Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan Leaders Hold the Conference of the Transcaucasian Republics

The Georgian Messenger, N9, May the Fourth, 1919

The Conference of The Transcaucasian Republics.

On the 27-th of April the first session of the Conference of the Transcaucasian Republics was held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There were present the delegates of the republics of Georgia, Armenia and Aderbaijan, headed by Gegechkori, Tigranian and Khan-Khoiski. The representatives of the Mountaineer Republic have not yet arrived. The meeting was opened at 11.45 A.M. by E.P. Gegechkori, who greeted the conference in the name of the Republic of Georgia, and expressed the hope that the Conference, which had been summoned at a critical and decisive moment, will prove itself capable of rising to the true interests of all the people of the country, and will be able to find a common ground for the closest possible union and unison between all the nationalities of the Transcaucasus.

Tigranian greeted the Conference in the name of the Armenian Government, and expressed his confidence that the peoples of the Transcaucasus, which had but recently lived under one aegis, would again attain that unity which was lost at the departure of the Russians, not by means of pressure without, but brought about by the consciousness of the unity of interest of all the peoples of the Caucasus. Khan Khoiski pointed out that the Aderbeijan Government had always stood for unison among the Caucasian peoples, and expressed the confidence that the Conference would afford an opportunity to cut loose from narrow and selfish viewpoints, and to ride to a true comprehension of common problems.

After mutual greetings, a program of the aims of the Conference was read over and adopted. A member of each delegation will preside in turn: Gegechkori, Tigranian and Khan-Khoiski. The chairmen are considering a plan of the labors of the Conference, which will be submitted at the next session.