Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎30v] (60/290)

10
APPENDIX t.
To Chief of the Imperial General Staff,
War Office, London, S.W. 1.
IN accordance with vour telegraphic instructions, I forward the following remarks
on the situation—political, financial, and military—in Iraus-Caucasia, and my reasons
for stating that 1 consider a garrison of two divisions necessary to be certain of
maintaining order in the district which labours under the following difficulties :
(a.) An armed population suffering from years of misrule.
(6.) Religious and national hatred, mistrust, and jealousy.
(c.) Doubt as to the future.
(d) Financial bankruptcy and approaching famine.
(e.) The propaganda of Bolshevism working on an illiterate and uneducated people.
(/.) The absence of good means of communication.
Situation in Town and Province of Batum.
The town and province of Batum are governed through a British Military
Governor, by an Administrative Council which carries on the civil government under the
orders of the Military Governor. The council is under the presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of a Russian, and
is by way of being representative, being composed of two Russians, two Georgians, one
Mussulman, one Armenian, one Greek, one Pole, and a Jew\ this council may be
considered to be fairly representative of the town, which is cosmopolitan. It cannot,
however, be siud to be representative of the province, the greater proportion of the
inhabitants of which are Georgian-Moslems, i.e., men of Georgian blood who became
Moslems during the Turkish rule of the last century and before. These Georgians are
hostile to the Georgians properly so-called.
The inhabitants of the province consist of Russians, Georgians, Georgian-Moslems,
Armenians, Adjarians, Greeks, Persians, Kurds, Tartars, and Poles. At first the council
was extremely unpopular, owing to the fact that the men available to become members were
really nonentities without influence or knowledge, but with great assurance, no business
capacity, and full of fantastic proposals. Now the Government is fairly well received,
probably on the score that any form of self-government is preferable to Ottoman rule.
Violent Georgian propaganda has become, however, very active in the town since the
Turkish guards on the Georgian frontier were withdrawn. This propaganda is instituted
without doubt by the Georgian Government, who are anxious to obtain possession of the
province, and who have been warned that unless it ceases the frontier will probably
have to be closed to all without passes.
No doubt Georgian propagandists have also been busy in the province, where jjreat
animosity exists between the Russians and Adjarians against the Georgians. To such
an extent is this the case, that when the Turks took Batum from the Georgians last
April, they were assisted by 2,000 Adjarians belonging to the province. During the
Turkish occupation of Batum the Georgians were compelled to leave the province, and
the frontier was closed against them. Owing to the large number of Georgians now
enterimr the province, and to the minor difficulties which the Georgians are always
raising in their dealings with the Batum officials, friction is daily increasing, e.p.,
Georgian operators on the telegraphs refuse to answer the Russian operators employed
at Batum ; the Russo-Asiatic Bank, which was removed to Georgia, is prevented from
returning; Batum officials who are now in Georgia are refused permission to return;
every conceivable difficulty is put in the way of free railway communication between
Georgia and Batum. As regards the last point, the small portion of the railway in the
Batum province has to be worked under British control, as the entry of Georgian
officials would raise trouble.
Owing to the state of unrest in the district, due chiefly to the fact that the popula
tion is divided into a great many sects all fully armed, each of which forms its own
council, it has been found necessary to guard the railway and to have military posts in
various places in the province. At the present moment two and a half battalions are
employed carrying out this duty. Once the Turkish troops have been totally withdrawn,
it is hoped that this number may be reduced.
The financial situation is chaotic. Nicholai, Kerensky, and Tifiis bonds have by