Azərbaycan Paris Sülh Konfransında (1918-1920)

Seim and Transcaucasian Federal Republic 
The Government found it necessary to call a meeting of the House of 
Representatives (or Transcaucasian Seim) composed of 132 members. Among these 
there were more Azerbaijanians than others, because they formed a majority in the 
region. The Seim was composed of: 1. The representatives of the said nationalities, 
elected by universal suffrage according to the electoral law of the National Assembly 

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of all Russia; 2. Three times as many as there were deputies of the country to the said 
Assembly, these to be elected by the national organisations and political parties of 
each of the nationalities. 
The Seim had at its head a directory composed of three members (one for 
each nationality). On of April 9, 1918, the Assembly proclaimed the independence of 
the Caucasus and formed a federal republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. The 
foundation of this confederacy was well received by all the Transcaucasian nations. 
They hoped that, united as they were by ure and by so many analogous interests 
especially in the sphere of economics, the Transcaucasians would know how to 
organize their political affairs (viribus unitis). 
Powerlessnes of the Seim 
 
However their government of that time proved its inability in the work of the 
administration of the country, its lack of justice in the defense of the interests of all 
the parts of Transcaucasia. It showed itself unskillful and unable to subject national 
interests and those of political parties to the common interests of the whole region. 
All this brought about a just dislike of the said government, even of the Republic 
itself. 
The Azerbaijanians protested most loudly, for, coincident with the 
establishment of the Republic, a whole series of misfortunes befell them. The 
Azerbaijanian population of several parts of the province of Erivan became a prey to 
the attacks of the Armenian army, who massacred in certain districts all the Moslems, 
without sparing old people, women or children, and burnt or plundered hundreds of 
villages. 
Deaf to the protests of the Azerbaijanian deputies of the Seim, the 
government took no serious measures, its attitude was still more incompatible with 
the general situation of all Transcaucasia at the time of the invasion of Baku and 
almost the entire district by the bolsheviks. 
The Azerbaijanian deputies of the Seim applied earnestly for help on behalf 
of the town of Baku and the surroundings, but the majority of the members of the 
government turned a deaf ear or used high-flown language. 
Of course this weakness of the government, whether intentional or 
involuntary, made the existence of the Transcaucasian Republic impossible, all the 
more so as unexpected events were taking place at that time abroad. The Republic fell 
to pieces. Georgia withdrew first, May 26th 1918, and formed on that very day a 
Georgian Republic, after which, within the limits of Transcaucasia, were founded an 
Azerbaijanian and an Armenian Republic