Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, I must ask you to be indulgent and I apologize. My French is so inadequate that you will certainly suffer from it. If I take the liberty of subjecting, you to this ordeal it is because I have the impression that you will have some interest in hearing the testimony of a neighbor of the Georgians on the issue that interests you.
We all know from experience that our neighbors don't usually fish out of love for us. It is even rare to see them simply do us justice. Very indulgent for their own faults, they judge harshly our slightest faults.
If you still happen to earn the respect and friendship of your neighbors, there is no doubt that you have fully earned these feelings.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to state once again that we North Caucasians are, although neighbors, sincere and devoted friends of the Georgians. We have the same feelings for freedom and independence, we profess the same political and national conceptions, we have the same economic interests. In short, nothing divides us. Several sentimental and material links unite us.
You know, ladies and gentlemen, that during the Russian Revolution we founded four republics in the Caucasus, those of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the North Caucasus. And it was there that the gravest mistake was committed. We have failed to appreciate the fact that dominates the situation in the Caucasus - that the Caucasus, being a geographical, economic, and strategic unit, must necessarily be a political unit. It is true that we have taken some steps to get closer to the Caucasus itself, but only here in Paris have formulated the basis for a future Caucasian Confederation. This is our plan of action for the future, and we all have faith in the future. We have done better than that, and our union with Georgia in particular is already sealed in blood. During the Bolshevik aggression against Georgia, we formed in Tiflis a National Committee of Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus, which was recognized as the provisional federal government for Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus. The detachments of the Committee formed by Caucasian highlanders and Azerbaijanis fought in the ranks of the Georgian army until the end and were subsequently interned in Turkey. Having said that, I would like to refute one that I found particularly serious. It has been said that in Georgia absolutely the same thing happened as in Russia and that, as a result of infighting by the political parties, the Georgian people freely gave themselves a Georgian Bolshevik government. I have been well placed to follow closely all phases of the Russo-Georgian war and I believe it is my duty to protest with all my might against this insinuation. In accordance with the testimonies given by the representatives of the Allied Powers accredited to the Georgian National Government, I must say that throughout the hostilities no uprising took place against the regular Government. Among the prisoners of war, I did not see any soldiers of Georgian, Azerbaijani, or even Armenian origin, although the Bolshevik aggression, as you know, had as a pretext a local conflict between Armenia and Georgia - even better than that, there were no Red Guards of Ukrainian origin. All the Russian soldiers who invaded Georgia were of Great Russian origin It is true that these troops were accompanied by some Georgian figures who later formed the Georgian Bolshevik Government.
In order to clarify Russia's rights over Georgia, much has been said about the legal issue. As far as I am concerned, I find it rather superficial to deal with this issue here. To seriously analyze the treaty of 1784 and the act of 1801 it would be necessary to bring documents whose interpretation provokes multiple and acute controversies. It is not in this House that this problem could be solved. It is quite sufficient for us to retain two essential points from this question. An independent Georgian state existed until the end of the eighteenth century. At the beginning of the nineteenth century this state was incorporated into Russia. As a result of this incorporation Georgia lost the autocephaly of its church, its language in schools and in its administrative, municipal, and communal institutions.
Despite all these efforts until the Revolution, Georgia could not obtain either certain legal guarantees or certain administrative and economic freedoms ("Zemstvo") that had been introduced into strictly Russian provinces since 1864. For the parliamentary elections, in the Duma, Georgia was subject to a restrictive law. If, despite all this, Georgians loved Russia, as has been claimed here, it must be concluded that the Georgian is a very special human species that loves suicide.
The truth, I believe, is that Russia coveted Georgia for a long time. Here the question arises why the Bolsheviks, after recognizing Georgia's independence and signing a treaty with its national government, invaded the country. This question relates to the general question why Russia under the Imperial Government came to the Caucasus. I think that is the problem. And to solve it please take your eyes on the map. What is the Caucasus? I mention the Caucasus because Georgia is only one part of the Caucasus, and its fate is linked to the destiny of the country of which it is an integral part. Here I draw your attention to the fact that Georgia has no borders with Russia, it borders the regions populated on the one hand by the Turks; on the other hand, by Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Caucasian highlanders; that is, by the peoples who formed independent republics and separated from Russia. That is why the comparison with Luxembourg that has been made here is completely misplaced. Well! what is the Caucasus? It is a formidable boulevard by the high mountains of which it is surrounded and which commands two Seas: The Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and connects by these two basins on one side to the Mediterranean and Europe, and on the other to Persia, India, and the entire Asian Continent. At the same time, it is the shortest and there more as an intercontinental route. By this geographical location of the Caucasus, the power that reigns in its vicinity is assured of one day radiating on Central Asia and threatening both the European peoples and the Islamic peoples. Russia a long time ago. It was Peter the Great, in fact, who established Russia's Eastern policy, which was to lead sooner or later to the conquest of the Caucasus. It was he who recommended in his famous testament to his successors: "Draw as close as possible to Constantinople and India, the one who reigns there will be the true sovereign of the world" It was he who practically laid the foundations of this policy by opening the series of wars against Turkey, sending General Bekowitch Anchiva and coming in person to the Caucasus as far as Derbend. Over the next two centuries, Peter the Great's successors continued his policy. The nineteenth century was filled with the horrors of Russian penetration into the Caucasus. More than sixty years my compatriots in the North Caucasus have supported a formidable and too unequal struggle against the Muscovite colossus and it is this fierce resistance that has delayed the Russian conquests in Asia. It was only from the conquest of the Caucasus that the Russian armies conquered Turkestan, Khiva, Bukhara and came up against the British Power on the borders of the Pamirs and Afghanistan.
These, ladies, and gentlemen, are the real reasons why Russia has come to the Caucasus and to Georgia in particular. This distinctly imperialist policy has been taken up by the Bolsheviks, but they are doing it with much more flexibility and intelligence than the Imperial Government. You already know, ladies and gentlemen, that the Bolsheviks began with the formal recognition of the independence of the Caucasian Republic at the time when they were in contact with the various White armies and the states that were formed in the western part of the old Empire; at that moment they were still dreaming of the World Revolution but soon they realized that the West did not want to follow Russia on the path of Bolshevism and that a barrier, composed of the Little Entente, Poland and the Baltic States was erected between it and Western Europe. Then the Bolsheviks turned their eyes to the East and realized that there were very considerable advantages to be gained from the mistakes committed by their European adversaries in these parts of the world. Very naturally the Bolsheviks sought to get closer to Turkey in revolt against the Western Powers, but to effectively join this new ally it was necessary to oust all European influence from the Caucasus and suppress the Caucasian Republics that were blocking their way. This is the political cause of the Bolsheviks' invasion of Georgia and the entire Caucasus. There were also certainly economic considerations, including the famous question of oil. If it is true, as Lord Curzon said, that the Allies were led to victory over the waves of oil, it is no less true that oil invigorated in a prodigious way the anemic body of Bolshevik Russia.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are the considerations for which the imprescriptible rights of Georgia and other Caucasian peoples to a free and independent life have been sacrificed; but let me conclude by reminding you of a thought of Napoleon. After the legendary feats that changed the face of the world in his distant exile in St. Helena, Napoleon said: "There are two forces that govern the world: the sword and thought, but in the long run, it is thought that triumphs." And in the unequal struggle supported by the small people of the Caucasus for their independence and freedom, we firmly believe in the final triumph of thought over the brutal power of the sword.
HAIDAR BAMMATE
Link to the original text in French...
Cem KUMUK
Istanbul, 17 June 2023