Between 1918 and 1920, under the conditions of the new world order emerging after World War I, Georgians and Caucasian Tatars found themselves engaged in mutual territorial disputes. The border tensions between Georgia and the “Azerbaijan” formation that had emerged in Transcaucasia became frequent, long-lasting, and at times escalated into open military confrontations – particularly over the ownership of the Zakatala district. Taking advantage of the presence of the Ottoman Empire’s army in the region and without waiting for the final settlement of border disputes, the conspiratorial steps were taken by Musavat government to incorporate the Zakatala district into the newly formed “Azerbaijan” entity. Azerbaijan’s claims to this territory were closely tied to the broader ideological and political framework of the “Great Azerbaijan” program.
After the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan on April 28, 1920, the leadership of the Azerbaijan SSR still adhered to the strategic line of expansionism of the Musavatists and continued to take systematic steps to implement the “Great Azerbaijan” program. North Caucasian Bureau of Communist Party acting on the principles of “socialist internationalism”, in the person of its chairman S. Ordzhonikidze supported this expansionist policy, and the Zakatala District was annexed to the Azerbaijan SSR. Thus, if the Young Turks and Musavatists created an artificial entity “Azerbaijan” within the framework of the concept of the general Turkic state, then the top leadership of the RSFSR, based on the idea of a world socialist revolution by strengthening the Turkic factor in the region, essentially contributed to the implementation of the common Turkic program of “Great Azerbaijan”.
