Self Destruction of Said Shamil for the Sake of Money and Power
The symptoms of Said Shamil's next move which undermined his political career were visible in the letters sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tevfik Rüshdü (Aras) Bey by a Caucasian who spied for the Turkish intelligence and used the pseudonym "German" at the end of June 1928. The information that German transmitted about Said Shamil and his group in one of these letters was quite striking;[1](Click the reference links at the end of the paragraphs or the links on the endnotes to access the related original documents in our archive)
A close collaborator of Shamil is Gen. Sultan Klych Girey, an old officer of the Russian army. It is impossible to believe in his awakened Caucasian patriotism, Gen. Bicherakhov is old, a colonel in the Russian army. During the revolution, at the head of the soldiers' gangs, he plundered and destroyed the local Caucasian population and made a lot of money. Then, he was completely dissolute. At first, he cooperated with the British against the Caucasians and the Turkish army, which at that time operated in the Caucasus. This typical Ossetian-Cossack has now become a Caucasian patriot and a convinced Shamilist, and Akhmed Tsalikov is a lawyer and journalist, and it is not difficult to change his political ideas.
There can be no question of the ideology of Shamil's employees. The regular monthly allowance they receive from the latter provides the only explanation of their cooperation.
Broad political and patriotic circles of the peoples of the North Caucasus, both in exile and in their homeland, completely ignore Shamil and his group, considering the former to be just a boy who has fallen into ambition and who at the same time, under the experienced leadership of his […..] Ramishvili, exploits the name of his grandfather, an old Caucasian hero and a combination of the Caucasian Committee, living widely on the subsidies he receives.”
Said Shamil, planning to strengthen the relations of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers with international circles and Cossack political emigration, decided to invite ethnic Ossetian General Lazar Bicherakhov to the board of the party. [2] Said Shamil’s attempt was not welcomed by the North Caucasian immigration circles in Istanbul. A protest note sent by thirty-nine Dagestani immigrants to the Istanbul office of the Republican Party of the North Caucasian Federalists in early February 1929 stated the following:
“We, the Daghestani émigrés who fought against the Bolsheviks for the independence of Dagestan and left our homeland as a result of the Bolshevik occupation and the horrors of terror, living in a foreign land, are following with tireless attention the fate of our Motherland and the work of those parties and organizations that set themselves the goal of liberating the Caucasus.
We know that there is a pan-Caucasian center, which is supposed to unite all Caucasian organizations. Unfortunately, in fact, only Said Shamil, delegated from the so-called "People's Party of the Mountaineers", a party consisting of people who have never enjoyed the electoral trust of the people, appears in this organization on behalf of the North Caucasus, in particular, Dagestan. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that there is not a single Dagestani in this party, which indicates that Shamil's grandson and his party have nothing in common with Dagestan.
Respecting the memory of the Great Patriot Shamil, whose comrades-in-arms were our grandfathers, we note with a feeling of sorrow the delusion of Shamil's grandson, Said Bey, who cooperates with Gen. Bicherakhov, who fought against our people.
We find abnormal the situation in which the Caucasian and Daghestani politicians are absent from the general Caucasian work, having been replaced by Bicherakhov and the young, inexperienced Shamil, an irresponsible person who has neither kinship nor property interests in Dagestan, where he was not even born or brought up, not to mention the fact that he does not speak any of the dialects of Dagestan at all.
Such a formulation of the general question, which is harmful to the interests of the whole of the Caucasus and insulting to Dagestan, compels us to make a real protest before all organizations and public opinion that value the interests of the Caucasus.”
Another Protest note was delivered simultaneously by another fifty people belonging to various ethnics of the North Caucasian Mountaineers:
“We, the undersigned emigrant mountaineers of the North Caucasus, the Terek and Kuban regions, defending the age-old aspirations of our people for independence, join the protest made by our fellow Daghestani people against the actions of Gen. Bicherakhov and Said-Bey Shamil and declare the following:
Former Cossack Gen. Lazar Bicherakhov and Said Bey Shamil, having led a group of unknown persons, called it the "People's Party of the Mountaineers of the Caucasus" and, penetrating various Caucasian and foreign circles, made a policy of independence for the North Caucasus.
At the same time, in this group of self-styled defenders of the Caucasus, there is not a single person from the political figures of the Caucasus, not even a person who has ever enjoyed the selective confidence of the people in his homeland.
Born and raised in Arabia, Said Bey has unfortunately proved his estrangement from the interests of his grandfather Shamil's homeland.
Having turned his back on the national leaders of the Caucasian government, Said Bey Shamil joined forces with Gen. Bicherakhov to run an unconscious policy, which cannot be treated with confidence.
Gen. Bicherakhov is known to everyone as a restorer of tsarism and a defender of the interests of the Cossacks. The Cossacks have always been the main instrument of our conquest and national oppression, rewarded for their services to Russian imperialism, and to our lands, which they still possess.
Gen. Bicherakhov belongs to the Cossack class, and during the revolution, when the Caucasians declared their independence and were close to realizing their national ideal, he rose against our independence, leading Cossack gangs. Along with our national units in the battles with the Bicherakhov gangs, the units of the eastern Turkish army, which at that time rendered fraternal assistance to our country in the struggle for independence, also suffered a lot.
The blood shed by the Caucasians and the evil done by Bicherakhov will never be forgotten by the mountain peoples.
We will consider as an enemy of our people anyone who will attract Gen. Bicherakhov on cooperation in the issue of the independence of the Caucasus.
The foregoing shall be conveyed to Azerbaijani, Georgian, and other Caucasian organizations, as well as to foreign circles interested in the fate of the Caucasus.”
“General Secretary of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers, Said Shamil, having arrived in Paris a week ago to resolve the crisis that had arisen in the party, not only during this time did business with any of the members of the real local Committee of the party, but hiding from them, he carried out behind-the-scenes work in the Ossetian group devoted to him and negotiations with some political figures of the Caucasus together with a partner, Gen. Bicherakhov, who is the culprit of this crisis.
During the period of Russian anarchy, Gen Bicharakhov, leading groups of armed Russians and Cossack gangs, fought against the national self-formations of the Caucasus, mercilessly shooting Azerbaijanis in Baku and mountaineers in Derbent with the help of Armenian militants embittered against Muslims. His entry into the party was met with great indignation in its ranks. However, thanks to the provocateur work that he led in the party and taking advantage of the General Secretary’s youth and inexperience, he was awarded the honor of being appointed by the Central Committee as the political representative of the party in Paris.
At his insistence, all responsible roles in the party here and “friends” all literary work and propaganda as in “Prometheus” passed into the hands of Ossetian Cossacks. He is also being led personally and completely uncontrollably by the old party, also by the Ossetian Elikoti, who served with the Bolsheviks in Constantinople before joining the party and whose expulsion from the party by the Paris department is already petitioning the Central Committee based on the party charter. Having learned about the appointment of Bicherakhov as a political representative, the party, at its meeting on February 24, expressed its deep indignation to the Central Committee and decided to declare Bicherakhov absolute distrust of the Central Committee, which I report for information in case of further speeches by the General Secretary of the Party together with Gen. Bicherakhov, in circles of our Caucasian political Organizations.”
After a while, Sultan Klych Girey wrote another letter to the leaders of the Caucasian émigré groups and the party administration in Warsaw on 3 May 1929, announcing his resignation from the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers central committee and the party membership.[4]
“On this date, the General Secretary of the Party, Said Shamil, announced to me that in a day or two he was leaving Paris. Given this, he proposed to me that I now move to Constantinople - to the seat of the Central Committee. In this case, he finds it possible to give me the salaries for the past months for my position, which were distrained by the Central Committee for a reason unknown to me.
In making such a vile proposal, the General Secretary perfectly considered the extremely difficult financial situation he caused by this time, meaning starvation to force me to cooperate with Gen. Bicherakhov in the Central Committee. However, due to his ignorance, he did not take into account the fact that I would prefer to starve to die than to speak out against conscience and conduct national work aimed at abstaining from the Caucasus Republics next to a Cossack General who once, with Russian bayonets, exterminated hundreds of brave freedom fighters of Mountaineers in Dagestan and, terrorizing the Azerbaijan Republic, sprinkled it with the blood of our brothers.
I do not allow myself to agree with this vile and usual method of the General Secretary of subordinating his will to the dissent of his employees, and therefore I ask you to remove me immediately from the membership of the Central Committee and confirm by return. All departments of the party and the Caucasian Independence Committee are talking about this. At the same time, I declare that I relieve myself, as a member of the Central Committee, of all responsibility for the expenditure of the party and the amounts from the time of the founding of the party to the present day; at no time was I privy to these expenses, despite the most convincing requests and demands.”
Alikhan Kantemir, whom Said Shamil had accused of being a Bolshevik agent in 1927, was among those who severely condemned him for his cooperation with Lazar Bicherakhov. Kantemir, as the Secretary-General of the Republican Party of the North Caucasian Federalists (RPFSK), protested the scandal by organizing petitions and called on the national centers and diplomatic representatives of other Caucasian groups to act against this humiliating situation. Kantemir in his letter dated 24 April, to the Azerbaijani National Centre stated the following:[5]
“Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus are connected by many mutual interests that have developed as a result of a long process of history and the neighborhood of these two countries. The strength of these interests, bound by kinship and religion, is so significant in the life of our peoples that today it constitutes the common basis of our national aspirations, leading to joint national defense and unity of state existence in the future.
Given this situation, the cooperation of the Azerbaijani center with Gen. Bicherakhov and Said Bey Shamil, who fell under the influence of the former, has extremely puzzled our public opinion and can naturally worry our masses in exile and at home.
The party bureau first took care of clarifying this situation and determined that Gen. Bicherakhov, indeed, “is a member of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers” and at the same time “the main political representative of the party in Europe” / see. protest of Sultan Klych Girey dated 13/2/1929/;
The quoted document also testifies to the fact that “Shamil as the general secretary of the party, all affairs of the Party’s Central Committee are carried out absolutely individually and at the prompting of Bicherakhov’s deputy.”
Further, it is generally known that no other mountain organization, except the one headed by Bicherakhov and Shamil, is included in the Caucasian Independence Committee, of which the Azerbaijani National Center is a member.
Thus, the fact of cooperation between the Azerbaijani Central Committee and Bicherakhov and Shamil is beyond doubt; hence a question arises that complicates the relationship between the Caucasians and can significantly affect the fate of the common cause that interests us.
The party bureau considers it unnecessary to expand on the personality of Bicherakhov, who stained his hands with Caucasian blood, and the hostile role that he played concerning the independence of Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus, especially since the Musavat party, which currently leads the Azerbaijani National Center, experienced on his own neck bears the entire burden of the struggle against the restorationist tendencies of tsarism, which is otherwise called the “Bicherakhovshchina” in the Caucasus.
The Federalist Party of the North Caucasus, being part of the living national body of the Mountain Peoples, shares the meaning and sentiments of the protests heard against Bicherakhov and Shamil and refuses to cooperate with the latter, as well as to work in those organizations where these individuals participate and at the same time declares, What; no acts or decisions of organizations in which Bicherakhov and Shamil participate are binding on the peoples of the North Caucasus.
Bringing the above to the attention of the Azerbaijani Center, we ask you to report in final form the opinion of the Azerbaijani Center on the essence of the issue raised, or in any case, those positive data that justify a compromise with the Bicherakhov-Shamil bloc.”
While sending a copy of the note he sent to the Azerbaijan National Center to Ali Mardan Topchibashi, the Azerbaijani representative in the Council of Three, Kantemir asked for Topchibashi’s interference in the question;[6]
“Attaching herewith copies of the protests of citizens of the Republic of the North Caucasus and a copy of the letter addressed by us to the Azerbaijan National Center, we have the honor to ask you to acquaint your Distinguished Delegation with the contents of the said documents and at the same time express the hope that the Delegation led by you will use its influence in the Caucasian environment in the sense of healing and cleansing it from random and harmful elements that interfere with the harmonious unity and cooperation of an organization truly devoted to the idea of the Independence of the Caucasus.”
“On May 12, 1929, the Paris Department of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers at its General Assembly, having heard I. Abukov's report on the state of affairs in the party and the explanations of Sultan Klych Girey in connection with his negotiations with the General Secretary of the party Said Shamil on eliminating the crisis that had arisen in it, as well as several other speakers on this issue, sadly states the deep disappointment of everyone in Said Shamil, the main culprit of the collapse of the party, whom he from the very beginning accepted into his midst with love and deep sympathy as the grandson of the glorious hero of the Caucasus, when, boiling into his devotion to the national cause, many aphids joined the party with reverent patriotic impulses to contribute with it to serve the long-suffering homeland and complete the historical task of the mountaineers of the North Caucasus to liberate their homeland and restore its independence.
But, being the General Secretary, Said Shamil for 2 ½ years, instead of learning and studying how to properly the needs of his relatives, the conditions of life and its history, to give the right direction to the policy of the Mountaineers of the North Caucasus and closely and loyally cooperate with the party, he actually began to move away from him, surrounded himself with shady crooks who infiltrated the party solely for the sake of personal interests, eliminating and not allowing party workers devoted to the national cause to actively work, demanding from him, in the interests of the national cause and the party, responsible cooperation with it and the implementation of the conference of the democratic foundations of the temporary party charter.
Relying on the one hand on the so-called Central Committee of the party, consisting of people who are completely inexperienced in political work, who have not kicked anyone and are not authorized, but obedient to it, like a blind instrument, and on the other hand, on the above group of people, Said Shamil led an absolutely dictatorial politics, usurped the power of the entire party, evading, under the pretext of lack of funds, from holding a conference, waging a merciless struggle with all those who dared to say a word in defense of the rights of the party, which he turned into a screen. During the existence of the party, he has not given and does not want to give it any account of either his activities or the party funds he spends. Being himself unprepared for political work, he only requires obedience from his employees, and knowledge and devotion to the national cause are secondary for him.
A striking illustration of this is the appointment of Gen. Bicherakhov as the responsible leader of the party, whose harmful and destructive activities greatly contributed to its collapse at present, not to mention the fact that all the activities of this Cossack general were in the past aimed at fighting the liberation movement of the peoples of the Caucasus. His treacherous hands, stained with the innocent blood of the Mountaineers and Azerbaijanis, should not touch the sacred national cause of the party, which he may have entered with the whole purpose of scouting and destroying the pan-Caucasian political workers, so that at the right moment as easily as he entered the party, repaint as a Cossack general and lead regiments to the final strangulation of the peoples of the Caucasus. The party cannot trust him and must not tolerate him in its midst and must tell him!
- get your bloody hands off the holy mountain cause, get away from the party!
By appointing Gen. Bicherakhov to the post of responsible party leader, Said Shamil once again demonstrated how far he stands from understanding the living conditions of the Caucasian Mountaineers and the national work he is leading:
The assembly notes with regret that Said Shamil did not live up to the hopes that the party placed on him. He revealed his caustic incompetence in all respects in conducting the political work of the Caucasian Mountaineers. He posed as a dictator in the party, without territory and people, suppressing every living word of criticism, neglecting all the elementary rules of ethics about its employees, shrouding everything in petty intrigue, strictly protecting the party chest in personal interests and disposing of it at my own discretion, leading an irresponsible and unaccountable policy, not taking anyone into account, not being embarrassed by anyone, Mr. Shamil turned the party into a screen, behind which, in a dark environment of unprincipled people, he created adventuristic deeds. Outside the party, he shows a hostile attitude towards the entire Mountain Intelligentsia, putting up all sorts of obstacles to prevent them from working together, since he himself, being an extremely ambitious person, but with a limited outlook, is afraid of their criticism, their mental superiority and dominance over himself. The party understood the impossibility and intolerance of the conditions created in it by Shamil, many times invited him to change the line of his behavior, which could have disastrous consequences for the homeland and the National work of the party and asked him to take the path of friendly and responsible cooperation with it, in the interests of fruitfulness and correctness conducting national political work. But everything was in vain:
- Said Shamil continued to pursue a nucleon-irresponsible dictatorial policy. Finally, on February 24 of this year, the General Meeting of the Paris Department of the Party passed a resolution in which it proposed for the last time that the Central Committee, headed by Shamil, to avoid a split in the party, convene a party conference, reorganize it on healthy, responsible and clear principles, and in case of failure call off the conference, carry out at the very least elections for a new Central Committee in proportion to the number of members from each department of the party. In the event of the Central Committee's refusal to reorganize the party, the General Assembly warned it, Said Shamil, placed all responsibility for the possible consequences on him, that it, the General Assembly, would revoke all his powers and take the protection of the interests of the party into its own hands, informing about this, where it should be: all places, persons and organizations connected with pan-Caucasian political work.
From the report of Sultan Klych Girey, it is clear that Said Shamil, upon his recent arrival in Paris, avoided meeting with the party and its representatives for a month. During this time, he, together with Bicherakhov, tried to form a core of Mountaineers around himself to destroy the Paris department of the party. Why were they offered to various people in the party, including some of the Mountaineers whom he had previously regarded as enemies of the party and incapable of any work? Only when all these attempts were unsuccessful and his hand remained hanging in the air, did he decide to meet with the party, and its political representative Sultan Klych Girey. From the latter’s conversations with Said Shamil, as the General Secretary, it became clear that he completely refuses the reorganization of the party and the proposals that the General Meeting of the Paris department of the party made on February 24 of this year to the Central Committee.
Therefore, the General Assembly finds that the moment has come to take the protection of the rights and interests of the party into its own hands. It considers that there is no reason to wait for the period specified in the above-mentioned resolution.
There is no hope that the Central Committee, the silent and obedient entourage of Shamil, could rise to true courage and understanding of its duty to the homeland and the party, so that, renouncing personal interests, this committee would meet halfway with a fair proposal from the party and contrary to the opinion of Said Shamil, in whose hands the Committee is a mere ostentatious pawn for his external affairs. For this reason, the General Assembly took into account that Shamil’s negative, irresponsible activity, both in the party and in general Caucasian political work, could have fatal consequences for the homeland, considers it its sacred duty to harm his work and sees a way out of this situation in the need to create All-Mountain Center, which would include all national currents of political Mountain thought, standing based on the liberation and independence of the homeland.
The creation of such a Center, strong and authoritative among the heads of the Mountain masses and the taking into its powerful hands of all political work in the general Caucasian issue is imperatively dictated by the current events and vital interests of the homeland, and its implementation is the civic duty of every honest nationalist Mountaineer to whatever movement or party he belongs to. And everything that stands in the way of this unification, this creation of a Mountain-wide center must be decisively swept away. Therefore, the General Assembly appeals to all national movements, and parties, as well as to all members of the native Caucasus Mountaineers’ Party, wherever they are, calling on you to their patriotic duty and feeling to unite around it and help it in the creation of a pan-Mountain political center, the only one who can correctly reflect the interests of the homeland and establish the correct policy and its protection of interests in the pan-Caucasian work, decides:
1. Express no confidence in the Central Committee of the Party, consisting of General Secretary Said Shamil and members Magomet Girey Sunshev, Khurshilov, and Gen. Lazar Bicherakhov, expelling the latter completely from the party, for his corrupting and harmful activities in it at present and for the treacherous bloody suppression of the liberation movement of peoples the Caucasus in the past.
2. To cancel the conferred powers of General Secretary Said Shamil and the indicated members of the Central Committee to represent and act on behalf of the party anywhere.
3. Bring former General Secretary Said Shamil to the party court for usurping the power and rights of the party and for irresponsible conduct to the detriment of the interests of the party and the homeland, as well as for the controllable and unaccountable expenditure of party funds. The above-mentioned former members of the Central Committee should be brought to trial for complicity in the actions of Shamil.
4. Transform the Paris Executive Committee into the Provisional Central Committee of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers.
5. Instruct the new Central Committee to immediately implement the formation of the All-Mountain Center, for which it is given the right to negotiate with all mountain organizations and individuals and conclude; on behalf of the party the necessary agreements.
6. Instruct the Central Committee to organize a party court to hold persons accountable by decrees.
7. Grant the new Central Committee the right to co-opt employees useful for the national cause.
8. Bring to the attention of all Caucasian political organizations about this resolution.”
Despite being one of his closest allies in the Promethean movement, Mehmed Emin Resulzade was also among those who criticized Said Shamil most fiercely. After reminding the readers who Bicherakhov was with all historical details in his main article titled “The Caucasus Issue” published in the March 1929 issue of the Azeri-Turk Journal, Resulzade, presented the article titled "Honest Politics" criticizing Said Shamil's attitudes in the next issue of the same magazine. He also published some of the condemnation letters that were received from the subscribers of the magazine. After announcing the decree of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers general assembly in the August issue, Resulzade kept the issue live in the main agenda of the magazine for the next 6 months.[8] [9] [10]
“In August 1927, you and Said Shamil Bey, as representatives of the Popular Party of Free Mountaineers of the Caucasus, had a few private talks with me about the creation of a National Center of Caucasian Highlanders and its representation in the Caucasian Independence Committee and the Council of Three. These conversations in August 1927 were put on paper and also signed as a protocol. In signing this protocol, I was motivated only by the desire to eliminate the friction that had arisen between the various Highlander groups and to contribute to the unification of all political factions. Unfortunately, I soon became convinced that Said Bey did not act on similar motives in his work. The condemnation of his behaviors in your relations has caused you to keep yourself distant from him and cut off all relations. Said Bey's activities caused a complete dissolution instead of the unification that I desired. Our disagreements and strife had never become so acute during my life in emigration. Unfortunately, I warned Said Bey many times to get better in vain. After the definite break with him and his failure to fulfill his obligations regarding Pshemakho Kotse, I told him during a personal conversation that I realized our protocol was no longer valid.
However, the other day, I learned that some Caucasian-friendly foreign circles were speculating on this document. In this respect, I do not want to take any responsibility, directly or indirectly, for this act of Said Bey, who has a character that is completely incompatible with neither our dignity nor the interests of our cause. I consider it my duty to confirm to you in writing that the protocol dated August 6, 1927, has lost its meaning long ago. I request you to give a copy of this letter to Said-Bek Shamil as well.”
“I know that you have summoned Mr. Mdivani to Paris. And I also know about the arrival of Mr. Rasul-Zadeh. The unexpected arrival of two members of the Presidium of the Caucasian Independence Committee, the most responsible political figures of Georgia and Azerbaijan, is seen as an attempt to arrange an illegal meeting in your presence to resolve current political issues of Caucasian life.
Without attaching decisive importance to the information received, I nevertheless considered my opinion necessary in case of the plausibility of these rumors.
The life of any organization can be traced in stages, and you know, Mr. President, that at one time extraordinary questions of extreme importance forced the Caucasian Independence Committee, to achieve the greatest success, to change the place of permanent headquarters, each time timed to the most favorable situation.
But both the move itself and the discussion of the program of the Meeting of the Extraordinary Assembly of the Caucasian Independence Committee were always previously discussed and comprehensively weighed by the national sections, which were often even their initiators, and after the approval of which only the meetings of the Caucasian Independence Committee of urgent importance took place.
No serious data have been put forward today that would warrant meetings of this kind. Still, even if there were, I would not consider it possible to discuss them even in a semi-official form, for they have not received the appropriate approval of the National Sections.
A repetition of such a precedent is fraught with great risks. It is fraught with many dangers, which must be avoided at all costs at the moment of the emerging pan-Caucasian solidarity, the strengthening of which requires extreme caution and all-around thoughtfulness.”
Even the French, who supported Said Shamil during the 1920-1921 period, were now issuing reports with humiliating statements about him. The Intelligence Department report to the Paris Police Headquarters’ dated August 4, 1931, consists of shocking expressions about Said Shamil:[13]
“The Circassian, Said Schamyl (or Chamil), who poses as a leader of the anti-Bolshevik Dagestani in the Caucasus, is currently in Paris. Political adventurer without any real attachment to his country of origin, Schamyl is for the moment financed by the Polish intelligence service, but the latter's allowances are becoming increasingly extraordinary because its 2nd Bureau (Ekspozytura 2) seems to have conceived doubts about the utility of the expenses.
Desirous of attempting to obtain money in Paris, on the one hand, and then to dazzle the Poles on his return to Warsaw by the account of the reception he was supposedly given by the French Military authorities, Schamyl tells whoever wants to listen to him that he was very friendly received by General Gouroud who would have promised him all his support to receive incessantly both for the questions of the Caucasus as for those of the Circassian regiments of Syria. Schamyl boasts of having a large number of supporters in these units and exerting a profound influence there.
In reality, Schamyl has no ties either in SYRIA or in the USSR. His supporters are reduced to three or four adventurers of the same types as himself, with whom he shares the money withdrawn from the too-gullible General Staff. He is frowned upon in all circles of Caucasian emigration and must be classified in the same category as Shkuro, Bicherakhov, etc.”
Said Shamil's insatiable appetite for money and power dealt a fatal blow to his political career. Neither his Georgian and Azerbaijani friends in the Promethean Front nor the faction he established in the Caucasus Mountaineers People's Party could no longer defend him.
However, instead of learning the good from his evil experiences, he was determined to try every possible way to exist in the political arena with the support of his Saudi and Polish supporters who did not give up on benefiting from his "talents".
"To be Continued"
Next Episode: Towards a humiliating end...
Cem Kumuk
Istanbul, 20 December 2023
[1] SEA, Sakartvelos Erovnuli Arkivi, F.1864, Inscription 2, Box.857, L.02-05
[2] BDIC. La Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine, MFM 881. Bobine. 194. 19290200, Doc Nr.32; Les archives de Ali Mardan bey Toptchibachi. Bibliothèque du Centre d’études des mondes Russe, Caucasien et Centre-Européen de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. 19290200-1,2, Carton 6–1 ; Haydar Bammat Private Archive, HB-0657,0659 ; Sakartvelos Erovnuli Arkivi , F.1864, Inscription 2, Box.869,L.05-08.
[3] BDIC. MFM 881. Bobine. 194., Letter by Sultan Klych Girey to the Council of Three in Paris and the heads of the National Centers of the Caucasian republics dd. 31 March 1929, Doc Nr.34.
[4] ibid. Letter by Sultan Klych Girey to the Central Committee of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers and Caucasian Independence Committee, dd. 3 May 1929, Doc. Nr.33.
[5] Les archives de Ali Mardan bey Toptchibachi, the ultimatum of Alikhan Kantemir to the Azerbaijani National Centre dd. 24 April 1929, Carton № 6-1.
[6] ibid, the letter of Alikhan Kantemir to Ali Mardan Tapchibashi dd. 8 May 1929, Carton № 6-1.
[7] ibid, the resolution of the Great Assembly of the Popular Party of the Caucasian Mountaineers dd. 12 May 1929, Carton № 6-1
[8] “Kafkasya Meselesi”, Azeri-Türk Dergisi. 1929. Sayı (24) 2. S.1-2.
[9] “Dürüst Siyaset”, “Neşredilmek üzere Şimali Kafkasyalılar Tarafından İdarehanemize gönderilen protesto suretidir”, Azeri-Türk Dergisi. 1929. Sayı (25) 3. S.3-4, 6-7.
[10] “Şimali Kafkasya Mahfilinde, Avrupa’da Umumi Kafkasya İşleri”, Azeri-Türk Dergisi. 1929. Sayı (26) 4. S.7.
[11] BDIC. From Tapa Chermoy to Gen. Sultan Klych Girey, dd. 5 April 1930, MFM 881. Bobine 138.
[12] ibid. From Said Shamil to Akakiy Chkhenkeli, dd. 7 October 1931, MFM 881. Bobine 194.
[13] Préfecture de Paris, Police Department Box. BA 1703. Dossier n°163.627. Rapport n°484 R.C.S. 2/11, du 04.08.1931.