state
people debated over what concessions
to make, Enver Pasha determined
he would recapture these territories
by force, sending the Ottoman Third
Army to do so. Erzerum soon fell and
the Ottoman army continued to push
towards Russian Armenia itself. While
Georgians realized the threat and joined
and defeated, but were forced to unite
with the new republic’s leader as the only
chance of survival from the ever closer
Ottoman army. Having conquered all that
they came for, the Ottoman demanded
even more territories - including Javakhk
and the Arax River valley, and that
the republic itself must defer itself to
of 1877-1878, including Ardahan, Kars,
and Batumi. The Soviet government
also agreed to destroy any Armenian
groups that might continue to try and
defend this area, a great betrayal to the
Armenians defending these territories for
Russia.
The
Transcaucasian
region
was
Combatants of liberation struggle: sitting in the middle is founder of the RA Aram Manukyan
administered at this time by an executive
body made of 3 Georgians, 3 Armenians,
and 3 Muslim Tatars. While the
Georgians and especially the Armenians
still held on to the idea of remaining a
federal republic within Russia as a means
of opposing Turkish aggression, the
Tatars found themselves drawn to closer
ties with the Ottomans. Once the Treaty
of Brest-Litovsk was signed, Armenians
lost all their bargaining power and found
themselves alone, with Tatars supporting
Ottoman demands and Georgians
attempting to sacrifice Armenian lands
like Kars to the Ottomans in exchange for
keeping Batumi. As the Transcaucasian
Armenians in defending the area, the
Muslim Tatars said they would not fight
their fellow Muslims. Batumi was soon
captured by the Ottomans and against
the wishes of Armenians the independent
Transcaucasian Federative Republic was
declared.
The Georgian premiere of this new
republic favored peace, and demanded
the Armenian defenders of Kars abandon
it and its mighty fortress. This command
caused panic to the Armenians in
Kars who began fleeing east towards
Alexandropol (Gyumri), which allowed
the Ottomans to capture Kars on April
25, 1918. The Armenians were left angry
Ottoman power. Without even waiting
for a response, the Turkish military began
an invasion of what was called the Erevan
province. The Ottoman Army quickly
captured Alexandropol and then divided
into two parts each following a railway
line, one to Karakilisia (Vanadzor)
towards Tiflis and the other towards
Yerevan. Soon Yerevan was surrounded,
and the Ottoman Army gave the leader
of the Transcaucasians Republic 72 hours
to accept Turkish annexation of the
Armenian regions it wanted or it would
conquer them by force.
Faced with this hopeless situation,
Georgians looked to German protection
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