demanding explanations from the ministers. The Parliament convokes also the
Constituent Assembly, which founds the organic laws of the Republic.
The President of the Parliament has the right, till the said Constituent
Assembly meets, to choose the Premier and to entrust him with the care of forming a
Cabinet. In short, just as the Parliament has among its members representatives of
other nationalities, it is agreed that the Cabinet shall contain Armenian and Russian
representatives.
The activity of all ministries, of all the institutions of the State -
administrative, judicial, financial, educational, ways of communications, including
the Foreign Office - must be submitted to the control of Parliament. It has the same
supervision over the War Department, which now has a very well organized army of
50.000 men, including all branches of the service, and composed exclusively of
natives of Azerbaijan.
It was a resolution passed by Parliament which created the present Peace
Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan whose task is to place before the Peace
Conference in Paris, all the interests of the said Republic and especially to plead the
cause of its recognition by the powers.1
It m ay be interesting to state th at this the first election in w hich M oham m edan w om en have ever taken part.
EXTENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN
Various administrative divisions.
Azerbaijan of the Caucasus embraces the territory of the above enumerated
Khanates, which maintained their independence untill 1813-1828. Under the Russian
rule, the country, like the rest of the Caucasus, was divided for the Government's pur-
poses into administrative divisions bearing names of governments (or rather
gouberniya, i. e. counties) (oblasti). These were in their turn divided into districts.
The following are the administrative divisions forming the Azerbaijan of the
Caucasus :
I. The whole Gouberniya of Baku, with the town of Baku and its region I,
consisting of the districts of Baku 2, Djevad 3. Ghcokschai 4, Shemakha 5, Kuba 6,
Lenkoran 7.
II. The Gouberniya of Elizabethpol (Gandja), consisting of the districts of
Elizabethpol (Gandja 8), Djevanshire 9, Nouha 10, Aresh 11, Shousha 12 (or Shusha),
Djabrail 13, Zanghezour 14 and Kezakh 15, the mountainous part of which is the
subject of discussion between Azerbaijan and the Armenian Republic.
III.
The
Gouberniya
of
Erivan,
witn
the
districts
of
Nakhitchevan 16, Sharouro-Daralagheuz 17, Sourmala 18 and a part of the districts of
New Bajazed 19, Etshmiadzin 20, Erivan 21, Alexandrovsk 22.
IV. In the Gouberniya of Tiflis, certain parts of the districts of Bortchalou
23, Tiflis 24, Signakh 25.
V. The District of Zakatal.
VI. In the Region of Daghestan, a part of the territory, containing the regions
of Kurin 26 and Samur 27, as well as a part of the district of Kaitago-Tabassaran 28
with the town of Derbent and its surroundings.
VII. In the above named Gouberniyas of Erivan and Tiftis, as well as in the
district of Zakatala, there are territories, frequently inconsiderable in area, the
possession of which is claimed by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Northern
Caucasus.
As to the Region of Daghestan, its population, a part of which is related to
the Azerbaijanians, always had a tendency to unite with Azerbaijan. Economic
interests connect it so strongly to the towns of Kuba and Baku, that it would be
difficult to imagine the existence of Daghestan if deprived of that political and
economic connection. The inhabitants gave a proof of this by sending pressing
petitions to the Government of Azerbaijan, in which they demanded that Daghestan,
as far as the river Soulak should be annexed to Azerbaijan.
Of course, the Government of Azerbaijan cannot ignore the just demand of a
neighbour related by blood, whose fate is so closely connected with its own. They
will be obliged to submit to the wishes of Daghestan, recognising that the feelings of
brotherhood uniting those two countries demand very special care as to political and
economic organization.
Thus all territorial and frontier disputes which may arise, as well as
questions about the political fate of Daghestan must be settled by common agreement
with the Republic of Northern Caucasus.
The Republic Regions o f Batum and Kars
Beside the enumerated provinces and regions, the Republic of Azerbaijan
believes it has a right to add to its territory a part of the district of Akhalzik in the
Gouberniya of Tiflis, the provinces of Batum and especially Kars. The inhabitants,
especially of the region around Kars, belong to the same ethnographic group as the
Azerbaijanians, their religion, manners, customs, their ways of living are quite the
same as those of Azerbaijan. It is then easy to understand why the Mussulmans of
those regions sent repeatedly petitions to the Azerbaijanian Government, asking it to
include them into the territory of Azerbaijan. Those requests have become especially
pressing since the Turkish troops have left the country, after the local Government
and Parliaments have been dissolved by the representatives of the commanders of the
allied armies, and their country divided between the neighbouring Republics:
Armenia (Kars) and Georgia (Ardahan).
The Azerbaijanian Republic, considering that division as arbitrary, found it
necessary to protest against the injustice of such an act, contrary to the wishes of the
native populations who had clearly expressed their refusal to submit to the power of
the neighbouring republics. These populations sent then, as we have said, petitions to
the Azerbaijanian Government, begging to be included into the territory of the
Azerbaijanian Republic.
Those facts compel our Republic to declare that the population of the region
of Batum and Kars, as well as of the district of Akhaltsik should be called upon to
decide their future as they please, and that, from our own point of view, the creation
of an independent Republic would be the best means of settling that question, whilst
satisfying the desires and interests of the said region.
It would only be, in case of an unfavourable solution, that Azerbaijan might
with greater right, press her claims on those countries, which have an access on the
sea. We speak of this in the supplement on the “Financial and economic situation of
Azerbaijan”.
The Azerbaijanian Republic, the defender of the will of the native
population, considering her friendly feelings towards her neighbour, the Georgian
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