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Cossacks cooperated with the Volunteer Army and the Volunteer Army was acting 
together with the allied powers. Thus at the end, they had a last and only chance, to 
cooperate with the Turks. 
 
C-Turkish Policy towards the Caucasus: 
As mentioned earlier in this chapter, Ottomans had always close contacts 
with the North Caucasus. Following the establishment of Russian rule in the 
region, a large number of Mountaineers were forcibly settled on the Ottoman lands 
and even participated in the political life of the Ottoman Empire. Initially they 
actively joined the anti-Russian campaigns, hoping to liberate the North Caucasus. 
Nevertheless, after the 1877-78 War, in compliance with Ottoman policy, they had 
to keep silent until 1908. From then on, with the help of a new regime North 
Caucasian émigré organizations began to emerge in İstanbul.  
The Circassian Association of Union and Relief (‘Çerkes İttihad ve Teavün 
Cemiyeti’) was the first North Caucasian émigré organization in İstanbul.
221
 This 
Association was established by Gazi Mehmet Paşa, the son of Imam Shamil, as a 
social organization which aimed to direct the Circassian community in exile, 
preserve linguistic and cultural peculiarities of the community, teach the national 
history, and maintain their distinct culture. Moreover, it is important to note that 
                                                                                                                                        
220
 Bunyan and Fisher, 407-9. 
221
 For a detailed work on this association see Sefer E. Berzeg, 1985. Gurbetteki Kafkasya’dan 
Belgeler Ankara, 10-23. Vasfi Güsar, 1975. “Çerkes İttihad ve Teavün Cemiyeti,” Kuzey Kafkasya 
Kültürel Dergi, 47: 28-37. Among the other Caucasian Associations in İstanbul,  İstanbul’da 
Kafkasyalılar Arasında Neşr-i Maarif Cemiyeti and Kafkas Teali Cemiyeti could be mentioned. The 
former appears to have provided material assistance for the study of North Caucasian refugees in 
İstanbul, while the latter was another political extension of the same group. Sefer E. Berzeg, 6-7. 

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the organization, naturally, from the outset had a declared aim of seeing the 
motherland liberated.
222
 
In compliance with the social objectives the Association began to publish 
an eight-page weekly paper Guaze (Guide) in April 1911 and more importantly: 
“Circassians trained in İstanbul were sent by ÇİTC [i. e. ‘Çerkes İttihad ve 
Teavün Cemiyeti’] to found native language elementary schools in the 
Kuban for example, in the years 1910-12. The textbooks employed were 
developed in Istanbul. At this time a lycee and the teachers school was also 
established in Nalchik. As the Russian authorities moved after 1911 to force 
the withdrawal of Ottoman subjects who were engaged in such teaching 
endeavours, 36 local men where gathered and trained over a three month 
period.”
223
 
 
Nevertheless, the last may be the most important objective of the 
Association. Liberation of the motherland did not develop as an objective until the 
beginning of the First World War. The confluence of interests brought the 
Association and the leaders of the ruling party of the Union and Progress into 
alliance, and the political activities of the emigres increased dramatically. Most of 
the members of these organizations, were in fact already party members.
224
 When 
the First World War broke out, these North Caucasian’s in exile had conceived a 
confederative state, which encompassed Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and the 
North Caucasus as a ‘buffer state’ between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Enver 
Pasha vehemently supported this idea and took an active part in the activities to 
                                                 
222
 For the objectives and the programs see above mentioned sources. 
223
 Lowell Bezanis, Lazare of Levant: A Study of North Caucasian Organizing and Publishing 
Outside the USSR, 36. 
224
 Among these names Hüseyin Tosun Şhapli, Field-Marshal Fuad Pasha, Rauf Orbay Abuk Ahmet 
Paşa, Aziz Meker, Bekir Sami Kundukh, Dr. İsa Ruhi Paşa were the most renowns. M. Aydın 
Turan, April 1998. “Osmanlı Dönemi Kuzey Kafkasya Diasporası Tarihinden: Şimali Kafkas 
Cemiyeti,” Tarih ve Toplum, 29(172): 50-59. 

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organize an anti-Russian movement in the Caucasus.
225
 In line with this the Turkish 
Army was ordered to be ready for an advance into the Caucasus to destroy Russia’s 
war supply network.
226
 
Meanwhile, by the beginning of the World War, the North Caucasian 
emigres, through the initiative of Enver Pasha, organized a ‘Caucasus Committee’ 
(‘Kafkas Komitesi’) in September 1915 in İstanbul.
227
 This Committee, by 
establishing special commissions, searched for support and patronage from the 
Central Powers in Vienna and Berlin in December 1915. In January 1916, it 
submitted a memorandum on the establishment of the Caucasian Confederation 
comprising Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the North Caucasus in the ‘Captive Nations 
Congress’ in Lausanne.
228
 
However, in the summer of 1917, because of the Georgian-German 
rapprochement, this committee was scattered and each group founded their own 
organizations. The North Caucasians set up a ‘Committee of North Caucasian 
Emigrants in Turkey’ (‘Türkiye’de  Şimali Kafkasya Muhacirlerinin Komitesi’). 
                                                 
225
 Kurat stressed that, in August 1914 by the initiative of Enver Paşa, Fuad Paşa had organized a 
mission to the North Caucasus with the aim of carrying out the plan of establishing Islamic State 
under the authority of Ottoman Prince which encompasses Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus. 
Akdes Nimet Kurat, 1990. Türkiye ve Rusya, Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 500. 
226
 W.E.D. Allen and Paul Muratoff, 459-460. 
227
 Under the leadership of Field-Marshall Fuat Paşa, Georgians Prince Machabelli and Kamil 
Toghiridze; Azerbaijani Selim Bey Behbutov; North Caucasians Dr. İsa Paşa and Aziz Meker took 
part in this Committee. Dr. G. Jaschke, 1937. “1916 Lozan Kongresinde Rusya Mahkumu 
Milletler,”  Kurtuluş, (Berlin), 28: 17-21 and 29/30: 24-28 respectively: 17. Among these names 
Prince Machabelli had already had close contacts with Germans through the Georgian émigré 
organization that was established in 1905 in Berlin. See Fritz Fischer, 1967. Germany’s Aims in the 
First World War, London: Chatto & Windus, 134. 
228
 For the congresses of Captive Nations see Jaschke, 20-21. For a detailed work on this issue also 
see M. Aydın Turan, September 1997. “Gothard Jaschke’nin Bir Makalesi,’ Tarih ve Toplum, 
28(165): 13-21.  Fritz Fisher asserted that Prince Machabelli drew up this idea or the plan of 
Confederation in September 1914. “His plan envisaged a neutral Caucasian Federation, with 
Georgia a kingdom under a west European prince, the Armenia and Tatar districts under a 
Mohammedan prince, while the so called mountain peoples were to be under a ruler chosen by 
themselves.” 135. 

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