All About the Treaty of Kars and the Turkish-Georgian Border

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Alliance of Patriots initiated series of videos called “Protect Adjara, Protect Your Part of Georgia” in the framework of its electoral campaign. In the videos, the leaders of the party state that Turkey has occupied 33% of Georgia’s territory and claims other regions of Georgia as well, including Adjara, Samtskhe-Javakheti, and Guria. While discussing the Treaty of Kars, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi mentions that Turkey did not give Batumi back to Georgia, but simply loaned it, and that it would take Batumi and Adjara back in two years. In the second video, Vaja Otarashvili says that Turkey publicly denied claims to the Georgian territories only once – after the First World War, but on January 28, 1920 it recognized Ardahan, Artvin, Kars, and Batumi as its integral parts. “

Information voiced in the videos by the Alliance of Patriots is a manipulation of history, as it speculatively connects historical events to the modern context. It is disinformation too.

1. Modern-day Adjara, including Batumi, has often become an object of interest and trade for empires (Russia, Turkey, Great Britain). Ottoman Empire/Turkey denied its interest in this territory at least three times.

The territory of modern-day Adjara, including Batumi, has become an object of interests and negotiations for imperialist states and has been given/taken away on multiple occasions. For instance, in accordance with the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, and 1922 Treaty of Moscow, the Ottoman Empire/Turkey denied its claim to the District of Batumi, and the Soviet Union gave the District of Batumi to the Ottoman Empire in 1918.

According to a historian Beka Kobakhidze, the District of Batumi was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Treaty of Georgievsk, signed by Georgia and Russia in 1783, envisaged Russia’s aid to Georgia in returning these territories. Russia re-captured these territories via 1878 Treaty of Berlin, signed after its victory in Russo-Turkish War. After 40 years, following the Bolshevik Revolution and its departure from the First World War, Soviet Russia gave the District of Batumi to the Ottoman Empire in accordance with the 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Government of the Transcaucasian Federation, which was created as a counterweight to the Russian Bolshevik Government and included Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, was fighting against the Bolshevik Russia to protect Batumi, but got defeated. According to an agreement signed between Georgia and the Ottoman Empire on June 4, 1918, Batumi was handed over to Turkey to stop the Ottoman aggression. However, the Parliament of Georgia never ratified this agreement.

Following the Armistice of Mudros, the British took Batumi away from Turkey and subjected it to a general-governor Cook-Collins’ rule. Through the Treaty of Sèvres, signed in 1920, Turkey, which was a defeated side in the First World War, denied claims to the District of Batumi and other territories once again. After the decision was made to pull British troops from Batumi, the issue of who would retain the Province of Batumi remained. On August 4 and 6, the Government of Georgia gave notes to the British side where it was thanking the British troops for service, asking them to leave the country, and promised strong cooperation in exchange for defending Batumi and other territories of Georgia from Denikin’s aggression. It is noteworthy that members of Memed Abashidze’s Mejlis won the election of the City Council of Batumi in February 1920, during the British rule, and the majority of MPs were considering Adjara as an autonomous unit under Georgia’s jurisdiction. On July 7, 1920, under Memed Abashidze’s rule, Mejlis led the Georgian Army into Batumi, letting Georgia establish factual control over Batumi. Based on the 1921 Russo-Turkish Agreement and later, on the Treaty of Kars – signed between Turkey and the Soviet Republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan – Batumi and Adjara were recognized as integral parts of Georgia. Turkey once again confirmed this in 1992 and the borders have never been questioned since then.

2.  Turkey has never questioned the Treaty of Kars. The given Treaty recognizes Adjara as a part of Georgia.

The Treaty of Kars was signed in Kars on October 13, 1921, between Turkey, on the one side, and the Soviet Republics in the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. According to the given Treaty, Turkey handed over a large part of Adjara and the city of Gyumri to the Soviet Union and received Kars, Artvin, and Ardahan in exchange. The original Treaty is available online.

Under which circumstances was the Treaty of Kars signed?

The Treaty of Kars was preceded by the Treaty of Moscow. As a result of the Turkish revolution that brought Ataturk to power and ended the Ottoman Empire, and the establishment of the Russian Bolshevik Government, both regimes had problems with international recognition and needed mutual help.

The Moscow Treaty, signed between Russia and Turkey on March 16, 1921, determined the borders between the two countries and attributed Adjara to Georgia, while giving part of the historically Georgian lands to Turkey. The Treaty of Kars, signed after several months, was to give more legitimation to this Treaty.

It is noteworthy that in the following years, the ties between Russia and Turkey strengthened and the issue of revising the borders were not on the agenda then. Quite the opposite – in September 1924, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Ismet Pasha, and the Ambassador of Russia to Turkey, Yakov Surits, discussed strengthening ties between the two countries based on the Treaty of Moscow. On December 17, 1925, the two countries signed a non-aggression and neutrality pact.

The Treaty of Kars and the status of Adjara

The Article 4 of the Treaty of Kars defines the border between Turkey and the Soviet Union as going along Sarpi, the Khedi mountain, and the Shavsheti ridge.

There are three important issues related to Adjara/Batumi in the Article 4:

  1. Turkey recognizes Georgia’s sovereignty in Batumi, the Port of Batumi, and the territory determined by the Article 4;
  2. The local population of the District of Batumi should enjoy administrative autonomy and each commune should have guaranteed cultural and religious rights;
  3. Turkey should have retained the right to free transit through the Port of Batumi, free of customs duties.

According to Beka Kobakhidze, the Treaty of Kars does not put the status of Adjara under question and it clearly defines it as an integral part of Georgia. The paragraph referring to the status of Adjara and the certain level of autonomy means in the current reality the consideration of the opinions of locals – something that comes into accordance with the practices of a democratic state and the Constitution of Georgia.

Turkey has never questioned the border with Georgia, determined by the Treaty of Kars, under question.

Kobakhidze, in his interview with Myth Detector, mentions that the borders defined in the Treaty of Kars have never become subject to revision or question for Turkey. After the victory in the Second World War, the USSR had territorial claims towards Turkey for a short time, but the border agreements were not revised even then.

3. The modern-day Turkey-Georgia border, including those defined by the Treaty of Kars, was reaffirmed by Turkey via the 1992 agreement.

Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighbourly Relations Treaty, signed in 1992 between Georgia and Turkey, determines the borders between Georgia and Turkey in the current context.

Kobakhidze mentions that applying the Treaty of Kars to the present is not advisable, as 1920s were a different epoch, hence the Treaty had different meanings then and now. The given Treaty attributes Adjara to Georgia and does not raise any questions. However, the issue of splitting the territories was solved by two big states – Russia and Turkey – without considering the positions of Georgia and the local population.

Kobakhidze also added that the 1992 Treaty reflects the mutual agreement of modern-day Georgia and Turkey on the issue of borders. The given document reiterates that turkey considers the territory of Adjara as a part of Georgia. The Treaty reads:

“The parties declare that they will abide by the treaties and agreements concluded between them, starting with the Kars agreement of October 13, 1921;
The parties are guided by the fact that this agreement has finally established the border between the two states.”

Sources of the conspiracy about the Treaty of Kars

Openly pro-Russian and so-called nationalist groups have been disseminating disinformation about the Treaty of Kars for years. This includes the Alliance of Patriots with its message – “If Russia is an invader, then so is Turkey” – which aims to shift the focus from Russian threat to historical threats. TV Obiektivi, Asaval-Dasavali, and Saqinform disseminate the disinformation about the Treaty of Kars the most often. Jeffrey Silverman, who is one of the sources of pro-Kremlin media regarding the Lugar Lab disinformation, has also been disseminating the given conspiracy.

Video-interview with Beka Kobakhdze


Mythlab student 

Topic: History
Country: Turkey
Source

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