The Royal Danish Legation, 195 Rue de l'Universite. Paris, 3 February 1920.
The Recognition of the Caucasian Republics. – Turkish Armenia. [Refers to] Leg. Tlg. No. 38, 3 February 1920.
The Supreme Council has de facto recognized the governments of three of the Caucasian republics: the Tartar Republic of Azerbeidjan (with Baku as capital), as well as in the Christian republics of Georgia and Armenia. The North Caucasian Republic Daghestan, however, has not been recognized, and the Batoum [Batum] Republic seems to have been absorbed into Georgia.
These recognitions have been made in order to strengthen these small states as a defence against Bolshevism. The representatives in Paris of the Caucasian republics have, though, announced through the press that the attitude of their governments toward the Bolsheviks was purely defensive. As is a well-known fact, England has troops in these areas to protect India and Persia against the Bolshevik infection and to secure the petrol wells in the Caucasus, besides from those wells they have laid their hands on in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, south of the Dead Sea, and in Southern Persia (Susiana).
Regarding the position of Turkish Armenia the legation confirms its esteemed telegram No. 38 of today.
The question of how to adjust the conditions in this miserable country is still floating at the Peace Conference in connection with the undetermined Turkish question. According to the information given to me by the French Foreign Ministry there are two alternatives: either to transfer a part of Turkish Armenia to the Armenian Republic by means of a border regulation which, in its vastest possible extent, could include Erzerum, or let Turkish Armenia remain under Turkish sovereignty but with autonomy under international control (the League of Nations). The appeals to take into consideration the wishes of the Armenian population that have been forwarded to the Peace Conference from many sides, e.g., from the Swiss Federal Council, are supported in principle by the Conference. But the practical implementation seems to be met with great difficulty. As a result of, among other things, the Turks’ terrible depopulation of Armenia, Armenians are usually only a relative majority vis-a-vis the other races in the country, which means that there is a risk that these will join forces against the Armenians if it is only the wishes of the latter that are taken into consideration.
The Conference has "pris acte" of the Swiss appeal and added it to the other elements relevant for judging the case together with the numerous addresses, demarcation suggestions, etc., that have been forwarded. They do not seem to be of great significance; they can hardly do any damage either.
H. A. Bernhoft.