On April 5, the head of the Transcaucasian delegation Akaki Chkhenkeli accepted the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as a basis for further negotiations and wired the governing bodies urging them to accept this position. The mood prevailing in Tiflis was very different. The Armenians pressured the Republic to refuse. They acknowledged the existence of a state of war between themselves and the Ottoman Empire. Hostilities resumed and Ottoman troops under Vehip Pasha overran new lands to the east, reaching pre-war the frontiers.