Written: Written on October 7, 1918
Published:
First published in 1957 in Dokumenty vneshnei politiki SSSR, Vol. I.
Printed from the text of the telegraph tape.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
1975,
Moscow,
Volume 44,
pages 150c-151a.
Translated: Clemens Dutt
Transcription\Markup:
R. Cymbala
Public Domain:
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Comrade Joffe
Berlin
We do not agree to sign the Turkish protocol until the hand-over of Baku to our authorities is accepted, for without this clause there is every ground for suspecting secret agreements with the Entente for handing Baku over to them. We shall publish just that.[1]
Sverdlov, Lenin
[1] This telegram was sent in connection with the proposal of Rifaat Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador in Germany, for the signing of a protocol regulating the military situation in the Caucasus. The draft protocol Rifaat Pasha put forward provided for the withdrawal of the Turkish troops from the Caucasus to the borders laid down by the Brest, Treaty, but it lacked a clause directly transferring to the Soviet authorities the territories evacuated by the Turks.
The fears expressed in this telegram were justified. On October 30, 1918, the Turkish Government signed the Mudross armistice with the Entente countries, which contained a special clause about Turkey agreeing to the occupation of Baku by the Entente powers. In November 1918, in accordance with this agreement, the Turks withdrew their troops from Baku and the city was occupied by the British.
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