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  Selected Secret Documents from Soviet Foreign Policy Documents Archives - 1919 to 1941

Concentrated on 1st and  2nd WW Correspondence and Meetings related to Turkey, Balkans and Iran, with some additions from Afghanistan and India.

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Letter from the peopleʹs commissar for foreign affairs of the RSFSR to the extraordinary ambassador of the Ukrainian SSR in Turkey

M.V. Frunze.

December 26, 1921

Dear comrade,

Both from London and from Rome news is being sent that angora allegedly took the side of the entente and accepted or is going to accept the terms of the attack on the Caucasus. It is possible, and even likely, that this news is provocative in nature. We must nevertheless reckon with the worst opportunity, and our sources report on the work to strengthen Kars and the concentration of new Turkish troops on the eastern front, in particular, near Erzurum, as well as the recruitment or mobilization in Artvin, Ardahan and Kars districts. If the comrade minister who spoke to you was sincere when he blamed us for the alleged cooling off, he simply underestimates the difficulties of the situation. After all, we continue to send something, despite the fact that from various sources we are told about Turkish hostile plans. We send less than before just because we ourselves are difficult, and the first list, which we pledged to fulfill at the time of signing the treaty, has almost been completed. Taking into account our position, we can say that we are really helping Turkey as much as possible.

Regarding Romania, not only there was no evasiveness, but quite the opposite, we interrupted the Dniester conference with Romania at the time of Yusuf Kemalʹs proposal and officially informed Turkey about it. She could very well use it much more than she did; after that the question of Romania lost its relevance because the master of Romania, that is, France, made friends with angora.

The alleged concentration of our troops in the Caucasus belongs to the realm of myth. As for the Molokans, the blame lies entirely with Turkey. Their [Turks] behavior in this matter was so arrogant and unacceptable that it was necessary to address them in an appropriate tone.

Our imaginary help to Enver ¹ is a fairy tale. We consider it impossible to arrest the most prominent Muslim hero. When he went to Batumi, we could not interfere with him if we did not want to arrest him, but we did not provide him with absolutely any assistance and do not provide him.

We definitely consider it necessary to continue to maintain our previous relationship with Turkey. If there is a change in these relations, it will exclusively depend on Turkey, and not on us, you are being told about sincerity, and meanwhile, we were not at all kept abreast of the negotiations with the entente, and on the franklinbouillon negotiations, the text of the treaty was sent to us only after that how it became an accomplished fact. We were not told anything about the classified articles. Meanwhile, we can probably say that there are such. The Turkish emissaries are undoubtedly stirring up trouble in Adjara, in the dagestan and mountain republics. We have documents in our hands. This, however, does not prevent the continuation of the line of friendship on our part. We believe in general that the eastern peoples are our natural allies,

With communist greetings

[Chicherin]

Print. By architect.

¹ Enver pasha is a former war minister of the sultan government of Turkey and one of the leaders of the bourgeois‐landlord party ʺunity and progressʺ (young Turks). Having been in exile in Germany since 1918, he widely promoted the ideas of pan‐Islamism and at the same time launched activities in support of the anti‐imperialist movement in the countries of the east; took part in the congress of the peoples of the east, held in September 1920 in Baku. In 1921, Enver arrived in Batumi, intending to leave for Turkey. However, the government of the Turkish grand national assembly, headed by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), given Enverʹs desire to return to power, banned him from entering the country.

In this regard, on November 27, 1921, Chicherin sent a letter to the RSFSR consul in Batumi containing the following instructions; “I emphasize once again that at the moment one should not allow the appearance of Enver in Turkey itself ... You have every opportunity to prevent him from going further, so that he does not penetrate into Turkey. He vowed that he would not do anything against Kemal while Kemal was fighting the Greeks. Since now it turns out that he does not keep this promise, we can also refer to this to say that we cannot provide him with hospitality in Batumi any longer”.

At the end of 1921, Enver illegally made his way to Bukhara, where, having come into contact with British intelligence, he led the AntiSoviet Basmachi movement. In august 1922, when units of the red army were defeated by the Basmachi bands, he was killed.

December 26, 1921, letter from the peopleʹs commissar for foreign affairs of the RSFSR to the extraordinary ambassador of the Ukrainian SSR in Turkey M.V. Frunze.