Treaty of Kars

[Arpa]

Of late there is a lot of talk about the Treaty of Kars on both sides of the border. At times it is included in the so called on and off , there was there was not /կար ու չիկար “pre-conditions”. Furkey insists that Yerevan ratify and abide by the Kars Treaty and acknowledge the set borders.

The Treaty of Kars was a virtual dejavu of the Moscow Treaty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Moscow

This, all but nullified the Treaty of Sevres

http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Peace_Treaty_of_S%C3%A8vres

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Please use caution, obviously the following is NOT an Armenian friendly site.

Here you will see maps etc.

http://www.atlas-of-conflicts.com/areas/ar...a4f6250fab7fbd4

The Treaty of Kars, 13.10.1921: Geopolitical Iimplications on Armenia

Soviet Armenia, as of December 04, 1920

Armenian territory annexed by Turkey on December 02, 1920

Georgian territory annexed by Turkey on March 20, 1921

Territories claimed by Soviet Azerbaijan and Armenia, promiced to Armenia by the "Caubureau" of the Central Committee of the CPR( as the price for sovetization

Turkish-Soviet border as per the treaty of Kars, 13.10.1921

Alexandropol with adjacent territory returned by Turkey to Soviet Armenia at the treaty of Kars

Naxcievan Territory (Sharur) Assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan as per the treaty of Kars

Zanghezur, assigned to Soviet Armenia in January, 1922

 

The Turkish-Armenian war of September-December/1920, and the fall of the First Republic resulted in the treaty of Alexandropol signed by the representatives of Armenia and Turkey on December 2 1920, in accordance with which Armenia was to give up all the territories granted to her by the treaty of Sevres and to cede to Turkey about 60 per cent of her prewar territory.

However, as a result of the Soviet conquest, Armenia became a Moscow-controlled puppet “Soviet Republic“ on the same day of December 1920, when the treaty pf Alexandropol was signed by the representatives of he fallen government thus putting the legitimacy of that treaty in question. Further political and military development in the South Caucasus resulted in the fall of Georgia, the last pro-western country in the area and the conquest of her territory by the Soviets and the Turks (19.03.1921). The communist decision-making centre in Moscow was planning to unite all the Soviet republics into a new quasi-state that would include Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia but before that the territorial disputes were supposed to be resolved.

The Soviet-Turkish borders established as a result of the wars of Sept./1920 – March/1921 were adjusted and confirmed by the treaty of Kars signed by the representatives of Turkey and the four Soviet republics of Russian federation, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan on October 13, 1921. According to the provisions of the treaty of Kars, the treaties of Sevres and Alexandropol were denounced and both the Turkish and Armenian sides agreed to forgive each other all the “military crimes and mistakes” committed by their representatives during all the wars, conflicts and ethnic cleansings of 1915-1920. The treaty of Kars left Turkey with most of the territories conquered during the Turkish-Armenian war and the Soviet-Turkish war against Georgia. Turkey re-gained almost all the territories lost to the Russian Empire during Russo-Turkish war of 1978, except northern half of Achara, with the towns of Artvin, Ardahan, Olty, Sarykamysh, Kaghyznman and Kars. Turkey was also granted the large part of the former Yerevan province to the south of Araxi river with the town of Ighdyr and the mountain of Ararat (the national symbol of Armenia). The latter territory had never been a part of Turkey, except a short period between 1724 and 1735. In turn, Turkey returned the area of Alexandropol to Soviet Armenia and dropped all the claims to Sharur (Naxcivan area) under the condition that the area is not to be incorporated into Armenia but becomes a Muslim-dominated autonomy within Azerbaijani SSR.

The above territorial losses were and still are regarded by many Armenians as a national catastrophe, and the borders as defined by the treaty of Kars, are far from been fair from the point of view of Armenian nationalists many of whom still consider the treaty of Sevres as the basis for the resolution of Turkish-Armenian conflict.

The territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan was also supposed to be resolved in order to keep both Soviet puppet-states under Moscow umbrella. Basing on the promises of Soviet emissaries at the brink of sovietization, as well as on several decrees issued by the Caucasian Bureau of the Communist Party (trans-national organ created by Moscow to solve basic regional problems), the communist leadership of Armenian SSR expected to be granted most of the disputed areas, including Karabakh, Zanghezur and Sharur. However by the fall of 1921 following the orders received from Moscow, the Caucasian Bureau finally granted to Azerbaijan both Karabakh and Naxcivan while Armenia received Zanghezur separating Naxcivan from the rest of Azerbaijan and providing Armenian SSR with an access to Iranian border.

In summer 1923, Karabakh was granted some limited territorial autonomy its historical territory being reduced to 6 districts out of 10.

1931: Territorial Adjustments

 

ARMENIA "Soviet Socialist Republics" within the USSR, 1923-1991

Territory cedded by Armenia to Azerbaijan in 1931

Territory granted to Armenia by Georgia in 1931

Autonomous Karabakh within "Soviet Azerbaijan"

 

Borders of Armenia proper (Arm.SSR) were also redrawn several times between 1922 and 1936. Some major “adjustments” were made in 1931. As a result, Armenia had to cede to Azerbaijan the northern half of Kazakh-Shamshadin district and a number of smaller parts of Zanghezur. However the same year, Armenia received small territorial compensation by being assigned Lori district of Georgia (former Lori canton of Borchalo district that had been a “neutral zone” between 01.1919 and 11.1920). All the above-mentioned territorial changes left all involved parties deeply

 

 

[MosJan]

an interesting article from azg.am

 

WHAT IS KARS AGREEMENT?

 

By Armen Manvelian, translated by L.H.

 

Armenian-Turkish last statement has kicked up a fuss in Armenia. We can underline that there is no neutral and impartial analysis here. Trying to fill up the gap here, "Azg" daily publishes so-called Kars agreement that according to the Turkish press is one of the preconditions that the official Ankara puts forward for improvement of Armenian-Turkish bilateral relations and opening of the border. And in this situation the main question is – what is Kars agreement and what subject does it touch upon?

 

Once more we want to underline that it is not clear yet if the Kars agreement is a precondition or not, but we want to note that it is signed on October 13, 1921, between Turkey, on the one hand, and Soviet Republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, on the other hand. This multilateral agreement was signed in the presence of Russian delegation representatives and was actually the reflection of the Russian-Turkish agreement signed in March of 1921. Foreign Minister Asqanaz Mravian and Minister of Internal Affairs Petros Makintsian signed the agreement on behalf of Soviet Armenia. After one year of signing the agreement it was ratified by the Transcaucasian three republics and the ratification documents were handed to the Turkish side in Yerevan. Practically, the Armenian-Turkish present-day border has been marked by this agreement. It is the only agreement that regulates the relations between the two countries. Subsequently, a memorandum of using drinking and irrigation water on Armenian-Turkish border, and also other documents were signed on the basis of this agreement.

 

People, who are against this agreement’s reaffirmation, mention that it is against our claim and with this agreement we actually recognize modern Turkey’s territorial integrity. In 1991, when Armenia proclaimed its independence, it was announced that the newly independent Armenia is the legal successor of the Soviet Republic. It stands to reason that the third republic recognizes all agreements signed by the Soviet Armenia.

 

Besides, in March of 1991, when Armenia became a UN member, the Armenian authorities actually recognized the territorial integrity of the UN member-countries. It means that Armenia has already de jure recognized the neighboring Turkey’s territorial integrity for several times. Consequently, the clamor set up by the Armenian political parties is only a PR and is delayed from the aspect of international law.

 

However, the Kars agreement has defects as well. In particular, it is underlined in the agreement that under concept of Turkey the territories are kept in view that are involved in the National Oath adopted by the Ottoman Parliament in Costandinopolis (Istanbul) on January 28, 1920. It means that Armenia taking into account the above-mentioned can renounce this agreement, because according to so-called National Oath such territories were involved in the borders of Turkey that today are not part of it and belong to Iran and Iraq. Besides, the Kars state was out of the borders of that Turkey.

 

Therefore, the agreement needs detailed and impartial discussion and analysis to understand if it is advantageous or not.

 

Nevertheless, I think that Armenia should step boldly forward and carry on an active dialogue with Turkey that will not only solve the issue of the border but also will create a new political situation in the whole South Caucasus and will strengthen Armenia’s position in the international scene.

 

"Azg" daily will touch upon the Kars agreement in detail in its future issues.

 

The complete text of Kars agreement is available only in Russian. You can read it on our website’s Russian section.

 

[ED]

it was artificially signed document/agreement which was forced by the central government (Moscow) to be sighned

this has no legality now and especially back in 1921

not to mention it wasn't soviet republic of Armenia, the republic was TRANS-CAUCASIAN-SOVIET republic

if our president is so much concerned with establishing diplomatic relations, then this latest precondition by turkey is an another pre-condition

 

 

the only way to achieve a healthy future Armenia's diplomats must understand this is not a middle eastern bazaar which turkey is portraying to be.

 

the perfect example is, if you (turkey) must set Kars as a precondition, why not go back and start with Sevres? which had every legality in it and was signed by the otomans

 

does anybody has this document?

Edited April 29, 2009 by ED

[DominO123]

does anybody has this document?

 

http://groong.usc.edu/treaties/sevres.html

 

[Z'areh]

http://groong.usc.edu/treaties/sevres.html

 

Tell me something,

 

Who is going to back Armenia, what country? what organization? in bringing up Kars treaty, or as Ara Babian proposes: getting our lands back (lands given to Armenia under Wilsonian arbitration) and then, again according to Babian "rent out those lands back to Turkey", supposedly because he doesn't want an upheaval of mass Turkish out-migration.

 

Are we kidding ourselves or what.

 

Furthermore, upon independence Armenia declared that it is the legal successor of Soviet Armenia, doesn't that oblige today's Armenia to respect treaties signed by the predecessor system under international law? And in fact isn't exactly that what Kocharian told a visiting Turkish journalist, Mehmet Ali Birand, in an interview for the Turkish Daily News in 2007?

 

I think Kars treaty is a non-issue.