Kars
Encyclopedia
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey
and the capital of Kars Province
. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.
) as part of ancient Armenia
. For the etymological origin of the name "Kars", some sources claim it is derived from the Georgian
word ყარსი ("kari"), meaning "the gate" while other sources claim it is from the Armenian word "հարս" ("hars") which means bride. In recent years, the Georgian etymology, along with the Turkish one offered by M. Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu, has been dismissed as unsustainable by scholars.
. Medieval Armenian historians referred to the city by a variety of names, including "Karuts' K'aghak'" (Kars city), "Karuts' Berd", "Amrots'n Karuts'" (both meaning Kars Fortress) and "Amurn Karuts'" (Sturdy Kars). At some point in the ninth century (at least by 888) it became part of the territory of the Armenian Bagratunis
. For a short time (from 928 to 961) Kars became the capital of their kingdom. During this period the town's cathedral, later known as the Church of the Holy Apostles, was built.
In 963, shortly after the Bagratuni capital was transferred to Ani
, Kars became the capital of a separate independent kingdom, again called Vanand. The extent of its actual independence from the Kingdom of Ani is uncertain: it was always held by relatives of the rulers of Ani, and after Ani's capture by the Byzantine Empire
in 1045 the Bagratuni title King of Kings held by the ruler of Ani was transferred to the ruler of Kars. In 1064, just after the capture of Ani by the Seljuk Turks, the Armenian king of Kars, Gagik-Abas, paid homage to the victorious Turks, so that they would not lay siege to his city. In 1065 Gagik-Abas ceded control of Kars to the Byzantine Empire, but soon after they lost it to the Seljuk Turks.
In 1206/1207 the city was captured by the Georgia
ns and given to the same Zakarid
family who ruled Ani. They retained control of Kars until the late 1230s, after which it had Turkish rulers. In 1387 the city surrendered to Timur
(Tamerlane) and its fortifications were damaged. Anatolian beyliks followed until 1534, when the Ottoman army captured the city. The fortifications of the city were rebuilt by the Ottoman Sultan Murad III
and were strong enough to withstand a siege by Nadir Shah of Persia, in 1731. It became the head of a sanjak
in the Ottoman
Erzurum Vilayet.
In 1807 Kars successfully resisted an attack by the Russian Empire
. After another siege in 1828 the city was surrendered on June 23, 1828 to the Russian general Count Ivan Paskevich
, 11,000 men becoming prisoners of war. Although it later returned to Ottoman control, the new border between the Ottoman Empire and Russia was now much closer to Kars. During the Crimean War
a Ottoman garrison led by British officers including General William Fenwick Williams
kept the Russians at bay during a protracted siege
; but after the garrison had been devastated by cholera and food supplies had failed, the town was surrendered to General Mouravieff in November 1855.
The fortress was again stormed by the Russians in the Battle of Kars
during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78 under generals Loris-Melikov
and Ivan Lazarev. Following the war, Kars was transferred to Russia
by the Treaty of San Stefano
. Kars became the capital of Kars Oblast
(province), comprising the districts of Kars, Ardahan
, Kaghisman
, and Olti.
From 1878-1881 more than 82,000 Muslims from formerly Ottoman-controlled territory migrated to the Ottoman Empire. Among those there were more than 11,000 people from the city of Kars. At the same time, many Armenians and Pontic Greeks migrated to the region from the Ottoman Empire and other regions of Transcaucasia. According to the Russian census data, by 1892 Russians
formed 7% of the population, Pontic Greeks
13.5%, Kurds
15%, Armenians
21.5%, Turks
24%, Karapapak
hs 14%, and Turkmen
were 5% of the population of Kars Oblast of Russian Empire
.
In the First World War, the city was one of the main objectives of the Ottoman army during the Battle of Sarikamish in the Caucasus Campaign
. Russia ceded Kars, Ardahan
and Batum to the Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
on March 3, 1918. However, by then Kars was under the effective control of Armenian and non-Bolshevik Russian forces. The Ottoman empire captured Kars on April 25, 1918, but under the Armistice of Mudros
(October 1918) was required to withdraw to its 1914 frontier. The Ottomans refused to relinquish Kars, its military governor instead constituting a provisional government, the Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus, led by Fahrettin Pirioglu, that claimed Turkish sovereignty over Kars and the Turkish-speaking and Islamic neighboring regions as far as Batumi and Alexandropol
(Gyumri). Much of the region fell under the administrative control of Armenia
in January 1919 but the pro-Turkish government remained in the city until the arrival of the British troops, who dissolved it on April 19, 1919, arresting its leaders and sending them to Malta
. In May 1919 Kars came under the full administration of the Armenian Republic and became the capital of its Vanand province.
Skirmishes between the Turkish revolutionaries and Armenian border troops in Olti took place during the summer of 1920. In the autumn of that year four Turkish divisions under the command of General Kâzım Karabekir
invaded the Armenian Republic, triggering the Turkish-Armenian War
. Kars had been fortified to withstand a lengthy siege but, to the astonishment of all, was taken with little resistance by Turkish forces on October 30, 1920, in what some modern scholars have called one of the worst military fiascoes in Armenian history. The terms of the Treaty of Alexandropol
, signed by the representatives of Armenia and Turkey on December 2, 1920, forced Armenia to cede more than 50% of its pre-war territory and to give up all the territories granted to it in the Treaty of Sèvres
.
After the Bolshevik
advance into Armenia, the Alexandropol treaty was superseded by the Treaty of Kars
(October 23, 1921), signed between Turkey and the Soviet Union
. The treaty allowed for Soviet annexation of Adjara
in exchange for Turkish control of the regions of Kars
, Igdir
, and Ardahan
. The treaty established peaceful relations between the two nations, but as early as 1939, some British diplomats noted indications that the Soviet Union was not satisfied with the established border. On more than one occasion, the Soviets attempted to renegotiate with Turkey to at least allow the Armenians access to the ancient ruins of Ani. However, the government in Ankara refused these attempts.
. On June 7, 1945, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov
told the Turkish ambassador to Moscow Selim Sarper
that the regions should be returned to the Soviet Union
, 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. 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. The British prime minister Winston Churchill
objected to these territorial claims, while President
Harry S. Truman
of the United States felt that this matter shouldn't concern other parties. The Cold War
was just beginning.
In April 1993, Turkey closed its Kars border crossing with Armenia, in a protest against the capture of Kelbajar district of Azerbaijan
by Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War
. Since then the land border between Armenia and Turkey has remained closed. Although national politicians have shown little inclination to change this policy, and Azerbaijan together with Turkish nationalist groups have campaigned for the closure to remain, there has been increasing local pressure for the border to be re-opened. In 2006, former Kars mayor Naif Alibeyoğlu said that opening the border would boost the local economy and reawaken the city. But there is also an increasing opposition and pressure by the local population against the re-opening of the border. Along with intense pressure from Azerbaijan and the local population, including the 20% ethnic Azerbaijani minority, the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has reiterated that opening the border with Armenia is out of question.
Kars Castle (Kars Kalesi), also known as the citadel
, sits at the top a rocky hill overlooking Kars. Its walls date back to the Bagratuni Armenian period (there is surviving masonry on the north side of the castle) but it probably took on its present form during the thirteenth century when Kars was ruled by the Zak'arid dynasty.
The walls bear crosses in several places, including a khachkar
with a building inscription in Armenian on the easternmost tower, so the much repeated statement that Kars castle was built by Ottoman
Sultan
Murad III
during the war with Persia, at the close of the sixteenth century, is inaccurate. However, Murad probably did reconstruct much of the city walls (they are similar to those that the Ottoman army constructed at Ardahan
).
By the nineteenth century the citadel had lost most of its defensive purpose and a series of outer fortresses and defensive works were constructed to encircle Kars - this new defensive system proved particularly notable during the Siege of Kars
in 1855.
. Built in the 930s, it has a tetraconch
plan (a square with four semicircular apses) surmounted by a spherical dome on a cylindrical drum. On the exterior, the drum of contains bas-relief depictions of twelve figures, usually interpreted as representing the Twelve Apostles. The dome has a conical roof. The church was converted to a mosque in 1579, and then converted into a Russian Orthodox church in the 1880s. The Russians constructed porches in front of the church's 3 entrances, and an elaborate belltower (now demolished) next to the church. The church was used as a warehouse from the 1930s, and it housed a small museum from 1963 until the late 1970s. Then the building was left to itself for about two decades, until it was converted into a mosque in 1998. In the same district of Kars are two other ruined Armenian churches. A Russian church from the 1900s was converted to a mosque in the 1980s after serving as a school gymnasium.
The "Tashköprü" (Stone Bridge) is a bridge over the Kars river, built in 1725. Close to the bridge are three old bath-houses, none of them still operating.
As a settlement at the juncture of Turkish
, Caucasian
, Kurdish
, Russian, and Armenian
cultures, the buildings of Kars come in a variety of architectural styles. Orhan Pamuk
in the novel Snow
, which takes place in Kars, makes repeated references to "the Russian houses", built "in a Baltic
style", whose like cannot be seen anywhere else in Turkey, and deplores the deteriorating condition of these houses.
(Köppen climate classification
: Dfb), with a wide range of temperature between the summer and winter, due to its high elevation and relatively high latitude. Summers are generally brief and warm with cool nights. The average high temperature in August is 26 °C (78.8 °F). Winters are very cold. The average low January temperature is -18 °C. However, temperatures can plummet to -40 C during the winter months. It snows a lot in winter, staying for an average of four months in the city.
, a sport which doesn´t exist in Turkey today, was once played here.http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnoev-kovcheg.1gb.ru%2Farticle.asp%3Fn%3D94%26a%3D39
on the Turkish Railways (TCDD) that links it to Erzurum. This line was originally laid when Kars was within the Russian Empire and connected the city to nearby Alexandropol
and Tiflis, with a wartime, narrow-gauge extension running to Erzurum. Turkey's border crossings with Armenia, including the rail link, have been closed since 1993. Construction on a new line, the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway, intended to connect Turkey with Georgia
and Azerbaijan
, began in 2010 and is scheduled for completion by 2012. The line will connect Kars to Akhalkalaki
in Georgia, from where trains will continue to Tbilisi
, and Baku
in Azerbaijan
.
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and the capital of Kars Province
Kars Province
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were until the 1990s part of Kars Province.-History:...
. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.
Etymology
As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography (StraboStrabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
) as part of ancient Armenia
Roman Armenia
From the end of the 1st century BC onwards, Armenia was, in part or whole, subject to the Roman Empire and its successor, the East Roman or Byzantine Empire...
. For the etymological origin of the name "Kars", some sources claim it is derived from the Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
word ყარსი ("kari"), meaning "the gate" while other sources claim it is from the Armenian word "հարս" ("hars") which means bride. In recent years, the Georgian etymology, along with the Turkish one offered by M. Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu, has been dismissed as unsustainable by scholars.
Medieval period
Little is known of the early history of Kars beyond the fact that it had its own dynasty of Armenian rulers and was the capital of a region known as VanandVanand
Vanand is the name used to describe the area of historic Armenia that roughly corresponds to the Kars Province of present-day Turkey. Named after the Armenian family of Vanandi, it was a principality of the Kingdom of Armenia and a later province of the Democratic Republic of Armenia. Its...
. Medieval Armenian historians referred to the city by a variety of names, including "Karuts' K'aghak'" (Kars city), "Karuts' Berd", "Amrots'n Karuts'" (both meaning Kars Fortress) and "Amurn Karuts'" (Sturdy Kars). At some point in the ninth century (at least by 888) it became part of the territory of the Armenian Bagratunis
Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia
The medieval Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia , was an independent state established by Ashot I Bagratuni in 885 following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and Abbasid rule...
. For a short time (from 928 to 961) Kars became the capital of their kingdom. During this period the town's cathedral, later known as the Church of the Holy Apostles, was built.
In 963, shortly after the Bagratuni capital was transferred to Ani
Ani
Ani is a ruined and uninhabited medieval Armenian city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, near the border with Armenia. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey...
, Kars became the capital of a separate independent kingdom, again called Vanand. The extent of its actual independence from the Kingdom of Ani is uncertain: it was always held by relatives of the rulers of Ani, and after Ani's capture by the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
in 1045 the Bagratuni title King of Kings held by the ruler of Ani was transferred to the ruler of Kars. In 1064, just after the capture of Ani by the Seljuk Turks, the Armenian king of Kars, Gagik-Abas, paid homage to the victorious Turks, so that they would not lay siege to his city. In 1065 Gagik-Abas ceded control of Kars to the Byzantine Empire, but soon after they lost it to the Seljuk Turks.
In 1206/1207 the city was captured by the Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
ns and given to the same Zakarid
Zakarid-Mxargrzeli
The Zakarid , also known by their Georgian language moniker as Mkhargrdzeli , were a noble family prominent in medieval Armenia and Georgia. Their name in Georgian, Mkhargrdzeli, or in , meant long-armed. A family legend says that this name was a reference to their Achaemenid ancestor Artaxerxes...
family who ruled Ani. They retained control of Kars until the late 1230s, after which it had Turkish rulers. In 1387 the city surrendered to Timur
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
(Tamerlane) and its fortifications were damaged. Anatolian beyliks followed until 1534, when the Ottoman army captured the city. The fortifications of the city were rebuilt by the Ottoman Sultan Murad III
Murad III
Murad III was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death.-Biography:...
and were strong enough to withstand a siege by Nadir Shah of Persia, in 1731. It became the head of a sanjak
Sanjak
Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish word sancak, meaning district, banner, or flag...
in the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Erzurum Vilayet.
Russian administration
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. After another siege in 1828 the city was surrendered on June 23, 1828 to the Russian general Count Ivan Paskevich
Ivan Paskevich
Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich was a Ukrainian-born military leader. For his victories, he was made Count of Erivan in 1828 and Namestnik of the Kingdom of Poland in 1831...
, 11,000 men becoming prisoners of war. Although it later returned to Ottoman control, the new border between the Ottoman Empire and Russia was now much closer to Kars. During the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
a Ottoman garrison led by British officers including General William Fenwick Williams
William Fenwick Williams
General Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet GCB was a British military leader of the Victorian era.-Early life:...
kept the Russians at bay during a protracted siege
Siege of Kars
The Siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. On June 1855, in an attempt to alleviate pressure on the troops at Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Ottoman interest in Asia Minor...
; but after the garrison had been devastated by cholera and food supplies had failed, the town was surrendered to General Mouravieff in November 1855.
The fortress was again stormed by the Russians in the Battle of Kars
Battle of Kars
The Battle of Kars was a decisive Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War .In June, 1877 Russian forces attempted a siege of Kars but were driven off by an Ottoman army at the Battle of Kizil-Tepe. In November Russian commander in the Caucasus, Grand Duke Michael,...
during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78 under generals Loris-Melikov
Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov
Count Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov was a Russian-Armenian statesman, General of the Cavalry, and Adjutant General of H. I. M. Retinue....
and Ivan Lazarev. Following the war, Kars was transferred to Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
by the Treaty of San Stefano
Treaty of San Stefano
The Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano was a treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78...
. Kars became the capital of Kars Oblast
Kars Oblast
Kars Oblast was one of Transcaucasian governorates of Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was in the city of Kars, presently in the Republic of Turkey. The governorate bordered with the Ottoman Empire, Batum Oblast, Tiflis Governorate, Erivan Governorate, and from 1883 to 1903 with...
(province), comprising the districts of Kars, Ardahan
Ardahan
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.-Ancient and medieval:In Ancient times the region was called Gogarene, which is assumed to derive from the name of Gugars, who were a Proto-Kartvelian tribe...
, Kaghisman
Kagizman
Kağızman is a town and district of Kars Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The population is 17,144 as of 2010. The mayor is Mehmet Alkan.-References:...
, and Olti.
From 1878-1881 more than 82,000 Muslims from formerly Ottoman-controlled territory migrated to the Ottoman Empire. Among those there were more than 11,000 people from the city of Kars. At the same time, many Armenians and Pontic Greeks migrated to the region from the Ottoman Empire and other regions of Transcaucasia. According to the Russian census data, by 1892 Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
formed 7% of the population, Pontic Greeks
Pontic Greeks
The Pontians are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea...
13.5%, Kurds
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
15%, Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
21.5%, Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
24%, Karapapak
Karapapak
The Karapapak are a small ethnic group of Turkic-speaking people who mainly live in Azerbaijan, in Georgia, in the northeast of Turkey near the border with Georgia and Armenia, primarily in the provinces of Ardahan , Kars and Iğdır, and in Iran...
hs 14%, and Turkmen
Turkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
were 5% of the population of Kars Oblast of Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
World War I
Caucasus Campaign
The Caucasus Campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, later including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Central Caspian Dictatorship and the UK as part of the Middle Eastern theatre or alternatively named as part of the Caucasus Campaign during World War I...
. Russia ceded Kars, Ardahan
Ardahan
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.-Ancient and medieval:In Ancient times the region was called Gogarene, which is assumed to derive from the name of Gugars, who were a Proto-Kartvelian tribe...
and Batum to the Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
on March 3, 1918. However, by then Kars was under the effective control of Armenian and non-Bolshevik Russian forces. The Ottoman empire captured Kars on April 25, 1918, but under the Armistice of Mudros
Armistice of Mudros
The Armistice of Moudros , concluded on 30 October 1918, ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I...
(October 1918) was required to withdraw to its 1914 frontier. The Ottomans refused to relinquish Kars, its military governor instead constituting a provisional government, the Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus, led by Fahrettin Pirioglu, that claimed Turkish sovereignty over Kars and the Turkish-speaking and Islamic neighboring regions as far as Batumi and Alexandropol
Gyumri
Gyumri is the capital and largest city of the Shirak Province in northwest Armenia. It is located about 120 km from the capital Yerevan, and, with a population of 168,918 , is the second-largest city in Armenia.The name of the city has been changed many times in history...
(Gyumri). Much of the region fell under the administrative control of Armenia
Democratic Republic of Armenia
The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...
in January 1919 but the pro-Turkish government remained in the city until the arrival of the British troops, who dissolved it on April 19, 1919, arresting its leaders and sending them to Malta
Malta exiles
Malta exiles is the term for politicians, high ranking soldiers , administrators and intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire who were sent into exile on Malta after the armistice of Mudros during the Occupation of İstanbul by the Allied forces...
. In May 1919 Kars came under the full administration of the Armenian Republic and became the capital of its Vanand province.
Skirmishes between the Turkish revolutionaries and Armenian border troops in Olti took place during the summer of 1920. In the autumn of that year four Turkish divisions under the command of General Kâzım Karabekir
Kazim Karabekir
Musa Kâzım Karabekir was a Turkish general and politician. He was commander of the Eastern Army in the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey before his death.-Early years:Karabekir was born in 1882 as the son of an Ottoman General,...
invaded the Armenian Republic, triggering the Turkish-Armenian War
Turkish-Armenian War
The Turkish–Armenian War stemmed from an invasion of the Democratic Republic of Armenia by the Turkish Revolutionaries of the Turkish National Movement in the autumn of 1920...
. Kars had been fortified to withstand a lengthy siege but, to the astonishment of all, was taken with little resistance by Turkish forces on October 30, 1920, in what some modern scholars have called one of the worst military fiascoes in Armenian history. The terms of the Treaty of Alexandropol
Treaty of Alexandropol
The Treaty of Alexandropol was a peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of Armenia and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ending the Turkish-Armenian War, signed on December 2, 1920, before the declaration of the Republic of Turkey. It was the first treaty signed by Turkish...
, signed by the representatives of Armenia and Turkey on December 2, 1920, forced Armenia to cede more than 50% of its pre-war territory and to give up all the territories granted to it in the Treaty of Sèvres
Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...
.
After the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
advance into Armenia, the Alexandropol treaty was superseded by the Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
(October 23, 1921), signed between Turkey and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The treaty allowed for Soviet annexation of Adjara
Adjara
Adjara , officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara , is an autonomous republic of Georgia.Adjara is located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea...
in exchange for Turkish control of the regions of Kars
Kars Province
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were until the 1990s part of Kars Province.-History:...
, Igdir
Igdir Province
Iğdır Province is a province in eastern Turkey, located along the border with Armenia, Azerbaijan , and Iran. Its adjacent provinces are Kars to the northwest and Ağrı to the west and south...
, and Ardahan
Ardahan Province
Ardahan Province is a province in the far north-east of Turkey, at the very end of the country, where Turkey borders with Georgia . The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan.- Geography :...
. The treaty established peaceful relations between the two nations, but as early as 1939, some British diplomats noted indications that the Soviet Union was not satisfied with the established border. On more than one occasion, the Soviets attempted to renegotiate with Turkey to at least allow the Armenians access to the ancient ruins of Ani. However, the government in Ankara refused these attempts.
Recent history
After World War II, the Soviet Union attempted to annul the Kars treaty and regain the Kars region and the adjoining region of ArdahanArdahan
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.-Ancient and medieval:In Ancient times the region was called Gogarene, which is assumed to derive from the name of Gugars, who were a Proto-Kartvelian tribe...
. On June 7, 1945, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
told the Turkish ambassador to Moscow Selim Sarper
Selim Sarper
Selim Sarper was a Turkish politician. A graduate of Robert College of Istanbul, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey. He was also Turkey's ambassador to the United Nations....
that the regions should be returned to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, 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. 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. The British prime minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
objected to these territorial claims, while President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
of the United States felt that this matter shouldn't concern other parties. The Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
was just beginning.
In April 1993, Turkey closed its Kars border crossing with Armenia, in a protest against the capture of Kelbajar district of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
by Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
. Since then the land border between Armenia and Turkey has remained closed. Although national politicians have shown little inclination to change this policy, and Azerbaijan together with Turkish nationalist groups have campaigned for the closure to remain, there has been increasing local pressure for the border to be re-opened. In 2006, former Kars mayor Naif Alibeyoğlu said that opening the border would boost the local economy and reawaken the city. But there is also an increasing opposition and pressure by the local population against the re-opening of the border. Along with intense pressure from Azerbaijan and the local population, including the 20% ethnic Azerbaijani minority, the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has reiterated that opening the border with Armenia is out of question.
Population
Population: 8,672 (1878); 20,891 (1897); 12,175 (January 1913); 129,789 (1922) ; 54,000 (1970); 142,145 (1990) ; 130,361 ; (2000) 76,729 (2009) Its mayor is Nevzat Bozkuş, whose party is AKP.Kars Citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
, sits at the top a rocky hill overlooking Kars. Its walls date back to the Bagratuni Armenian period (there is surviving masonry on the north side of the castle) but it probably took on its present form during the thirteenth century when Kars was ruled by the Zak'arid dynasty.
The walls bear crosses in several places, including a khachkar
Khachkar
A khachkar or khatchkar is a carved, cross-bearing, memorial stele covered with rosettes and other botanical motifs. Khachkars are characteristic of Medieval Christian Armenian art found in Armenia.-Description:...
with a building inscription in Armenian on the easternmost tower, so the much repeated statement that Kars castle was built by Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Murad III
Murad III
Murad III was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death.-Biography:...
during the war with Persia, at the close of the sixteenth century, is inaccurate. However, Murad probably did reconstruct much of the city walls (they are similar to those that the Ottoman army constructed at Ardahan
Ardahan
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.-Ancient and medieval:In Ancient times the region was called Gogarene, which is assumed to derive from the name of Gugars, who were a Proto-Kartvelian tribe...
).
By the nineteenth century the citadel had lost most of its defensive purpose and a series of outer fortresses and defensive works were constructed to encircle Kars - this new defensive system proved particularly notable during the Siege of Kars
Siege of Kars
The Siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. On June 1855, in an attempt to alleviate pressure on the troops at Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Ottoman interest in Asia Minor...
in 1855.
Other historical structures
Below the castle is an Armenian church known as Surb Arak'elots, the Church of the ApostlesCathedral of Kars
The Holy Apostles Church is a 10th century Armenian church built in what was then Bagratid Armenia, and that is now Kars, Turkey. It was completed in the mid-940s under the rule of the Bagratid Armenian King Abas....
. Built in the 930s, it has a tetraconch
Tetraconch
A tetraconch, from the Greek for "four shells", is a building, usually a church or other religious building, with four apses, one in each direction, usually of equal size. The basic ground plan of the building is therefore a Greek cross...
plan (a square with four semicircular apses) surmounted by a spherical dome on a cylindrical drum. On the exterior, the drum of contains bas-relief depictions of twelve figures, usually interpreted as representing the Twelve Apostles. The dome has a conical roof. The church was converted to a mosque in 1579, and then converted into a Russian Orthodox church in the 1880s. The Russians constructed porches in front of the church's 3 entrances, and an elaborate belltower (now demolished) next to the church. The church was used as a warehouse from the 1930s, and it housed a small museum from 1963 until the late 1970s. Then the building was left to itself for about two decades, until it was converted into a mosque in 1998. In the same district of Kars are two other ruined Armenian churches. A Russian church from the 1900s was converted to a mosque in the 1980s after serving as a school gymnasium.
The "Tashköprü" (Stone Bridge) is a bridge over the Kars river, built in 1725. Close to the bridge are three old bath-houses, none of them still operating.
As a settlement at the juncture of Turkish
Culture of Turkey
The culture of Turkey combines a largely diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that are derived from the Ottoman, European, Middle Eastern and Central Asian traditions...
, Caucasian
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, Kurdish
Kurdish culture
Kurdish culture is a group of distinctive cultural traits practiced by Kurdish people...
, Russian, and Armenian
Culture of Armenia
The culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the geography, literature, architecture, dance, and music of the people. The culture is similar to and yet distinct from many of the bordering countries like Russia, Georgia and Iran as well as Mediterranean nations such as Greece...
cultures, the buildings of Kars come in a variety of architectural styles. Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
in the novel Snow
Snow (novel)
Snow is a novel by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. It was published in Turkish in 2002 and in English in 2004. The story encapsulates many of the political and cultural tensions of modern Turkey and successfully combines humor, social commentary, mysticism, and a deep sympathy with its characters.Kar...
, which takes place in Kars, makes repeated references to "the Russian houses", built "in a Baltic
Balts
The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...
style", whose like cannot be seen anywhere else in Turkey, and deplores the deteriorating condition of these houses.
Kars in popular culture
- Kars is the setting of the novel Kar (SnowSnow (novel)Snow is a novel by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. It was published in Turkish in 2002 and in English in 2004. The story encapsulates many of the political and cultural tensions of modern Turkey and successfully combines humor, social commentary, mysticism, and a deep sympathy with its characters.Kar...
) by Orhan PamukOrhan PamukFerit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
. - Modest Mussorgsky composed the march "The Capture of Kars" to commemorate Russia's victory there in 1855.
- The film Kosmos (CosmosCosmos (film)Cosmos is a 2010 Turkish-Bulgarian drama film, written and directed by Reha Erdem, starring Sermet Yeşil as a thief and a miracle-worker who is welcomed into a tiny, snowbound border village after resuscitating a half-drowned boy who...
) by Reha ErdemReha ErdemReha Erdem is an award-winning Turkish film director and screenwriter.-Biography:He attended Galatasaray High School and he studied history at Boğaziçi University before leaving to study film in 1983. He obtained a B.A. in Cinema Studies and an M.A...
was filmed in and around Kars.
Climate
Kars has a humid continental climateHumid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
(Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
: Dfb), with a wide range of temperature between the summer and winter, due to its high elevation and relatively high latitude. Summers are generally brief and warm with cool nights. The average high temperature in August is 26 °C (78.8 °F). Winters are very cold. The average low January temperature is -18 °C. However, temperatures can plummet to -40 C during the winter months. It snows a lot in winter, staying for an average of four months in the city.
Sports history
BandyBandy
Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...
, a sport which doesn´t exist in Turkey today, was once played here.http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnoev-kovcheg.1gb.ru%2Farticle.asp%3Fn%3D94%26a%3D39
Transport
Kars is served by a main highway from Erzurum, and lesser roads run north to Ardahan and south to Igdir. The town has an airport, with daily direct flights to Ankara and Istanbul. Kars is served by a stationKars Railway Station
The Kars railway station is a train station, serving the eastern Turkish city of Kars. It is one of the easternmost stations on the Trans-Anatolian railway. The Eastern Express services Kars once a day to İstanbul. Between 1993 and 2011, there was no train service east of Kars due to the...
on the Turkish Railways (TCDD) that links it to Erzurum. This line was originally laid when Kars was within the Russian Empire and connected the city to nearby Alexandropol
Gyumri
Gyumri is the capital and largest city of the Shirak Province in northwest Armenia. It is located about 120 km from the capital Yerevan, and, with a population of 168,918 , is the second-largest city in Armenia.The name of the city has been changed many times in history...
and Tiflis, with a wartime, narrow-gauge extension running to Erzurum. Turkey's border crossings with Armenia, including the rail link, have been closed since 1993. Construction on a new line, the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway, intended to connect Turkey with Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, began in 2010 and is scheduled for completion by 2012. The line will connect Kars to Akhalkalaki
Akhalkalaki
Akhalkalaki is a small city in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti with a population of 60,975. Akhalkalaki lies on the edge of the Javakheti Volcanic Plateau. The city is located about 30 km from the border with Turkey. 90 percent of the city's population are ethnic Armenians...
in Georgia, from where trains will continue to Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, and Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
.
Notable individuals
- İbrahim AydınCihangirzade Ibrahim BeyCihangirzade İbrahim Bey was a Turkish military officer, statesman and administrator who served the Ottoman Empire and after its defeat in the World War I, became the leader of the Turkish revolutionaries in his native Kars and...
(1874-1948), military leader and civil servant - Yeghishe CharentsYeghishe CharentsYeghishe Charents was an Armenian poet, writer and public activist. Charents was an outstanding poet of the twentieth century, touching upon a multitude of topics that ranged from his experiences in the First World War, socialism, and, more prominently, on Armenia and Armenians.An early champion...
(1897-1937), Armenian poet born in Kars. - Tuğba EkinciTuğba EkinciTuğba Ekinci is a Turkish pop singer.- Albums :*O Şimdi Asker *Boynuz *Condom *Yanma Demezler -References:...
(1974-), pop singer - Hayran-î-Dil Kadınefendi (1846–1898), wife of Ottoman sultan AbdülazizAbdülâzizAbdülaziz I or Abd Al-Aziz, His Imperial Majesty was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned between 25 June 1861 and 30 May 1876...
and mother of Sultan Abdülmecid II. - Babayan Hmayak, Major GeneralMajor GeneralMajor general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
, Hero of the Soviet UnionHero of the Soviet UnionThe title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
. who grew up in Kars. - Hovhannes Stepani IsakovIvan IsakovHovhannes Stepani Isakov -Early life:Ivan Isakov was born Hovhannes Ter-Isahakyan in the family of an Armenian railway worker in the village of Hadjikend in the Kars Oblast, then a part of the Russian Empire...
(1894–1967), Soviet Armenian military commander, chief of staff and Admiral of the Fleet in the Soviet Navy. - Neşerek (Nesrin) Haseki Kadın EfendiNeşerek (Nesrin) Haseki Kadın EfendiNeşerek Haseki Kadınefendi was the fifth wife of the 32nd Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz.She was born in Tiflis , Georgia. In 1868 when she was about 20 years old, she was married to Abdülaziz at Dolmabahçe Palace. Between 1872 and 1874 she bore her husband three children...
(1848–1876), fifth wife of Ottoman sultan AbdülazizAbdülâzizAbdülaziz I or Abd Al-Aziz, His Imperial Majesty was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned between 25 June 1861 and 30 May 1876... - Turgut PolatTurgut PolatTurgut Polat is a male Turkish table tennis player. He plays for Fenerbahçe TT since 2005 and also played for junior level for Fenerbahçe TT.-Major achievements:*1 time Turkish Champion runner-up in junior level...
(1993- ), Table tennis player - Gülsüm Şeyma TatarGülsüm TatarGülsüm Şeyma Tatar is a world and European champion Turkish female boxer. After having boxed seven years for the sports club Fenerbahçe Boxing in Istanbul, she transferred in 2010 to Birlikspor in Kayseri, Turkey....
(1983- ), world and European champion female boxer
External links
- Pictures of the city and the nearby city of Ani
- Kars Governor's Office
- Kars News
- Kars Guide and Photo Album by Luc Wouters
- Kars Weather Forecast Information
- Treaty of Kars
- Atlas of Conflicts: The Treaty of Kars and Its Geopolitical Implications on Armenia by Dr. Andrew Andersen, Ph.D.
- VirtualANI - A history and description of the city of Kars
- Armenian History and Presence in Kars
- 3D Model of the Cathedral
- Kars preservation project summary at Global Heritage FundGlobal Heritage FundGlobal Heritage Fund is a non-profit organization that operates internationally. Its mission statement says that it exists to protect and preserve significant and endangered cultural heritage sites in the developing world, through scientific excellence and community development...
- Explore Kars with Google Earth on Global Heritage NetworkGlobal Heritage NetworkGlobal Heritage Network , established by Global Heritage Fund , is an early warning and threats monitoring system for cultural heritage sites in developing countries...
- Awarded "EDEN - European Destinations of Excellence" non traditional tourist destination 2009