Kars §

Border fortress and treaty name

Kars was a frontier city contested by the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the First Republic of Armenia and Turkish nationalists. It was part of Russian imperial rule after the nineteenth-century wars, became part of the First Republic's territorial claims, and was lost to Turkish nationalist forces in 1920. The Treaty of Kars in 1921 fixed the border settlement among Turkey and the Soviet republics.

For Armenians, Kars is one of the most painful lost cities because it belonged to the brief sphere of the First Republic and then vanished from Armenian sovereignty. For Turkey, Kars is a settled border city whose status was confirmed by treaty. For Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan, the treaty is also foundational because it fixed Nakhichevan under Azerbaijani protection. contested

Kars is therefore a place where the Turkish-Armenian border, Soviet diplomacy and the Nakhichevan question meet. It is not only a city. It is a treaty geography. editorial