The role of the North Caucasian Diaspora (Muhajirs) in the Ottoman Empire in bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey in 1917-1921 in the context of revolutions, external and internal conflicts

Israilov Adam Khamzatovich Postgraduate student at the Department of Theory and History of International Relations of RUDN University 117198, Russia, Moscow, Moscow, Miklukh-Maklaya str., 6 adam-kadet@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The situation of the Muhajir diaspora in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the First World War (1914)

The Chechen diaspora in the Ottoman Empire began to actively form as a result of the phenomenon of muhajirism. After the end of the Caucasian War, about 5,000 Chechen families left Chechnya, and under the influence of the tsarist administration and Turkish emissaries went to the Ottoman Empire.

Chechen muhajirs settled mainly in the area of Diyarbakir in modern Turkey, Ras al-Ain in modern Syria and after 1901 in the city of Al-Zarqa in modern Jordan. Chechens faced significant difficulties, among which typhus and cholera epidemics can be distinguished ^[1]. Another significant problem was the Middle Eastern climate, which was unusual for people from the North Caucasus to farm. Muhajirs in the Middle East and Asia Minor most often received fertile, but uncultivated, "wild" lands, also in modern Syria and Jordan, the Ottoman authorities considered the highlanders as colonizers and gave them significant land plots exceeding the lands of local Arab peasants ^[2].

The highlanders were also actively involved in paramilitary service on the outskirts of the empire, in particular, to confront the Armenians, Druze and Bedouins on the territory of modern Turkey and the states of the Middle East ^[3]. In addition, the sultan's government saw the highlanders as a tool for carrying out its Caucasian policy. In Istanbul's view, the Muhajir mountaineers could become the backbone of national military formations on the hypothetical Russian-Turkish front and were sent to the Caucasus, where they were also supposed to become the backbone of national uprisings against the Russian government.

The active involvement of muhajirs by the Ottoman authorities in voluntary military service led to the fact that by 1908, when the Young Turks seized power in the country, the North Caucasians became an integral part of the Ottoman elite. For example, Shevket Pasha is a descendant of Chechen emigrants, who at various times held the posts of Minister of War, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire ^[4].

The "career growth" of the muhajirs led to the fact that the diaspora, in addition to the "myth" of a common homeland – the North Caucasus, which should be independent and where they would return, had another identity – the Ottoman one. Studying in Ottoman educational institutions, including the military, as well as the idea of the Ottoman Empire as the common home of Muslims, contributed to the strengthening of a new identity ^[5]. Thus, the common identity of the Muhajirs consisted in the idea of a common homeland, the struggle for its independence, as well as in the idea of the Ottoman Empire as a new, albeit in many ways temporary, but still a home with which the Chechen diaspora was linked by a common fate.

For example, Ashraf Senser Kushchubashi, one of the founders of the Ottoman special services, said that, being a Circassian, he could not help but dream of a free Dagestan (approx. author: Dagestan often meant the entire North-Eastern Caucasus, in turn, Eshraf Senser, being of Circassian origin from the Ubykh tribe, could mean the entire modern North Caucasus) but first of all he is a Muslim, a subject of the Ottoman Sultan, who speaks Turkish ^[5].

At the beginning of the 20th century, the last stage of mass emigration of Chechens from Chechnya to the Ottoman Empire occurred. So, in 1903, a group of Chechens arrived in modern Jordan and founded the city of Al-Zarqa. By 1909, another group of Chechens, together with Circassians, also founded and/or gave a new impetus to the development of the villages of Suwaylih, Sukhna and Ruseifa in Jordan ^[6].

After the Young Turks from the Unity and Progress party came to power in 1908, the "golden era" began for the muhajirs and their descendants. In addition to integrating North Caucasians into the Ottoman elite, North Caucasians were given the opportunity to create their own public organizations and mass media. The first was the Circassian Mutual Aid Society, which united representatives of the Circassian peoples, and also took under its care representatives of other peoples of the North Caucasus ^[7]. This organization aimed to support the representatives of the Caucasus until it was possible to repatriate to their homeland. With her, the first Circassian newspaper "?erkes Yardimla ma DerneZi" ("Circassian Aid Association") begins to be published in Turkish ^[8].

World War I and the North Caucasian Diaspora in the Ottoman Empire

In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, a public organization was established in Istanbul, which set itself political goals for the liberation of the Caucasus from Russian power – the Committee of the Peoples of the Caucasus (KNK), which united both representatives of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia. The purpose of the organization was to achieve the independence of the Caucasus from Russia and the creation of a pan-Caucasian confederate state headed by one of the Ottoman princes. However, already in 1916, representatives of Transcaucasia left the KNC, and in its place the Committee of Political Emigrants of the North Caucasus (KPESK) was formed, which conducted active political and public activities in order to realize its interests ^[9]. In 1916, KPESK took part in the Congress of Oppressed Peoples in Lausanne, which was represented by the grandson of Imam Shamil, Said Shamil, whose speech was greeted with ovations by the Congress participants ^[10].

With the outbreak of the First World War, the KNK and then the KPESK launched active political activities to achieve their goals. Initially, the North Caucasians tried to use the Ottoman special services and generals to achieve their goals. A significant number of mobilized Caucasians and Muhajir officers were concentrated on the Caucasian Front of the First World War. It was supposed to create on their basis a "national army" from among the muhajirs under the patronage of the Ottoman Empire. Abazin Faud Pasha played a significant role in lobbying the interests of the North Caucasian diaspora. However, the failures on the Caucasian Front forced the Ottoman Empire to postpone these plans, in connection with which the descendants of the muhajirs turn to the German and Austro-Hungarian authorities for help with proposals to support the activities of the muhajirs to return to their native lands and declare the independence of the Caucasus and create a national army under their patronage, which also did not happen ^[11].

In addition, Professor of the School of Naval Postgraduate Students of the United States R. Gingeras notes that during the First World War, the Ottoman authorities recruited highlanders to serve in a Special organization – the key Ottoman special service, preferring to increase the autonomy of North Caucasian units ^[5], most likely the purpose of this policy was the formation of the national Caucasian army and the establishment of ties between the Ottomans and Muhajirs on the one hand, and the highlanders of the Caucasus on the other side.

The North Caucasus and the Diaspora in the context of the revolutionary events of 1917 in Russia

The February Revolution in Russia in 1917 led to an aggravation of the national question in the Russian Empire, many peoples who inhabited the country saw an opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination both within Russia and outside it. The North Caucasus was no exception. In May 1917, a Congress of the North Caucasian Peoples was held in Vladikavkaz, which proclaimed the creation of the Union of United Highlanders of the North Caucasus and Dagestan (hereinafter – the Union; the Mountain Republic). Chechen tsarist officer Abdul-Mezhid Chermoyev was elected Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Union. Initially, the Union was considered not as an independent state, but as one of the "states" in the form of a confederation being created by a new democratic and federal Russia ^[12]. Thus, in the Political Platform of the Union of May 7, 1917, it was emphasized that the Union aims to unite the peoples and tribes of the highlanders of the Caucasus and recognizes itself "... an inseparable part of the Great Russian state, the highlanders, both for the common good of their Homeland Russia, and for their own good and happiness..." (Political Platform and the program of the Union of United Mountaineers of the North Caucasus and Dagestan).

It is noteworthy that during the same period, the Diaspora Society for the Unity of the Caucasus, which operated mainly in the Ottoman Empire, on November 20, 1917, sent an appeal to the authorities of the Quadruple Alliance, as well as the still unrecognized and barely existing Poland, the central government of Russia, the Ukrainian Committee, the Stockholm and Berne Peace Conferences "... to recognize the Caucasian Confederation as part of the Russian Union Republic ..." ^[11].

The proclamation of the Union was also supported by the main public organization of muhajirs in the Ottoman Empire – the Circassian Mutual Aid Society, which began to provide educational and scientific literature to young public education. The North Caucasian diaspora immediately became more active, striving to establish contacts between the Union and the Ottoman authorities ^[3]. The creation of a new state entity was also of interest to the Ottoman special services, as a Special organization sent to the North Caucasus the editor-in-chief of the Circassian newspaper "Guase", published in Istanbul, as well as a number of officers of Circassian origin to establish contacts with local national forces, but soon many of them were forced to return ^[3].

In their view, the creation of the Caucasian Confederation would give them a chance to return to their native lands, free from oppression. At the same time, in this context, we must not forget that by this time the Muhajirs, or rather their descendants, had two homelands: the Caucasus and the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire considered the Union of the Highlanders of the North Caucasus primarily as a geopolitical tool to achieve its main goal – the creation of a buffer state between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the Caucasus ^[5]. At the same time, as noted above, the Muhajirs used the Ottoman opportunities to achieve their goal – the creation of an independent North Caucasian state. Thus, representatives of the diaspora, on the one hand, fulfilled their duty to the Ottoman Empire as its subjects, on the other hand, realized their personal aspirations, thereby forming a symbiosis.

In early March 1918, a prominent representative of the Diaspora, the Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Navy, Huseyin Rauf Bey, met with a delegation of the Union (the delegation consisted of G. Bammatov, A.M. Chermoeva and M.-K. Dibirova) at the Trabzon Peace Conference. With his support, a meeting of the delegation was organized with Sultan Mehmed V, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire Talaat Pasha, Minister of Defense Enver Pasha. During the meeting, the parties agreed on the creation of an independent North Caucasian state, its unification with Transcaucasia. The Caucasian union itself was to come under the Turkish protectorate, which was in line with Ottoman interests ^[11].

In April of the same year, representatives of the Diaspora, members of the highest circles of the Ottoman Empire, organized the Society of the North Caucasus in order to coordinate their activities. The chairman of the society was the director of the Ottoman National Telegraph Agency, Colonel Huseyin Tosun Bey, it also included Faud Pasha, Huseyni Rauf Bey, the future foreign minister in the government of Ataturk Bekir Sami Bey Kundukh (son of the Russian general of Ossetian origin Musa Kundukhov, one of the organizers of muhajirism), as well as a number of other prominent figures of the Ottoman Empire empires of Caucasian origin. The society of the North Caucasus provided mediation services between the governments of the Mountainous Republic and the Ottoman Empire and, according to G.V. Chochiev, contributed to the radicalization of the position of both actors on the issue of the independence of the region ^[9].

However, the aggravation of the situation in Russia and the October Revolution led to an increase in the desire for full independence. On May 11, 1918, A.-M. Chermoyev, together with other CEC members, declared the independence of the North Caucasus from Soviet Russia ^[12]. The Second Congress of the Union of the Mountain Peoples of the North Caucasus and Dagestan adopted a constitution that no longer mentioned ties with Russia.

On the eve of the declaration of independence, the North Caucasian diaspora began to actively establish contacts between the Union and the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire. By the time of the declaration of independence in the Caucasus, both in the North and in the South, the Caucasian Islamic Army, led by General of Circassian origin Ferik Yusuf-Izzet Pasha, consisting of Ottoman soldiers and officers of Caucasian origin, was already operating ^[3]. At the same time, Yusuf Izzet Pasha began to act even before the official declaration of independence, i.e. before May 11, 1918. Already on April 20, 1918, they sent a congratulatory telegram in connection with the capture of Petrovsk (present-day Makhachkala), which, however, mentions the fall of the old regime, which oppressed all citizens of Russia, not only the highlanders.

Also on April 28, 1918, before the declaration of independence by A.M. Chermoyev, the commander-in-chief of the Caucasian Front of the Turkish army, Vehib Mahmud Pasha, a protege of Shevket Pasha, sent a telegram to the Chairman of the Transcaucasian government on the recognition of the independence of Transcaucasia by the Ottoman Empire and on the declaration of independence of the North Caucasus. It also mentions that at the upcoming Batumi Conference, the unification of the North Caucasian and Transcaucasian projects into a single Caucasian state should take place.

In the early days of its existence, the Mountain Republic continues the policy initiated by the North Caucasian diaspora in the Ottoman Empire to establish relations with Germany and Austria-Hungary. During the Conference in Batumi, the Mountain Republic declared its independence (a note on the declaration of independence was sent to the authorities of the RSFSR on May 13). Partly through the mediation of the Society of the North Caucasus, the Mountainous Republic was immediately recognized by the Ottoman authorities, and on June 8, the parties concluded an Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation ^[11].

It is noteworthy that at a preliminary meeting of representatives of delegations who arrived at the Batumi conference on the issue of admission of the delegation of the Mountainous Republic to the conference on May 9, 1918, the Foreign Minister of the Mountainous Republic, G. Bammat, stated that the North Caucasus was not going to declare independence from Russia in the near future, but intended to join the Transcaucasian state.

On July 31, 1918, the diplomatic representative of the Mountain Republic, G. Bammat, sent a letter to A.-M. Chermoyev about the policy of Turkey and Germany towards the Caucasus. It follows from the letter that G. Bammat managed to establish strong relations with the North Caucasian diaspora in Turkey. In the letter he writes the following: "... In order to revive our amateur activities, I managed to move the issue of appointing Yusuf Izet Pasha to us and organizing volunteer detachments of fugitive Circassian soldiers. The Circassian Committee also worked in this direction..." (Manuscript Fund of the Institute of IAE of the DNC RAS).

Further, most importantly, he writes about his desire to create an "awareness delegation" with the assistance of the Circassian Committee: "... I am trying to create, with the assistance of the Circassian Club, a special mountain awareness delegation to travel to the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and neutral countries to promote our cause..." (Manuscript Fund of the Institute of IAE DNC RAS).

He also notes the assistance provided by Fuad Selim Bey, the envoy of the Ottoman Empire to Switzerland, who is of Egyptian Circassian descent.

The role of the North Caucasian Diaspora in the events of the Russian Civil War in the North Caucasus after the end of the First World War

After the Mudros Truce on October 30, 1918, the highlanders began to look for allies in the face of the Entente, as evidenced by the message of G. Bammat dated November 24, 1918, in which he writes that he is looking for ways to establish ties with leading capitalist countries, among which France has taken a position of support for "great and indivisible Russia", the United States, Japan sympathize, but no more, Britain, after some hesitation, refused Mr. Bammat the right to visit the country.

At the same time, immediately after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the occupation of Constantinople by the Entente, the North Caucasian diaspora resumed political activity with renewed vigor. Thus, a delegation headed by the aforementioned Faoud Pasha went to the British Embassy in Constantinople almost immediately after its occupation, where they held talks with the British military attache. During the negotiations, the delegation handed over a petition addressed to His Majesty's Government, which noted the history of the formation of the diaspora, as well as an appeal for help: to recognize the independence of the Mountainous Republic under the protectorate of Great Britain and facilitate the repatriation of muhajirs and their descendants to their homeland ^[14].

However, the central office of the Foreign Office gave a negative assessment to these requests, considering that the Mountainous Republic is not able, given the multiethnic nature of the region, to create a stable independent state. Also, another expert examination, conducted by A. Toynbee, noted the impossibility of the return of the Adygs to the Western Caucasus, believing that this would lead to a deterioration of relations with the "whites", however, he proposed using the Middle Eastern Caucasians as an ally in future mandated territories ^[14].

The Mountainous Republic was looking for various opportunities to get closer to the descendants of the Muhajirs in Turkey, considering them on the one hand as a lobbying tool, on the other as brothers who need to be helped. In this context, the letter from the representative of the Mountain Republic H. is noteworthy. Hadzrat in Constantinople to participate in the peace conference to the Chairman of the Government of the Republic P. Kotsev, written in February 1919. The letter is dedicated to the situation regarding the organization of the Paris Peace Conference and its prospects for the Mountain Republic. The paragraph in which X is remarkable is also in it. Hadzrat reports on a meeting with Turkish Circassians in Istanbul. First of all, they were interested in the northern border of the Highlanders' country, which in their view should reach Yeysk. The second issue is the desire of 1.5 million descendants of Muhajirs to return to their homeland. They asked for all possible assistance in this matter. In connection with this issue, they introduced X. Hadzrat with the text of the prepared memorandum, which had to be provided at the Paris Peace Conference, to participate in which they elected a special delegation headed by the already mentioned Sami Bekir Bey, who at the same conference in 1921 would combine the post of Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs. Interestingly, this letter says that the muhajirs did not treat Russia negatively and asked the government of the Mountainous Republic not to aggravate relations with it.

It is also worth noting here that the broad masses of muhajirs, sharing the goals of independence and return to their homeland, did not want to quarrel with Russia, and as M.V. Frunze noted during his trip to Turkey, passing by the villages of muhajirs: "... all the old people who remember Russia, remember it with love..." ^[7].

The new Turkey, headed by Ataturk, also maintained its interest in the North Caucasus. Thus, R. Gingeras writes that a few months after the Armistice of Mudros (October 30, 1918), contacts between the Mountain Republic and North Caucasian activists in Istanbul were resumed. In 1919, A.M. Chermoyev and G. Bammat arrived in Istanbul on a visit, where they met with the muhajirs. The results of the meeting were reported to M. Kemal, who, following the meeting, sent a secret mission to the Caucasus consisting of three representatives of the Circassian diaspora: Ismail Hakki (one of the officers of the Caucasian Islamic Army), Aziz Meker, a Turkish teacher of Circassian origin (in 1932 he would hold the post of Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Turkey) and Mustafa Butba (in In 1919, a member of the commission for the development of national alphabets, created the Abkhaz-Circassian alphabet on a Latin basis).

In August-September 1919, the Conference of Political Figures of the North Caucasus in Tiflis was attended by Bekir-semey Kundukh. During the Conference, he stated the following: "We, the emigrants, formed a committee and wanted to move to the Caucasus. However, we failed to do this from the very beginning; now we, the emigrants, are talking about resettlement again. In this regard, the Turkish government also met us halfway. In a difficult moment for the mountaineers, we wanted to help them, but this was not possible due to the fact that the people who gathered in Batumi at the time did not agree ...", he also promised assistance to the Circassian muhajirs in the struggle for the independence of the Caucasus.

In February 1920, B.P. Sheboldaev wrote to the commander of rebel detachments in the North Caucasus, N.F. Gikalo, that Britain was preparing a provocation in order to quarrel between the RSFSR and Turkey. Britain planned, recognizing the independence of Turkey, as well as using the Caucasian Islamic army of Nuri Pasha, consisting of muhajirs, to pit the two revolutionary countries and prevent the Bolsheviks from gaining a foothold in the Caucasus. Which, in principle, was in the interests of the British, who since the revolution had been afraid of the strengthening of Germany and its allies in the Caucasus, but also did not seek to recognize the Mountain Republic until the issue with the Bolsheviks was resolved ^[13].

It should also be noted here that the government of Attat?rk did not refuse to support the highlanders of the North Caucasus, at least in words. Thus, in April 1919, Attat?rk declared that the Circassians were striving to achieve their goals and were achieving them in cordial cooperation with Turkey. He added that the aspirations of the Highlanders and Turks to achieve national independence are similar in spirit ^[5].

However, as Soviet Russia and Turkey drew closer, Attat?rk's support for the Mountaineers' aspirations for independence gradually declined. Thus, one of the demands from the RSFSR was the recognition of the establishment of Soviet republics in the North Caucasus and Central Asia. At the same time, some of the muhajirs, apparently, supported the project of Soviet nation-building. Thus, Aziz Meker stated that the Bolsheviks returned to the local population the lands stolen by the Cossacks at one time ^[5].

By the beginning of 1920, most of the North Caucasus had been captured by the Bolsheviks, the leaders of the Mountain Republic met this news in Paris at a peace conference, which is why they remained in exile ^[12].

In May 1920, the National Congress of the Highlanders of the North Caucasus took place in the Chechen village of Vedeno, where the Bolshevik Highlanders quarreled with the mountaineers who supported full independence and left the congress. The Congress elected as its leader the son of Imam Shamil – Muhammad-Kamil Pasha, who lived in the Ottoman Empire ^[15], according to some sources in the city of Medina in the territory of modern Saudi Arabia ^[16]. However, being seriously ill, he sent his son, Said Shamil, as his representative, who in the future will also have close ties with Caucasian White emigration. Researcher Sultan Murad, without naming the year, notes that a conference of leaders of the North Caucasian muhajirs was also held in Istanbul, who recommended Muhammad Kamil Pasha to go to the Caucasus, taking with him two assistants from Chechens and Circassians. Soon, the participants of the conference were arrested by the British occupation authorities ^[16].

Earlier, Said Shamil visited Jordan, where he met with the leader of the Chechens in the village of Sukhna, Sultan Murad, as well as with a number of other representatives of the muhajirs in Jordan. Together, by the end of the summer, they reached the North Caucasus. However, having been defeated, they were forced to return ^[16]. This episode shows that Chechens and Circassians who lived in the Arab territories of the former Ottoman Empire, despite the turbulence in their places of permanent residence, did not forget about the land of their ancestors and sought to maintain contact with it.

The factor of the North Caucasus and the Diaspora in the bilateral relations of the RSFSR and the Turkish Republic against the background of the end of the Civil War in Russia in 1920-1921

In the summer of 1920, the Turks founded the first permanent diplomatic mission in the RSFSR, headed by Ali Fuat Dzhebesoy, who had mixed Circassian-German origin, and the notorious Muhajir Kundukh Bekir-seven also became the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry ^[5]. In the embassy itself, many employees were of North Caucasian origin, among whom were the already mentioned Aziz Meker, Zeki Bey and others. This led to the fact that some of the embassy staff complained that the Turkish Embassy in Moscow had turned into a "Circassian clique" maintaining active communication with the North Caucasus ^[9].

In October 1920, Bekir-seven Kundukh arrived for official negotiations in the RSFSR. During the negotiations, his partner, the head of the NKID of the RSFSR, G.V. Chicherin, noted the unhealthy interest of the Bekir-seven in the problems of the North Caucasus. The Turkish Foreign Minister also tried to hold personal talks with the government of the RSFSR. He offered to grant independence to Ossetia in exchange for Turkey ceding the territory around Lake Van to Armenia. Bekir-sami's behavior caused considerable discontent in Ankara. This fact, as well as a number of other reasons, led to his resignation in March 1921 ^[5].

After initialing the Soviet-Turkish treaty of friendship and mutual assistance, Bekir-seven went on a "tour" of the North Caucasus, where he met with anti-Bolshevik groups in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Ossetia, which irritated the Soviet authorities. At the same time, he continued to play a double game, during the same period he wrote to G.V. Chicherin that it would be nice to create a Soviet republic in the North Caucasus, which would become part of the greater Soviet federation. And before returning to Ankara in January 1921, in Tiflis, he met with the Foreign Minister of the Mountainous Republic, G. Bammat ^[14].

During this period, the Muhajirs tried to establish parallel contacts with the Bolsheviks in order to achieve their goals, in turn, the Turkish authorities wanted to use the North Caucasus as a bargaining chip that could be given for a certain price, primarily by increasing the assistance from the Bolsheviks to the Kemalists ^[15].

The political activity of representatives of the Muhajir diaspora in relation to the Mountainous Republic has met with some criticism from the public. Thus, a comment was published in one of the Turkish newspapers, in which it was noted that Caucasians, of course, should worry and have the right to think about the problems of their homeland, but should not forget about their duty to Turkey ^[5].

On January 20, 1921, after the end of the active phase of the Civil War in Russia, in particular in the Caucasus, the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed as part of the RSFSR, which became the first officially recognized mountain state entity. The Gorskaya ASSR was an association of national districts. Thus, the project developed in the Political Platform of the Union of United Highlanders of the North Caucasus and Dagestan dated May 7, 1917, received actual implementation. This project satisfied the interests of Russia, the highlanders themselves, Turkey, as well as a significant part of the Muhajirs living in Turkey.

Conclusion

At the beginning of the XX century, the Muhajir diaspora had a significant influence on the life of Ottoman society. At the same time, for the North Caucasians, as representatives of the diaspora, the "myth" of the homeland played an important role, to which they will definitely return and be released. In addition, representatives of the diaspora also had a strong "Ottoman" identity built around Islam.

Since the beginning of the First World War, the diaspora has tried to influence the situation in the Caucasus in the hope of undermining the rear of the Russian Empire. Nevertheless, until 1917, the real impact of the diaspora on the situation in the Caucasus was extremely low.

The situation changed after the February Revolution in Russia in 1917 and the formation of the Mountain Republic, which united the highlanders of the North Caucasus. This caused an immediate response from the diaspora, which began to provide various possible assistance to the new state formation within revolutionary Russia, moreover, diaspora organizations called for "... recognition of the Caucasian Confederation as part of the Russian Union Republic ...". In addition, the situation in the Caucasus was immediately taken advantage of by the Ottoman special services, which, through officers of Circassian origin, tried to establish contacts with the highlanders.

However, the aggravation of the revolutionary situation in Russia and the beginning of an immediate armed conflict led to the proclamation of full independence of the Mountain Republic, which was immediately supported by the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, not without the support of the North Caucasian diaspora.

The defeat of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, in particular the Ottoman Empire, in the First World War became the ground for attempts by the Mountain Republic and the Muhajirs to start looking for contacts and support in the Entente countries, which, in turn, were not interested in real support for the Highlanders, supporting the "whites" in Russia against the "reds".

Against the background of the conflicts between Russia and Turkey, directly or indirectly with the war, the two countries began the process of political rapprochement. The "Caucasian" issue also played an important role in bilateral relations. The Bolsheviks sought to preserve the North Caucasus as part of Russia, and for Turkey, this issue became a subject of bargaining in bilateral relations. Moreover, Circassians were in charge of relations with Russia in the Turkish diplomatic department. At the same time, as the political situation in the Turkish Republic stabilized, the Circassians began to fade into the background, which was connected both with the internal policy of the Turkish state and with the role of the diaspora itself, which, in implementing its foreign policy towards the RSFSR, began to promote its personal interests, as evidenced, for example, by the negotiations of Bekir Sami- Bey Kundukh with G.V. Chicherin on granting independence to Ossetia in exchange for the territory around Lake Van.