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clashes between the Chechen-Ingush and Cossacks erupted over land dispute and 
these groups started to distance themselves from each other.
191
 
 
2-From Central Committee to Provisional Government: November 1917-
March 1918: 
On 15 November1917, in response to the above mentioned developments, 
the Central Committee of the Alliance of the Peoples of the North Caucasus, 
depending on the provisions of the Second Congress and its Constitution, decided 
to set up a republican-federal state structure in the territory of the North Caucasus. 
In compliance with the principles of self-determination and self-government, this 
new state structure was proclaimed one of the sovereign constituent members of the 
newly established Russian Federal Republic. The Central Committee renamed 
itself the ‘Provisional Government’ of this new state and elected Abdulmejid 
Chermoev as its president. This Provisional Government, according to the 
declaration, would have absolute executive power in the territory until such time as 
a new democratic centralized government was set up in Russia and accepted by all 
its component parts.
192
 
Throughout November and December 1917, the Provisional Government of 
the North Caucasian Mountaineers tried to establish contact with its constituent 
                                                                                                                                        
190
 By issuing a Declaration on 1 December, the Cossacks of the Kuban Voiska were going to be 
established the Kuban Republic and its government under the leadership of L. L. Bych. See James 
Bunyan and H. H. Fisher, 404 
191
 Pipes, Formation, 97-98 and Stephen Blank, 1994. The Sorcerer as Apprentice, Stalin as 
Commissar of Nationalities, 1917-1924, Westport: Greenwood Press, 37. Hereafter Sorcerer. 
192
 Vassan-Giray Cabaği [Jabagiev], 1967. Kafkas-Rus Mücadelesi,  İstanbul: Bahar Matbaası, 84, 
and Vassan-Giray Jabagi (Cabagi)[Jabagiev], 1991. “Revolution and Civil War in the North 
Caucasus –End of the 19
th
- Beginning of the 20
th
 Century,” Central Asian Survey, 10(1/2): 121. 
Also see Meker, “Kafkasya,” 13. 

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members and with the Cossacks. It defined its borders as those along the territories 
of Dagestan, six administrative units or the okrugs of the Tsarist Russia with a 
significant Mountaineer population, Karanogay area (uchastok) of the Terek district 
and, Nogay and Turkmen territories of the Stavropol guberniya. Zakatala
193
 and 
Sukhum regions
194
 were also defined as the natural parts of this new state but the 
final decision was temporarily abandoned by the Zakatala and Abkhaz national 
committees, which were under the control of Transcaucasian Government.
195
 But in 
fact, the newly established Mountaineer government was far from taking necessary 
security measures and establishing law and order over its territories. The Central 
Committee still had no insufficient military power and failed to establish its own 
national army. Thus, in order to stop military clashes, secure its borders and 
guarantee its citizens’ rights, the Mountaineer government tried to negotiate a 
friendship treaty and alliance with the Cossacks. Nevertheless, both groups had 
claims of sovereignty over the same territories, and thus, there was no excuse to 
clash on other grounds. 
 
Following the formation of the Bolshevik government in November, 
throughout the last months of 1917, the course of events in the North Caucasus 
changed seriously. In addition to the Mountaineer-Cossacks clashes, and the 
                                                 
193
 In Zakatala region the overwhelming majority of the population was Avar who were settled in 
the region by Shamil after his capture of the territory from the Georgians. 
194
 As it was pointed out above, Simon Basarya had joined the First Congress and placed in the 
Central Committee as a representative of the Abkhaz. However, the situation was more complex. 
The status of the Sukhum region still remained in question. Within the same period, the Abkhaz 
were struggling for the establishment of politically independent Abkhazia by all means within the 
Transcaucasian Federation. See Avtandil Menteshasvili, 1995. Trouble in the Caucasus, New York: 
Nova Science Publishers. 
195
 Kurtatag, “Zadachi,” 7, and Sbornik, appendix no. 4, 76. Also see Cabaği,  Kafkas-Rus 
Mücadelesi, 85. 

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emerging Bolshevik Caucuses, the reality of the dominance of anti-Bolshevik 
currents, particularly the Mensheviks and SRs, turned the Caucasus into the centre 
of the counter-revolutionaries. 
 
The elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly took place on 13 
November 1917
196
. Nevertheless, because of the Cossack Russian majority, which 
was enhanced by the participation of deserting soldiers, the North Caucasians failed 
to win representation ın the Assembly.
197
 It is important to note that this meant that 
the Mountaineers’ did not have a voice at the Russian Constituent Assembly. This 
contravened the principles of the congresses, and thus at the end of December, a 
provisional government of the Mountaineers took a step further and issued a 
declaration stating, that it had decided not to participate “… in the work of the 
Russian Constituent Assembly, and refused to surrender the right to determine the 
affairs of the North Caucasus to the Russian Constituent Assembly.”
198
 Bolsheviks’ 
dismissal of the Constituent Assembly on 18 January 1918 strengthened this 
decision and enhanced the estrangement of Mountaineers from the Bolsheviks and 
their government. From this time on, they took up a position of active resistance 
and independence. 
                                                 
196
 These elections, because of the time shortage to make new arrangements for the Bolsheviks, 
were based on arrangements made under the Provisional Government. Therefore, Right SRs, with 
the peasant vote held the majority. The Constituent Assembly met on 18 January 1918 and refused 
to support Soviet power or the Bolshevik Government. As a response, Bolsheviks with the support 
of the Left SRs dispersed the Assembly. Related with the elections and the situation in the Caucasus 
in general see U.S. Govrnment Intelligence Bureau’s memorandums “on the Political situation in 
the Caucasus,” The National Archieves, (Washington DC), Records of Department of State, Inquiry 
Documents, “Special Reports and Studies”, 1917-1919, MC 1107, Inquiry Documents: 768 and 770. 
197
 The North Caucasian Mountaineers joined the elections within the region of Terek-Dagestan 
okrug, or election constituency. There were 11 different lists that were shaped by different political 
currents. For the analysis of the elections and the candidates in the North Caucasus and Dagestan 
see Kashkaev, Ot Fevralya, 197-199. 

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