The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR;[a] 22 April – 28 May 1918)[b] was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as parts of Russia and Turkey.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russia's involvement in the war, conceded parts of the Transcaucasus to the Ottoman Empire, which pursued its invasion to take control of the territory.

Peace talks again broke down and, facing a renewed Ottoman offensive in May 1918, Georgian delegates in the Seim announced that the TDFR was unable to continue, and declared the Democratic Republic of Georgia independent on 26 May.

[10] The South Caucasus was overwhelmingly rural: aside from Tiflis the only other city of significance was Baku,[d][11] which grew in the late nineteenth century as the region began exporting oil and became a major economic hub.

However, they were concerned that the local population, who were mostly Muslims, would continue to follow the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V and disrupt the Russian forces, as he was also the caliph, the spiritual leader of Islam.

The Viceroy of the Caucasus, Grand Duke Nicholas, initially expressed his support for the new government, yet he was forced to resign his post as imperial power eroded.

Three days later the idea of an autonomous local government was first expressed by Noe Jordania, a Georgian Menshevik, who argued that the Bolshevik seizure of power was illegal and that the Caucasus should not follow their directives, and wait until order was restored.

3 January], Ottoman diplomats invited the Commissariat to join the peace talks in Brest-Litovsk, where the Bolsheviks were negotiating an end to the war with the Central Powers.

With no desire to follow the lead of the Bolsheviks, the Commissariat agreed to establish their own legislative body so that the Transcaucasus could have a legitimate government and negotiate with the Ottoman Empire more properly.

[37] The Bolsheviks boycotted the Seim, asserting that the only legitimate government for Russia (including Transcaucasia) was the Bolshevik-controlled Council of People's Commissars (known by its Russian acronym, Sovnarkom).

[43] As the Transcaucasus had not been part of the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, they sent messages to several governments around the world, stating as they were not a party in the peace talks they would not honor the treaty and would not evacuate the territories.

"[44] While the delegates waited for the conference in Trabzon to begin, the head of the Ottoman Third Army, Vehib Pasha, sent a request on 10 March to Evgeny Lebedinskii [ru], a former Russian general who had begun to follow orders from the Commissariat, to evacuate the Ardahan, Batum, and Kars areas, as stipulated by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

[50] Rauf refuted the argument, asserting that the Sovnarkom had authority over all of Russia and even though Ottoman representatives had sent messages to the Commissariat to join the talks at Brest-Litovsk, that did not confer recognition.

On 20 March the Ottoman delegates offered that the Seim could only return to negotiations if they declared independence, thereby confirming that Transcaucasus was no longer part of Russia.

[56] Acting on his own accord, on 9 April Chkhenkeli agreed to negotiate further based on the terms set out, though requested that representatives from the other Central Powers participate in the talks.

[57] Tired of fruitless negotiations and realizing that the contested territories could be occupied by force, Ottoman officials issued an ultimatum to the defenders in Batum, ordering it evacuated by 13 April.

[58] While Chkhenkeli was receptive to the loss of Batum, recognizing its importance but accepting that it was part of the terms at Brest-Litovsk, the Georgian members of the Seim were adamant about keeping the city, Gegechkori noting that it could be defended quite easily.

[57][59] Irakli Tsereteli, a Georgian Menshevik, gave an impassioned speech calling for the defense of the city and asked the Seim to denounce the Brest-Litovsk treaty altogether.

[66] Having captured most of their claimed territory and unwilling to lose more soldiers, the Ottoman delegates offered another truce on 22 April and waited for the Transcaucasians to reply.

[69] The choice to move forward was not unanimous initially: the mostly Armenian Dashnaks felt that the best option at the time was to stop the Ottoman military's advance, though they were reluctant to give up so much territory, while the Musavats, who represented Azerbaijani interests, were still hesitant to fight fellow Muslims, but conceded that independence was the only way to ensure the region would not be divided by foreign states.

[70] When the debate finished, Davit Oniashvili, an ethnic Georgian Menshevik, proposed the motion for the Seim "to proclaim Transcaucasia an independent democratic federative republic".

He ordered the Armenian forces to cease fighting and also requested Vehib to meet him for peace negotiations in Batum, the location deliberately chosen so that he could travel to Tiflis if necessary, something that was not possible from Trabzon.

The Mensheviks knew that electing Kajaznuni would give the perception that the TDFR intended to keep fighting to defend Armenian territory, and it was feared that this would see the Azerbaijanis leave the federation and make it easier for Ottoman forces to threaten the rest of Armenia, a proposition the Dashnaks were not eager to endorse.

[74] In his inaugural address to the Seim, Chkhenkeli announced that he would work to ensure all citizens had equality and to establish borders for the TDFR that were based on agreement with their neighbors.

[80] He further laid out a platform with five main points: write a constitution; delineate borders; end the war; combat counter-revolution and anarchy; and land reform.

[82] Both sides invited observers: the TDFR brought a small German contingent, led by General Otto von Lossow, while the Ottoman delegates had representatives from the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, an unrecognized state they were backing.

Halil Bey argued that as the two states were in conflict, the Ottoman would no longer recognize Brest-Litovsk and instead presented Chkhenkeli with a duly prepared draft treaty.

[83] The treaty contained twelve articles which called for the Ottoman Empire to be ceded not only the oblasts of Kars and Batum, but also the uezds of Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe, Surmalu, and large parts of the Alexandropol, Erivan, and Etchmiadzin, mainly along the course of the Kars–Julfa railway.

[90] The Germans also had their own strategic interests in the Caucasus: they wanted both a potential path to attack British India and access to raw materials in the region, both of which could be blocked by the Ottomans.

In the first, he explained that the TDFR was unable to continue as there was a lack of unity among the people and that ethnic strife led to a division of action in regards to the Ottoman invasion.