Note from the Plenipotentiary Representative of the RSFSR in Turkey to the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Yusuf Kemal. August 20, 1921

 A source: USSR foreign policy documents. Volume 4. p. 287. Moscow. Gospolitizdat. 1960

August 20, 1921 No. 863-a

Lord Commissioner,

I have the honor to inform you that my Government has instructed me to inform you that it readily accepts the invitation contained in your note to take part in a conference for the conclusion of treaties between the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Governments of the three Soviet Republics of the Caucasus, which conference should complement an agreement concluded in Moscow between Soviet Russia and Turkey.

My Government, however, rejects Angora as a place to convene the conference because of the difficulty of telegraph communication with this city and the martial law, and expresses the wish that the conference be held in Kars, the city you yourself proposed earlier.

Please accept, Mr. Commissioner, the assurance of my highest consideration.

Natsarenus

 The following reply was received to this note from Yusuf Kemal on 28 August 1921:

“Mr. Plenipotentiary Representative,

In response to your letter of the 20th of this month, I have the honor to inform you that my Government agrees to Kars as the place of the conference to be held between Turkey and the Transcaucasian Soviet Republics with the participation of delegates from the RSFSR. The Turkish delegation will be chaired by Divisional General Kazim Karabekir Pasha, the commander of the eastern army of the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and a deputy from Adrianople in the same National Assembly, with the participation of Veli Bey, a deputy from Burdur, Memduh Shevket Bey, the plenipotentiary of Turkey in Baku , and Mukhtar-bey, chief engineer for the construction of railways in Eastern Anatolia, a former deputy and secretary of state in the Commissariat of Public Works.

I believe that in view of the range of distance to be covered for different delegations, it would be desirable to set the last week of September as the opening date for the conference.

I would be grateful to you, Mr. Plenipotentiary Representative, if, while handing over to your Government the content of this, you also convey our firm confidence regarding the most favorable results to be achieved during negotiations based on the excellent relations existing between Turkey, on the one hand, and the Russian Soviet and Transcaucasian Soviet Republics on the other.

I would be happy to know as soon as possible whether the appointed date is convenient for the Moscow Government, as well as the names of the Russian delegates to the Kars conference.

Please accept, Mr. Plenipotentiary Representative, the assurances of my highest consideration. "