Caucasus
Part III: Recapturing Lost Territories

Armistice was signed between the Russians and the Turks and the Imperial Russian Army was withdrawing from Anatolian territory. However, the war was not over yet. On 4 February 1918, Vehip Paşa, commander of the Ottoman Third Army, sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, stating that he is going to launch an offensive in order to prevent Armenian aggression against the Turkish population in territories evacuated by the Russian Army.

Vehip Paşa was well informed about the situation in the region, thanks to a report by Lieutenant Hüsamettin Bey, who had escaped imprisonment in Russian hands and made his way to Trabzon. According to this report, what was left from the Russian Army was incapable of holding the frontier line, British and French representatives were involved in forming Armenian and Georgian battalions and furthermore, the Armenians, with the support of Russian Bolsheviks, were planning to rid the entire southern Caucasus from Muslim Azerbaijanis.

Meanwhile, in Istanbul, Enver Paşa was making his own plans. The revolution in Russia was a great opportunity. He wanted not only to recover the pre-war frontiers, but also to reclaim what was to Russians in the war of 1877-78, which would then be a springboard for the Turkish domination of Central Asia. He ordered reinforcements to be deployed to the Third Army and operations to begin as soon as the Turkish forces were combat-ready. Turkish forces were to face the Armenian National Army, which, according to a report of Kazım Bey, was composed of 36 regiments (a total of 15,000 men) equipped with armaments left by the retreating Russians.

The Turkish offensive began on 5 February 1918, towards the east of the line between Tirebolu and Bitlis. It was a blitzkrieg conducted by the Third Army and the lost territories were recaptured from the Armenians in lightning speed. Kelkit was liberated on 7 February, Erzincan on 13 February, Bayburt on 19 February and Tercan on 22 February. The important Black Sea port of Trabzon was taken back on 25 February, and incoming sea-borne reinforcements began to debark in this port, which added substantially to the Turkish combat strength.

Armenians fought to keep the city of Erzurum, which was nevertheless liberated by the Turkish I Caucasian Corps on 12 March. Malazgirt, Hınıs, Oltu, Köprüköy and Tortum followed over the following two weeks.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

As the Turks were reacquiring the lands they had lost, peace negotiations between Russia and the Central Powers were on the way at Brest-Litovsk (in current-day Belarus). According to the treaty signed on 3 March 1918, all lands Russia had captured from the Ottoman Empire in the war of 1877-78, specifically Ardahan, Kars and Batumi, were to be returned. However, the treaty was not stating how and when this was going to happen and since they were already evacuated by the Russians, Kars and Ardahan were occupied by Armenians and Batumi by Georgians. On 14 March 1918, the Ottoman government began negotiating with the representatives of the recently formed Transcaucasian Federation (TR: Mavera-yi Kafkas Konfederasyonu) in order to determine the conditions of peace in the Caucasus. The ottoman side was demanding absolute adherence to the terms of Brest-Litovsk, whereas the Armenian and Georgian delegates were trying to secure concessions and to keep at least Kars and Batumi. As talks were being held in Trabzon, the Turkish army was advancing towards these towns and the Armenian and Georgian delegates were clearly not aware of the situation. The conference in Trabzon soon went into a deadlock and Enver Paşa ordered Vehip Paşa to resort to military means in order to ensure the fulfillment of the terms set at Brest-Litovsk. In other words, the army was going on an offensive to capture the three cities in question. Batumi was especially important for Enver Paşa, who saw this port city was a gateway opening to the Caucasus, Persia and Central Asia.

Whereas Enver wanted first to save the Muslims in the Caucasus and then embark on the conquest of Central Asia, Vehip Paşa was more cautious, because he believed that such an operation would unite the Armenians and Georgians against the local Muslims. Furthermore, in his opinion, even if the Caucasus could be occupied, there were simply not enough forces to ensure the security there, which would lead to anarchy. Vehip Paşa was also not sure about to what extend he could get support from the local Muslims.

Despite his criticism of Enver’s plans, Vehip Paşa had no option but to go on with preparations. In a letter he received from Istanbul, Enver Paşa was saying “As the reward of three years of spilling blood and being subjected to hardships and disasters, it is the duty of the government to physically occupy Batumi, Kars and Ardahan, which had been lost by the Ottoman Empire in the past, but secured their future with the treaty of Brest-Litovsk.”

Vehip’s plan was to execute the offensive in three flanks. In the center, the Şevki Paşa Group composed of I and II Caucasus Corps and the 5th Infantry division under the command of Yakup Şevki Paşa was going to drive towards Kars. In the left, i.e. along the Black Sea coats, the VI Corps would proceed towards Batumi and on the right the IV Corps would attack towards Van and Doğubayazıt.

Regaining lost ground

The offensive started (or rather gained momentum, since the troops were already in motion) on 3 April 1918, on which day Ardahan was liberated by the Şevki Paşa Group. The 9th Caucasus Division followed the retreating Armenian forces to Sarıkamış, the scene of a great tragedy three years ago, which was captured on 5 April. The I Caucasus Corps commanded by Colonel Kazım Bey continued to chase the Armenian units. Kağızman was liberated on 8 April and on the same day the offensive towards Kars was commenced with the order issued by Yakup Şevki Paşa to Kazım Bey.

9th and 36th Divisions began to march towards the town of Selim, which was heavily fortified by the Armenians. The operation was briefly halted on 11 April as news came from the conference, which was still in progress in Trabzon, about the representatives of the Transcaucasian Federation accepted the evacuation of the three cities mentioned in the terms of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Realizing that it was only a deception to gain time, the advance towards Kars continued the next day. Selim was captured, after four days of fighting, on 22 April. Now, it was the turn for Kars.

After beating the Turks at Sarıkamış in 1915, Russians had fortified Kars in a very efficient manner, which meant that even if the Turks could capture it, it would be only a pyrrhic victory with severe losses. This is why Kazım Bey decided to siege the town and force the Armenians to surrender rather than attempting to capture the city. The siege was laid by the I and II Caucasian Corps as of 23 April.

It did not take too long for the Armenian officers to surrender. Through French intermediation, General Nazarbekov, the Armenian Corps Commander based in Yerevan, asked for ceasefire, to which the Turkish response was that it would be only possible through the unconditional surrender of the city. Realizing that they had no option, Armenian officers decided to comply with Turkish demands. On 25 April, Captain Talat Bey went to the city to take it over from General Deyev. At the same time the batteries surrounding the city were occupied and in the evening a regiment from the I Caucasian Corps entered into the city and took it under control. The next day at 10 am, Colonel Kazım Bey himself entered the city as the “Liberator of Kars.” Later on he would write in his memoirs: “After 40 years of slavery, the Fortress of Kars and all those hands were joining back the motherland. I spread the good news and celebrations began everywhere. It was a great joy for me that it was my corps, which had liberated Erzincan and Erzurum in the dead of winter, to have the honor of raising the Turkish flag over Kars. This was my greatest ideal since I was a child.”

On the other flanks, it was also going well for the Turks. Along the Black Sea coast, the 123rd Regiment, departing from Trabzon, entered into Çayeli on 2 April, a few days later after the 37th Caucasus Division liberated Artvin and Andanuç. The main objective of the latter unit was Batumi, which was captured on 14 April, after two days of fighting. Meanwhile, on the right flank, the IV Corps entered the city of Van on 6 April, to find out that the local Muslim population has been subjected to atrocities in the hands of the Russians and Armenians. Doğubayazıt was liberated one week later.

As the Turkish forces were proceeding eastward, peace negotiations resumed on 11 May 1918 in Batumi. However, this did not stop the military operations. As fighting with Georgians in the regions around Akhaltzikhe (TR: Ahilkelek) and Gyumri (TR: Gümrü) continued, the Turks’ demand for using the Transcaucasian railways against the British in northern Persia was refused, which left Yakup Şevki Paşa with no option but to invade this region. Gyumri was captured on 15 May and Karakilise on 28 May.

Meanwhile, the Turks were taking a harsher stance at the talks in Batumi. The head of the Turkish delegation, Halil Bey, demanded all nations within the Transcaucasian Federation to establish their own independent state, on the grounds that if this was not going to happen, peace would be impossible. The three nations were not enthusiastic to continue with the federation anyway. The Azerbaijanis were pro-Ottoman, whereas the Armenians and Georgians were trying to stop the Turkish advance, at the same time having differences of opinion among themselves. On 26 May, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic dissolved, breaking up into three independent states: Democratic Republic of Georgia, Democratic Republic of Armenia, and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.  The Ottoman government signed separate peace treaties with all the three republics on 4 June 1918.

As Enver Paşa went to Batumi to have a talk with the Germans on 5 June, an incident caused the tension to escalate dangerously between the two allies. Vehip Paşa’s troops encountered a combined Georgian-German unit on the main road to Tbilisi, The Turks attacked, taking several prisoners, including Germans.

Army of Islam

Enver conceded to German pressure and stopped the Turkish expansion into Georgia; however, he did not give up his pan-Turkic project. On 8 June, he ordered a major transformation of Turkish forces in the region. From the units of the Third Army, a new Ninth Army was formed and given under the command of Yakup Şevki Paşa. A new Eastern Army Group, commanded by Vehip Paşa (later during the same month he was replaced by Halil Paşa, the hero of Kut), would coordinate the operations of the Third and Ninth Armies. The new commander of the Third Army was Esat Paşa.

Since a northward expansion was now out of question, Enver wanted to move to east and to south, i.e. to Azerbaijan and Persia respectively. As early as March 1918, he was putting the idea of an “Army of Islam”, which would mobilize Muslim supporters in the Caucasian region, move down through Persia and entrap the British forces in Mesopotamia. On 10 July 1918, this new army was activated. It was composed of the 5th Caucasus Infantry Division, the 15th Division, an independent brigade and an independent regiment, to be commanded by Nuri Paşa, Enver’s stepbrother. The headquarters of the Army of Islam was located in Ganja (TR: Gence), the capital of the newly founded Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Guns remained silent around Baku for a couple of weeks. Nuri Paşa was receiving the reinforcements he had asked for (three regiments from the 15th Turkish Division arrived the Baku front on 9 September) and the Russian/Armenian/British forces in Baku were busy with strengthening their defenses. Between 26 August and 1 September, there have been minor Turkish attacks, which remained inconclusive. Meanwhile, Nuri Paşa was planning the major offensive. Around 8,000 Turkish troops and more than 6,000 Azerbaijani militia had gathered at the outskirts of the city and it was time to attack for the Army of Islam.

The offensive was launched in the early hours of 14 August 1918. The 15th Division, commanded by Süleyman İzzet Bey attacked from the north and the 5th Caucasus Infantry Division, commanded by Mürsel Paşa, attacked from the west. In both sectors, the Turks fought successfully and by the end of the day, the defenders of the city realized that the situation was hopeless. At 3:00 pm on the next day, Baku surrendered to the Army of Islam. After 3.5 months of fighting, Turkish troops were now in Baku, which was returned to its real owners, the Azerbaijanis. The liberation of Azerbaijan was completed.

In his report submitted to Enver Paşa, Nuri Paşa wrote that during the battle of Baku, there has been street fighting between the Muslim populations and the Armenians in the city; a number of Armenians and a few Russians were murdered, however the total number of people killed would not even constitute one percent of the total number of Muslims massacred in Baku in March 1918.

Another place where the Muslim population was under the threat posed by Armenian militia was Karabakh. The 1st Azerbaijan Division was constituted under the command of Col. Cemil Cahit Bey and became combat ready by 6 October. Cemil Cahit Bey led the division for one month during which the Askeran Pass leading to the town of Susha was cleaned from Armenian forces and the security of around 20,000 Azerbaijani Turks living in the town was ensured. On 8 November, the command of the division was taken over by the Azerbaijani General Yusufov. At that time, the new government in Istanbul was considering negotiations for armistice with the Allied powers and therefore it was deemed necessary for Turkish military operations to be brought to an end.

After the capture of Baku, Nuri Paşa directed his attention to Dagestan, where the Muslim population was being oppressed by the Bolsheviks. A Northern Caucasus Army was composed by the 15th Infantry Division and Dagestani militia, and, under the command of Yusuf İzzet Paşa, it was assigned the task of capturing the towns of Derbent and Petrovsk. The offensive began on 5 October, but had to be halted after two days, due to strong resistance. The attack was resumed on 20 October and Derbent was captured on 26 October. The Northern Caucasus Army continued with its drive northwards along the Caspian Sea arriving in Petrovsk two days later. This city fell on 8 November. The capture of Petrovsk was the last Turkish offensive operation in the First World War. The Armistice of Mudros, signed on 30 October, had ended the war for the Turks.

By the end of the war, the Ottoman Empire had lost the Palestine and Mesopotamia campaigns, but it had managed to reacquire all the territory, which it had lost to the Russians, in Eastern Anatolia.