Turkish Invasion of the Caucasus Under the
Brest Treaty--Struggle of the Georgians
By the terms of the Brest-Litovsk treaty the Bolshevist Government of
Russia gave up to Turkey the districts of Batum, Kars, and Erivan,
comprising the southwestern portion of the Caucasus, between the Black
and Caspian Seas. This region includes the Russian part of the former
Kingdom of Armenia, with Turkish Armenia adjoining it on the south. It
is inhabited largely by Armenians and by that other ancient people, the
Georgians, between whom and the Turks there has been an age-long and
deadly feud. Hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees from Turkish
persecution in Asia Minor had taken refuge here under the Russian
flag in the last three years, especially after the first Petrograd
revolution gave promise of liberty under a republic. Now Georgians
and Armenians alike find themselves betrayed into the hands of their
Turkish enemies.
Soon after the signing of the treaty on March 3, 1918, the Turks sent
armed forces to take possession of the three districts named. They met
with resistance both from the Armenians and from the Georgians, but
neither of the betrayed nationalities had an army competent to cope
with the enemy. The result was a new reign of terror, similar to that
of the massacres in Turkish Armenia, and the world was horrified anew
by the atrocities that ensued.