Participants of the Trebizond Peace Conference

The Trebizond Peace Conference was a conference held between 14 March and 13 April 1918 in Trebizond between the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

and a delegation of the Transcaucasian Diet (

Transcaucasian Seim The Transcaucasian Seim (February 23, 1918 – May 26, 1918) was a representative and legislative body of state power in the Transcaucasus, convened by the Transcaucasian Commissariat in Tiflis on February 23, 1918. Consisted of members of the Al ...

) and government. The opening session was on 14 March 1918. The representatives were Rear-Admiral Hüseyin Rauf Bey for the Ottoman Empire, and

Akaki Chkhenkeli Akaki Chkhenkeli ( ka, აკაკი ჩხენკელი) (1874 – 5 January 1959) was a Georgian Social Democratic politician and publicist who acted as one of the leaders of the Menshevik movement in Russia and Georgia. In 1918 he serve ...

Khalil bey Khasmammadov Khalil bey Khasmammadov ( az, Xəlil bəy Xasməmmədov; 1873–1945) was an Azerbaijani public figure, politician and diplomat. He served as a Member of the First and Second State Duma of the Russian Empire, Minister of Internal Affairs and Min ...

Alexander Khatisian Alexander Khatisian (; 17 February 1874 – 10 March 1945) was an Armenian politician, doctor and journalist. Khatisian was born in Tiflis in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire (Tbilisi, Georgia) to a prominent Armenian family of nobl ...

etc. as the Transcaucasian delegation. The

Armistice of Erzincan The Armistice of Erzincan (also spelled Erzindzhan or Erzinjan) was an agreement to suspend hostilities during World War I signed by the Ottoman Empire and Transcaucasian Commissariat in Erzincan on 18 December 1917 (5 December O.S.).Tadeusz Swiet ...

signed by the Russian and Ottomans in

Erzincan Erzincan (; ku, Erzîngan), historically Yerznka ( hy, Երզնկա), is the capital of Erzincan Province in Eastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The ...

on December 5, 1917, ended the armed conflicts between Russia and Ottoman Empire in the Persian Campaign and

Caucasus Campaign The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dict ...

of the

Middle Eastern theatre of World War I The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I saw action between 29 October 1914 and 30 October 1918. The combatants were, on one side, the Ottoman Empire (including the majority of Kurdish tribes, a relative majority of Arabs, and Caucasian ''T ...

Tadeusz Swietochowski Tadeusz Świętochowski (; 28 April 1932 – 15 February 2017) was a Polish-American historian and Caucasologist, Professor Emeritus of Columbia University and Monmouth University. Biography Świętochowski was born in France into a family o ...

, ''Russian Azerbaijan 1905-1920'', page 119 The armistice was followed by the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russi ...

on March 3, 1918, between the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

and the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in W ...

, marking Russia's exit from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The Ottoman Empire and the

Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR; (), (). 22 April – 28 May 1918) was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as ...

confronted each other as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk imposed borders that conflicted with those claimed by each party. The delegation established by Sejm was regarded by the Ottoman Empire as representing, not a state, but instead the peoples of the region.

Positions

The Ottoman delegation expressed the wish that ‘Transcaucasia should proclaim its independence and announce its form of government before the negotiations then under way were completed.' The Ottoman Empire wanted to break down the barrier between

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n Muslims and Caucasian Muslims and to ‘consolidate the unity between kindred nations.’ The Ottoman Empire’s special tasks in the Caucasus, Rauf Bey reassured, reflected links between the Empire and the Caucasian peoples that were "...not only historical and geographical, but rather ones of blood, flowing from their common past."

Ahmed bey Pepinov Ahmad bey Pepinov Omar oglu ( az, Əhməd bəy Ömər oğlu Pepinov; September 11, 1893 – July 3, 1938), also known as Ahmet bey Pepinov, was an Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani statesman of Meskhetian Turks, Turkish Meskhetian origin who served ...

, an advisor to the Transcaucasian delegation and a member of the Muslim National Council, suggested setting up a fourth, separate administrative unit consisting of the Muslim areas of the

Batum Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of t ...

and

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography (Strabo), part of ...

regions. ‘The bonds created by their similarities of race, religion, economy and everyday life are very strong and it will be very hard for them to exist without each other’,’ Pepinov argued in ‘grounding’ that wish.

Aftermath

At the end of the negotiations,

Enver Pasha İsmail Enver, better known as Enver Pasha ( ota, اسماعیل انور پاشا; tr, İsmail Enver Paşa; 22 November 1881 – 4 August 1922) was an Ottoman military officer, revolutionary, and convicted war criminal who formed one-third ...

offered to surrender all the Empire's ambitions in the Caucasus in return for recognition of the Ottoman reacquisition of the east Anatolian provinces at Brest-Litovsk.Ezel Kural Shaw History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Page 326 On April 5, the head of the Transcaucasian delegation Akaki Chkhenkeli accepted the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as a basis for more negotiations and wired the governing bodies urging them to accept this position.Richard Hovannisian "The Armenian people from ancient to modern times" Pages 292-293 The mood prevailing in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

was very different. They expressed greater determination. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk united the Armenian-Georgian block. The Armenians pressured the Republic to refuse. They acknowledged the existence of a state of war between themselves and the Ottoman Empire. Hostilities resumed and the Ottoman troops overran new lands to the east, reaching prewar frontiers. On May 11, a new peace conference opened at Batum. At this conference, the Ottomans extended their demands to include Tiflis as well as

Alexandropol Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

and

Echmiadzin Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is comm ...

, which they wanted a railroad built to, to connect

and Julfa with

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

. The Armenian state, through which this transport corridor would run, was to give free right of passage. The Armenian and Georgian members of the Republic’s delegation began to stall. Beginning on May 21, the Ottoman army moved ahead once again into areas of Russian Armenia that had not been under the Sultan’s control since the seventeenth century. The conflict led to the

Battle of Sardarapat The Battle of Sardarabad ( hy, Սարդարապատի ճակատամարտ, translit=Sardarapati chakatamart; tr, Serdarabad Muharebesi) was a battle of the Caucasus campaign of World War I that took place near Sardarabad, Armenia, from 21 to ...

(May 21–29), the Battle of Kara Killisse (1918) (May 24–28), and the

Battle of Bash Abaran The Battle of Bash Abaran ( hy, Բաշ Աբարանի ճակատամարտ ''Bash Abarani chakatamart'', tr, Baş-Abaran Muharebesi) was a battle of Caucasus Campaign of World War I that took place in the vicinity of Bash Abaran, in 1918. The ...

(May 21–24). On June 4, the

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն), was the first modern Armenian state since the loss of Armenian statehood in the Middle ...

was forced to sign the

Treaty of Batum The Treaty of Batum was signed in Batum on 4 June 1918, between the Ottoman Empire and the three Transcaucasian states: the First Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. It was the first ...

References

{{Ottoman treaties 1918 in Armenia 1918 in Georgia (country) 1918 in Azerbaijan History of Trabzon 1918 in the Ottoman Empire 1918 conferences