The Eurasian Triangle. Russia, the Caucasus and Japan, 1904-1945

Revolution Ë 83

Fig. 4.2.Members of the Georgian diplomatic delegation in Berlin, 1918. Standing from left:
Spiridon Kedia, Giorgi Machabeli, and Mikheil Tsereteli. Seated from left: Niko Nikoladze, Akaki
Chkhenkeli, and Zurab Avalishvili.

ultimately did the Musavat. Yet the Sejm, or legislative body of the Transcaucasian

Commissariat, which was headed by Nikolai Chkheidze, hesitated, nor did it heed the

call by the Union of the United Mountaineers for a United Caucasus. In the end the

Sejm delegation accepted the Brest-Litovsk terms in Trabzon in view of the overwhelm-

ing Turkish forces threatening the Caucasus. Yet the Sejm itself rejected the treaty and

even declared war against the Ottomans. But overwhelmed by the advance of Turkish

forces, on 22 April the Sejm nally accepted the Turkish conditions and declared inde-

pendence, creating the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia and resum-

ing peace negotiations with Turkey.⁴³The government of the new independent state

was led by Prime Minister Akaki Chkhenkeli (1874–1959), a Georgian Menshevik, and

staed by an equal mix of Georgian, Azeri, and Armenian ministers. Within a week,

the Ottoman government recognized the new government of Transcaucasia.⁴⁴

43 The Sejm’s debate and declaration are inDokumenty i mater’ialy po vneshnei politike Zakavakz’ia
i Gruzii(Tiis: Tipgraia Pravitel’stva Gruzinskoi Respubliki, 1919), 220–23.
44 Dokumenty i mater’ialy po vneshnei politike Zakavakz’ia i Gruzii, 253.