Kars (province)

Kars
Province number:	36
Counties
Basic data
Coordinates:	40 ° 27 ' N , 43 ° 4' E Coordinates: 40 ° 27 ' N , 43 ° 4' E
Provincial capital:	Kars
Region:	Eastern Anatolia
Surface:	10,193 km²
Population:	288,878 (2018)
Population density:	28 inhabitants / km²
Political
Governor:	Turk Öksüz
Seats in Parliament:	3
Structural
Telephone code:	0424
Features :	36
Website
	www.kars.gov.tr (Turkish)

Kars ( Kurdish Qers ) is a Turkish province in the northeast of the country on the border with Armenia and thus a border region between Eastern Anatolia and Transcaucasia . Their capital is the Kars of the same name . The neighboring provinces are Ardahan in the north, Erzurum in the west, Ağrı and Iğdır in the south. In the east, the district borders on Armenia.

geography

The province has several mountains over 3000 m high. Extensive plateaus (51%) and mountains (38%) take up most of the area. Only 11% are flat. The most important rivers are Aras , Kars Çayı and the border river Achurjan . Important lakes are Çıldır Gölü and Aygır Gölü . Almost a third of the population lives in the provincial capital, which is also the largest city.

The climate is continental with strong seasonal temperature fluctuations. In winter, -40 ° C and in summer +35 ° C are possible. The annual rainfall is about 500 mm. The natural vegetation in Kars is steppe.

Administrative division

The following eight districts ( İlçe ) belong to the province of Kars :

Kars (Kurdish Qers)
Akyaka (Kurdish Şûrêgel)
Arpaçay (Kurdish Zarûşad)
Digor (Kurdish Dîxor or Têkor)
Kağızman (Kurdish Qaq izman)
Sarıkamış (Kurdish Sarîqamîş, Qamuşan)
Selim (Kurdish Selîm)
Susuz (Kurdish Cilawûz)

district	Area ¹ (km²)	Population (2018) ²		Number of Units			Density (Ew / km²)	urban share (in%)	Sex ratio ³	Founding date ⁴⁵
district	Area ¹ (km²)	District ( İlçe )	Administrative headquarters (Merkez)	Municipalities (Belediye)	City quarter (Mahalle)	Villages (Köy)	Density (Ew / km²)	urban share (in%)	Sex ratio ³	Founding date ⁴⁵
Akyaka	417	10,985	2,026	1	3	27	26.3	18.44	844	1987
Arpaçay	1,165	17,373	2,858	1	4th	48	14.9	16.45	925
Digor	1,092	22,282	2,583	2	2	37	20.4	27.19	914	1953
Kağızman	1,871	45,936	18,572	1	9	62	24.6	40.43	960
Merkez	2,048	115.891	86,349	1	23	72	56.6	74.51	959
Sarıkamış	2,038	42,683	16.601	1	9	55	20.9	38.89	859
Selim	982	23,231	5,347	1	3	53	23.7	23.02	944	1957
Susuz	578	10,497	2,393	1	4th	27	18.2	22.80	953	1959
PROVINCE of Kars	10.193	288,878		9	57	381	28.3	48.53	932

¹ Area 2014

² Population update as of December 31, 2018

³ Gender ratio : number of women per 1000 men (calculated)

^4th Ministry of Interior PDF

⁵Counties that were not formed until after Turkey was founded (1923).

economy

Most of the population works in agriculture and forestry. The once flourishing trade with the USSR collapsed with the Cold War at the latest .

population

The majority of the population consists of Turks , Azerbaijanis or Karapapaks / Terekeme and Kurds . Kars is a linguistically and ethnically diverse province. Many Armenians and Georgians used to live in Kars . With them all Christian denominations were represented.

Results of the population extrapolation

The following table shows the annual population development at the end of the year after updating by the addressable population register (ADNKS) introduced in 2007. In addition, the population growth rate and the sex ratio (ie number of women per 1000 men) are listed. The 2011 census determined 306,238 inhabitants, which is almost 20,000 more than in the 2000 census.

year	Population at the end of the year			Population growth rate (in%)	Gender ratio (women per 1000 men)	Rank (among 81 provinces)
year	total	male	Female	Population growth rate (in%)	Gender ratio (women per 1000 men)	Rank (among 81 provinces)
2018	288,878	149,510	139,368	0.43	932	61
2017	287,654	149,481	138.173	−0.74	924	61
2016	289,786	150,515	139.271	−0.98	925	61
2015	292,660	152.040	140,620	−1.28	925	59
2014	296,466	153,676	142,790	−1.47	929	59
2013	300,874	155,625	145.249	−1.29	933	59
2012	304,821	158.403	146.418	−0.31	924	59
2011	305,755	159.179	146,576	1.32	921	59
2010	301,766	154,817	146.949	−1.56	949	58
2009	306,536	159,411	147.125	−1.79	923	58
2008	312.128	163,678	148,450	−0.02	907	58
2007	312.205	161,787	150.418	-	930	58
2000	325.016	169.027	155.989		923	57

Census results

The following tables show the population of the province of Edirne documented in the 14 censuses .
The values in the table on the left are taken from e-books (from the original documents), the values in the table on the right come from the data query of the Turkish statistical institute TÜIK - available on this website:

year	population		rank
year	province	Turkey	rank
1927	204,846	13,648,270	28
1935	305,536	16.158.018	20th
1940	356,534	17,820,950	17th
1945	381.176	18,790,174	18th
1950	410.236	20,947,188	18th
1955	487.844	24,064,763	13
1960	543,600	27,754,820	13

year	population		rank
year	province	Turkey	rank
1965	606.313	31,391,421	13
1970	660.018	35.605.176	13
1975	707.398	40,347,719	17th
1980	700.238	44,736,957	22nd
1985	722.431	50,664,458	25th
1990	662.155	56.473.035	30th
2000	325.016	67,803,927	57

Number of provinces in relation to the census years:

1927, 1940 to 1950: 63 provinces
1935: 57 provinces
1955: 67 provinces
1960 to 1985: 73 provinces
1990: 73 provinces
2000: 81 provinces

history

The province lies at the intersection of Asia Minor and the Caucasus . Therefore, it often changed hands. For several decades, Kars belonged to the Armenian kingdom, which had its capital in Ani . The Byzantine Empire finally lost Kars to the Seljuks in 1064 and with them the Islamization and the Turkization of the inhabitants began.

In 1124 it fell into the hands of the Georgians and in 1239 it was overrun by the Mongols . Between 1534 and 1878 Kars belonged to the Ottoman Empire , after the wars of 1829 and 1856 to the Russian Empire. After the war of 1877–1878, Kars belonged continuously to Russia . Around this time, many ethnic groups from Russia settled in Kars, including Russian Duchoborzen (an orthodox sect, also called Malakan in Turkish ), Volga Germans (Swabians), Baltic peoples ( Estonians and Lithuanians ). In 1919 the proportion of these peoples was 40%.

After the end of the First World War , Russia handed Kars over to Turkey after the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany . During the First World War, over 90,000 Turkish soldiers froze to death and starved to death in the mountains in Sarıkamış due to mistakes made by the commanders. Temporarily in Armenian hands, Kars was conquered for Turkey in October / November 1920 by Kâzım Karabekir Paşa. During the Second World War it was an important military base. Until 1992, the now independent provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır belonged to Kars.

politics

When the tsarist troops withdrew into the interior of Russia because of the October Revolution, the Russian district of Kars had declared itself independent, as did the other districts, for example. B. Georgia, Armenia. He called himself the Government of the Republic of Southwest Caucasus (Ottoman: Cenubi Garbi Kafkas Hükûmet-i Cumhuriyesi ). This state included the districts of Batumi , Akhaltsikhe , Akhalkalaki (now Georgia), Gyumri -Sirak (now Armenia), today's Turkish provinces of Artvin, Ardahan, Igdir and last Nakhetschewan (now in Azerbaijan). This state lasted only nine months and was only recognized by the Japanese Empire. In autumn 1919, under pressure from the Armenian Republic, this state was dissolved and the entire cabinet was deported to Malta .