DOCUMENTS 639 638 THE CLASS STRUGGLE 3, 1918. Art. IV of the Brest Litovsk Treaty granted to the populations of the provinces of Kars, Erzchem, and Batum, which had been a part of the Russian Republic, the right to establish a new regime based on an understanding with neighboring powers, particularly Turkey. The lot of these regions, their international position, was to be decided by the will of their populations. Yet, after the signing of the peace treaty, these districts were occupied by Turkish troops, and the regular establishments of military occupation were there instituted, accompanied by theft and plunder of intolerable degree, as well as acts of violence against the peaceable population. Simultaneously with the introduction of the Turkish rule, the forcible recruiting of the male population over 19 years of age was begun. The population, the free expression of whose desires was to be secured by the new order of things, was terrorized and placed into a condition of life that cannot be otherwise designated than as a farce and a travesty of the conception of justice. Respected citizens of the provinces, whose influence might have operated to Turkey disadvantage, were banished or arrested and in many cases shot. In these acts of cruelty, as well as others practised against the population of the provinces ceded by Russia, the Soviet Government finds a serious violation of Art. IV of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk. The Peace Treaty further provided for a cessation of military hostilities between Russia and Turkey. Instead, after signing the treaty, Turkey again resumed hostilities, which are still in progress.
Regular Turkish troops, acting in concert with bands of robbers, continue to occupy lands belonging to the Russian Republic, are visiting towns and villages with plunder and devastation, massacring the Christian population, women and children not excepted, and treating human beings with unparalleled cruelty. The Soviet Government has repeatedly protested against the continuation of this animosity on the part of Turkey, but all such notes of protest had no result.
Finally, in June, the Ottoman army undertook an expedition against Baku, and after a heroic resistance on the part af the Soviet troops against overwhelming odds, the way to Baku, one of the most important cities of the Russian Republic, lay open to the Turks. All protests on the part of the Soviet Government were met with open and outright denials from Turkish authorities, later with the statement that only irregular bands were operating at Baku, until finally a regular Turkish army attacked the city and Shevket Pasha, on July 30th, called upon its inhabitants to surrender unconditionally. Now that the city has been taken and a Turkish army holds every nook of it, now that the population is defenseless and the city is the object of daily sack and pillage, its people subject to daily massacre and other acts of violence, not only at the hands of the Tatar bands who are associated with the regular Turkish troops, but also from such regular troops themselves; it now appears that the statement of Turkish officials, to the effect that only local bands were involved in the attack on Baku, is merely a subterfuge, devoid of truth, intended simply to veil the cruelty of Turkey and the systematic violation of the Brest Litovsk Treaty. For six months without cessation the Ottoman Government has been violating the Treaty of Brest Litovsk in spite of all protests from the Soviet Government. And now, finally, it crowns its deeds by seizing and transforming into a frightful ruin one of the most important cities of the Russian Republic. The Ottoman Government has in this manner shown that the treaty of Brest Litovsk, which was signed between Turkey and Russia, is no longer in force. The Government of the Russian Socialist Federative Republic is constrained to recognize, that in consequence of the acts of the Ottoman Government, the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which was to establish amicable relations between Russia and Turkey, is null and void. Signed) Chicherin.
This note had been preceded, before the end of September, by another, in which the Russian Government demanded that Turkey withdraw its troops behind the boundaries fixed by treaty, that an international commission be appointed to determine the amount of damage done, and that the German Government should guarantee the carrying out of these conditions. Turkey promised an answer by September 30th, but delayed it until October 2nd, then declaring that the withdrawal of the regular troops was already under way.
The Russian Government finds that the failure to mention irregulars is a failure to meet the conditions it prescribes, and finds that the answer is also vague in other respects.
The fact that Russia expects the Brest Litovsk Treaty to be abrogated by Germany is also to be inferred from the following note of Russia to Germany, dated Oct. 2nd and printed in Vorwärts. Radek, who is closely associated with circles in control of our foreign policy, outlines in his articles the fundamental views of these circles. The same is not to be said of domestic policy, and therefore his article on the Red Terror was only an expression of his own private opinion. The case is quite different, however, in matters of foreign policy. In his article published by Izvestya on Oct. 1st. The Shadow of Russia. the following words require particular emphasis: