Legality of the intervention under international law: the case of 1918 Azerbaijan
Tamilla Ibrahimova · DSpace repository (University of Tartu), 2018
Collection summary
A University of Tartu thesis examining the legality under international law of the 1918 intervention in Azerbaijan, above all the Ottoman expedition.
Tamilla Ibrahimova's 2018 English-language thesis discusses, in terms of international law, the power vacuum in the South Caucasus after the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 and the German, British, Bolshevik and Ottoman interventions that followed. The excerpt highlights the competition over Baku's oil and notes that the Ottoman expedition to Baku was seen as the most concrete step. For the collection it offers a legal-political framework for the 1918 campaign of the Army of Islam.
The source's own abstract
This chapter is focused on the historical background of the events analyzed in the following chapters.Before reading, it is worth pointing out that at the beginning of 20 th century non-Christians living in South Caucasus, mostly Azerbaijanis, Persians and other nations used to be called not by their national identities, but by religious identities, such as 'Muslims'.The fall of the Russian Empire in 1917 caused enthusiasm for independence in Transcaucasia.The end of Russian rule was deeply awaited by the revolutionary and nationalist groups in the Caucasus.It meant that the battlefield would now be transferred to Caucasia.8 Especially following the October Revolution, the opposing sides of the war intervened in the Caucasus through diplomatic, military and economic means.Germans were hoping to gain access to the oil reserves of Baku; Great Britain was trying to keep Germany and the Ottoman Empire away from the Baku oil reserves and Central Asia, while the Bolsheviks sought to prevent all powers of WWI from capturing Baku.However, since the Ottoman expedition to Baku was considered to be the most concrete step, it was the centre of attention.9 After the Russian Revolution resulted with the collapse of the Russian Empire and abdication of Emperor Nicholas II in 1917, the Russian Caucasus Front was dismantled, and the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia.In order to fill the administrative gap in Transcaucasia or South Caucasus, the Special Transcaucasian Committee was founded by Russian Provisional Government.However, after a short period, the Transcaucasian Commissariat was created as a first government of the independent South Caucasus on 11th November 1917 and was seeking independence from Bolshevik Russia.Its Parliament was known as the Sejm.After a while, the Sejm proclaimed independence under the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, also known as the Transcaucasian Federation on 24th February 1918.
Index
- People
- Tamilla Ibrahimova
- Units and institutions
- Osmanlı İmparatorluğuBolşeviklerRus İmparatorluğu
The source's keywords
International law · Intervention (counseling) · Law · Political science · Principle of legality · Psychology