Treaty of Kars

The Soviet-Turkish frontier established in the Treaty of Kars as presented in a map by The Geographical Journal, Vol. 61, No. 6 from June 1923.

The Treaty of Kars (Turkish: Kars Antlaşması, Russian: Карсский договор) was a friendship treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (which was declared Turkey in 1923) and Bolshevist Russia. It was a successor treaty to the earlier Treaty of Moscow of March 1921. It was signed in Kars on October 23, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11, 1922.

Most of the territories ceded to Turkey in the treaty were acquired by Imperial Russia from the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The only exception was the Surmalu region which was annexed by Russia in the Treaty of Turkmanchai after the last Russo-Persian War with Iran.

Signatories

The treaty was signed by Turkish Nationalist Representative General Kazım Karabekir, MP and Commander of Eastern Front Veli Bey, MP Mouhtar Bey, and Ambassador Memdouh Shevket Bey, Russian Ambassador Yakov Ganetsky, Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Askanaz Mravian and Minister of Interior Poghos Makintsian, Azerbaijani Minister of State Control Behboud Shahtahtinsky, and Georgian Minister of Military and Naval Affairs Shalva Eliava and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Financial Affairs Alexander Svanidze.

The agreement

The treaty provided for the territory of the former Russian Batum guberniya to be divided. The northern half with the port city of Batumi itself was ceded by Turkey to the Soviet Union and the Transcaucasian SFSR. The southern half with the cities of Artvin and Shavsheti (Şavşat) would be annexed by Turkey. It was agreed that the northern half would be granted autonomy within Soviet Georgia, eventually evolving into the Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (today Adjara). Additionally, Turkey was also guranteed a "free transit through the port of Batum for commodities and all materials destined for, or originating in, Turkey, without customs duties and charges, and with the right for Turkey to utilize the port of Batum without special charges."

The agreement also created a new boundary between Turkey and Soviet Armenia, defined by the Akhurian and Aras Rivers. The Soviets agreed to cede most of the former Kars guberniya to Turkey (including the cities of Kars, Ardahan, and Oltu, the ruins of Ani, and Lake Çıldır) but retained the area's northeastern half (including Amasia and present-day Lake Arpa). Turkey also agreed to pull its forces out of Alexandropol (Gyumri), Artik, and Maralik. The former Surmalu uyezd (with Mount Ararat and the cities of Iğdır and Koghb (Tuzluca) was also ceded to Turkey. Surmalu formed a constituent part of the the Armenian oblast and later the Erivan guberniya under Russian Imperial rule.

The treaty also allowed for the creation of Nakhichevan, a territory comprised of the Nakhichevan and Sharur-Daralagez uyezds that were also part of the Armenian oblast and the Erivan guberniya. It was agreed that the territory be awarded to Soviet Azerbaijan, despite the fact that it was not largely contiguous with the rest of the republic. Because of this unique geographic feature, the newly-created Nakhichevan republic was became "an autonomous territory under the protection of Azerbaijan." Stragetically, the new republic also shared a small but significant boundary with Turkish Surmalu. It was also agreed that both Turkey and Russia would become guarantors of Nakhichevan's status.

Attempted annulment

After World War II, the Soviet Union attempted to annul the Kars treaty and regain its lost territory. On June 7, 1945, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov told the Turkish ambassador in Moscow that the regions should be returned to the USSR, in the name of both the Georgian and Armenian republics. Turkey found itself in a difficult position: it wanted good relations with the Soviet Union but at the same time they refused to give up the territories. Some British diplomats noted that as early as 1939, Soviet politicians might reopen the question. Turkey itself was in no condition to fight a war with the Soviet Union, which had emerged as a superpower after the second world war. By the autumn of 1945, Soviet troops in the Caucasus were already assembling for a possible invasion of Turkey.

Soviet claims were put forth by the Armenians to the leaders of the Allies of World War II; however, opposition stemmed from British leader Winston Churchill who objected to these territorial claims as additional areas of where the Soviet government could exert its influence while President of the United States Harry S. Truman, felt that the matter should not concern other parties.

Post-Soviet history

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the governments of Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan have all accepted the Kars treaty. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian reaffirmed Armenia's recognition of the treaty on December 13, 2006. "Armenia has never made a problem of validity of the Treaty of Kars, as Armenia remains loyal to all agreements inherited from the Soviet Union," he said. Additionally, Oskanian noted that Turkey itself does not put a number of articles of the treaty into practice. For instance, the treaty called for Turkey to open a consulate in each of the three Transcaucasian republics. Due to tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey has blockaded Armenia and severed diplomatic ties with it, thus violating this article. Oskanian states that by this action, Turkey is putting the validity of the treaty into doubt.

See also

• Aftermath of World War I
• Treaty of Sèvres
• Treaty of Alexandropol
• Treaty of Moscow (1921)
• Treaty of Lausanne
• History of Adjara