Georgia

The anti-German riots quickly turned into an opportunity for the famously nationalistic NDP (National Democratic Party). A vote of no confidence was held and passed against the SDP government, as anti-German sentiment rose around the country. The election would be held in November, as the Mensheviks promised further social programs in order to relieve Black Monday, though on the German Question and especially the long despised Treaty of Poti, the SDP remains ambiguous, which has proved to be disastrous.

The National Democratic Party for the first time managed to equalize their footings with the SDP, winning 53 seats in the Constituent Assembly compared to the Mensheviks 48 seats. Thus, the NDP was given the mandate to form a government, coalitioning with the National Landowners Party to get a majority government, though by 6 seats.

Elected on an Anti-German, nationalistic and anti-Socialist mandate, the new NDP government vows to review the Treaty of Poti, seek closer ties with new partners, and to uphold traditional Georgian values. The new government receives the main backing of the intelligentsia and industry magnates, though right off the bat seeks to nationalizes German companies in crucial sectors like mining and utilities. Ah yes politics, ever so hypocritical.

At the top of the NDP’s mandate however, is a referendum for the implementation of a monarchy. The very first action upon taking power, the NDP/NLP coalition seeks to hold a referendum in June 1937 for the continued existence of the Republican model, or a constitutional monarchy under a Georgian monarch, the candidate at this point is unknown, though likely to be George Bagration.

The Treaty of Poti is likely to be demanded to be revised. While the NDP seeks to maintain the defensive alliance with Germany, it also hopes to keep the treaty as a purely defensive military alliance, as German involvement in Georgia becomes increasingly unpopular, and German business interests become the antithesis towards the common Georgian small businesses.

The NDP government also seeks to undertake a heavy rearmament program, decrying the “Turkish Axis’s” rule over ethnic Georgian territory. In this Georgia is looking towards partners for rearmament, and the natural ally for them would indeed be Russia. Despite this however, domestic mistrust of Russians are still very prevalent, and the Georgian government would only ever consider Russia as an option should they recognize the current status quo relations between Georgia and Russia.

Azerbaijan

Ethnic tension between the native Azeri and the Armenians reached a boiling point as the Azerbaijan government launched a full scale military campaign to retake the disputed Karabakh region, succeeding in taking over most of Karabakh bar Shusha itself, essentially destroying the Karabakh Council and displacing thousands of Armenians in doing so. This however, became a much needed boost towards the Musavat Party as they rally the nationalist cry, with the Armenians as the scapegoat for Black Monday as well as a convenient political distractions from the ever increasingly popular Himmat Party.

In the snap election in September, it was the ruling Musavat Party that unexpectedly won a complete majority, though tenuous as it may be, as they gained 55 seats in the Assembly, with a majority of just 1 vote. Regardless however, the victory of Musavat didn’t stop the violence against Armenians, as more and more are pushed into the mountains of Azerbaijan, as the Dashnaks gather and grow their strengths day by day.

In October, the Dashnaks launched a surprise assault against Azeri positions in the recently conquered Karabakh region, seizing back their control over the region effectively as the government in Baku for the most part didn’t respond. The land that they took over had been severely depopulated, as the Armenians now seek to recover. With the Karabakh Council now destroyed, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia and Karabakh essentially merged together, as the ARF in Goris declared the new Republic of Armenia, controlling Zangezur and Karabakh, though claiming all of the land that the former Republic of Armenia did. This is nothing more than just a symbolic gesture, as the status quo of Armenian control in the region still remain the same. Increasing waves of Armenian refugees have been swelling the ARF ranks, which alongside Russian and French arms have slowly turned the ARF into an effective fighting force. However the fact that they are woefully unprepared for a massive refugee crisis means that there are currently huge issues with just simply getting housing and clean water for everyone in the region.

In November, the German Kaukasus Oil Company offered to sell its stake in Baku’s oil fields, which was quickly taken up by an international tender. A relatively unknown player, based in Geneva called Prosperity Oil Company won the bid, out bidding its next competitor, British Petroleum by 50%. This came into huge scrutiny in the Azerbaijan National Assembly, as Prosperity does not have any track records, do not have any oil engineers, and yet somehow won the bid over companies that could’ve expanded the prospecting and exploitation of Baku oil. This culminated in the Prosperity Scandal, where 12 Musavat politicians including most of Cabinet received bribes from Prosperity shareholders and businessmen, most of whom maintain ties with the Russian government. A wave of protests and a letter of resignation later, we have a new snap election in February.

This time however, there were to be no debates, as the Himmat Party absolutely crushed the field and destroyed Musavat dominance over Azerbaijan politics, gaining 72 seats out of 109 in the Assembly, and essentially free reign over the country riding off a wave of massive increasing support. Himmat’s agenda includes the nationalization of most foreign enterprises, especially with regards to oil, great land reform programs and a social welfare net and public works program to pull Azerbaijan out of Black Monday. Himmat also plans for a massive military build up, presumably to crush the rebellious Armenian state once and for all.

In general, public opinion have so thoroughly turned against the Armenians that the general consensus amongst both sides of the spectrum in Baku politics supporting the compete expulsion of Armenians from Azeri territory. The ARF in response has encouraged Armenians in Azerbaijan to once again reform the Fedayeen system, as roaming squads of armed Armenian irregulars attempt to form ad hoc defense forces for Armenian communities against mob violence against them.