Türkçe TercümeThe Volunteer Army, which had the dream of re-establishing the One and Indivisible Russia was expelled from the North Caucasus with the well-coordinated and self-sacrificing struggle of the Allied Madjlis of the North Caucasus in exile in Tbilisi, and the Defense Council. After the country had exhausted its resources in the fight against the Whites, this time Russians in color Red took over the war-weary country easily. While fierce resistance continued in mountainous Chechnya, the Red Army easily seized the Kuban and Terek. Under these circumstances, the last North Caucasus National Assembly convened in mountainous Chechnya between May 6 and 11, 1920.
We obtained our first information about this assembly through the information of the eyewitnesses of the events such as Aziz Meker, Ismail Hakki Berkuk, and Mustafa Butba[y]. Butbay mentioned the place of this important event in his memoirs as Kayish-Kurt but unfortunately did not give us any clue about the discussions and decisions made during the assembly. I tried to find out where Kayish-Kurt was for a long time. Because we cannot find such a name in any topographic designation in Chechnya, neither in the past nor today. In fact, my research did not provide a clear result. I could only get the idea that this place was today called Keshni-Kert near Shatoy based on what some elderly people heard from their fathers. I had to live with such incomplete and incorrect information until I found the minutes of this assembly among the documents from Haydar Bammat's private archive. Thanks to this archival exploration, this important issue that had remained in the dark in terms of the history of the North Caucasus was thus brought to light. First of all, it was understood that the name of the location where the assembly took place was not Kayish-Kurt or Keshni-Kert. The last National Assembly of the North Caucasus began on May 6, 1920, at the Khetaş-Kort hill near Tsontaroy in today’s Nogay-Yurt region and continued until May 11.
Aziz Meker, Ismail Hakkı Berkuk, and Mustafa Butba also attended this congress, which was held under the shadow of the careful surveillance of the Red Army detachments, but was not attended by the Bolshevik Mountain representatives. The meeting, chaired by Sheikh Derbish Muhammed and Sheikh-ül İslam Amir Ali Hadji, who was appointed in place of Emir Uzun Hadji, started with the election of the representatives of the National Assembly and they unanimously decided to re-establish the independent North Caucasus state and made decisions for the implementation of this decision and the management of political and religious affairs.
The delegates of Chechnya and Dagestan met on Thursday, May 6, 1920, on the historical hill of Kaitish Kort, near Tzontoroi /Chechnya/, to deliberate on the restoration of the independent state of the North Caucasus. Present at this assembly were the replacement of the late Emir Uzoun Hadji and the Sheikhul-Islam of the North Caucasus. In this session, the delegates unanimously decided on the restoration of the independent North Caucasian state, and for the implementation of this resolution and the management of political and religious affairs they chose the following persons as members of the Medjliss Milli: (As transliterated in the original document)
Bilal Hadji-Bin Ghoiti: Village Martan
Abdul-Halim Bin Tata: Shatoi
Matschouko Bin Ame: Itumkale
Detche-Bin Hassouh: Martan
Ghede Bin Tseke: Valerique
Kaim Hadji-Bin Aakhe: Nijaloi
Daniel Khan Bin Ghikha: Ebgheni
Osman Bin Bersanouko: Avteri
Ghafi-Hadji-Talat: Benoi
Ghabesh-Bin Ghikha: Dishni-Veden
Ioussouf-Bin Meshab: Shali
Islam Bin Khouns: Tzontoroi
Medjid Bin Ghaberdo: Noji-Yourt
Abdul-Vehab-Bin Toute: Tandak
Israel Bin Abel: Boni
We, the undersigned, substitutes for the Emir Sheikhul Islam and the Medjliss-Cheri, attest that the meeting in question took place, as well as the unanimity of the delegates and the election of the above members. in witness whereof we affix our seals.
The substitute for the Emir: Dervish Mohammed
Sheikh-ul-Islam: Emir Ali Hadji
Mohammed Ridvan Abbas
Members of the Medjlis-Cheri
Translation Of The Proxy Document Given By The Medjlis Milli To Messieurs Ismail Berkouk, Moustapha Butba And Aziz Mecker.
We, the undersigned, members of the Medjliss Milli of Chechnya, have charged Messrs. Ismail Berkouk, Moustapha Butba, and Aziz Mecker to assert our independence and we have given them full powers to take the necessary steps with the European powers and other states regarding the restoration of the Government of the North Caucasus. May 11, 1920
Signatures:
Bilal Hadji: Président du Medjlis
Abdul-Halim: Vice President
Detche Bin Nassouh: Member
Kaim Hadji-Bin Akha: Member
Matchouko Bin Ame: Member
Daniel Khan Bin Ghikha: Member
Osman Bin Bersanoko: Member
Ghafi Hadji Bin Talat: Member
Ghabesh Bin Ghikha: Member
Ioussouf Bin Mashat: Member
Ghede Bin Tseke: Member
Islam Bin Khouna: Member
Medjid Bin Kabardo: Member
Israel Bin Abel: Member
Generally speaking, the Caucasus was in the past the breakwater between Europe and Asia, against which the waves of the great invasions of the Middle Ages often broke. Particularly, it was the Northern Caucasus that stopped most of these invasions, that is, the Mongols, the Tartars, and the Russians during the 18th and 19th centuries. During the Muscovite invasion, no Caucasian people, except the North Caucasians, fired a shot at the Russians. This gigantic and age-old struggle between the greatest empire that the human mind has ever created and the small North Caucasian peoples has stopped the Russian advance towards the South for at least a century, despite the defection of the peoples of Transcaucasia and their action in favor of the Russians. It was Shamyl and the Circassians who prevented the Russians from overtaking the English in the North of India and changing the course of history. The proof is that after the conquest of the Caucasus, that is to say after 1864, the Russians conquered Turkestan, Bukhara-Khiva, and Merv and dealt the most mortal blow to Turkey in 1878. Let us examine the events of the last three years. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the advancement of Bolshevism, it was the North Caucasus that, although unorganized and divided, prevented the Bolshevik wave from pouring into Transcaucasia during the whole of 1918. Despite all the Bolshevik fury, the North Caucasian Republic was able to be formed, whose government was dispersed by Denikin who was created and organized by the English government. Denikin, despite all his organization and the immense resources at his disposal, was unable to reduce the opposition of the North Caucasian peoples, especially the Chechens and the inhabitants of Dagestan, who prolonged the struggle that their government had not been able to organize. This is what prevented Denikin from invading Transcaucasia. The last proof that the North Caucasus is the bulwark of Transcaucasia as far as invasions from the North are concerned is the last Bolshevik invasion into Transcaucasia, which poured into it like an impetuous torrent because the North Caucasians, exasperated by Denikin's conduct and tired by the long struggle they had sustained against him, had neglected to oppose the advance of the Bolsheviks with arms. The Bolsheviks occupy Baku and threaten to set fire to Asia.
2) The State Of Minds In The North Caucasia Assembly Of Tzontoroi Revolution.
The Bolsheviks, when they were far from the Caucasus and the Caucasians were fighting against Denikin, promised them full independence for which their ancestors had fought for a century and for which they have been fighting for three years. But as soon as they set foot in the country, they forgot all their promise and wanted to behave like the masters, as if the Caucasians had fought Denikin for the social theories coming from Moscow. From that moment on, the old antagonism between Russians and Caucasians was revived, and suddenly the age-old hidden hatred that lay dormant in the depths of the heart of every Caucasian against the Russian without distinction of party violently awoke. The Caucasian today sees the Bolshevik as the right-wing tsarist the descendant of the one who attempted his freedom, his independence, and scattered part of the children of the Caucasian fatherland to the four corners of the world. It was in this spirit that the National Assembly of Chechnya and Avaria was convened on the historic hill of Kaitish-Kert /village of Tzontoroio-Vedeno/, attended by 500 delegates and more than 40,000 inhabitants of both countries.
The Bolshevik authorities, who are accustomed to breaking any moral or material force that opposes them, did not fail to send an armed force under the leadership of the Military Commissar of the Terek province to the scene. But the effort was in vain, because the people, who knew who they were dealing with, had surrounded the hill on which the assembly was to meet with trenches, and the furious and powerless Moscow Commissar had to attend the deliberations of this assembly in the open air until the end.
On May 6, 1920 The assembly of Kaitish-Kort adopted the following resolutions:
Manifesto Of The Medjlis-Milli in The Name Of The Chechen People, To All Peoples Of The North Caucasus.
- All the Chechen people and the delegates of Dagestan gathered on the historical hill of Kaitish-Kort to affirm the independence proclaimed two years ago, and in the presence of the Bolshevik military forces, they proclaimed their independence once again.
- The people formed a Majliss-Milli from the various chosen delegates.
- The Majliss-Milli will direct national affairs until the complete and perfect formation of the North Caucasian government and according to the necessities occasioned by time and circumstances and will particularly protect the rights of the weak.
- The Majlis Milli, by oath taken, on the Koran and before the people, obliges himself to defend and preserve the independence conquered at the cost of so much bloodshed.
- The Majlis Milli will make known the party decisions on this subject, to the European powers, to the government, as well as to the governments of the Caucasus.
- The North Caucasian nation will no longer live under any foreign domination.
- All other North Caucasian peoples must immediately form their Majlis Milli.
- As has been the case until now, the North Caucasian peoples will live according to the requirements of modern civilization and in perfect brotherhood.
- All individuals who will try to sow misunderstanding between us are traitors to their homeland and enemies of our religion.
- The natural resources of our country are such that they are largely sufficient to support our completely independent state.
- Every citizen should know that there is no difference between those who sold us to Denikin and those who want to bring us Bolshevik domination.
- Finally, we have learned to know bitterly our friends and supporters, our enemies and traitors.
- From now on the country will be ruled according to the demands of freedom and independence.
- Oh, peoples of the Caucasus, unite around the flag of independence.
- If the Bolsheviks do not attempt to undermine the independence that we have won so dearly, we are willing to have good neighborly relations with them.
- Every citizen receiving this manifesto must read it and communicate it to his fellow citizens.
Signatures of the Members of the Medjliss-Milli-
Restoration Of The North Caucasian Republic.
As is clear from the above resolutions, the North Caucasian peoples are tirelessly and through all vicissitudes pursuing the supreme goal they have set for themselves, their complete independence. Recent events and the distant past demonstrate that there is only one way to prevent the setting fire to Asia and to remove all possibility of aggression from Russia, and that is to form a powerful and well-organized state on the northern slope of the Caucasian chain and the plains immediately adjacent to it. The North Caucasus has been the bulwark of Transcaucasia and Western Asia in the past; geography has not changed more than at any other time /given the new conjectures/, our country remains the dam which must break the avalanches flowing towards Asia and coming from the North.
Following the decisions taken by this assembly and the ongoing struggle, the resistance intensified around Botlikh and Gunib and continued until the beginning of 1921. The Red Army units, which captured Botlikh in December 1920 and Gunib in January 1921, crossed the mountain passes and brought Georgia to its knees in a short time.
Cem Kumuk
Istanbul, 5 January 2025