Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of the Kars Province, formerly at the head of a sanjak in the Turkish vilayet of Erzerum. It is situated in . Population: 8,672 (1878); 20,891 (1897), 54,000 (1970).

Features

As a city at the juncture of Caucasian, Russian, and Turkish cultures, the buildings of Kars come in a variety of architectures. Kars Kalesi, the citadel atop a plateau overlooking Kars, appears to have been built by Ottoman sultan Murad III during the war with Persia, at the close of the 16th century. At the foot of the plateau is St. Arak'elos Cathedral, or the Church of the Apostles, now a museum. Built in the 10th century, it constitutes of a domed tetraconch atop a square base with four apses. The drum of the dome features bas relief depictions of the twelve apostles and the dome itself is covered by a conical roof.

History

In the 10th century A.D., the region surrounding Kars was an Armenian Kingdom, ruled by the Bagratid family. Later on, Kars was captured and destroyed by the Seljuk Turks, by the Mongols in the 13th century, and by Timur (Tamerlane) in 1387. The citadel was strong enough to withstand a siege by Nadir Shah of Persia, in 1731, and in 1807 it successfully resisted the Russians. After a brave defence it surrendered on June 23, 1828 to the Russian general Count Ivan Paskevich, 11,000 men becoming prisoners of war. During the Crimean War the Turkish garrison, guided by General William Fenwick Williams and other foreign officers, kept the Russians at bay during a protracted siege; but, after the garrison had been devastated by cholera and food had utterly failed, nothing was left but to capitulate in November of 1855. The fortress was again stormed by the Russians in the Battle of Kars during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78 and on its conclusion was transferred to Russia by the Treaty of San Stefano.

Russia lost Kars, Ardahan and Batum by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk March 3, 1918. The Turks occupied Kars April 25, 1918 and the Republic of Southwest Caucasus was established in the zone, but when the armistice of Mudros (October 1918 ) was established the Ottoman army withdrew to the frontiers of 1914. The British occupied Batum but the Ottomans refused to relinquish Kars; its military governor constituted a provisional government led by Fakhr el Din Pirioghlu (known as Fahrettin Pirioghlu) that claimed Turkish sovereignity over Kars and the Turkish-speaking and Islamic neighboring regions to Batum and Gumru (Alexandropol). The region was occupied by Armenia in January 1919 but the pro-Turkish government was supported in the city of Kars until the arrival of the British troops, who dissolved it April 19, 1919 sending its leaders to Malta. Kars was given to Armenia together with Ardahan in May 1919. Following the Turkish War of Independence, Turkey signed the Treaty of Kars (October 23, 1921) with the Soviet Union in which Turkey relinquished claims to Batum in return for sovereignty over Kars and Ardahan. The government of Armenia does not explicitly recognize the current border with Turkey.

External links

• Treaty of Kars
• Pictures of the city and the nearby former Armenian city of Ani