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101 
 
Caucasus on the government. Moreover the government was charged with the duty 
of defending the country’s independence that and ensuring the worldwide 
acceptance of this independence.
275 
 
 
While the Turkish troops were preparing to evacuate the North Caucasus, 
the new Allied forces, mainly composed of British forces, set sail from Enzeli to 
Baku, in 20 ships, with Bicherakhov’s troops, under the command of General V. 
M. Thomson on 16 October 1918. The immediate goal of the expedition was to 
enforce the Armistice and to expel any remaining Turks or Germans in the area.
276
 
This was still not the end of Turkish action in the area. Before the 
evacuation of the troops Yusuf İzzet Pasha concluded a treaty with the North 
Caucasian government.
277
 Accordingly, the Ottoman and the North Caucasian 
governments allowed officers and soldiers of the Caucasian Army to stay in the 
region after agreeing contracts with the North Caucasian government. In 
compliance with this Yusuf İzzet Pasha and a considerable number of the troops 
stayed in the North Caucasus.
278
 Thus, from then on, Yusuf İzzet Pasha signed 
everything with the title of Republic’s Army Commander. But this Turkish military 
                                                                                                                                        
274
 Berkuk, “15. Fırkanın Harekâtı”, 95. 
275
 For this report and the resolution see “Ot Pravitel’stva Respubliki Soyuza Gortsev Kavkaza. 
Obrashchenie k naseleniiu Respubliki,” Kurtatag, “Zadachi II,” 5-6 and Jabagi, “Revolution,” 125. 
276
 Brinkley, Allied Intervention, 91. 
277
 The order of Porte to evacuate the region was dated 24 October and allowed the volunteer 
officers and soldiers to stay in the region for a fixed period of time. In compliance with this order 
the treaty was signed by Yusuf İzzet Paşa on behalf of the Ottomans and the President Chermoev 
and the Minister of War Nuh Tarkovskiy on behalf of the Mountaineer Republic. See Berkuk, “15. 
Fırkanın Harekâtı”, 95 and for the text of treaty see Erşan, 139-141. 
278
 At the same time Nuri Paşa, the commander of the Army of Islam became the commander of the 
Army of Azerbaijan. For the account of Turkish volunteers in addition to Berkuk see Kâzım Kap, 
August 1967-April 1968. “Şimali Kafkasya-Bolşevik Rusya Mücadelelerinden Sahneler,” Birleşik 
Kafkasya, (İstanbul), 13-14-15: 36-41. Tarık Cemal Kutlu, autumn 1999. “1918-1921 Yıllarında 
Kuzey Kafkasya’daki Mücadelelerin Bilinmeyen Komutanı,” Kafkasya Yazıları, 7: 36-57. 

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102 
 
presence was not long lasting. Under pressure from the British, the Ottoman 
Ministry of War withdrew its order to allow Turkish officers to stay in the North 
Caucasus and issued a new one, dated 29 October, instructing all troops to leave 
the region.
279
 
Thus, by the end of 1918, with the exception of a British detachment 
stationed in Petrovsk, the North Caucasus presented a military and political 
vacuum. The Bolsheviks used this vacuum first and, intensifying their activities 
began a propaganda campaign aimed at the Mountaineers. The Bolshevik paper 
‘Revolutionary Mountaineer’ written on 17 November 1918 as part of this 
campaign, stated that: 
“Neither the Turks nor the Chermoyevs will save us, but only we ourselves, 
our united mountaineer democracy with the masses that have reared 
together, with the rest of Russia, the banner of the Soviets, the banner of the 
revolution…All mountaineers should equally know that the support which 
is given to the ‘Mountaineers’ Government’ in Tiflis and Yelisavetpol is a 
noose that is being tightened on the neck of the mountaineers of North 
Caucasus and Dagestan by Menshevist Georgia and bourgeois-khan 
Azerbaijan, who are dreaming of creating a buffer ‘Mountaineers’ 
Republic’ or ‘Mountaineers’ Alliance’ between the great Soviet Russia and 
themselves… Cursed be those of us mountaineers, who deliberately or 
unwittingly lead our small peoples to such peril!”
280
 
 
The government of the North Caucasian republic, fearing the Bolshevik 
threat, sent a letter to the Transcaucasian governments reiterating the importance 
and necessity of establishing a close union of Caucasian republics.
281
 At the same 
time, in order to retain the gains made, and to guarantee the independence of the 
                                                 
279
 Berkuk, “15. Fırkanın Harekâtı”, 95-6. For a detailed analysis of Turkish troops in the Caucasus 
in addition to Berkuk and Erşan see Nasır Yüceer, 1996. Birici Dünya Savaşı’nda Osmanlı 
Ordusu’nun Azerbaycan ve Dağıstan Harekâtı: Azerbaycan ve Dağıstan’ın Bağımsızlığını 
Kazanması, Ankara: Genel Kurmay Yay. Halil Bal, 1997. “Kuzey Kafkasya’nın  İstilali ve 
Türkiye’nin Askeri Yardımı,”Kafkas Araştırmaları III, İstanbul, 29-91. 
280
 Daniyalov, 26. 

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103 
 
North Caucasian Republic, as a last attempt, contact was established with the 
British command in Baku. At the end of November 1918, the Mountaineer 
government appointed Ali Khan Kantemir
282
 as the Mountaineer government 
representative to the British and sent a delegation to Baku presided by the President 
Chermoev himself. The aim of the delegation was to understand the attitudes and 
plans of the British government in the region. 
On 26 November, the delegation met with General Thomson, the 
commander of the British forces in Baku and the Allies’ representative. During 
these talks, Chermoev explained their previous reliance on the Turks and the 
present necessity for British aid to prevent a reconquest of the entire area by the 
Bolsheviks. In response, General Thomson told the delegation, that the Paris Peace 
Conference would settle the matter of the North Caucasian Republic’s 
independence. Until that time, he stressed, the government of the North Caucasian 
Republic would have the opportunity to administer the country according to the 
same principles, which were applied by the allies to Azerbaijan.
283
 
Moreover he gave a note in the name of the Allied Powers in which he 
criticized the political program of the Mountaineer Government and asked for the 
removal of all the remnants of German and Turkish troops. He stressed, among 
other things, that “Englishmen and their Allies consider it necessary to help Russia 
to restore order.” “It is our duty” he went on “to defend order in the country and to 
                                                                                                                                        
281
 For the text of this letter see Bammat, “The Caucasus,” 16 and Kurtatag, 28 July 1927. “Zadachi 
III,” Vol’nye Gortsy, (Prague), 3: 3. 
282
 Ali Khan Kantemir, (1886-1963), Osetian. He was born in Vladikavkaz. He studied in 
Vladikavkaz and then law in St. Petersburg. Following his graduate settled in Baku and worked as a 
lawyer with the first premier of Azerbaijani National government Fethali Khan Hoyski. Before the 
February Revolution he was the governor of Kars but then he removed from office and elected as a 

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