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Bolshevik leadership Correspondence. 1912-1927
Collection of documents 1996.
Compiled by: A.V.Kvashonkin, L.P.Kosheleva, L.A.Rogovaya, O.V.Khlevnyuk.Telegram from G. K. Ordzhonikidze to L. M. Karakhan, V. I. Lenin, I. V. Stalin
May 24, 1920
Moscow - the Kremlin, Karakhan. Copy to Lenin and Stalin.
Armenia can be blown up, but as I pointed out, this will cost a very large food shortage. I do not think that the Dashnaks 1 would agree to let our troops and weapons through to Turkey. In any case, the fact that you propose to openly declare to Armenia the demand to let us through to the borders of Turkey would cause indignation among the Armenian masses. For the time being, we will occupy the Nakhichevan-Ordubat-Dzhulfa 2 region , and we will see from there. Today we received a letter from Kamil Pasha, in which he asks for help and offers an alliance 3. There is also a letter for Camila. Through our comrades, the Armenians propose, under our chairmanship, to resolve all disputes between Armenians and Turks in the region of Turkish Armenia. If an agreement is reached on this issue, Armenia will provide an opportunity for free communication with Turkey. There are no regular Turkish forces on the Armenian border, there are headquarters and armed local people around them. Once again, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Georgians have sheltered the Musavatist government in Tiflis and they are operating from there. It is essential that Kamil openly speak out against Nuri Pasha, who is provoking here 4 . He disappeared. In an hour I am leaving for Anzeli with Raskolnikov.
24/5 20 10 hours Baku.
Ordzhonikidze.
RTSKHIDNI. F. 85. On. 3/S. D. 1. L. 2-6. Autograph.
Notes:
1 Dashnaks are members of the Armenian bourgeois-nationalist party "Dashnaktsutyun" ("Union"), which arose in 1890 in Tiflis. From May 1918 to November 1920 the ruling party of the Armenian Republic.
2 Disputed territories on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
3 The appeal of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to the government of the RSFSR with a request to establish diplomatic relations and military assistance was considered by the Bolshevik leadership of Russia in the context of a possible pretext for the relatively bloodless sovietization of Armenia and Georgia if the latter agree to let troops pass to the borders of Turkey. On May 23, 1920, Ordzhonikidze sent another telegram addressed to Lenin, Stalin and Chicherin, which, in particular, said: “[...] I consider any assistance to the Turks through Armenia under the Dashnak government more than doubtful. Its Sovietization is possible, but it is associated with great food difficulties [...]” (RTSKHIDNI. F. 5. On. 1. D. 2436. L. 39).
4 The commander of the Turkish troops in the Caucasus, Nuri Pasha, was one of the leaders of the anti-Soviet rebellion organized by the Musavatists in Ganja (Azerbaijan), which began on May 26, 1920. The 11th Army suppressed the rebellion.