Treaty of Batum

Treaty of Batumi
Type	Peace treaty
Signed	4 June 1918
Location	Batumi, Georgia
Condition	Ratification
Signatories	Ottoman Empire; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia;

The Treaty of Batum was signed in Batumi 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.^[1]^[2] It was the first treaty of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and had 14 articles.

Background

On 5 December 1917, the armistice of Erzincan was signed between the Russians and the Ottomans, ending the armed conflicts between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the Persian Campaign and Caucasus Campaign of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I.^[3] On 3 March 1918, the armistice of Erzincan was followed up with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk marking Russia's exit from World War I. Between 14 March and April 1918, the Trabzon peace conference was held between the Ottoman Empire and the delegation of the Transcaucasian Diet (Transcaucasian Sejm). Enver Pasha offered to surrender all ambitions in the Caucasus in return for recognition of the Ottoman reacquisition of the east Anatolian provinces at Brest-Litovsk at the end of the negotiations.^[4] On 5 April, 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 that position.^[5] The mood prevailing in Tiflis was very different. The Armenians pressured the Republic to refuse and acknowledged the existence of a state of war between themselves and the Ottoman Empire.^[5] Hostilities resumed, and the Ottoman troops overran new lands to the east, reaching the prewar borders. Approximately 40,000 civilians perished during the retreat of Armenian-Georgian volunteers and the Ottoman advance.^[6] According to Clarence Ussher, an American doctor in eastern Anatolia, the number of Armenians killed during the Russian retreat numbered 7,000.^[7]

Treaty

On 11 May, a new peace conference opened at Batum.^[4] the Ottomans extended their demands to include Tiflis as well as Alexandropol and Echmiadzin; they also wanted a railroad to be built to connect Kars and Julfa with Baku. The new Armenian state, through which the 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 21 May, the Ottoman army moved ahead once again into areas of Russian Armenia that had not been under the sultan's control since the 17th century. The conflict led to the Battle of Sardarapat (21–29 May), the Battle of Karakilisa (24–28 May), and the Battle of Bash Abaran (21–24 May).

The treaty was signed while the Third Army held positions 7 km from Yerevan and only 10 km from Echmiadzin. The treaty needed to be examined and confirmed by the Central Powers. Fifteen days after the treaty, delegates from Armenia were asked to come to Constantinople. In the surrendered territories the majority of the 1,250,000 pre-war inhabitants had been Armenians, with more than 400,000 in the ceded sector of Yerevan province alone.^[8]

Signatories

Ottoman side:

Halil Menteshe – Minister of Justice
Wehib Pasha – commander of the Third Army during the Caucasus Campaign

Armenian side:

Avetis Aharonian – Chairman of the Armenian National Council
Alexander Khatisian – Minister of Foreign Affairs
M. Babachanian
Ghorghanian

Azerbaijani side:

Mammad Amin Rasulzade – President of Azerbaijani National Council
Mammad Hasan Hajinski – Minister of Foreign Affairs

Georgian side:

Noe Ramishvili – Prime Minister
Ilia Odishelidze – Deputy Minister of Defense
Giorgi Gvazava - member of the presidium of the National Council of Georgia
Grigol Rtskhiladze - member of the National Council of Georgia

Statistics

Ethnoreligious composition of territories ceded in the Treaty of Batum^[9]
Area	Territory occupied	Armenians	Muslims	Georgians	Russians
Tiflis Governorate
↳ Akhalkalaki uezd	1,150 sq mi (3,000 km²)	64,000	8,000	8,000	8,000
↳ Akhaltsikhe uezd	1,100 sq mi (2,800 km²)	27,000	18,000	25,000	540
Erivan Governorate
↳ Alexandropol uezd	750 sq mi (1,900 km²)	173,000	3,000	420	2,000
↳ Nakhichevan uezd	1,500 sq mi (3,900 km²)
↳ Surmalu uezd	1,400 sq mi (3,600 km²)	30,000	66,000
↳ Sharur-Daralayaz uezd	600 sq mi (1,600 km²)	500	12,000		60
↳ Erivan uezd	700 sq mi (1,800 km²)	30,000	48,000		1,000
↳ Etchmiadzin uezd	900 sq mi (2,300 km²)	76,000	42,000		400
Treaty of Batum	8,100 sq mi (21,000 km²)	400,500	197,000	33,420	12,000

Ethnoreligious composition of the South Caucasus in 1918^[10]
Nation	Area (sq mi)	Share of Transcaucasia	Armenians	Muslims	Georgians	Other
Armenia	4,000	8%	470,000	168,000		41,000
Georgia	29,000	41%	535,000	200,000	1,607,000	510,000
Azerbaijan	36,000	51%	653,000	2,138,900		304,000

References

^ Charlotte Mathilde Louise Hille (2010), State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus, BRILL, p. 71, ISBN 978-9-004-17901-1
^ Alexander Mikaberidze (2011), Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World, ABC-CLIO, p. 201, ISBN 978-1-598-84337-8
^ Tadeusz Swietochowski (1985), Russian Azerbaijan, 1905-1920: The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community, Cambridge University Press, p. 119, ISBN 978-0-521-26310-8
^ ^a ^b Ezel Kural Shaw (1977), Reform, revolution and republic : the rise of modern Turkey (1808-1975), History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, p. 326, OCLC 78646544 (Turkish Perspective)
^ ^a ^b Richard Hovannisian, The Armenian people from ancient to modern times, pp. 292–293, ISBN 978-0-333-61974-2, OCLC 312951712 (Armenian Perspective)
^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1967). Armenia on the road to independence, 1918. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 277. ISBN 0-520-00574-0. OCLC 825110.
^ A-To. The Major Events in Vasburagan, 1914–1917. p. 480.
^ Richard G. Hovannisian (1997). The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-333-61974-2. OCLC 312951712.
^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1967). Armenia on the road to independence, 1918. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 199. ISBN 0-520-00574-0. OCLC 825110.
^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1967). Armenia on the road to independence, 1918. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 236. ISBN 0-520-00574-0. OCLC 825110.