AHistoryIndependent states
The Treaty of Kars (1921)
The treaty that fixed the border between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Soviet republics of the South Caucasus: it confirmed Nakhchivan as an autonomous territory under Azerbaijan's protection.
After the First World War the borders in eastern Anatolia and the South Caucasus remained unsettled. In March 1921 the Ankara government and Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Moscow, and a conference was called in Kars to extend its terms to the South Caucasian republics.
The treaty signed on 13 October 1921 was signed for Turkey by Kâzım Karabekir Pasha, commander of the Eastern Front, for the Azerbaijan SSR by Behbud agha Shahtakhtinski, and by representatives of the Armenian and Georgian SSRs, with Yakov Ganetsky of the Russian SFSR also taking part. Kars and Ardahan stayed with Turkey and Batumi went to Georgia. The Nakhchivan region was confirmed as an autonomous territory under the protection of Azerbaijan, and the treaty stated that this protection could not be transferred to a third state.
The Treaty of Kars is still in force and is regarded as the legal basis of the borders between Turkey and the South Caucasian countries. Turkey sees it as one of the guarantees of the status of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
Sources
Updated: November 12, 2026