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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”. 

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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”. 

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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. 

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