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133-468: The Democratic Republic of Georgia ( DRG ; Georgian : საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა , romanized : sakartvelos demok'rat'iuli resp'ublik'a ) was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia , which existed from May 1918 to February 1921. Recognized by all major European powers of the time, DRG was created in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917 , which led to

266-756: A Georgian Menshevik , who argued that the Bolshevik seizure of power was illegal and that the Caucasus should not follow their directives, and wait until order was restored. A further meeting of representatives from the Tiflis Soviet, the Ozakom, and other groups on 28 November [ O.S. 15 November] decided to end the Ozakom and replace it with a new body, the Transcaucasian Commissariat , which would not be subservient to

399-568: A Soviet republic . The Georgian Government, led by Prime Minister Noe Zhordania , moved to France where it continued to work in exile . The government-in-exile was recognized by France, Britain, Belgium, and Poland as the only legitimate government of Georgia until the 1930s, when growing Soviet power and political processes in Europe made it impractical to do so indefinitely. Although short-lived, DRG continues to be an inspiration for modern day Georgia due to its legacy of democracy and pluralism. DRG

532-457: A vigesimal numeric system like Basque and (partially) French . Numbers greater than 20 and less than 100 are described as the sum of the greatest possible multiple of 20 plus the remainder. For example, "93" literally translates as 'four times twenty plus thirteen' ( ოთხმოცდაცამეტი , otkhmotsdatsamet’i ). One of the most important Georgian dictionaries is the Explanatory dictionary of

665-475: A British force was deployed in Tbilisi too. Georgia's relations with its neighbors were uneasy. Territorial disputes with Armenia, Denikin 's White Russian government and Azerbaijan led to armed conflicts in the first two cases. A British military mission attempted to mediate these conflicts in order to consolidate all anti-Bolshevik forces in the region. To prevent White Russian army forces from crossing into

798-569: A Roman grammarian from the 2nd century AD. The first direct attestations of the language are inscriptions and palimpsests dating to the 5th century, and the oldest surviving literary work is the 5th century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik by Iakob Tsurtaveli . The emergence of Georgian as a written language appears to have been the result of the Christianization of Georgia in the mid-4th century, which led to

931-665: A capital-like effect called Mtavruli for titles and inscriptions. Georgian is an agglutinative language with a complex verb structure that can include up to eight morphemes , exhibiting polypersonalism . The language has seven noun cases and employs a left-branching structure with adjectives preceding nouns and postpositions instead of prepositions. Georgian lacks grammatical gender and articles, with definite meanings established through context. Georgian's rich derivation system allows for extensive noun and verb formation from roots, with many words featuring initial consonant clusters. The Georgian writing system has evolved from ancient scripts to

1064-543: A degree of autonomy. Article 107 of the constitution gave autonomy to Abkhazia and Zaqatala. However, due to the Red Army invasion, the exact nature of this autonomy was never determined. It did however serve as the first time in the modern era that Abkhazia was defined as a geographic entity. The territory of the Democratic Republic of Georgia included some territories that today belong to other countries. It

1197-594: A diverse ethnic and political makeup and no clear status to its authority, there was conflict both within its chambers and outside. It was largely dependent on national councils, represented by the three main ethnic groups, and was unable to proceed without their consent. Thus the Ottoman offer to renew peace talks and a willingness to meet in Tiflis, where the Seim was based, was refused, as the Seim felt it would only showcase

1330-514: A division of action in regards to the Ottoman invasion. In his second speech, Tsereteli blamed the Azerbaijanis for failing to support the defense of the TDFR and declared that as the federation had failed it was time for Georgia to proclaim itself independent. At 15:00 the motion was passed: "Because on the questions of war and peace there arose basic differences among the peoples who had created

1463-685: A former Russian general who had begun to follow orders from the Commissariat, to evacuate the Ardahan, Batum, and Kars areas, as stipulated by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Vehib also told Ilia Odishelidze , who was also taking orders from the Commissariat, that in light of attacks by Armenian forces on the population near Erzurum , Ottoman forces would have to advance to keep the peace, warning that any hostile reply would be met with force. These requests were replied to directly by Chkheidze as Chairman of

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1596-803: A longstanding goal cherished by generations of Georgian intellectuals whose efforts were, up to that point, consistently frustrated by the Imperial Russian authorities. After the February Revolution of 1917 and collapse of the tsarist administration in the Caucasus , most powers were held by the Special Transcaucasian Committee ( Ozakom , short for Osobyi Zakavkazskii Komitet ) of the Russian Provisional Government . All of

1729-520: A more formal government. The ceasefire between the Ottoman Empire and the Commissariat lasted until 30 January [ O.S. 17 January], when the Ottoman army launched a new offensive into the Caucasus, claiming it was to retaliate against sporadic attacks by Armenian militias on the Muslim population in occupied Ottoman territory. With Russian forces largely withdrawn from the front,

1862-517: A political settlement of the relations between two countries in the hope that this might lead to recognition of Georgia's independence by Moscow . Severe criticism of the Georgian refusal by Russian leaders was followed by several unsuccessful attempts by local communists to organize mass anti-government protests. In April 1920, the 11th Red Army established a Soviet regime in Azerbaijan , and

1995-764: A potential path to attack British India and access to raw materials in the region, both of which could be blocked by the Ottomans. With the Armenians fighting the Ottoman forces and the Azerbaijanis having their own issues with Bolsheviks controlling Baku , the Georgians concluded that they had no future in the TDFR. On 14 May Jordania went to Batum to request German assistance to help secure Georgian independence. He returned to Tiflis on 21 May and expressed confidence that Georgia could become independent. The Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian representatives from

2128-679: A proposed Bolshevik invasion. The British had to leave in 1920 because of the Treaty of Moscow , in which Russia recognized Georgia's independence in exchange for DRG not hosting forces hostile to Russia's interests. Now that Western European powers were no longer present in Georgia, in February 1921 the Bolshevik Red Army proceeded to invade the country, leading to DRG's defeat and collapse by March of that year, with Georgia becoming

2261-490: A ri means 'friend'; megobrebi ( megob Ø rebi ) means 'friends', with the loss of a in the last syllable of the word stem. Georgian has seven noun cases: nominative , ergative , dative , genitive , instrumental , adverbial and vocative . An interesting feature of Georgian is that, while the subject of a sentence is generally in the nominative case and the object is in the accusative case (or dative), one can find this reversed in many situations (this depends mainly on

2394-399: A row, as may be seen in words like გვფრცქვნ ი gvprtskvni 'you peel us' and მწვრთნ ელი mts’vrtneli 'trainer'. Vicenik has observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops have creaky voice and suggests this may be one cue distinguishing ejectives from their aspirated and voiced counterparts. Georgian has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently

2527-723: A similar body, called the Special Transcaucasian Committee (Ozakom), did the same in the Caucasus. After the October Revolution and rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia, the Transcaucasian Commissariat replaced the Ozakom. In March 1918, as the First World War continued, the Commissariat initiated peace talks with the Ottoman Empire , which had invaded the region , but the talks broke down quickly as

2660-612: A strong suspicion that Georgia was aiding armed rebels in the North Caucasus. For its part, Georgia accused Moscow of fomenting anti-government riots in various regions of the country, and of provoking border incidents in the Zaqatala region , disputed with the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic . The Lori "neutral zone" was another challenge, as Soviet Armenia categorically demanded that Georgia withdraw

2793-496: A temporary step against the Bolshevik revolution and considered calls for Georgia's independence chauvinistic and separatist. The union of Transcaucasus was short-lived though. Undermined by increasing internal tensions and by pressure from the German and Ottoman empires, the federation collapsed on 26 May 1918, when Georgia declared independence. Two days later both Armenia and Azerbaijan declared their independence as well. Georgia

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2926-589: A word. Georgian vowels in non-initial syllables are pronounced with a shorter duration compared to vowels in initial syllables. long polysyllabic words may have a secondary stress on their third or fourth syllable. Georgian contains many "harmonic clusters" involving two consonants of a similar type (voiced, aspirated, or ejective) that are pronounced with only a single release; e.g. ბგ ერა bgera 'sound', ცხ ოვრება tskhovreba 'life', and წყ ალი ts’q’ali 'water'. There are also frequent consonant clusters , sometimes involving more than six consonants in

3059-503: Is because syllables in the language often begin with two consonants. Recordings are available on the relevant Wiktionary entries, linked to below. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic ( TDFR ; 22 April – 28 May 1918) was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of

3192-520: Is most closely related to the Zan languages ( Megrelian and Laz ) and more distantly to Svan . Georgian has various dialects , with standard Georgian based on the Kartlian dialect, and all dialects are mutually intelligible. The history of Georgian spans from Early Old Georgian in the 5th century, to Modern Georgian today. Its development as a written language began with the Christianization of Georgia in

3325-947: Is rather light, and in fact Georgian transliterates the tenuis stops in foreign words and names with the ejectives. The coronal occlusives ( /tʰ tʼ d n/ , not necessarily affricates) are variously described as apical dental, laminal alveolar, and "dental". Per Canepari, the main realizations of the vowels are [ i ], [ e̞ ], [ ä ], [ o̞ ], [ u ]. Aronson describes their realizations as [ i̞ ], [ e̞ ], [ ä ] (but "slightly fronted"), [ o̞ ], [ u̞ ]. Shosted transcribed one speaker's pronunciation more-or-less consistently with [ i ], [ ɛ ], [ ɑ ], [ ɔ ], [ u ]. Allophonically, [ ə ] may be inserted to break up consonant clusters, as in /dɡas/ [dəɡäs] . In casual speech, /iV, Vi/ sequences can be realized phonetically as [jV~i̯V, Vj~Vi̯]. Phrase-final unstressed vowels may sometimes be partially reduced. Prosody in Georgian involves stress, intonation, and rhythm. Stress

3458-401: Is very weak, and linguists disagree as to where stress occurs in words. Jun, Vicenik, and Lofstedt have proposed that Georgian stress and intonation are the result of pitch accents on the first syllable of a word and near the end of a phrase. According to Borise, Georgian has fixed initial word-level stress cued primarily by greater syllable duration and intensity of the initial syllable of

3591-458: The Dittionario giorgiano e italiano . These were meant to help western Catholic missionaries learn Georgian for evangelical purposes. On the left are IPA symbols, and on the right are the corresponding letters of the modern Georgian alphabet, which is essentially phonemic. Former /qʰ/ ( ჴ ) has merged with /x/ ( ხ ), leaving only the latter. The glottalization of the ejectives

3724-499: The Mkhedruli script is almost completely dominant; the others are used mostly in religious documents and architecture. Mkhedruli has 33 letters in common use; a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. The letters of Mkhedruli correspond closely to the phonemes of the Georgian language. According to the traditional account written down by Leonti Mroveli in

3857-636: The Alexandropol , Erivan , and Etchmiadzin , mainly along the course of the Kars– Julfa railway. The territory named would effectively bring all of Armenia into the Ottoman Empire. The railway was desired as the Ottoman forces sought a fast route to North Persia, where they were fighting the British forces in the Persian Campaign , though historian Richard G. Hovannisian has suggested that

3990-527: The Democratic Republic of Georgia independent on 26 May. With the Georgians no longer part of the TDFR, the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic each declared themselves independent on 28 May, ending the federation. Owing to its short existence, the TDFR has been largely ignored in the national historiographies of the region and has been given consideration only as

4123-537: The Democratic Republic of Georgia . This was followed two days later with an Armenian declaration of independence , followed quickly by Azerbaijan doing the same , creating the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic , respectively. All three newly independent states signed a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire on 4 June, effectively ending that conflict. Armenia then later engaged in brief wars with both Azerbaijan (1918–1920) and Georgia (December 1918) to determine its final borders. As

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4256-516: The Georgian Orthodox Church and together are called Khutsuri 'priest alphabet'. In Mkhedruli , there is no case. Sometimes, however, a capital-like effect, called Mtavruli ('title' or 'heading'), is achieved by modifying the letters so that their vertical sizes are identical and they rest on the baseline with no descenders. These capital-like letters are often used in page headings, chapter titles, monumental inscriptions, and

4389-650: The Georgian Social Democratic Party government and the country established a multi-party system. In 1919, reforms in the judicial system and local self-governance were carried out. Abkhazia was granted autonomy. Nevertheless, ethnic issues continued to trouble the country, especially on the part of the Ossetians , as witnessed in May 1920. Nikolay Chkheidze proposed a white mandate for Georgia, vying to protect Georgia in event of an invasion by

4522-457: The Kartlian dialect. Over the centuries, it has exerted a strong influence on the other dialects. As a result, they are all, generally, mutually intelligible with standard Georgian, and with one another. The history of the Georgian language is conventionally divided into the following phases: The earliest extant references to Georgian are found in the writings of Marcus Cornelius Fronto ,

4655-435: The Ottoman Empire changed with the course of World War I and was modified after the Ottoman defeat in the hostilities. Georgia regained control over Artvin, Ardahan, part of Batum province, Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki. Batum was finally incorporated into the republic after the British evacuated the area in 1920. The Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 granted Georgia control over eastern Lazistan including Rize and Hopa . However,

4788-545: The Red Army to Soviet Russia . After Azerbaijan and Armenia had been Sovietized by the Red Army , Georgia found itself surrounded by hostile Soviet republics. Moreover, as the British had already evacuated the Caucasus, the country was left without any foreign support. According to Soviet sources, relations with Georgia deteriorated over alleged violations of the peace treaty, re-arrests of Georgian Bolsheviks, obstruction of convoys passing through Georgia to Armenia , and

4921-565: The Red Army . Many opposed him though. It is unknown whether or not the Kingdom of Italy wanted to place Georgia under its protection as a white mandate, but they were considering it. Nevertheless, Georgia did not become a mandate, resulting in the Red Army invasion of Georgia . The year 1920 was marked by increased threats from the Russian SFSR . With the defeat of the White movement and

5054-475: The Social Democratic Party of Georgia with 81.5% of the vote. On 21 March, Noe Zhordania formed the third government, which had to deal with armed peasants' revolts incited by local Bolshevik activists and largely supported by Russia. These became more troublesome when carried out by ethnic minorities such as Abkhazians and Ossetians . However, the land reform was finally well handled by

5187-587: The soviets in Georgia were firmly controlled by the Georgian Social Democratic Party , who followed the lead of the Petrograd Soviet and supported the Provisional Government. The Bolshevist October Revolution changed the situation drastically. The Caucasian Soviets refused to recognize Vladimir Lenin 's regime. Threats from the increasingly Bolshevistic deserting soldiers of the former Caucasus army , ethnic clashes and anarchy in

5320-403: The 11th century, the first Georgian script was created by the first ruler of the Kingdom of Iberia , Pharnavaz , in the 3rd century BC. The first examples of a Georgian script date from the 5th century AD. There are now three Georgian scripts, called Asomtavruli 'capitals', Nuskhuri 'small letters', and Mkhedruli . The first two are used together as upper and lower case in the writings of

5453-548: The 4th century. Georgian phonology features a rich consonant system, including aspirated, voiced, and ejective stops , affricates , and fricatives . Its vowel system consists of five vowels with varying realizations. Georgian prosody involves weak stress, with disagreements among linguists on its placement. The language's phonotactics include complex consonant clusters and harmonic clusters. The Mkhedruli script , dominant in modern usage, corresponds closely to Georgian phonemes and has no case distinction, though it employs

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5586-686: The Abkhaz Autonomy, the Autonomy of Muslim Georgia, and the Zaqatala Region, which were granted autonomy in local affairs. The Chairman of the Government was the chief executive post, approved by the parliament for one-year terms of office (the post could not be held for more than two consecutive terms). The chairman appointed ministers and was responsible for governing the country and representing Georgia in foreign relations. However,

5719-596: The Bolshevik threat from Abkhazia . German forces were almost certainly under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein . Following the German defeat in the First World War , British occupation forces arrived in the country, with the permission of the Georgian government. Relations between the British and the local population were more strained than they had been with the Germans. British-held Batumi remained out of Georgia's control until 1920. In December 1918,

5852-674: The Bolsheviks. Composed of representatives from the four major ethnic groups in the region (Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, and Russians) it replaced the Ozakom as the government of the South Caucasus, and was set to serve in that role until the Russian Constituent Assembly could meet in January ;1918. Evgeni Gegechkori , a Georgian, was named the president and Commissar of External Affairs of

5985-539: The Commissariat realized that they would not be able to resist a full-scale advance by the Ottoman forces, and so on 23 February agreed to start a new round of peace talks. The idea to establish a Transcaucasian legislative body had been discussed since November 1917, though it had not been acted on at that time. With the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in January, it became apparent to

6118-400: The Commissariat to join the talks at Brest-Litovsk, that did not confer recognition. Finally, Rauf stated that the Ottoman delegation was at Trabzon only to resolve some economic and commercial issues that had not been settled at Brest-Litovsk. Chkhenkeli and his fellow delegates had little option but to request a short recess so they could message the Seim and determine how to proceed. During

6251-465: The Commissariat. The other commissariats were split between Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, and Russians. Formed with the express purpose of being a caretaker government, the Commissariat was not able to govern strongly: it was dependent on national councils, formed around the same time and based on ethnic lines, for military support and was effectively powerless to enforce any laws it passed. With Russian and Ottoman forces still nominally engaged in

6384-594: The Committee of the Union of the elected bodies of local self-government of Georgia No. 2, 1920 (State printing house), Tiflis. - 103 p.; National Library of the Parliament of Georgia, Archive Fund, F 7.876/4 - პროექტი საქართველოს ტერიტორიის დანაწილებისა ახალ საადმინისტრაციო ერთეულებად (ოლქებად) ) the division into Governorates and Oblasts was eliminated, uezds and okrugs were preserved, renamed to regions. The names of

6517-456: The Democratic Republic of Georgia , the first modern fundamental law in the nation's history, placing emphasis on human rights. The country was governed as a type of decentralized unitary parliamentary republic with an executive , with the constitution stating that "the state belongs to all the people. Parliament exercises the sovereignty of the nation within the framework of this constitution." The three decentralized regions included

6650-473: The Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile continued to be recognized by many European states as the only legal government of Georgia for some time after 1921. The Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile lasted until 1954 continuing to oppose Soviet rule in Georgia. Georgia's 1918–1921 borders were formed through the border conflicts with its neighbors and ensuing treaties and conventions. In

6783-1405: The Democratic Republic of Georgia, created in accordance with the Project, on the basis of existing uezds and okrugs of the Russian Empire, (alternative names of areas are given in brackets): 1 – Tiflis region (Samokalako), capital - Tiflis 2 – Borchaly region (Kvemo Kartli), capital - Ratevani / Ekaterinenfeld (or Kveshi) 3 – Akhaltsikhe region (Samtskhe-Javakheti), capital - Akhaltsikhe 4 – Gori region (Shida Kartli), capital - Gori 5 – Ananur region (Mtiuleti), capital - Ananuri 6 – Telavi region (Shida Kakheti), capital - Telavi 7 – Sighnaghi region (Kiziki), capital - Sighnaghi 8 – Zaqatala region (Saingilo), capital – Zaqatala 9 – Kutaisi region (Kvemo Imereti), capital - Kutaisi 10 – Zestaponi region (Zemo Imereti), capital - Zestaponi / Kvirily 11 – Oni region (Racha), capital - Oni 12 – Tsageri region (Lechkhum-Svaneti), capital - Tsageri 13 – Sukhumi region (Abkhazia-Samurzakano), capital - Sukhumi 14 – Zugdidi region (Zemo Odishi), capital - Zugdidi 15 – Senaki region (Kvemo Odishi), capital - Ahal-Senaki / Novo-Senaki 16 – Ozurgeti region (Guria), capital - Ozurgeti 17 – Batumi region (Adjara-Klarjeti), capital - Batumi 18 – Artaani region (Tao-Artaani), capital - Artaani / Ardagan 19 – Tiflis (Tbilisi) – capital of

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6916-620: The Democratic Republic of Georgia. Under the terms of the Moscow Peace Treaty of 7 May, Georgian independence was recognized by Soviet Russia in return for the legalization of Bolshevik organizations and a commitment not to allow foreign troops on Georgian soil. The independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia was de jure recognized by Romania , Argentina , Germany , Turkey , Belgium , United Kingdom , France , Japan , Italy , Poland , Czechoslovakia , Siam and Estonia , among other countries. The Government of

7049-602: The Georgian Bolshevik Sergo Orjonikidze requested permission from Moscow to advance into Georgia. Though official consent was not granted by Lenin and Sovnarkom , local Bolsheviks attempted to seize the Military School of Tbilisi as a preliminary to a coup d'état on 3 May 1920, but were successfully repelled by General Kvinitadze . The Georgian government began mobilization and appointed Giorgi Kvinitadze commander-in-chief . In

7182-689: The Georgian Mensheviks and Azerbaijani Musavat party each had 30 members, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) had 27 members. The Bolsheviks boycotted the Seim, asserting that the only legitimate government for Russia (including Transcaucasia) was the Bolshevik-controlled Council of People's Commissars (known by its Russian acronym, Sovnarkom). From the outset, the Seim faced challenges to its authority. With

7315-580: The Georgian government, unwilling to become embroiled in a new war with Turkish Revolutionaries , took no steps to take control of these areas. The border disputes with the First Republic of Armenia over a part of Borchalo district led to a brief war between the two countries in December 1918. With the British intervention the Lori "neutral zone" was created, only to be reoccupied by Georgia after

7448-568: The Georgian language ( ქართული ენის განმარტებითი ლექსიკონი ). It consists of eight volumes and about 115,000 words. It was produced between 1950 and 1964, by a team of linguists under the direction of Arnold Chikobava . Georgian has a word derivation system, which allows the derivation of nouns from verb roots both with prefixes and suffixes, for example: It is also possible to derive verbs from nouns: Likewise, verbs can be derived from adjectives, for example: In Georgian many nouns and adjectives begin with two or more contiguous consonants. This

7581-473: The German and Ottoman Empires were nominally allies, the relationship had deteriorated in the preceding months, as the German public had not approved of reports that the Ottoman government was massacring Christians, nor did the German government appreciate the Ottoman army's advance into territory not agreed to at Brest-Litovsk. The Germans also had their own strategic interests in the Caucasus: they wanted both

7714-490: The Lori and Zakatal districts, the population reached 2,677,000 according to a Soviet source, with an urban population of 475,000 (17.7%). This is supported by the results of the 1926 Soviet census in Georgia some 5 years later which indicated a population of 2,667,000, indicative of the loss of the aforementioned Lori and Zakatal districts to neighbouring Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively. Georgian language Georgian

7847-478: The Musavats claimed their driving force was "conscience not fear", it was in reality "fear and not conscience". He concluded that they would all regret this act. When the debate finished, Davit Oniashvili , an ethnic Georgian Menshevik, proposed the motion for the Seim "to proclaim Transcaucasia an independent democratic federative republic". Some deputies left the chamber as they did not want to vote in favor of

7980-532: The Musavats, who represented Azerbaijani interests, were still hesitant to fight fellow Muslims, but conceded that independence was the only way to ensure the region would not be divided by foreign states. The only major opposition came from the Socialist Revolutionary Party , when one of their representatives, Lev Tumanov  [ ru ] , argued that the people of Transcaucasia did not support such an action. He also argued that while

8113-476: The October Revolution, the central authority had ceased to exist in Transcaucasia. An independent government had been formed and that since it had acted like a state when it discussed the invitation to the Brest-Litovsk peace talks, it qualified as a sovereign state, even if independence had not been explicitly proclaimed. Rauf refuted the argument, asserting that the Sovnarkom had authority over all of Russia and even though Ottoman representatives had sent messages to

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8246-420: The Ottoman Empire, a response to the 1915 genocide and continued attacks on Armenian civilians, while only the Azerbaijanis resisted going to war, as they were reluctant to fight fellow Muslims. Azerbaijanis were outvoted and on 14 April the Seim declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Immediately after the voting finished, Tsereteli and Jordania left to join the defense of Batum, while the delegation in Trabzon

8379-445: The Ottoman Empire, including major regions in the Transcaucasus: the territories of Ardahan , Batum Oblast , and Kars Oblast , all of which had been annexed by Russia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 . With this sudden development, the delegation postponed leaving as they had to reconsider their stance. As the Transcaucasus had not been part of the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, they sent messages to several governments around

8512-429: The Ottoman delegates ignored. Both sides invited observers: the TDFR brought a small German contingent, led by General Otto von Lossow , while the Ottoman delegates had representatives from the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus , an unrecognized state they were backing. Chkhenkeli wished to proceed on the basis of the Brest-Litovsk terms, but this was refused by the Ottoman delegation, led by Halil Bey ,

8645-404: The Ottoman forces, split into two groups, were 40 km (25 mi) from Erevan and 120 km (75 mi) from Tiflis. With this threat, the TDFR reached out to Von Lossow and the Germans in hopes of securing their help and protection. Von Lossow had previously offered to mediate between the TDFR and the Ottoman Empire on 19 May, though this had not led to any progress. While

8778-432: The Ottoman minister of justice. Halil Bey argued that as the two states were in conflict, the Ottoman would no longer recognize Brest-Litovsk and instead presented Chkhenkeli with a duly prepared draft treaty. The treaty contained twelve articles which called for the Ottoman Empire to be ceded not only the oblasts of Kars and Batum , but also the uezds of Akhalkalaki , Akhaltsikhe , Surmalu , and large parts of

8911-445: The Ottomans continued their advance into Transcaucasian territory and shortly after occupied both Erzerum and Kars. Upon its establishment, the TDFR had no cabinet to lead the new government. The Commissariat had been dissolved when independence was declared, and Gegechkori refused to continue in a leadership position, feeling he had lost support to do so. Though it had been agreed during the Seim debates that Chkhenkeli would take up

9044-415: The Ottomans refused to accept the authority of the Commissariat. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , which ended Russia's involvement in the war, conceded parts of the Transcaucasus to the Ottoman Empire, which pursued its invasion to take control of the territory. Faced with this imminent threat, on 22 April 1918 the Commissariat dissolved itself and established the TDFR as an independent state. A legislature,

9177-404: The Red Armies' advance to the Caucasus frontiers, the republic's situation became extremely tense. In January, the Soviet leadership offered Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan an alliance against the White armies in South Russia and the Caucasus. The Government of the DRG refused to enter any military alliance, referring to its policy of neutrality and noninterference, but suggested negotiations towards

9310-433: The Russian Empire absorbed the area. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Caucasus became a major theatre , the Russian and Ottoman Empires fighting each other in the region. The Russians won several battles and penetrated deep into Ottoman territory. However, they were concerned that the local population, who were mostly Muslims , would continue to follow the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V and disrupt

9443-412: The Russian forces, as he was also the caliph , the spiritual leader of Islam. Both sides also wanted to use the Armenian population, who lived across the border, to their advantage and foment uprisings. After military defeats, the Ottoman government turned against the Armenians, and initiated a genocide by 1915, in which around 1 million Armenians were killed. The 1917 February Revolution saw

9576-415: The Seim met on 21 May to discuss the future of the TDFR and agreed that it was not likely to last much longer. The next day the Georgians met alone and resolved that independence was their only logical choice. Jordania and Zurab Avalishvili drafted a declaration of independence on 22 May, before Jordania left again for Batum to meet Von Lossow. On 24 May Von Lossow replied that he

9709-481: The Seim, was formed to direct negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, which had immediately recognized the state. Diverging goals of the three major groups ( Armenians , Azerbaijanis , and Georgians ) quickly jeopardized the TDFR's existence. Peace talks again broke down and, facing a renewed Ottoman offensive in May ;1918, Georgian delegates in the Seim announced that the TDFR was unable to continue, and declared

9842-515: The Seim, who noted that the Transcaucasus had sent a delegation to Trabzon to negotiate peace, and that as the Seim no longer recognized Russian authority they would not acknowledge the provisions of Brest-Litovsk. On 11 March the Ottoman army began their attack on Erzurum and with little hope for success, the mostly Armenian defenders evacuated less than twenty-four hours later. The Trabzon Peace Conference opened on 14 March. At

9975-446: The TDFR lasted only a month, it has had a limited legacy, and the historical scholarship on the topic is limited. Historians Adrian Brisku and Timothy K. Blauvelt have noted that it "seemed both to the actors at the time and to later scholars of the region to be unique, contingent, and certainly unrepeatable." Stephen F. Jones stated it was "the first and last attempt at an independent Transcaucasian union", while Hovannisian noted that

10108-438: The TDFR that were based on agreement with their neighbors. He further laid out a platform with five main points: write a constitution; delineate borders; end the war; combat counter-revolution and anarchy; and land reform. A new peace conference was convened at Batum on 11 May, with both Chkhenkeli and Vehib in attendance. Before the conference, Chkhenkeli repeated his request to have the other Central Powers present, which

10241-593: The Transcaucasian Republic, and because it became impossible to establish one authoritative order speaking in the name of all Transcaucasia, the Seim certifies the fact of the dissolution of Transcaucasia and lays down its powers." Most delegates left the chamber, leaving only the Georgians, who were shortly joined by members of the Georgian National Council. Jordania then read the Georgian declaration of independence and proclaimed

10374-487: The Transcaucasian Seim to accept this position. He initially asked that Batum remain part of the Transcaucasus, arguing that as the major port in the region it was an economic necessity. The Ottomans refused the proposal, making it clear that they would only accept the terms of Brest-Litovsk, to which Chkhenkeli conceded. Acting on his own accord, on 9 April Chkhenkeli agreed to negotiate further based on

10507-704: The actions of the TDFR during its short existence demonstrated that it "was not independent, democratic, federative, or a republic". Under Bolshevik rule, the three successor states would be forcibly reunited within the Soviet Union as the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic . This state lasted from 1922 to 1936 before being broken up again into three union republics : the Armenian , Azerbaijani , and Georgian Soviet Socialist Republics . Within

10640-583: The capital of the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti , became the seat of the viceroy and the de facto capital of the region. The South Caucasus was overwhelmingly rural: aside from Tiflis the only other city of significance was Baku , which grew in the late nineteenth century as the region began exporting oil and became a major economic hub. Ethnically the region was highly diverse. The three major local groups were Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Georgians; Russians had also established themselves after

10773-403: The character of the verb). This is called the dative construction . In the past tense of the transitive verbs, and in the present tense of the verb "to know", the subject is in the ergative case. Georgian has a rich word-derivation system. By using a root, and adding some definite prefixes and suffixes, one can derive many nouns and adjectives from the root. For example, from the root - kart -,

10906-565: The city until it was evacuated on 25 April. Having captured most of their claimed territory and unwilling to lose more soldiers, the Ottoman delegates offered another truce on 22 April and waited for the Transcaucasians to reply. In the face of Ottoman military superiority, the Georgian National Council decided that the only option was for Transcaucasia to declare itself an independent state. The idea

11039-654: The collapse of the Russian Empire and allowed territories formerly under Russia 's rule to assert independence. In contrast to Bolshevik Russia , DRG was governed by a moderate, multi-party political system led by the Georgian Social Democratic Party ( Mensheviks ). Initially, DRG was a protectorate of the German Empire . However, after the German defeat in World War I , the country was partially occupied by British troops, who were sent there to counter

11172-458: The current Mkhedruli, used for most purposes. The language has a robust grammatical framework with unique features such as syncope in morphophonology and a left-branching syntax. Georgian's vocabulary is highly derivational, allowing for diverse word formations, while its numeric system is vigesimal. No claimed genetic links between the Kartvelian languages and any other language family in

11305-469: The demise of the Russian Empire and the establishment of a provisional government in Russia. The Viceroy of the Caucasus, Grand Duke Nicholas , initially expressed his support for the new government, yet he was forced to resign his post as imperial power eroded. The provisional government created a new temporary authority, the Special Transcaucasian Committee (known by its Russian abbreviation, Ozakom ) on 22 March 1917 [ O.S. 9 March]. It

11438-592: The diverse ethnic groups and political factions that composed the Seim; on their arrival an Ottoman official quipped that "[i]f this was the entire population of Transcaucasia, it was indeed very small; if, however, it was only a delegation, it was much too large." While the delegates waited for the conference in Trabzon to begin, the head of the Ottoman Third Army , Vehib Pasha , sent a request on 10 March to Evgeny Lebedinskii  [ ru ] ,

11571-552: The fall of the Armenian Republic at the end of 1920. In the southeast, Georgia was bordered by Azerbaijan , which claimed control of Zaqatala district , and parts of . The dispute, however, never led to hostilities and relations between the two countries were generally peaceful until the Sovietization of Azerbaijan. The 1919 projects and the 1921 constitution of Georgia granted Abkhazia , Ajaria and Zaqatala

11704-555: The first session, the lead Ottoman delegate, Rauf Bey , asked the Transcaucasian delegation whom they represented. Akaki Chkhenkeli , the head of the Transcaucasian delegation, was unable to give a proper response as it was not clear to him or his associates who they represented. When the question was repeated two days later, Rauf also asked Chkhenkeli to clarify the make-up of their state, to determine if it qualified as one under international law . Chkhenkeli clarified that since

11837-516: The first stage towards independent states. Most of the South Caucasus had been absorbed by the Russian Empire in the first half of the nineteenth century. A Caucasian Viceroyalty had originally been established in 1801 to allow for direct Russian rule, and over the next several decades local autonomy was reduced and Russian control was further consolidated, the Viceroyalty gaining greater power in 1845. Tiflis (now Tbilisi), which had been

11970-498: The following words can be derived: Kart veli ('a Georgian person'), Kart uli ('the Georgian language') and Sa kart velo ('the country of Georgia'). Most Georgian surnames end in - dze 'son' (Western Georgia), - shvili 'child' (Eastern Georgia), - ia (Western Georgia, Samegrelo ), - ani (Western Georgia, Svaneti ), - uri (Eastern Georgia), etc. The ending - eli is a particle of nobility, comparable to French de , Dutch van , German von or Polish - ski . Georgian has

12103-461: The ideas of Ilia Chavchavadze and other intellectuals from the late 19th century, insisted on national independence. A cultural national awakening was further strengthened by the restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church (12 March 1917) and the establishment of a national university in Tbilisi (1918). In contrast, the Georgian Mensheviks regarded independence from Russia as

12236-505: The internal disagreements taking place. Instead they agreed to travel to Trabzon , in northeast Anatolia . A delegation representing the Seim was scheduled to depart for Trabzon on 2 March, but that day it was announced that the peace talks at Brest-Litovsk had concluded, and the Russians would sign a peace treaty. Contained within the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was the agreement that the Russians would give up large swaths of land to

12369-425: The invitation and thus did not participate in the peace talks there. Two days later, on 18 January [ O.S. 5 January], the Constituent Assembly had its first and only meeting, broken up by the Bolsheviks, thereby effectively consolidating their power in Russia. This confirmed for the Commissariat that they would not be able to work with the Bolsheviks in any serious capacity, and so they began to form

12502-407: The leaders of the Commissariat that ties with Russia had been all but severed. With no desire to follow the lead of the Bolsheviks, the Commissariat agreed to establish their own legislative body so that the Transcaucasus could have a legitimate government and negotiate with the Ottoman Empire more properly. Thus on 23 February they established the " Seim " ("legislature") in Tiflis. No election

12635-458: The legal system, political and administrative arrangements for ethnic minorities (including an act about the People's Council of Abkhazia ), a national system of public education, and some other laws and regulations on fiscal and monetary policy, railways, and trade and domestic production. On 21 February 1921, facing the onset of Soviet aggression, the Constituent Assembly adopted a constitution of

12768-526: The legalization of Bolshevik organizations and a commitment not to allow foreign troops on Georgian soil. A vote at the League of Nations on granting membership to Georgia was held on 16 December 1920, with the resolution defeated: 10 voted for it, 13 against, and 19 abstained. Georgia gained de jure recognition from the Allies on 27 January 1921. This, however, did not prevent the country from being annexed by

12901-498: The like. This is the Georgian standard keyboard layout. The standard Windows keyboard is essentially that of manual typewriters . Georgian is an agglutinative language . Certain prefixes and suffixes can be joined in order to build a verb. In some cases, one verb can have up to eight different morphemes in it at the same time. An example is ageshenebinat ('you [all] should've built [it]'). The verb can be broken down to parts: a-g-e-shen-eb-in-a-t . Each morpheme here contributes to

13034-582: The location deliberately chosen so that he could travel to Tiflis if necessary, something that was not possible from Trabzon. Upset at Chkhenkeli's actions over the previous days, namely the evacuation of Kars, the Dashnaks initially refused to join the cabinet. They negotiated with the Mensheviks but relented when the latter warned they would only support Chkhenkeli or Hovhannes Kajaznuni , an Armenian. The Mensheviks knew that electing Kajaznuni would give

13167-515: The matter, so the motion passed with few dissents. The new republic, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR), immediately sent a message to Vehib Pasha announcing this development and expressing their will to accept the provisions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and surrendered Kars to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire recognized the TDFR on 28 April. Despite this recognition,

13300-472: The meaning of the verb tense or the person who has performed the verb. The verb conjugation also exhibits polypersonalism ; a verb may potentially include morphemes representing both the subject and the object. In Georgian morphophonology , syncope is a common phenomenon. When a suffix (especially the plural suffix - eb -) is attached to a word that has either of the vowels a or e in the last syllable, this vowel is, in most words, lost. For example, megob

13433-635: The meantime, in response to Georgia's alleged provision of assistance to the Azeri nationalist rebellion in Ganja , Soviet forces attempted to penetrate Georgian territory, but were repelled by Kvinitadze in brief border clashes at the Red Bridge . Within a few days, peace talks resumed in Moscow. Under the terms of the controversial Moscow Peace Treaty of 7 May, Georgian independence was recognized in return for

13566-433: The newly established states, the British commander in the region drew a line across the Caucasus that Denikin would not be permitted to cross, giving both Georgia and Azerbaijan temporary relief. The threat of invasion by Denikin's forces, notwithstanding the British position, brought Georgia and Azerbaijan together in a mutual defense alliance on 16 June 1919. On 14 February 1919, Georgia held parliamentary elections won by

13699-642: The north, Georgia was bordered by various Russian Civil War polities until Bolshevik power was established in the North Caucasus in the spring of 1920. The international border between Soviet Russia and Georgia was regulated by the 1920 Moscow Treaty. During the Sochi conflict with the Russian White movement , Georgia briefly controlled the Sochi district in 1918. In the southwest, the DRG's border with

13832-530: The parliament. Any changes to the constitution must have first been approved by 2/3 of the legislature, and then a majority of the voting public in a referendum. During the Democratic Republic of Georgia, in accordance with the Project for dividing the territory of Georgia into new administrative units (regions), developed by the Self-Government Commission of the Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1920 (Publication of

13965-454: The perception that the TDFR intended to keep fighting to defend Armenian territory, and it was feared that this would see the Azerbaijanis leave the federation and make it easier for Ottoman forces to threaten the rest of Armenia, a proposition the Dashnaks were not eager to endorse. The cabinet was confirmed by the Seim on 26 April, consisting of thirteen members. Chkhenkeli, aside from being prime minister, assumed foreign minister's office,

14098-470: The person in the position did not have some privileges common to dual-heads of state and heads of government, such as the ability to dissolve parliament or veto legislation. The 1919 government of Georgia adopted a law on jury trials . The right to trial by jury for serious criminal, political and print cases was incorporated into the 1921 Constitution . The highest court was the Senate, indirectly elected by

14231-486: The real reason was to allow them a means to reach Baku and access the oil production around the city. Giving the TDFR several days to consider their options, the Ottoman forces resumed their military advances into Armenia on 21 May. They engaged the Armenians at the battles of Bash Abaran , Sardarapat and Kara Killisse , but could not defeat the Armenians decisively. As a result, their advance slowed down, and eventually, they were forced to retreat. By 22 May

14364-437: The recess at Trabzon, the Ottoman forces continued their advance into the Transcaucasian territory, crossing the 1914 border with the Russian Empire by the end of March. The Seim debated the best course of action; a majority of the delegates favored a political solution. On 20 March the Ottoman delegates offered that the Seim could only return to negotiations if they declared independence, thereby confirming that Transcaucasus

14497-627: The region forced Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani politicians to create a unified regional authority known as the Transcaucasian Commissariat (14 November 1917) and later a legislature, the Sejm (23 January 1918). On 22 April 1918, the Sejm – Nikolay Chkheidze was the president – declared the Transcaucasus an independent democratic federation with an executive Transcaucasian government chaired by Evgeni Gegechkori and later by Akaki Chkhenkeli . Many Georgians, influenced by

14630-653: The region, a temporary ceasefire, the Armistice of Erzincan , was signed on 18 December 1917 [ O.S. 5 December]. With the fighting paused, on 16 January 1918 [ O.S. 3 January], Ottoman diplomats invited the Commissariat to join the peace talks in Brest-Litovsk , where the Bolsheviks were negotiating an end to the war with the Central Powers . As the Commissariat did not want to act independently of Russia, they did not answer

14763-688: The regions were mainly proposed by the names of their administrative centers. Minor changes were made to their borders and several former uezds and okrugs were united: Batumi and Artvin okrugs - into the Batumi region, Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki uezds - into the Akhaltsikhe region, Dusheti and Tianet uezds into the Ananuri region. In addition, three autonomous entities were created: Abkhazian autonomy (Sukhumi region), Autonomy of Muslim Georgia (Batumi region) and Zagatala region. Two-level local self-government

14896-501: The remaining positions being split among Armenians (four), Azerbaijanis (five), and Georgians (three). Azerbaijanis and Georgians took up the leading positions in the cabinet, an act that historian Firuz Kazemzadeh said revealed as "the relationship of forces in Transcaucasia" at the time. In his inaugural address to the Seim, Chkhenkeli announced that he would work to ensure all citizens had equality and to establish borders for

15029-640: The replacement of Aramaic as the literary language . By the 11th century, Old Georgian had developed into Middle Georgian. The most famous work of this period is the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin , written by Shota Rustaveli in the 12th century. In 1629, a certain Nikoloz Cholokashvili authored the first printed books written (partially) in Georgian, the Alphabetum Ibericum sive Georgianum cum Oratione and

15162-525: The role of prime minister, he refused to serve in a caretaker position until a new cabinet could be formed. The cabinet was not finalized until 26 April, so for three days the TDFR effectively had no executive. With pressing needs to attend to, Chkhenkeli took up his role as prime minister. He ordered the Armenian forces to cease fighting and also requested Vehib to meet him for peace negotiations in Batum,

15295-496: The same day, was led by Noe Ramishvili . In October 1918, the National Council of Georgia has renamed the Parliament and announced new elections to be held on 14 February 1919. During its two-year history (1919–1921), the newly elected Constituent Assembly of Georgia , with Nikolay Chkheidze as president, adopted 126 laws; these included laws on citizenship, local elections, defence, the official language, agriculture,

15428-463: The soviets, most prominently the Tiflis Soviet. News of the October Revolution , which brought the Bolsheviks to power in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 [ O.S. 25 October], reached the Caucasus the following day. The Tiflis Soviet met and declared their opposition to the Bolsheviks. Three days later the idea of an autonomous local government was first expressed by Noe Jordania ,

15561-449: The terms set out, though requested that representatives from the other Central Powers participate in the talks. Rauf replied that such a request could only be considered if the Transcaucasus were an independent state. Tired of fruitless negotiations and realizing that the contested territories could be occupied by force, Ottoman officials issued an ultimatum to the defenders in Batum, ordering it evacuated by 13 April. While Chkhenkeli

15694-415: The territory of the present-day Armenia , Azerbaijan and Georgia , as well as parts of Russia and Turkey. The state lasted only for a month before Georgia declared independence , followed shortly after by Armenia and Azerbaijan . The region that formed the TDFR had been part of the Russian Empire . As the empire dissolved during the 1917 February Revolution and a provisional government took over,

15827-443: The troops that had been stationed in the region since the fall of the Armenian Republic. The Act of Independence of Georgia , declared on 26 May 1918, in brief, outlined the main principles of the nation's future democracy. According to this act, "the Democratic Republic of Georgia equally guarantees to every citizen within her limits political rights irrespective of nationality, creed, social rank or sex". The first government, formed

15960-399: The world are accepted in mainstream linguistics. Among the Kartvelian languages, Georgian is most closely related to the so-called Zan languages ( Megrelian and Laz ); glottochronological studies indicate that it split from the latter approximately 2700 years ago. Svan is a more distant relative that split off much earlier, perhaps 4000 years ago. Standard Georgian is largely based on

16093-431: The world, stating as they were not a party in the peace talks they would not honor the treaty and would not evacuate the territories. The delegation would finally depart on 7 March and arrive at Trabzon the next day. On arrival, the delegation, comprising ten delegates and another fifty guards, was held up as the guards were asked to disarm. The unusually large delegation was made up of individuals selected to represent

16226-460: Was one of the first countries in Europe to grant women the right to vote as enshrined in the Georgian constitution, which was "unusual in most European constitutions at the time". Several women of varying backgrounds were elected to the Georgian parliament, as were representatives of nine ethnicities, including Germans, Russians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Jews. DRG also saw the founding of Georgia's first fully fledged university , thereby realizing

16359-500: Was circa 107,600 km, compared to 69,700 km in modern Georgia. The Soviet occupation of the DRG led to significant territorial rearrangements by which Georgia lost almost a third of its territory. Artvin, Ardahan and part of Batumi provinces were ceded to Turkey, Armenia gained control of Lori, and Azerbaijan obtained Zaqatala district. A portion of the Georgian marches along the Greater Caucasus Mountains

16492-539: Was composed of Caucasian representatives to the Duma (Russian legislature) and other local leaders, it was meant to serve as a "collective viceroyalty", and had representatives from the ethnic groups of the region. Much like in Petrograd , a dual power system was established, the Ozakom competing with soviets . With little support from the government in Petrograd, the Ozakom had trouble establishing its authority over

16625-452: Was debated in the Seim on 22 April, the Georgians leading the debate, noting that the Ottoman representatives had agreed to resume peace talks provided that the Transcaucasus would meet them as an independent state. The choice to move forward was not unanimous initially: the mostly Armenian Dashnaks felt that the best option at the time was to stop the Ottoman military's advance, though they were reluctant to give up so much territory, while

16758-451: Was held for the deputies; instead, the results for the Constituent Assembly election were used, the electoral threshold being lowered to one-third of that used for the Constituent Assembly to allow more members to join, which allowed smaller parties to be represented. Nikolai Chkheidze , a Georgian Menshevik, was named the chairman. Ultimately the Seim comprised ten different parties. Three dominated, each representing one major ethnic group:

16891-401: Was immediately recognized by Germany and the Ottoman Empire . The young state had to place itself under German protection in the Treaty of Poti and to cede its largely Muslim -inhabited regions (including the cities of Batumi , Ardahan , Artvin , Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki ) to the Ottoman government in the 4 June Treaty of Batum . However, German support enabled the Georgians to repel

17024-459: Was introduced: 18 regions and equivalent to regions, the capital of Georgia - Tiflis (Tbilisi) at the regional level and 356 cities and communities at the local level. The southern part of the Ardahan district and the Olta district - if the Democratic Republic of Georgia establishes control over them, will be part of the created Artaani region. New administrative-territorial units (regions – «olki») of

17157-464: Was no longer part of Russia. The idea of independence had arisen before, the Georgians having discussed it in depth in preceding years; it was decided against as the Georgian leadership felt the Russians would not approve it and the Menshevik political ideology leaned away from nationalism. By 5 April, Chkhenkeli accepted the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as a basis for further negotiations and urged

17290-399: Was only authorized to work with the TDFR as a whole; as it was becoming apparent that it would not last long, he would have to leave Trabzon and consult with his government on how to proceed further. On 26 May Tsereteli gave two speeches in the Seim. In the first, he explained that the TDFR was unable to continue as there was a lack of unity among the people and that ethnic strife led to

17423-405: Was ordered to return to Tiflis immediately. Some Azerbaijani delegates defied this order and remained there, seeking potential negotiation, though nothing came of this. The military superiority of the Ottoman forces became apparent right away. They occupied Batum on 14 April, with little resistance. They also attacked Kars, but a force of 3,000 Armenian soldiers, with artillery support, held

17556-546: Was receptive to the loss of Batum, recognizing its importance but accepting that it was part of the terms at Brest-Litovsk, the Georgian members of the Seim were adamant about keeping the city, Gegechkori noting that it could be defended quite easily. Irakli Tsereteli , a Georgian Menshevik, gave an impassioned speech calling for the defense of the city and asked the Seim to denounce the Brest-Litovsk treaty altogether. Armenian delegates had long been in support of fighting

17689-647: Was taken by Russia. Forming principally on the territories of the Tiflis and Kutais governorates, as well as the Batum Oblast and Sukhumi Okrug , the Georgian Democratic Republic following the Treaty of Batum consisted of 1,607,000 Georgians , 535,000 Armenians , 200,000 Muslims , and 510,000 others, totalling 2,852,000 inhabitants. By 1921, following the fall of the Armenian and Azerbaijani republics and Georgia's reacquisition of

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