Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus

TheProvisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus,Provisional National Government of South West Caucasia(Modern Turkish:Güneybatı Kafkas Geçici Milli Hükûmeti;Ottoman Turkish:Cenub-ı Garbi Kafkas Hükûmet-i Muvakkate-i MilliyesiAzerbaijani:Cənub-Qərbi Qafqaz Cümhuriyyəti) orKars Republicwas a short-lived nominally-independentprovisional governmentbased inKars, northeasternTurkey. Born in the wake of theArmistice of Mudrosthat endedWorld War Iin theMiddle East, it existed from December 1, 1918 until April 19, 1919, when it was abolished byBritishHigh Commissioner AdmiralSomerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe. A similar provisional government namedIgdir National Governmentwas also founded onIğdır.
The government, headed by Fahrettin Pirioğlu, considered its territory to be the predominantlyMuslim-inhabited regions of Kars andBatumi, parts ofYerevanprovince and theAkhaltsikheandAkhalkalakidistricts ofTiflisprovince. In practical terms, however, the government was confined to Kars province and existed alongside the British governorship created during theEntente's intervention in theSouth Caucasus.
The terms of theArmistice of Mudrossigned on 30 October 1918 by theAlliesand the Ottomans required the armed forces of theOttoman Empireto withdraw from all territory belonging toRussiain the Caucasus and to return to the west of the pre-war border with Russia. By 4 December 1918, Ottoman forces had retired as far as the old pre-1877 frontier with Russia, but they delayed leavingKars Oblastfor a further two months.
This delay had the effect of allowing time to set up a pro-Turkish provisional government to resist the expected incorporation of the historically-Armenian province into theArmenian Republicproclaimed in May 1918. "National Islamic Councils" formed in the main population centers of Kars province – Oltu, Kagizman, Igdir, Sarikamis, Ardahan and Kars itself – as well as in settlements in adjoining territories where there were Turkish-speaking or Muslim populations (including Akhalkalaki, Akhaltzikhe and Batumi).
The most significant council, the "Kars Islamic Council", dated from 5 November 1918. In December it changed its name to the "National Council", and in January 1919 to the "Kars National Council", before finally settling on the "Provisional National Government of South-West Caucasia" in March 1919.It claimed authority over all of Kars province together with all Turkish or Muslim-populated areas between Batumi and Nakhchivan. Other than Azerbaijan, this amounted to most of the territory which the Ottoman army had evacuated.
The majority of the people in the southwestern part of Transcaucasia were Muslims and sought affiliation withAzerbaijan.Georgia, however, blocked Azerbaijan's incorporation of Muslims in the southwest, which would have extended its frontiers to the Black Sea. As a result, on September 27, 1918, the Muslim National Committee under the leadership of Esad Oktay Bey was formed in Kars, which advocated an autonomy or independence similar to that of the newly formed republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
On December 1, 1918, in congress in Kars, the Muslim National Committee unilaterally declared an independent South-Western Caucasian Republic (Cenubî Garbi Kafkas Cumhuriyeti) and electedCihangirzade Ibrahim Beyas its president. The new republic laid claims to the districts of Kars, Batum, Akhaltsikh,Akhalkalaki, Sharur andNakhichevan, a claim supported by Azerbaijan. It extended full rights to all except Armenians and received assurances from the British about the protection against the claims by Georgia and Armenia on its territory until the question would be decided by theParis Peace Conference.
On January 13, 1919, a delegation of 60 Armenians were sent to Kars by the British Command in Batum to install anArmenianpolitician, Stepan Korganov, as the governor of Kars. The Parliament of the Republic rejected this proposal and refused further negotiation with the Armenians. Incidents of violence between the parties then increased dramatically.
Also during January 1919, the Republic had seen democratic elections leading to the formation of a parliament on January 14, elected at a ratio of one deputy per 10,000 voters. The parliament consisted of 64 members, including 60 Muslims, threeGreeksand oneMolokanRussian.
The Parliament of the new republic assembled on January 17 and adopted an eighteen-article constitution (Teskilâtı Esasiye Kanunu). Women were grantedvoting rights, Kars was declared the capital city andTurkishproclaimed the official language.On March 27, the parliament approved the new government. The new government also applied theImperial Government of Japanfor recognition.
As fighting broke out between the South-Western Caucasian Republic and bothGeorgiaandArmenia,British troops, dispatched fromBatumon orders from GeneralWilliam M. Thomson, occupied Kars on April 19, 1919, broke up a parliamentary meeting and arrested thirty parliamentarians and government members. Eleven of the arrested were deported to Batum and thenIstanbul, before being exiled toMaltaon 2 June. Kars province was placed under Armenian rule and, on July 7, 1920, the Georgian army replaced the British in Batum, who had controlled it since the Turkish withdrawal.
The elevenMalta exilesfrom the Republic were:
After the treaties concluding theTurkish–Armenian War, the present-dayKars Provinceand adjacent districts constituting the modern-dayArdahanandIğdırprovinces became part of Turkey.
Rus Kızı Vasilisa("Russian girl Vasilisa"), a dissident history byErkan Karagözpublished in 2002, portrays the short life of the Republic in the context of a love story.