Treaty of Moscow (1921)
1921 treaty between Soviet Russia and Turkey
The Treaty of Moscow, or Treaty of Brotherhood (Turkish: Moskova Antlaşması, Russian: Московский договор) was an agreement between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, and Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, signed on 16 March 1921. Neither the Republic of Turkey nor the Soviet Union had then been established. The internationally recognised Turkish government at the time was that of Sultan Mehmed VI, but it was not party to the Treaty of Moscow. The Sultan's government had signed the Treaty of Sèvres, which had been repudiated by the Turkish National Movement.
Key points
Under the Treaty of Moscow, both governments undertook to establish friendly relations between the countries. The treaty stipulated that the term "Turkey" in it meant the territories included in the National Oath, which had been adopted by the Ottoman Parliament on 28 January 1920. Article VI declared all treaties that had been concluded between Russia and Turkey to be null and void. Under Article II, Turkey ceded Batum and the adjacent area north of the village of Sarp to Soviet Georgia (the Kars Oblast went to Turkey).
Article III instituted an autonomous Nakhichevan district under Soviet Azerbaijan's protectorate. Under Article V, the parties agreed to delegate the final elaboration of the status of the Black Sea and the Turkish Straits to a future conference of delegates of the littoral states if the "full sovereignty" and security of Turkey and "her capital city of Constantinople" were not injured.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Treaty of Moscow (1921)” is 1921 treaty between Soviet Russia and Turkey. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Treaty, Moscow and treaty, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1921 treaty between Soviet Russia and Turkey” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2607023. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1921 and 1920.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Treaty of Moscow (1921)”, its source revision and the description used here.
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Treaty of Moscow (1921)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.