Anna Demchenko exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The Russian general of Lithuanian-Tatar origin, Matvei Sulkevich, is well-known in Crimea and Azerbaijan.
Masei Alexandrovich (Muhammed bek) Culkevich was born on July 20, 1865, in a noble family of Polish-Lithuanian Tatars. His life was determined since his birth – he was destined to be in the military, as his father was, Colonel Alexander Sulkevich. He studied in Voronezh Cadet School and the Mikhail Artillery School at first. Sulkevich graduated from the General Staff Academy of the Russian Empire in 1894. He took part in the Russian-Chinese war (1900-1901) and the Russian-Japanese war (1904-1905). During the Russian-Japanese war he met Samed-bek Mekhmandatov and Ali-Aga Shekhlinsky. In 1910 Sulkevich was awarded with Major General grade, in 1915 – Lieutenant General.
He participated in the First World War. At first Sulkevich was the head of a staff of a corps, but later he became the commander of the third infantry division and the 37th infantry corps in the North Front. Sulkevich was also a successful military theoretician – his articles on military arts were published in a two-volume book which was well-known among officers in the Russian Empire and in Europe.
In 1917 chaos began in the country. Skills and devotedness of top officers who served to the former authorities appeared to be useless to the new government. These people faced a difficult choice – to leave the country which they defended or to try to apply their skills in the changed situation. Sulkevich preferred the last. He managed to find places where he could be helpful, trying to improve peaceful life of citizens inside of the civil war, terror, looting, and hunger.
In October 1917 Sulkevich was suggested as the commander of the 1st Muslim Corps which was planned to be formed by the interim government. When he was appointed, Lieutenant General began to form the corps which had to include three divisions. Soon the corps was sent to help the Crimean Tatars who fought against Bolsheviks in the Crimea. However, the Crimea was under control of the German army at the moment – the corps was disarmed in spring 1918 by General Kosch’s division. Sulkevich arrived to the Crimea for military negotiations. He was accompanied by a group of officers of Polish-Lithuanian origin. Sulkevich managed to agree with the German command to establish an independent Crimean government in which he was the prime minister, fulfilling functions of the defense minister and the minister for internal affairs.
While chaos was all over the country, Sulkevich did his best to prevent it in places where he had power. He began establishing of peaceful life in the Crimea, as much as it was possible. He initiated many laws. He adopted the act on Crimean citizenship; laws on prohibition of selling land belonged to citizens of the Crimea to foreigners and on remigration. The last law required that any person who was born in the Crimea and any Muslim whose ancestors used to live on the peninsula, but were deported to Turkey or Russia could return to the historic motherland and become a Crimean citizen. Moreover, a person of any religion and citizenship could become a citizen of the Crimea, if he managed to keep family and pay, was decent, had a job in a state or social structure and lived in the Crimea for three years.
In July Sulkevich sent a delegation to Germany, trying to gain a support of establishing the new state and its recognition; however, the plan failed. The government of Sulkevich hadn’t existed for a long time – when in autumn 1918 the Germans left the Crimea, the British-French army occupied it. On November 15th, 1918, Sulkevich had to hand over power to the government of Solomon Krym and leave the peninsula.
According to the commander of the Volunteer Army, Anton Denikin, on November 4th Mamed bek Sulkevich messaged to him on necessity to launch troops to the Crimea. Denikin couldn’t help Sulkevich immediately, and Sulkevich handed over power. For sake of the Crimean residents he rejected power and the position of Premier and gave it to those who could provide security of the population better than his own government.
In spring 1919 Sulkevich came to Baku, being invited by his military friends – the military minister of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic Samed-bek Mahmandarov and Ali-Aga Sheklinsky. Soon he was appointed the commander of the First Muslim Infantry Division, and later the head of the Staff General of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Sulkevich played an important role in signing of the defensive military union between Georgia and the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic on June 16th, 1919.
Sulkevich’s wife Maryam took an active part in the social life – she worked in a school for girls and was a member of the Charity Organization of Baku Muslim Women.
On April 27-28, 1920, the Azerbaijani government was overthrown by the Red Army. The former head of the common affairs office of the diplomatic department of the Foreign Ministry of the ADR, Mechislav Rudzinsky, remembered: “On April 28th, 1920, Bolsheviks took power in Azerbaijan. I was arrested together with member of the Polish delegation. In a few days we all were taken to the Baku extraordinary commission. Some time later General Mamed bek Sulkevich was brought here. He was in a very bad mood. He thought he would be shot dead. But he waited for a sentence calmly. We were in one ward and permanently shared with our thoughts. In several days after the overthrow, early in the morning chekists came in and woke up some people and made them pack their stuff. In a few days we read in newspapers about shooting dead people accused of “counter-revolutionary activity,” The name of Lieutenant General Mamed bek Sulkevich was in the list.”
Sulkevich was shot dead in a jail yard on July 15th. He was a real warrior who had always strived for fighting on the frontline, even after gaining high titles; a man of big heart, nobility, and generosity.
