Treaty of Kars
Kars, Turkey
What happened
Turkey's Grand National Assembly and the Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, with Soviet Russia taking part. After years of war in the Caucasus, the new Turkish government and the Soviet republics agreed on their borders at Kars. Turkey received Kars and Ardahan, and the port region of Adjara went to Soviet Georgia with self-government. Nakhchivan was made an autonomous region under Azerbaijan.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It fixed the borders between Turkey and Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and those borders still stand today.
What came next
In 1945 the Soviet Union demanded Kars and Ardahan back, but it dropped the claim in 1953. After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the three republics became independent with the same borders.
Did you know?
The treaty protected Adjara's self-government inside Georgia, a rare case of one country's internal arrangements being guaranteed by a treaty with another.
Timeline
- 17-18 November 1877Russia captures Kars.
- 3 March 1918Russia gives up Kars under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
- 13 October 1921The Treaty of Kars is signed.
- 1953The Soviet Union drops its claim to Kars.
- 1991The Soviet Union dissolves.