Trebizond Conference as a Diplomatic Triumph of the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

The Trebizond conference is usually considered as the failed peace meeting of the Transcaucasian Sejm and the Ottoman Empire delegates. Researching the documents in the National Armenian Archive we could compare the declarations of the conference delegates with the unofficial negotiations by the delegates of the Transcaucasian Sejm. The Ottoman Empire delegation using the military forces as well as the diplomatic experience could introduce their head as the conference chairman and determine the frames of the negotiations. Obviously the Turkish delegation insisted on two issues: the date of the Transcaucasian Republic recognition, and their borders. Both issues contradicted the terms of the Brest Treaty. The Ottoman Empire obtained the new Caucasian state to recognize the treaty previously signed without its participation. The Caucasian delegates considered the Brest Treaty as a betrayal and refused to adopt it, but being not recognized as a state they felt no legal base to continue their policy. Consequently, they had to follow the diplomatic rules provided by Ottoman Empire delegation and to discuss the border line. But in the course of the border negotiations they could not reach the inner unity, and the interests of delegates were disintegrated. This discussion later became the base for disintegration of the Transcaucasian Republic. As a result, the Turkish policy forced the Transcaucasian delegates to recognize: 1) the Brest Treaty; 2) the contradictory national interests within the Transcaucasian Republic. The latest fact disintegrated their military forces in the front of the Turkish army.