A Clash of Empires: Turkey between Russian Bolshevism and British Imperialism, 1918-1923

278 Pages·1997·7.527 MB·English

by  Bülent Gökay

Library of Modern Middle East Studies
Volume
1 Water in the Middle East: Legal, political and commercial
implications edited by J A, Allan and Chihli Mallat
ISBN i 85043 645 2
2 Yemen and the U.S.A. from r 962 Ahmad Almaâhagi
ISBN i 85043 772 6
3 Workers and the Working Class in the Ottoman Empire and the
Turkish Republic 1839-1850 edited by Donald Quataert and Erik J
Zürcher
ISBN i 85043 875 7
4 From Land Reform to Revolution: The political economy of
agricultural development in Iran Fatemeh E. Moghadam
ISBN i 86064 006 o
5 Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century AH Gheissari
ISBN i 85043 968 o
6 Middle Eastern Politics and Ideas: A history from within edited by
Moshe Mao% and lian Pappe
ISBN i 86064 012 5
7 Secret War in the Middle East: The covert struggle for Syria, 1949-
1961 Andrew Rathmell
ISBN i 85043 992 3
8 Nationalism, Minorities and Diasporas: Identity and rights in the
Middle East edited by Kirsten E* Schnitte, Martin Stokes and Colm
Campbell
ISBN i 86064 052 4
9 Water, Peace and the Middle East: Negotiating resources in the
Jordan Basin J A. Allan
ISBN i 86064 05 5 9
10 Islamic Politics in Palestine Beverley Milton-Edwards
ISBN 1 86064 049 4
11 Independent Iraq': The monarchy and British influence,
1941-5 8 Matthew Elliot
ISBN i 85043 729 7
12 The Army and the Creation of the Pahlavi State in Iran, 1910-1926
Stephanie Cronin
ISBN i 86064 10 5 9
13 A Clash of Empires: Turkey between Russian Bolshevism and
British Imperialism, 1918-1923 Bülent Gökay
isbn i 86064 117 2

A Clash of Empires
Turkey between Russian Bolshevism
and British Imperialism, 1918—1923
BÜLENT GÖKAY
Tauris Academic Studies
LONDON * NEW YORK
Published in 1997 by Tauris Academic Studies
an imprint of I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
Victoria House
Bloomsbury Square
London wcib 4D2
Copyright © 1997 by Bülent Gökay
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this
book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any form
without permission in writing from the publisher.
A full cip record for this book is available from the British
Library
A full cip record for this book is available from the Library of
Congress
ISBN i 86064 117 2
Set in Monotype Garamond by Philip Armstrong, Sheffield
Printed and bound in Great Britain by WBC Ltd, Bridgend,
Mid Glamorgan
Contents
Maps vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction i
1 The Red Star and the Green Crescent:
November 1917-Septembet 1918 9
The Bolshevik Revolution and the Eastern Front 9
^Turkish Advance in the Caucasus 17
2 The End of the War: October X9i8-March 1919 37
The Mudros Armistice 37
^ Turkish Affairs 41
Resistance in Anatolia 47
British Troops in the Caucasus $1
The Decision to Withdraw 54
3 An Unholy Alliance: Russian Bolsheviks and Turkish
Nationalists - March 1919-March 1921 63
First Contacts 63
Barrier or Bridge? The Caucasus in
Soviet-Turkish Relations 68
The Allied Occupation of Constantinople 76
Soviet Control in Transcaucasia 80
4 Agreements on Two Fronts 92
The Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement 92
^ The ' Soviet-Turkish Treaty of Friendship 101
VI CONTENTS
5 Turkey Between East and West:
March 1921-September 1922 113
"••••* Manage de convenance. From the Moscow Treaty
to the Turkish Victory in Anatolia 1x3
British-Turkish Relations from Early 1921
to September 1921 123
The Chanak Crisis: War or Peace? 136
6 Settlement: September 1922-August 1923 14$
The Call for Lausanne 145
A Strained Friendship 148
Negotiations 151
The Crisis in Anglo-Soviet Relations 157
Final Agreement 161
7 Conclusion 164
Notes 17°
Bibliography 227
Index 260
Maps
1 South Russia 13
2 The Caucasus 20
3 Russo-Turkish Frontiers 26
4 Constantinople 40
5 The Division of Turkey according to Secret Agreements 42
6 Western Asia Minor 127
7 The Sakarya Battle 129
S The Chanak Area 137
9 Turkey after Lausanne 162

Acknowledgements
I am especially indebted to the supervisor of my PhD thesis at the
University of Cambridge, Jonathan Haslam, for his guidance, encour­
agement and friendship* I would like to thank Richard Langhorne
whose insightful criticism and moral support helped me to start my
research with a clear sense of direction. I wish to record the kind
assistance of Michael Franklin, Wolfson College, Cambridge, who
helped me out over various problems. I would also like to thank
Ben Fowkes who, through his teaching, led me to appreciate the
value of critical thinking.
I owe special thanks to my dear friends, Uygxir Kocabasoglu of
the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and Kate Fleet, curator
of the Skilliter Center for Ottoman Studies, for those long, stimu­
lating and inspiring discussions.
I also wish to thank the staff of the following institutions whose
assistance greatly facilitated my research: The University Library,
Churchill College Archive Centre, and Trinity College Library,
Cambridge; the Public Record Office, the Library of the School of
Oriental and African Studies, and Marx Memorial Library, in London;
the Baykov Library, University of Birmingham; the Lenin Library,
the Central Party Archives, and the Archives of Foreign Ministry, in
Moscow. I am especially indebted" to Oleg V. Naimov for facilitating
my speedy admission to the Central Party Archives, and the late A.
A. Bykov of the Foreign Ministry Archives for granting me special
access to some documents which were originally put aside for re­
classification.
I benefited enormously from the expertise of Stephen White who
gave me good advice on how to prepare the text for publication. I
owe a great debt to Louise J. Wyne-Williams who painstakingly read
the manuscript and spent many hours correcting, clarifying, and
helping to rework the text. A special mention must be reserved for
Anna Enayat at LB. Tauris for her helpfulness, efficiency, and her
dynamic editorial style. I should also like to thank Philip Armstrong
who drew the maps.
X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to send my grateful thanks to my'friend Görgün Taner
who never disappointed me with his exceptional skills in finding
obscure books and for sending large parcels from Turkey.
And finally I should like to record my heartfelt gratitude to Berrak
to whom I will always be indebted for her companionship, tolerance
and encouragement.