It does appear to be inside Romulan territory by TNG. So it was either captured or later negotiated away. http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/_...ages/e/e6/Neutral_Zone_map,_Birthright_II.jpg
Well, what do you know? The Federation considers Khitomer to be within the Romulan sphere of influence, if not Romulan territory outright. Maybe the Klingons were the aggressors prior to the 2340s, and managed to take and hold it long enough to settle a colony...and then the Romulans managed to drive the Klingons off Khitomer. I wonder if Narendra III is Klingon or Romulan territory.
I have to wonder if the "conflict" was not more an unofficial conflict in which a splinter faction in the Romulan Empire struck at the Klingons, perhaps even a specific family(s) within the Klingon Empire. Like a vindenta, I mean there were still Klingons working with the Romulans during the time of the Klingon Civil war so as much as they hate each other, that is not the view held by all. That would also explain why all out war was never achieved during that time, because there were Klingons keeping peace. This is not the case with the Federation other than perhaps Dax.
Good catch there with "Birthright"! They'd have to be. In the 2290s, the place was still "neutral" in terms of Klingon or Federation presence. It might have been under Romulan control back then already. Klingons apparently didn't know that Romulans were in cahoots with the Feds and taking part in their secret presidential briefings and whatnot, so they'd probably agree to having Romulans mediate. (I wonder if even Chang knew?) But it could have been under fourth party control as well, given the four prominent colors of sashes and flags there. Indeed, the Klingons themselves probably do something like that often enough, to their own. Timo Saloniemi
Another possibility is that Khitomer and Narendra III may have been colonized during the time the Klingons and the Romulans were allies. When the alliance ended, the Klingon colonies there were made immediate trespassers in Romulan territory and were removed by force. A similar situation almost happened between the Federation and the Sheliak over Tau Cygna V.
That is very likely but the murder of those people justified or not would still likely prompt a significant response unless they had settled there without permission or against the advice of the Empire. That is an aspect to consider though. Was the attacks against the Klingon colonies random acts of cruelty by the Romulans or in response to unchecked Klingon expansion. There did seem to be a period of rapid Klingon expansion in the 23rd century, not all of which was military in nature. I think of the race by the Federation to claim Sherman's planet before the Klingons did. The Romulan response may have been very different. But even that who was going out to colonize these new worlds? Perhaps fundamentalist or the extreme poor? There was clear examples of classiest views even in the 24th century so the Empire might have seen the massacre as bad but just a bunch of undesirables not worthy of a actual full scale war.
Could Khitomer have been the Australia of the Klingon Empire, then? But what of the honorable and well-liked Mogh, son of Worf? Surely he wasn't one of the dregs of society, was he?
Might have been something much more specific. Perhaps Khitomer a) was a sore point for a certain Romulan family that had invested a lot in the local agriculture once b) featured a rare, rich deposit of tri-mysterium c) was suspected of being center of bioweapon development d) was home to a Klingon individual who stood in the way of closer Klingon/Romulan cooperation e) harbored a Romulan defector ? Timo Saloniemi
That is an interesting point. D) home to a specific Klingon that stood in the way of Romulan-Klingon relations. Wolfs father had been a major player in the peace with the Federation. It would be in the Romulans best interest to see the two powers at each others throats. The irony was that they did not count on the Enterprise C's response which paradoxically strengthened relations. I mean consider in the parallel universe without the interaction the Federation and Klingons eventually went to war so Khitomer peace accords, without the Enterprise C's actions, fail to secure a lasting peace. I would suspect it was Romulan actions that help spur on that war, it might even explain that the Federation was losing.
Enterprise intervened at Narandra, not Khitomer. Throught the series, you get impression that Romulans just attacked them in a surprise evil act, like there was no objectives and no war. I'm stil of the opinion that there was a low level war, but it is possible when you think about the rest of trek, that there wasn't. I mean, is Federation going to go to war over the Romulan attack on Omargosa observatory from Generations? What about Romulans attack in Balance of Terror? We see in Trek time and time again that raids don't warrant going to full scale war, probably because of potency of weapons involved.
Eh? Do we know Mogh was a pro-UFP Klingon? And the E-C intervened at Narendra III in 2344. The Intrepid rescued Khitomer survivors in 2346.