Microsoft Word mitatcelikpaladokto doc

 
 
 
134 
 
Warsaw was chosen as the center for the party and its initial activities, and the 
militant cadres were composed of the ‘the young intellectuals’ in Prague.
355
 Thus, 
it is not wrong to say that the Caucasian Mountaineers People Party was a 
continuation and the amalgamation of the Union of the Caucasian Mountaineers of 
Prague and Caucasian Independence Committee of İstanbul. Most of the leading 
figures of both parties like, Ahmet Tsalikhov, Elmurza Bekovich Cherkaskiy, 
Barasbi Baytugan, Adil Bek Kulatti, Mirza Bek Kulatti, Aytek Kundukh, Ahmet 
Nabi Magoma, Gazihan Bessolt, Cemalettin Kanukati, Kosta Zangi, Ahmet 
Canbek, Mehmet Girey Sunch (Sunç), Tavsultan Shakman and Ibrahim Chulik 
played a role in this new organization. 
From the beginning the Party quickly organized itself among the dispersed 
North Caucasian diasporas and making the Middle East, especially Turkey the first 
focus of its attention. Because of the policies of existing governments, it was not 
possible to establish branch organizations of the party. Therefore, in order to reach 
these groups, the first and most effective step was to be the substantial and 
enduring publication activities. Thus, the Party initiated its first periodical Vol’nye 
Gortsy in Prague, of which possibly 6 issues were published in 1927 and 1928 in 
Russian.
356
 Later on it was given the name of Gortsy Kavkaza/Kafkasya Dağlıları 
and renamed once more in May 1934 as Severnyi Kavkaz/Şimali Kafkasya.
357
 
                                                 
355
 Said Şamil, 1995. “Said Şamil’den Muhaceretteki Kuzey Kafkasyalıların esir Vatan’ın 
Kurtuluşuyla İlgili Mücadelelerine Işık Tutan Tarihi Bir Mektup,” Birleşik Kafkasya, (Eskişehir), 3: 
49-50. 
356
 The first issue of the Vol’nye Gortsy, which was the namesake of an earlier publication that 
appeared in Tiflis in 1920, was published on 26 March 1927. Then the second one was published on 
3 May 1927, and the third on 28 June 1927. The 4
th
 and 5
th
 issues were not available for me but the 
6
th
 and possibly last issue was published on 19 January 1928. 
357
 Gortsy Kavkaza appeared through 1928 as the North Caucasian National Defense Organ. It was 
continued with a Turkish component Gortsy Kavkaza/Kafkasya Dağlıları (1929-1934) and partially 
concurrent Severnyi Kavkaz/Şimali Kafkasya (1934-1939). 

---

 
 
 
135 
 
First hand information on the program and party regulation is only possible 
by the help of a declaration which was issued by the Party on 23 March 1927 and 
published in Vol’nye Gortsy. In this declaration, the party declared that its main 
aim was to establish a ‘national-territorial’ state that is a sovereign North Caucasian 
Federal Republic, in compliance with the basic principles, which had drawn up by 
the Andi Congress of 1917. In addition, everyone would have the right to vote, 
without discrimination on grounds of race, sex, and belief. Each and every civil 
liberty would also be guaranteed. The economic structure would be liberal in 
content. Commercial and industrial sectors will gain the precedence for future 
economic development. Therefore, the private sector will be encouraged to make 
investments especially in commercial and industrial fields of activities.
358
 
Within the pages of the periodical the Mountaineers openly declared that 
they were against the Russians. Red or white, Russians were not to be trusted and 
that the Mountaineers could not wait for new and better policies to be implemented 
by the Russians. Primarily, the Bolsheviks were implementing the policies of 
Tsarist Russia and thus, within the pages of Vol’nye Gortsy the Mountaineers did 
not hesitate to urge the leaders of the new regime: “Communists, repent before it is 
too late!”
359
 
 
The Party also rejected the proposals, put forward by the newly emerging 
Socialist League of East European Nations, to organize plebiscite in the lands that 
                                                 
358
 For the text of the declaration see Vol’nye Gortsy, (Prague), 26 March 1927, 1: 1-2. 
359
 “Otkliki Druzey ‘Vol’nikh Gortsev’,” Vol’nye Gortsy, (Prague), 3 May 1927, 2: 21. 

---

 
 
 
136 
 
were under Soviet rule after the liberation and expressed a will to be 
independent.
360
 
Despite its importance as the first official periodical of the Free Caucasian 
Mountaineers People Party, Vol’nye Gortsy never mentioned itself as a Promethean 
publication. On the other hand, its successors Gortsy Kavkaza and Severnyi 
Kavkaz/Şimali Kafkasya were outwardly Promethean publications and the basis of 
the Mountaineers’ struggle in exile took shape within the pages of these 
periodicals. Moreover, while they were waiting for the War to re-establish their 
state, the North Caucasians started to discuss the structure of the state and the basic 
difficulties posed by unification. From the beginning it became clear that the 
biggest challenge facing them in unification was the creation of a single nation. 
 
3- Creating a Nation? 
The North Caucasian emigres took the issue of creating a ‘North Caucasian 
nation’ seriously. Almost all the leading figures believed that the basic handicap to 
establishing a unified structure for the struggle for the North Caucasian territory, 
was the lack of a single, unique North Caucasian nation. Therefore, as Balo Bilatti 
emphasized, in sovereign North Caucasus, there would be no Avar, Kabardian, 
Balkar, Osetian, Chechen or Kumuk, but just a North Caucasian.
361
 Lack of this 
kind of an understanding was the main reason for the captivity of the North 
Caucasian peoples. 
                                                 
360
 Related with the Socialist League of East European Nations and the position of the Party against 
it see Batraz, 3 May 1927. “Liga Sotsialistov Vostoka Evropy i Gortsy Kavkaza,” Vol’nye Gortsy, 
(Prague), 2: 18-19 and see the leading article of the No. 6, published on 19 January 1928, 1-5. 
361
 Balo Bilatti, 1935. “Millet ve Dil,” Severnyi Kavkaz, (Warsaw), 15: 4. 

---