Akaki Chkhenkeli ( ka, აკაკი ჩხენკელი) (1874 – 5 January 1959) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

politician and publicist who acted as one of the leaders of the

Menshevik The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions eme ...

movement in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and Georgia. In 1918 he served as the prime minister and foreign minister of the

Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR; (), (). 22 April – 28 May 1918) 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 pa ...

, and then became foreign minister of the

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to ...

. In 1921 he was appointed the Georgian Minister to France, though was unable to serve as the Red Army invaded Georgia. His younger brother was the linguist Kita Tschenkéli.

Life

He was born in the town of Okumi, Georgia, then part of

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

, to a noble family. A graduate of universities in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, he was a lawyer and a literature expert. He joined the

movement in 1898 and sided with the Menshevik faction in 1903. He was involved in the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

and was briefly arrested in its aftermath. He was elected to the Fourth

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

where he advocated

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

for the peoples of Russia. After the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

of 1917, he worked for the

Special Transcaucasian Committee The Special Transcaucasian Committee (Russian: Особый Закавказский Комитет ''Osobyi Zakavkazskii Komitet'' (OZaKom, Ozakom or OZAKOM)) was established on March 9, 1917, with Member of the State Duma V. A. Kharlamov as Ch ...

as a Commissar for Internal Affairs and was elected, in June 1917, a member of All-Russian Central Executive Committee. He was instrumental in convincing the Soviets to reverse the 1904 cession of Gagra and areas west of the

Bzyb River The Bzyb or Bzipi ( or ; ka, ბზიფი, Bzipi; ab, Бзыҧ, Bzyṗ; russian: Бзыбь, Bzybj) is one of the two largest rivers of Abkhazia, along with the Kodori, and the twelfth longest river in Georgia. The river valley has rich bio ...

to Russia. In March 1918 he led a delegation to

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...

to negotiate with the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

over territory that had been ceded in the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace, separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russian SFSR, Russia and the Central Powers (German Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of ...

, namely

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

; as Georgia had not been consulted, they were not willing to give up land. However the Ottoman delegation refused to listen as the Georgians were not party to the treaty, nor even a recognized state. By 10 April Chkhenkeli agreed to use the Treaty as a basis for negotiations, though this was largely a formality, as the Ottoman forces had occupied most of the territory they were promised.

Government positions

Chkhenkeli served as prime minister and as foreign minister of the

, which united

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, and Georgia; his cabinet reflected the diversity of the republic, with Armenians holding four positions, Azerbaijanis five, and Georgians four. Chkhenkeli stated five main goals for the newly formed state: drafting a constitution; finalizing its borders; ending the war; suppressing anarchy within the state; and land reform. With continued pressure from Ottoman forces, Chkhenkeli urged other Georgian leaders that independence for Georgia was the best course of action, which they consented to, forming the

on 26 May 1918, with Chkhenkeli remaining as foreign minister. In this capacity he signed a treaty with the German forces in the Caucasus for protection, and travelled to Berlin for further negotiations. With the conclusion of the war and defeat of Germany, Chkhenkeli, who was pro-German, was replaced as foreign minister by

Evgeni Gegechkori , birth_date = , birth_place = Martvili, Kutais Governorate, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = Paris, France , nationality = Georgian , occupation = Politician , known_for ...

, who was more pro-French. He did lead the Georgian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, but achieved nothing for Georgia there. He was elected to the

Constituent Assembly of Georgia The Constituent Assembly of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს დამფუძნებელი კრება, ''sak’art’velos damp’udznebeli kreba'') was a national legislature of the Democratic Republic of Georgia which ...

in 1919. On 26 January 1921 the Georgian government appointed him Minister to France; however the day he presented his credentials to the French President, 26 February, was the same day the Red Army occupied Tbilisi, effectively ending the Democratic Republic of Georgia. He remained in exile in Paris, and opposed the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

until his death in 1959.

Notes

Bibliography

Чхенкели, Акакий Иванович
* * *

External links

(French) Akaki Tchenkéli
.
(French) Ière République de Géorgie
.
(French) Ière République de Géorgie en exil
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chkhenkeli, Akaki 1874 births 1959 deaths People from Tkvarcheli District People from Sukhum Okrug Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Mensheviks Members of the 4th State Duma of the Russian Empire Russian Constituent Assembly members Social Democratic Party of Georgia politicians Foreign Ministers of Georgia Government ministers of Georgia (country) Democratic Republic of Georgia Diplomats of Georgia (country) Revolutionaries from Georgia (country) Journalists from Georgia (country) Jurists from Georgia (country) Members of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples Georgian independence activists Georgian exiles Georgian emigrants to France Burials at Leuville cemetery