Treaty of Batum

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The Treaty of Batum, called the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the Sublime Ottoman State and the Transcaucasian States on the Turkish side, was signed in Batum on 4 June 1918 between the Ottoman Empire and the three Transcaucasian states: the Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

It was the first treaty ever signed by the Republic of Armenia (and at the same time the last one) and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The treaty forced heavy territorial cessions upon Armenia and Georgia, while Azerbaijan was favored by the Ottomans, with the treaty laying the groundwork of the future cooperation between both countries.

The treaty was later to be revised during the Caucasus Conference in late 1919, this time heavily in favor of Germany and Azerbaijan and at the expense of the Turks and especially Armenia, which was erased from the map following the conference.

Prelude[]

Despite heavy defeats against the Germans in Eastern Europe, the Russians had advanced far into Eastern Anatolia by 1917. Nonetheless, the October Revolution and the beginning of the Russian Civil War forced the Russians to lay down their weapons and the Armistice of Erzincan was signed on 5 December 1917, ending the armed conflicts between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the Persian Campaign and Caucasus Campaign of the Middle Eastern theatre of the Weltkrieg.

This would change in March 1918 as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Germany and Soviet Russia granted Kars, Ardahan and Batumi to the Ottoman Empire, giving the Turks the justification to begin a new offensive eastwards, as the territories which had been granted to them at Brest-Litowsk still found themselves under Russian control (in form of the autonomous Transcaucasian Commissariat).

The Transcaucasian Commissariat had been plagued by ethnic strive since its creation in late 1918 and the Turkish invasion would deal the death blow to the unstable federation: The Azeris began to wholeheartly cooperate with their ethnically similar invaders while the Georgians turned to the Germans on the other side of the Black Sea for protection. Armenia, isolated from the outside world due to the Caucasian Mountains, remained without defense against the Turkish colossus.

In May, the Turks captured Georgian Batum and first peace negotiations were opened. However, the Armenian and Georgian delegations soon began to stall the negotiations, which lead to another Turkish offensive eastwards. While Georgia was saved in the last moment by the arrival of the German Caucasus expedition, Armenia was overrun by Ottoman forces. Armenian forces led by Tovmas Nazarbekian, Garegin Nzhdeh and Drastamat Kanayan fiercely faced the Turks at Sardarabad, Karakilisa and Bash Abaran. However, despite its defeat at the three battles, the Third Ottoman Army soon held positions 4 miles from Yerevan and 6 miles from Etchmiadzin. The Armenians had exhausted their possibilities of resistance and had no choice but to make peace with Constantinople and sign a treaty that, despite its humiliating conditions, would give them a minimum respite, hoping that the world war would end soon and the Allied victory would bring justice to their cause.

Terms of the treaty[]

The Sublime Ottoman State recognizes the independence of the Republic of Armenia, the Democratic Republic of Georgia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.
Georgia and Armenia recognize the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and give up all their claims on Ardahan, Kars and Batumi.
Annexation of the Georgian territory of Meskheti-Javakheti including the cities of Akhalkalak and Akhaltskha by the Sublime Ottoman State.
Annexation of the Armenian territories of Surmalin (including Mount Ararat), Nakhchivan, Alexandropol and the western parts of the Yerevan and Etchmiadzin districts,
Signing of a treaty of cooperation and friendship between the Sublime Ottoman State and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic against the Bolshevik and Dashnak reign of terror in Baku.
Severe reduction of the Armed Forces of Armenia.
Construction of the Kars-Julfa-Baku Railway to properly connect Azerbaijan with the Empire. The Republic of Armenia is obliged to give free right of passage to all Turkish and Azerbaijani trains.

Aftermath[]

1918[]

The Treaty of Batum is considered to be the first major Ottoman success during the Weltkrieg; On most other fronts, especially in the Levant, the Turks suffered one defeat after the other. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk earlier that year already had granted the Sublime Porte a few territorial concessions in the Caucasus, but compared to the German gains in Eastern Europe, the Turkish gains were considered nothing more than worthless scraps and leftovers. Therefore, the Young Turk leadership in Constantinople was more than pleased about the treaty; Finally, the Ottomans had proved themselves in front of the international community and showed the world that they were able to obtain a victory without German assistance.

The Germans however were not that pleased with the terms of the treaty, as it made the Ottomans the sole power player in the Caucasus and therefore blocked German expansion into the region; Germany had already speculated on gaining access to the valuable Baku oil fields, and now Turkish encroachment rendered all these plans void. Berlin announced that a renegotiation of the treaty's terms would be inevitable; Constantinople however reacted evasive, not willing to agree to anything for the moment.

After the treaty, new power structures began to establish themselves in the Caucasus; Georgia fell under the indirect occupation of Germany, as the German Caucasus expedition under Friedrich Kreß von Kressenstein became the highest political instance within the country, vastly eclipsing the Georgian government and armed forces alike. Germany's goal was to contain Ottoman influence in nearby Azerbaijan, something that turned out to be more difficult than expected.

In the meanwhile, Ottoman troops under Enver Pasha had honored their agreement with the Azeris and arrived in Southern Azerbaijan via occupied Persia, slowly advancing towards Baku. The Baku Commune had already been overthrown by a coalition of Russian Social-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and the Armenian Dashnaks with the support of British forces under Lionel Dunsterville at the time, called the Centrocaspian Dictatorship, but nonetheless was not ready to negotiate with the Turks or the legitimate Azerbaijani government in Ganja. Therefore, Enver was more than happy to crack down on the resistance once Baku had fallen in early September 1918: During the so-called September Days, Turkish and Azeri troops looted the city and raped, abused and violently murdered the local Armenian and Russian population, mainly as an act of retaliation for the Armenian mass killing of Muslims in Baku during the March Days of early 1918. Over 10,000 people died in a matter of days. Soon after, Baku was proclaimed the new capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

However, worst affected by the Treaty of Batum was the Republic of Armenia. Even though the Armenian independence had been recognized by the Ottomans in a surprising turn of events, Armenia now was reduced to a territory of around 4,250 square miles and remained isolated and left without diplomatic support; Additionally, the Armenian army had been drastically reduced, making the small nation a de facto-vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. Understandably, many Armenians were not very content with these new political circumstances; Beloved general Andranik Ozanian, an Armenian resistance leader from Eastern Anatolia who had fought against the Turks for his whole life, denounced the Republic and relocated to the mountains of Zangezur and Karabakh, where he continued a vicious guerilla war against Turkish and Azerbaijani forces.

1919[]

By 1919, tensions in the Caucasus were close to boiling over, and neutral observers already forecasted a direct confrontation between Germany and the Ottoman Empire over influence in the region. Anti-German sentiment had become a common sight in the Ottoman Empire after the ousting of the pro-German Young Turk Triumvirate by Sultan Mehmed VI in November 1918 and Constantinople now was more than ready to defend their interests from German encroachment.

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