Akhalkalaki
district of the Government of Tiflis; and of (c) a zone of territory in the Government
of Erivan ; and (d) unhindered transport of Turkish troops on all railways in Trans-
Caucasia for the duration of the war.J
As a result of this, the Trans-Caucasian Government and Parliament were dissolved
on the 27th May, and an independent republic of Georgia was proclaimed. The
Caucasian Tatars simultaneously proclaimed an independent Azerbaijan, and their
example Avas followed shortly at Erivan by the Armenians.

5. The Georgian Mission to Berlin.

After the breaking-off of the negotiations at Batum, Chehengeli, the ex-President
of the Trans-Caucasian Government, seems to have travelled straight to Berlin, as the
head of a Georgian Mission to Germany. He was accompanied by Professor Bernstein,
as representative of the German agricultural colonists in Trans-Caucasia, and their
object was to persuade German official circles and public opinion that it was worth
Germanv's while to take Georgia under her protection. On the 30th May the
'Vossische Zeitung" published an elaborate article based on an interview with
Chehengeli, enlarging on the strategic and economic importance of Georgia, and giving
Chehengeli's version of recent Trans-Caucasian events.^ On the 28th June the
" Norddeutsche" reported equally fully a lecture by Bernstein on Traiis-Caucasia's
material resources, and the theme was taken up widely by the German press. H The
delegates were also received officially by von Kuhlma,nn.^[ From this and from what
followed, their propaganda would appear to have had a brilliant success-largely, no
doubt, because the German Government had already decided to embark on the policy
they advocated, Indeed, it is reported that the Georgian Mission was actually conducted
to Berlin by General von Lessow, the German military representative at Batum,
and this would explain how the delegates were able to pass through the Turkish
lines on a mission that must have been disliked by the Turkish Government.^
Altogether, the Germans seem to have given them a free hand, and a Constantinople
press telegram of the 8th July reported a protest by the " Southern Caucasus (Moslem.)

* " E n e m y Supplement," M a y 10, 1918.

f C o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h i\Jr. B a c k h o u s e , a g e n t o f t h e A r m e n i a n R e f u g e e s F u n d i n T r a n s - C a u c a s i a .
J " Daily R e v i e w , " J u n e 18, 1918 ( w i r e l e s s f r o m Tiflis d a t e d M a y 2 8 , 1 9 1 8 ) .
£ " E n e m y Supplement," June 20, 1918,
I E.g., a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h o n e o f t h e d e l e g a t e s i n " V o r w a r t s " ( r e p o r t e d i n " T i m e s , " J u n e 1 9 , 1 9 1 8 )
g i v i n g a v e r y a n t i - T u r k i s h v e r s i o n of t h e n e g o t i a t i o n s .
f S e e h i s s p e e c h i n t h e R e i c h s t a g o f J u n e 2 4 , a n d " V o i x . d e 1 ' A r m e n i e , " J u n e !, 1 9 1 8 .
** ." V o i x d e 1 ' A r m e n i e , " J u n e 1 5 , 1 9 1 8 ; " E n e m y S u p p l e m e n t , " A u g u s t 1 , 1 9 1 8 .
Committee" in that city against a statement, made by the delegate Bernstein in Berlin,,
that the German colonists in the territory occupied by the new Republic of Azerbaijan
had had to be protected by the Georgians against local disorders.

6. The German Press Campaign against Turkish Policy in the Caucasus.

The breakdown of the negotiations at Batum,the dissolution of the Trans-Caucasian
Government, and the arrival of the Georgian Mission at Berlin, may be presumed to
have had some causal connection with a remarkable press controversy that broke out
a few days later.
Towards the end of May a certain Benedek, a Hungarian journalist resident in
Switzerland, was inspired by the Austin-Hungarian Legation at Berne to procure an
interview with the Turkish Minister at Berne, Fuad Selim. The chief points in
this interview (published in the " Neue Ziircher Zeitung" of the 27th May) were
tbese* :—
(a.) " The Caucasus question stands to-day at the very centre of Turkey's
interests."
(b.) " Mesopotamia, and Palestine will be liberated by our brave armies, with the
powerful aid of our mighty Allies."
Since this interview, though procured by official inspiration ostensibly for the
Hungarian journal " Vilag," was stopped by the Austro-Hungarian censorship at the
frontier,! it is possible that Benedek was acting as an agent-provocateur, to draw Fuad
Selim into a prepared field of fire. At any rate, the interview immediately received a
tremendous bombardment from the German press, led off by two articles by Count
Reventlow in the " Deutsche Tageszeitung," to the following effect! :—
(a.) The Turkish army appears to be advancing beyond the Brest-Litovsk
boundary.
(6.) This must seriously shift the Turkish military centre of gravity from south to
north, though the recovery of the provinces occupied by the British is " one
of the most essential war-aims, not only of Turkey, but of Germany."
(c.) Turkey had better apply her energies to the recovery of her own integrity.
(d.) The Caucasus produces quantities of raw materials needed by Germany, and
contains important lines of communication.
(e.) The idea that the Turks meant to conquer the Caucasus might lead the
Armenians to fly en masse and leave the country desolate.
(/.) Turkish statesmen would do well to dissipate all doubts which the Trans-
Caucasian Republic may still entertain as to their intentions.
(g.) "The Trans-Caucasian delegates now in Berlin will be able to convince them­
selves of the sympathy aroused everywhere in Germany by the cause of
their country's independence, and of the German ErnpireV desire to enter
into close relations of friendship with them.''
On the 3rd June Georg Bernhard wrote in the " Vossische Zeitung :—
" It cannot have been the intention of the Brest Treaty to permit everyone
to cut as many slices from the Russian cake as he desires. The representative of
the Trans-Caucasian Republic in Berlin has already declared that Turkey's liberal
interpretation of the treaty must result in a rapprochement of Trans-Caucasia
towards England and Russia. Germany ought, therefore, in her own interest, to
bring friendly pressure to bear on Turkey The alliance is not based on
sentimentality The sole guarantee of a Turkish Constantinople is given at
Berlin."
On the 5th June Otto Hoetzsch wrote in the " Kreuzzeitung "\\ :—
" Turkey's real interest is the recnnquest of Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria,
Palestine. Extensions of her influence in the north would bring her into
conflict with Germany and Russia, and would impose a burden on her to which
she is not equal. Germany has guaranteed to fight for Turkey's former frontiers,
but for these only, and therefore has a right to oppose Turkey's ambitions."
These big guns were supported by lesser artillery. The " Kolnische Volkszeitung,"
for instance, remarked that the population of Trans-Caucasia seemed to have no desire
* A p a r t f r o m an a l l u s i o n t o t h e Turoo-Bulg'ar c o n t r o v e r s y , d e a l t Avith in P . I . D . T u r k e y / 0 0 5 .
t S e e " N e u e Zurcher Zeitung," June 20, 1918. -
J " D a i l y R e v i e w , " J u n e 4 , 11)18 ; " V o i x d e 1'Armenie," J u n e 15, 1 9 1 8 .
S " D a i l y R e v i e w . " J u n e 6, 1 9 1 8 .
II " Enemy Supplement," June 20, 1918.
for union with Turkey, and that tho Turks had better concern themselves with the
British, who were still at Bagdad.* And the " Neue Badische Landeszeitung"
enquired whether Turkey imagined that Germany was going to take on the reconquest
of Mesopotamia and Palestine while Turkey made new conquests elsewhere.'!"
This attack was evidently concerted. The references to Fuad SelinVs interview,
the mention of the Georgian Mission, and the admonitions about the Palestine and
Mesopotamian fronts, cannot have been re-echoed by mere chance; and it is striking
that most of the journals quoted above are definitely Pan-German in policy. To come
out as champion of the Armenians is an amazing volte-face for Iieventlow. It can
only mean that by the beginning of June the Pan-Germans had decided to run an
imperialist policy of their own in the Caucasus, and from subsequent events it would
appear that they already had the German Government behind them in this plan.
The Turks were visibly discomfited, and Fuad Selim returned a soft answer in the
" Neue Zurcher Zeitung " on the 20th June,l defending the Turkish advance beyond the
Brest frontier on " grounds of humanity," on the lines of the telegram sent him by
his Government on the 26th May. On the 23rd July a telegram from Constantinople
was printed in several German papers summarising an article in the " Osmanische
Lloyd," by the Druse Shekib Arslan (Deputy for Hauran in the Ottoman Parliament).
Shekib Arslan laid it down that Turkey's position towards the Moslem Caucasus was
the same as Germany's towards the Baltic provinces, but made over to Germany all
claims to influence in Georgia, where by this time Germany had effectively intervened.^

7. The Turkish Treaties of Batum and German Intervention in Georgia.

After the dissolution of the Trans-Caucasian Government on the 27th May the
Turkish delegates remained at Batum to conduct negotiations with the three new
national republics. The signature of peace treaties was announced at Constantinople
on the 10th Junejl by the Armenian National Council, in a message from Tiflis on the
18th June, and by the Georgian Mission at Berlin in an interview published by
"Vorwarts'' on the 16th June.^[ These treaties seem to have been confined to
territorial questions. They involved a recognition of the three republics on Turkey's
part, and they imposed on the Republics of Georgia and Erivan (Russian Armenia)
those cessions of territory, beyond the Brest line, which had already been demanded in
the Turkish ultimatum to Trans-Caucasia on the 26th May (see section 4 above).
Other questions were left to be settled at a conference to be held subsequently at
Constantinople.^
By these territorial treatiesff the Georgians had to cede the Akhaltzich and
Akhalkalaki districts of the Government of Tiflis. These districts form the northern
rampart of the Armenian plateau, and command strategically the depression through
which the railway runs from Tiflis to the Black Sea. They belonged to Turkey before
the Russo-Turkish War of 182S-9, after which they were ceded to Russia and colonised
with refugees from Turkish Armenia, whose descendents are in a majority among the
present population.
The Armenian Republic of Erivan had to cede certain districts of the Government
of Erivan traversed by the railway from Alexandropol to Julfa, including both these
towns, and amounting to about a third of the Republics total territory. The effect
of this cession appears to be to reduce to a minimum the common frontiers between
Persia and Georgia and the Republic of Erivan, and to leave the latter virtually
surrounded by Turkey and the Tatar Republic of Azerbaijan.^£
* " Daily Review," June 1, 1918.
t " V o i x de l'Armenie," June 15, 1918.
\ P u b l i s h e d in t h e " V i l a g " o f J u l y 27, 1 9 1 8 ( o b v i o u s l y after d e l a y o n t h e c e n s o r ' s p a r t ) .
8 "Times," July 25, 1918; "Daily Review," August 8, 1918.
I " D a i l y R e v i e w , " A u g u s t 15, 1 9 1 8 .
f " D a i l y R e v i e w , " J u n e 19, 1918.
** T h e r e i s n o d e t a i l e d i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e s i g n i n g o f p e a c e w i t h A z e r b a i j a n . P r o b a b l y t h e T u r k s
and Tatars did n o t consider t h e m s e l v e s a s having b e e n a t war, since t h e Tatars had virtually s e c e d e d f r o m
trans-Caucasia a t the time o f the failure o f t h e Trebizond negotiations. Also there w e r e n o Turkish
territorial claims at the Tatars' expense.
ft For the terms see " Le Soir" (Constantinople), June 1 1 ; "Vorwarts," June 1 6 ; "Daily Review,"
J u n e 18, 1 9 1 8 (Tiflis w i r e l e s s o f M a y 28, 1918).
II S i n c e t h i s w a s w r i t t e n i t h a s b e t m r e p o r t e d f r o m a n a u t h o r i t a t i v e s o u r c e t h a t t h e t r e a t y l e a v e s a
s e c t i o n o f t h e line, b e t w e e n A l e x a n d r o p o l and N a h i c h e v a n , i n A r m e n i a n territory. T h i s m e a n s thai: the
Erivan Republic stretches practically t o t h eformer Russo-Persian frontier, and involves t h e important
corollary t h a t T u r k e y intends t o establish territorial continuity w i t h N a h i c h e v a n b y a n n e x i n g Persian
territory i nthe M a k u district, t h r o u g h w h i c h the Russians, since t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e war, h a v e built a n e w
railway linking Julfa and Nalhchevan with Bayazid and Karakilisse, on the Turkish side o f the 1914 frontier.
A n n e x a t i o n o fthe M a k u district b y T u r k e y would, o f course, isolate the Erivan Republic and Persia f r o m
one another by a zone of Turkish territory.
[367-411 ' C
 The Turks seem to have taken control immediately of the Alexandropol-Julfa
line, and also of the line from Alexandropol via Elizavetpo! to Baku, up to Haji-Kabul
station on the east—the point beyond which this railway was at that time controlled
by the Armenian-Bolshevik coalition regime at Baku.
Between Alexandropol and Elizavetpoi this line passes within a few hundred
yards of Tiflis, making a junction with the line to the Black Sea just south-east of
the city. But the Turks did not enter Tiflis itself, for the Germans were before them.
Before the 5th June, Herr von Kardorfl', previously the diplomatic representative
of Germany in Finland, appears to have.started from Berlin for the Caucasus, with the
mission of " acquainting himself with the situation created by the Turkish advance ; "*
and he was accompanied by von Kress, a German general, f By the 14th June the
Poti-Tiflis Railway was reported to be under the control of German ex-prisoners of
war, and the German flag was said to have been hoisted over the stations.;]; On the
18th June it was announced from Moscow that 3,000 German troops had landed at
Poti.$ The occupation of Tiflis by these German forces was rumoured on the 1st July,
and has been' confirmed subsequently by photographs in a German propaganda
newspaper.j I Even beyond Tiflis, German guards seem to have replaced the Turks for
a certain distance along the railways, the Turks maintaining their communications
between Alexandropol and Elizavetpol by the Karakeliss-Akstafa Road.
Thus Germany repeated in the Caucasus in June the political strategy she had
devised at Brest-Litovsk in February. German troops marched into Georgia to
preserve order at the invitation of a Social-Democratic Government, as they had
marched into the Ukraine at the request of the Rada. The Armenians, like the
Rumanians, were left isolated, and had to accept any terms imposed on them. And
the limit set to the spread of German influence eastward by the rather unexpected
political developments at Baku may be compared with the parallel course of events
in Siberia. But whereas in Russia the anarch against whom the Germans appeared
as saviours of society was the Bolshevik enemy, in Trans-Caucasia it was the Turanian
ally! The insult naturally rankled, and the references to the Caucasian situation in
von Kuhlmanns speech of the 24th June reflect the conflict of policy between the
two Governments:—
" Turkey has quite recently found herself compelled by the development of
the strategical position in Upper Mesopotamia to use the railway Batum-Julfa-
Tabriz as a line of communication towards the Tigris Valley via, Northern
Azerbaijan.
" In its advance beyond the territories assigned to Turkey by the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk, the Turkish army has, for reasons of security, pushed forward its left
wing a considerable distance into territories which certainly could not, under the
terms of the Brest Treaty, be subject to lasting occupation or annexation by
Turkey.
" The German and Turkish staffs have had long discussions on this question,
and we have been informed that the Turkish advance in the Caucasus has been
suspended.
" The conditions of the future settlement of Caucasian affairs will be settled at
the conference at Constantinople."
Thus the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, in a weighty official utterance,
ignored the Turkish treaties signed at Batum and announced by the Turkish Minister
for Foreign Affairs only a fortnight before, and took his stand on the unimpaired
validity of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

8. The [Abortive) Conference at Constantinople.

The task of the Constantinople Conference was to settle the mutual boundaries of
the three Trans-Caucasian States (their frontiers towards Turkey having been settled
already, according to the Turkish view, at Batumi and to define their political and
economic relations with one another, and with the different members of the Quadruple
Alliance. The Conference was presided over by Jemal Pasha, assisted by German,
* " Daily Review," June 7, 1918 (from t h e German press).
t Query: Kress von Kressensteiu, who was employed on the Palestine front before the fall of
Jerusalem. (In other versions the general is spelt von Kreise.)
I Mr. Wardrop, Moscow, No. 435.
8 "Voix de 1'Armeuie." July 1-15, 1918.
I " Witoscha" (Sofia), August 10,1918.
Austrian, and Bulgarian representatives, and from thirty to forty delegates of the three
Trans-Caucasian republics arrived between the 19 th and 24th June.*
The chief Georgian delegates were: Gegechgori (President of the Trans-Caucasian
Government from November 1917 to March 1918), General I. Odishilidze, Jordania,
Rachvelli, Kvazva.
The chief Armenian delegates were : A. Aharonian, A. Khatissian (Mayor of Tiflis
at the time of the Revolution), Papajanian (member of the Duma Commission which
administered Trans-Caucasia from April to November 1917), K. Khatissian, General G.
Gorganov.
The chief Tatar delegates were : Mehined E m m Rasul-zada (leader of the movement
for territorial autonomy among the Russian Moslems), Ahmed Jevdet.f
Most of the delegates above mentioned are leading personalities in their respective
nationalities and holders of office in the three new Governments.
As a result of the conference, three supplementary treaties were signed on the
4th July by Turkey and the plenipotentiaries of each of the three States:—
(a,) A peace treaty in fourteen articles, restoring diplomatic relations;
(h.) A commercial treaty on the " most-favoured-nation " basis; j and
(c.) A treaty granting Turkey the use of railways during the war.$

But the mutual frontiers of the three States seem to have been left unsettled, and
estimates of their area, given respectively by a Tatar and an Armenian delegate in
interviews with the press, differed considerably, though both assigned the largest area
to Azerbaijan, and reckoned Erivan as out of all proportion the smallest of the three. H
In fact, it seems to have been settled broadly that at least as much territory inhabited
by Armenians should be given to Azerbaijan on the north-east as was being torn' away
by Turkey on the south-west; while, on the other hand, the Armenians are claiming
territory towards Tiflis at the expense of Georgia.
But, in spite of the results nominally attained, the Constantinople Conference gives
.an impression of unreality. The real centre of gravity was not, Constantinople but
Berlin. It is even reported that a second conference sat there to revise the arrange­
ments agreed on at the Turkish capital. And though this is said to have been
discontinued after von Kiihlmann's fall, it is clear that the delegates from Trans-
Caucasia regarded Constantinople merely as a stage on their journey, and looked to
Berlin for the decisive word.
Finally, it is reported this month by a delegate to the Armenian Conference
at Berlin (see below) that Germany has again informed Turkey that the terms
of the Brest Treaty must remain the basis of her negotiations with the three
States. If this is true, it means that Germany refuses to recognise either of the
Turkish, treaties-either the Batum Treaty of the 10th June or the Constantinople
Treaty of the 4th July.

9. Turkisli and German Intrigues with the three Nationalities.

During the Constantinople Conference there was active underground competition
between Vjermany and Turkey to extend their influence in Trans-Caucasia at one
another's expense, by supporting the claims of one or other of the three nationalities.

(a.) Intrigues with the Armenians.

The Armenian delegates at Constantinople gave conciliatory interviews to the
Turkish press, and are reported in an Armenian journal of Constantinople to have
declared their disinterestedness in the future of Turkish Armenia.^" The Turkish press
-on its part wrote articles about the new orientation in Turco-Armenian relations,^
and on the 13th August it was reported from Constantinople that the Turkish
Government had arranged with the Armenian delegates for the gradual repatria­

* " Voix de l'Armenie," July 1-15, 1918.

f " Enemy Supplement," August 22. 1918.
% " Daily Review," August 20, 1918.
5 " Voix de 1'Armeme," July 1-15, 1918 ; " Economic Supplement," July 23, 1918.
I " Voix de l'Armenie," July 1-15, 1918; "Enemy Supplement," August 22, 1918.
f " Enemy Supplement," August 22, 1918 ; Voix de L'Arm4nie," July 1-15, 1918.
** E.g., " Wakyt," June 27, 1918. But it is significant that M. A. Khatissian had to contradict an
admission of Armenian culpability for the atrocities of 1915, which had apparently been attributed to him
in an interview published in the " Tasvir-i-Efkiar " (see " Enemy Supplement," July 29, 1918.)
tion of Armenian refugees, beginning with those from the districts of Alexandropol'
and Batum. *
The Armenians adopted this attitude not because they were pro-Turk (the person­
ality of the chief delegates proves the contrary), but because they were powerless to do
otherwise, if they were to save a remnant of their nation from being overrun and
probably exterminated by the Turkish armies, f
At the same time, they followed up the appeal they had made in April to Germany,
and seem to have found the German Government remarkably well-disposed towards
them.
It is reported from a confidential source that during the Batum negotiations
Germany actually supported an Armenian claim to Van, on the Turkish side of the
1914 frontier, a claim which the Turks of course refused to consider. According to
another report, the German Government was working with the Armenian delegates
at Constantinople for a united Armenian State under German protection—to include
Turkish Armenia as well as Russian. Again, it was stated in a telegram to the
" Berliner Tageblatt " that the Armenian delegation had on the 22nd June protested to
the German Ambassador at Constantinople against atrocities committed by the Turkish
troops. I Whatever the truth of these reports, it appears certain that the Armenian
delegates went on from Constantinople to Berlin about the middle of July, and held a
conference there with a representative of the Dashnakzutiun party from Geneva.
Moreover, this conference was attended by Halajian Effendi, an Armenian agent of the
Turkish Government, who had been sent to Switzerland in order to try to stop the
anti-Turkish propaganda carried on by the Armenian colony there. And if he
attended under instructions from his employers, it would appear that the Turkish
Government regarded the German-zlrmenian intrigue as a factor with which they had
to reckon.

(b.) Intrigues with the Georgians.

During the negotiations at Batum it was reported in the Moscow press that
Germany was proposing the retrocession of Batum to Trans-Caucasia by Turkey in
exchange for the use of the Trans-Caucasian railways by the Quadruple Alliance during
the war. This was, of course, refused by the Turks; but later, during the Conference
at Constantinople, it was again reported that Germany was supporting a Georgian
claim to the use of Batum as a free port, even though it was to belong to Turkey
territorially. In July the Turks were reported to be exceedingly jealous of the
diplomatic support which Georgia was receiving from Germany, and, in fact, the
leader of the Georgian delegation, Gegechgori, seems actually to have joined
Chehengeli at Berlin on the 28th June (before the Constantinople Treaty of the
4th July was signed).I Since then it has been announced)! that in the Russo-
German treaties, supplementary - to that of Brest-Litovsk, which were signed on
the 27th August, the recognition by Germany of the independence of Georgia as well
as of Esthonia and Livonia has been agreed to by the Bolshevik Government. This
stroke of German diplomacy links Georgia to Germany still more closely, and it is
possible that the Georgians have not yet given up the idea of recovering possession
of Batum with Germany's support.

(c.) Intrigues with the Tatars. .

The territorial claims of the Azerbaijan Republic are, of course, supported by
Turkey against those of Georgia and Erivan. The' Tatar delegates at Constantinople
gave interviews to the press,^[ and the Turkish Government has seconded a Turkish
official of the Ottoman Bank to organise Azerbaijanifinances**(an imitation of German
methods which is unlikely to be a success).
It is difficult to estimate how far the Tatars are in favour of a close union with

* Evidently this agreement does not cover the Turkish Armenians deported: by the Turkish Government
in 1915.
I Another motive of the Armenians in conciliating the Turks is said to be the wish for Turkish backing
against the Georgians, against whom the Turks and Armenians have an interest in common.
j " Voix de l'Armenie," July 1-15, 1918.
S " Enemy Supplement," August 22, 1918.
I German Wireless, August 31, 1918.
" Enemy Supplement," August 22, 1918.
** " Aaty," June 28, 1918.
 Turkey. During the months immediately preceding the Turkish advance in the
Caucasus they were reported to prefer a restoration of Russia to the prospect of coming
under Turkish rule.* But their minds may have been changed by the virtual elimination
of Russia from Trans-Caucasia and by their armed conflict with the Armenians in
April (Baku) and May (Erivan district). They may now be more anxious to co-operate
with the Turks, and also with the Daghestanis, to whom they gave offence by their
overbearing conduct in the earlier stages of the Revolution. Moreover, they have
always been reported to be violently Anglophobe (owing, no doubt, to their relations
with Persia and particularly with the Azerbaijani leaders of the Persian Nationalist
Movement at Tabriz), and this hostility to us has presumably been increased by our
landing at Baku.f
At the same time, the question of Baku is bringing the Tatars (and, through them,
Turkey) into conflict with Germany.]; At the Constantinople Conference the Tatars
are reported to have demanded Turco-German military assistance for the reduction of
Baku (which they claim as the proper capital of the Azerbaijan Republic), and the
Germans were said to be "offering no objection," provided the Tatars give the "formal
assurances" which Germany needed. Presumably these assurances were connected
with t h e allocation of the produce of the Baku oil-fields, and the control of the pipe-line
to Batum.^ But in the resume of the Russo-German supplementary treaty of the
27th August, circulated by the German Wireless on the 31st August, it is stated that,
"while the Bolshevik Government have agreed to Germany recognising the independ­
ence of Georgia, they "lay very great stress on the oil-wells in the Baku region
being guaranteed to them, and Germany cannot but support this, as Russia, on her
side, has undertaken to place a portion of the produce of the wells at the disposal
of Germany and her allies."
Thus Germany, while giving the Tatars an evasive answer at Constantinople, has
settled the future of Baku with Russia over the heads of both Tatars and Turks. \\ And,
since Baku is a centre of communications as well as an oil-field, its restoration to Russia
would threaten the new autonomy of Azerbaijan, and still more the Turkish protectorate
over it. ­

(d.) The Plebiscite in Kars-Ardahan-Batum.

Under the terms of the Brest Treaty (3rd March), the destiny of Kars-Ardahan-
Batum was to be " determined by their inhabitants in agreement with Turke) ," and the 1-

Turkish authorities hastened to "take a plebiscite" as soon as these districts had been
occupied by their troops. On the 17th August a Constantinople telegram announced
that 85,124 votes out of 87,048 had been cast for reunion with Turkey, and that all
males over 19 years of age had voted. ^[ Considering that the whole Armenian element
had been either massacred or driven to take flight, there is nothing surprising in these
figures. It is amusing to observe that, once this plebiscite in the Armenians' absence
had been taken in due form, the Turks began to discuss the possibility of allowing the
refugees to ret urn. **

1 0 . The Frustration of Turkish Policy by Germany.

At the time of the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, the Turkish policy seems to have
been to bring about the establishment of a united Trans-Caucasian State with the
Moslem element in the population in the ascendant. The Moslems would depend on
Turkey to keep them in their dominant position; there would be some kind of military
and political conventionbetween the two States ; and the retrocession to Turkey of Kars,
and Batum (the strategc and commercial keys, respectively, of Trans-Caucasia) would
give Turkey a raaterialguarantee that her hegemony would be effective.

* P.I.D. Moslem Countries/001.

t The most recent report is that the Tatar delegates have actually agreed to the annexation of the
Azerbaijan Republic by Turkey, but this must be accepted with reserve.
I h\)v another point of conflict between the Tatars and Germany—namely, the case of the German
colonists in the Blizavetpol district—see section 5 above.
5 A treaty on this question is reported to have been concluded between Georgia and Azerbaijan
(" Daily Review," August 20, 1918). Of. also " Enemy Supplement," August 29, 1918 (p. 455).
II Instructions are even reported to have been given to the German Commander in the Caucasus to
prevent the Turkish forces from entering Baku.
T " Daily Review." August 20, 1918; cf. "Daily Review," July 22, " Enemy Supplement," August 29,
1918.
** See paragraph (a) of this section.
[367-41] D
 Iii the discussion of the Caucasian question following the publication of the Brest
terms in the Turkish press, the formula was that 7 out of 11 million inhabitants of the
Caucasus were Moslems*-figures which bore no relation to the tacts—and from Enver's
statement in the Ottoman Parliament on the 4th March,")" it appears that the Turkish
Government had already decided to claim the same position towards Trans-Caucasia
as Germany claimed towards the border countries of European Russia.
When the German troops advanced, the Turks advanced too ; and when the
Germans justified their advance as necessary in order to protect peoples of West
European culture from Bolshevik disorder, the Turks declared their own troops the
protectors of Trans-Caucasian Moslems against Armenian outrages. This was put
forward by Rushen Bey, a "delegate of the Southern Caucasus," in an interview with
the "Taniri" on the 31st May;J and the same tale was repeated, almost line for
line, by Fuad Selim Bey in his apologia in the " Neue Ziircher Zeitung" of the
20th June.
In fact, the Turks intended to manoeuvre themselves into a position from which
they could permanently dominate Trans-Caucasia through its Moslem inhabitants, while
a substantial portion of its economic resources (eg., the oil industry of Baku) would
fall to the profit of the Turks themselves.
This project has been almost completely frustrated by German intervention. The
"Independent Republic of Georgia" has been withdrawn entirely from Turkish
control, and has passed as fully into the German sphere as the Baltic provinces or the
Ukraine. An Armenian Republic has been established which, though confined to a
territory which is only a fraction even of Russian Armenia, is still an independent
State—the first independent Armenian State there has been for more than five hundred
years—a nucleus for Armenian irredentism, and a second pawn for Germany in her
game of checking Turkey's Caucasian ambitions. And finally Baku, the key to
Trans-Caucasia's economic prosperity and the natural capital of the Tatar Republic
of Azerbaijan, over which Turkey might still hope to retain an exclusive influence,
has been occupied by the Armenians and the British, and has been promised by
Germany to Russia over Turkey's head.
Turkey has thus been frustrated, but what has Germany gained? She has
obtained a protectorate over Georgia; but the relations between a social-democratic
Government and the German General Staff are likely to be as precarious in Georgia
as in the Ukraine. She has obtained a voice in the Turkish-Armenian question through
the Republic of Erivan; but the Armenians, though they may play off Germany
against Turkey, can never expect a realisation of their full national programme at her
hands, nor forget that she permitted the atrocities of 1915. However adroitly they
may bow to the necessities of the moment, they will look in the end to the Allies.
Finally, by agreement with the Bolsheviks, Germany has obtained title to a quota
of the output of Baku oil ; but the title is depreciated by the fact that Baku has fallen
into Turkish hands.
Germany's gains are therefore largely illusory, and they have been bought at the
price of a feud with Turkey as serious as that over the Russian Black Sea Fleet. In
view of the German reverses in the West, the cumulative effect of these breaches in
the alliance becomes very grave.
The Germans evidently fear a " deal" between Turkey and Great Britain. This
was the hidden motive of the German press campaign at the beginning of June,
and it is avowed openly by Otto Hoetzsch in the " Kreuz-Zeitung" of the 14th
r

August:—
" A Turkey which would be prepared to renounce Mesopotamia and Arabia
in favour of England, in return for extensions in the Caucasus and beyond, would
mean an absolutely decisive alteration of the political world-picture for which we
are striving."
There is little evidence from Turkish sources that Turkish politicians contemplate
anything of the kind.^ They are still bent on recovering their integrity ; they insist
* E.g., "Enemy Supplement," May 16, 1918. These 11,000,000 of course really reoresent the
population, not of frans-Caucasia merely, but of the whole Caucasus Viceroyalty; and in both Trans-
Caucasia and the whole Caucasus the Moslems actually constitute about four-eleventlis and the Christians
seven-eli;veuths of the total.
t See section 4 above.
I A "Southern Caucasus Committee"—naturally a Moslem Committee—seems to have been formed at
Constantinople. See section 5 above.
5 Except for a sing-le report on the views of Dr. Nazim, who has recently been taken into the
Government.
on it in every statement of war-aims ; but they consider that this has been guaranteed
to them by Germany, and that it is therefore Germanys business to secure it for them
either by dictating terms after a military decision or by winning back the ground in
campaigns on the spot. Meanwhile, they do not see why they should not profit by the
dissolution of the "Russian Empire in the Caucasus, as Germany is doing in European
Russia on a larger scale.
The Germans think otherwise, and have taken characteristic steps to make their
own view prevail. The Turk, fancying himself the champion of civilisation and Islam
against anarchy, has found that he, too, like the Bolshevik, is one of the barbarians
against whom it is Germany's mission to protect promising nationalities. The insult
can hardly be wiped out. At any rate, it is unlikely to stimulate Turkey to transfer
her military energies to the southern fronts, in order to serve Germany's higher strategic
aims against England.

Addendum.
The Director of Military Intelligence noted on the 3rd October, 1918, with regard
to the above memorandum that the Turks have latterly been gaining the upper hand in
the Caucasus over the Germans:—
" The Germans have shown themselves unable to prevent the Turks from
taking Baku ; nor have the Germans been able (and possibly have not wished) to
protect the new Armenia against Turkey. The Germans in Trans-Caucasia have
admitted Turkish superiority and have pointed out the disadvantages of German
commitments to Georgia with regard to the Turco-Bulgarian dispute."

It has since been reported that, during Talaafs recent visit to Berlin, the Germans
promised him not only Baku hut the satisfaction of the Turkish claims against Bulgaria,
if only he would restrain the Ottoman Government from making a separate peace.
These promises are likely to have been increased since the Bulgarian armistice.
October 4, 1918.