131
For the subject of all those objects the K.K.K. considers that £900 will be
required per month.”
346
Nevertheless, because of the ‘close’ relations between the newly founded
states of Turkish Republic and the Soviet Union, the activities of those anti-
Bolshevik or anti-Soviet groups were halted and its leaders were forced to leave
Turkey or to keep in silence.
C- Prométhée and the Amalgamation of Exiles:
By the late 1920s, as a result of negative Turkish attitudes towards the
Caucasian emigres and the death of Masaryk in Czechoslovakia, the Mountaineers
began to search for a new safe heaven for their anti-Soviet independence
movement. The atmosphere in Europe was favourable for the establishment of an
anti-Bolshevik or Soviet front. Accordingly, the aforementioned Caucasian
Independence Committee firstly moved to Paris in 1926. This allowed the
establishment of close contacts between the members of the Committee and the
Union of the Caucasian Mountaineers in Prague and the bulk of emigration who
were living in Paris.
Meanwhile, in May 1926 General Pilsudski came to the power in Poland.
As Hostler stressed it, his official program was the political preparation for a
possible war with the Soviets.
347
He was aware of the importance of the anti-Soviet
nationalist movements and accepted them as natural allies. He got a quick response
from these groups and Russian emigres turned their faces towards Poland.
346
Caucasian Boundaries, [FO 371/11783].
347
Charles Warren Hostler, 1993. The Turks of Central Asia, London: Preager, 124.
132
Pilsudski, by allocating a considerable sum of money, strongly supported the
activities of the emigres against the Bolshevik regime, which attracted émigré
groups to Warsaw. And, with Polish financial support, the non-Slavic population of
the former Russian Empire, except the Armenians, succeeded in setting up an
overarching anti-Bolshevik political organization in 1926: the Prométhée.
348
The main contenders of all the anti-Bolshevik national parties of the
revolutionary period in Russia took part in this newly established umbrella
organization: Georgian Mensheviks, Azerbaijani ‘Musavat’, Crimean Tatars’ ‘Milli
Fırka’, Turkistani ‘Milli Türkistan Birliği’ and the members of various North
Caucasian and other non-Slavic groups.
349
The official publication of the Prométhée was its periodical Prométhée. The
first issue of the Prométhée was published in November 1926 in Paris. In fact,
beyond that the organization supplied the necessary financial means for the
publication of several periodicals in different languages aimed at different
nationalities. Among these were Trizub-Le Trident, Sakartvelo (Paris), İstiklâl and
Kurtuluş (Berlin), Yaña Milli Yul (Berlin), Yaş Türkistan (Berlin-Paris), Volnoye
Kazachestvo (Prague), Emel (Constanza), Severnyi Kavkaz-Şimali Kafkasya
(Warsaw).
350
348
For Prométhée
see Etienne Copeaux 1997. “Prometeci Hareket,” Unutkan Tarih, Sovyet Sonrası
Türkdili Alanı. In Semih Vaner, ed., İstanbul: Metis Yay., 17-52 and January-February 1993.
“Promete Hareketi” Kırım, 2: 11-20. According to Muhlen Prométhée
was
set up in 1928 after a
Caucasian freemasonry guild has moved from Warsaw to Paris. Patrik von zur Muhlen, 1984.
Gamalıhaç ile Kızılyıldız Arasında: İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nda Sovyet Doğu Halkları’nın
Milliyetçiliği,trnsl. Eşref Bengi Özbilen, Ankara: Mavi Yayınları, 20-1. Hereafter Gamalıhaç ile
Kızılyıldız Arasında.
349
Noy Jordaniya, Cafer Seydahmet, Osman Hoca, Mustafa Çokayoğlu, Ayaz İshaki, Said Shamil,
Mehmed Emin Resulzade and Roman Smal-Stotskiy were the leading members of the Prométhée.
However, Armenians, possibly because of the Turkish dominance refused to participate and
cooperate. Muhlen, ibid., p. 20.
350
Copeaux, ‘Prometeci Hareket’, p. 29 and, Hostler, ibid., pp. 124-5.
133
The Prométhée functioned through the Promethean Club in Warsaw. This
club also had branches in Paris, Helsinki, and other European capitals. All national
communities and governments in exile were represented in meetings, discussions
and the planning of the political and propaganda actions. Beyond all those more or
less public work;
“the most serious and important activity was restricted to inner circles of
the governments in exile, national communities, and the special desk of the
Polish general staff and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who formulated
plans for a possible future war and activities in the territory of the Soviet
Union.”
351
D- The Free Caucasian Mountaineers People Party:
In Prométhée, each national group functioned through their own national
centers. In a way, the North Caucasian peoples set up their own organization or
national center on 18 November 1926
352
: The Free Caucasian Mountaineers People
Party (Narodnoy Partii Vol’nikh Gortsev Kavkaza). Later on, this Party renamed
itself the Caucasian Mountaineers People Party (Narodnaya Partiya Gortsev
Kavkaza) in Warsaw.
353
The Party, which defined as a political organization “shinning in exile”, was
the first and the sole political party of the North Caucasians in exile.
354
The party
aimed at strengthening the spirit of the struggle for freedom among the North
Caucasian intelligentsia. Therefore, as its main organizer, Said Shamil pointed out,
351
Hostler, 125.
352
Barasbi Baytugan, 1931. “Znamenatel’naya data,” Gortsy Kavkaza, (Paris), 26: 4. Also see
Aydın Turan, May 1997. “‘Promethe Hareketi’nde Kuzey Kafkasya Mültecileri: Kafkasya Dağlıları
Halk Partisi (1926-1940)-I,” Tarih ve Toplum, 27(161): 49-57 and “‘Promethe Hareketi’nde Kuzey
Kafkasya Mültecileri: Kafkasya Dağlıları Halk Partisi (1926-1940)-II,” June 1997. 27(162): 39-47.
Hereafter KDHP.
353
Barasbi Baytugan, “Znamenatel’naya data”.
354
Vano Kavtaradze, 1991. “Kafkasya Konfederasyon Yolunda,” trnsl. Musa Ramazan, Kuzey
Kafkasya Kültür Dergisi, (İstanbul), 83/84: 44. Barasbi Baytugan, “Znamenatel’naya data,” 4.
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