63
political parties and local non-political
charity organizations, like Dagestan Islamic
Charity Organization
147
. Beyond these groups, as was the case in the other parts
and among the other peoples of the Caucasus, there were no Bolsheviks and thus
Bolshevik organization among the North Caucasian Mountaineers.
148
Because of this diversity it seemed difficult to establish an earnest and
unified nationalist organization in the North Caucasus during that period. The
political milieu in the empire, however, forced at least some of the intellectuals to
think about the situation in Russia and its effects in the North Caucasus. Thus on
19 March 1917
149
, several respected
North Caucasian intellectuals, most of whom
were lawyers educated in St. Petersburg, created a ‘Provisional Central Committee
of the Mountaineers of the Caucasus’ in Vladikavkaz.
150
. It was presided over by a
Socialist Revolutionary Bassiat Abayevich Chakhanov, a Balkar. This Committee,
which aimed to organise a general congress of Mountaineers and establish an
146
İ. Berkuk (Berkok), September 1934. “Büyük Harpte [334] Şimalî Kafkasyadaki Faaliyetlerimiz
ve 15. Fırkanın Harekâtı ve Muharebeleri,
” 94 Sayılı Askerî Mecmua’nın Tarih Kısmı, (İstanbul),
35: 15. Hereafter “15. Fırkanın Harekâtı”.
147
Mustafa Beştoy, May/July 1965. “Ahmet Avar’la
Bir Mülakat,”
Birleşik Kafkasya, (İstanbul), 4:
49-51. For the emergence and the course of political organizations and activities in early 20
th
century see
Severnyi Kavkaz v Period Revoliutsii 1905-1907gg: Mezhvuzovskii sbornik statei, 1981.
Krasnodar: Kubanskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet.
148
A. Magoma, January/March 1954. “Kafkas Katliamının X. Yıldönümü,”
Birleşik Kafkasya
(Vereinigtes Kaukasien), (Munich), 1/3 (30/32): 6. Balo Bilatti, February/March 1966. “Şimali
Kafkasya ve 11 Mayıs 1918,”
Birleşik Kafkasya, (İstanbul), 7: 6-11.
149
See
Compte-Rendu des Assemblées des Peuples de la Ciscaucasie et de leurs Travaux
Legislatifs, 1918. Constantinople: Publié par le Comité des Emigrés Politiques de la Ciscaucasie en
Turquie, p V. Hereafter,
Compte-Rendu. D. Halidov, “Istoricheskaia Spravka o Gorskoy Respublike
11 Maia 1918 goda i Politiko-pravovye Aspektı Anneksii Gorskoy Respubliki” in
Sbornik
Materialov 1-i Nauchno-prakticheskoi Konferentsii na Temu: «Istoriia Gorskikh Narodov Kavkaza
(1917-1920 gg) i Nezavisimaia Gorskaia Respublika 11 Maia 1918 goda» (Makhackala, 1992), p
55. Hereafter,
Sbornik.
150
Compte-Rendu, V and Kurtatag, 26 March 1927. “Istoricheskie
Zadachi Gortsev Kavkaza,”
Vol’nye Gortsy, (Prague), 1: 5. Hereafter “Zadachi”.
64
umbrella organization, consisted of 16 members, most of whom were liberal and
wealthier landowners and socialists.
151
A-The First Congress of the Peoples of the North Caucasus:
The Provisional Committee managed to convene the First Congress of the
Peoples of the North Caucasus in d’Olynski gymnasium in Vladikavkaz between 1-
7 May 1917.
152
This Congress, with the participation of more than 300 delegates,
was the first overall meeting of Mountaineers from the shores of the Black Sea, to
the Caspian. Representatives of the Circassians, Dagestanis, the Abkhaz, and even
the Turkmens and Nogays took part. Moreover,
on behalf of the State Duma, M. A.
Karaulov, a Cossack, and N. N. Nicolayev; representatives of the Armenians,
Azerbaijanis; representatives of the Soldiers and the Social Democrats joined the
Congress and made speeches.
The delegates to the Congress, after questioning the Tsarist administration
and oppression, defined the Revolution as a ‘miracle’ and utilized the
mottos of the
French Revolution, ‘liberty,
equality, and fraternity’ in each and every occasion. In
line with that, the basic aim of the Congress emerged as the establishment of a
union of all the peoples of the North Caucasus, including Nogays and Turkmens.
151
The members were Abdulmejid Tapa Chermoev [Çermoy], Prince Reshid Khan Kaplanov,
Beshir Dalgat, General T. Ukurov, S. Kochenov, Tavsultan Chakmanov [Şakman], Tajeddin
Pensulayev, M. Chermoev, S. Thostov, G. Ahriev, Ch. Arsamakov, Prince T. Alhazov, B. Lianov,
A. Khanukov and I. Abayev.
Compte-Rendu, V-VI and 136-7. G. K. I. Kakagasanov also given
these names, except M. Chermoev, S. Thostov, G. Ahriev and Ch. Arsamakov in “Pervye O’ezdy
Gortsev Severnogo Kavkaza i Dagestana/Politicheskaia Platforma,
Programma i Konstitutsiia
Gortsev Severnogo Kavkaza i Dagestana,” in
Sbornik, 11-23.
152
Compte-Rendu, and Kurtatag, p. 5. Also see, Dr. Edige Kırımal, May 1953. “Şimali
Kafkasya’nın İstiklalinin 1918 Yılında Türk ve Alman Matbuatındaki Akisleri,”
Birleşik Kafkasya
(Vereinigtes Kaukasien), (Munich), 5 (22): 7-12. A. Magoma, January-March 1954. “Kafkas
Katliamının X. Yıldönümü,”
Birleşik Kafkasya (Vereinigtes Kaukasien), (Munich), 1/3 (30/32): 4-8
Hereafter “Katliam”.
65
They believed that all the rights and freedoms that were attained as a result of the
February Revolution could became absolute. In this Congress, through different
commissions
153
, Mountaineers tried to analyze each and every aspect of the
possible state structure and daily life of the Mountaineers. Moreover, as it was
stressed
by one of the delegates, through the Congress “the peoples of the North
Caucasus that are differentiated from the perspective of language, are, now getting
together and uniting on the basis of philosophy of life, traditions and customs and
common interests.”
154
At the end of the Congress, Mountaineers proclaimed the establishment of
the Alliance of the Unified Mountaineers of the North Caucasus and Dagestan
(
Soyuza Ob’edinennikh Gortsev Severnogo Kavkaza i Dagestana).
155
In this
framework, the Congress prepared a political program and a draft Constitution
156
,
in which the Alliance accepted itself as a constituent part of Russia, and
undoubtedly agreed with the ideals of the Revolution.
In addition, until the
convocation of the new Russian Constituent Assembly, it recognized the
Provisional Government in St. Petersburg as the sole legitimate authority and
declared their commitment to continuing war, and opposition to any kind of
counter-revolutionary activity.
157
The first and the foremost priority of the Congress was the establishment of
a Federal-Democratic state structure in Russia. Within the program, Mountaineers
153
Political
and social, agricultural, judicial, religious or spiritual, educational and financial
commissions.
Compte-Rendu, 48.
154
Barasbi Baytugan, 1970. “Kuzey Kafkasya,”
Dergi, (Munich), 16(61): 8.
155
B. O. Kashkaev, 1963.
Bor’ba za Sovety v Dagestane (1917-1920 gody), Moscow: Izdatel’stvo
Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskoy Literatury, 39. Hereafter
Bor’ba.