Kars Oblast

The Kars Oblast (Russian: Карсская область; Armenian: Կարսի մարզ) was an oblast (region) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in the Republic of Turkey. The oblast bordered the Ottoman Empire, Batum Oblast, Tiflis Governorate, Erivan Governorate, and from 1883 to 1903 the Kutais Governorate. The Kars Oblast included parts of the contemporary provinces of Kars, Ardahan and Erzurum Province of Turkey, and the Amasia municipality of the Shirak Province of Armenia.

Kars Oblast
Карсская область
Oblast
Flag
Coat of arms
Administrative map of the Kars Oblast
CountryRussian Empire
ViceroyaltyCaucasus
Established1878
Abolished1917
CapitalKars
Area
 • Total16,473 km2 (6,360 sq mi)
Population
 (1916)
 • Total404,305
 • Density25/km2 (64/sq mi)
 • Urban
12.30%
 • Rural
87.70%

History
An 1883 map including Kars Oblast and adjacent provinces of Russian and Ottoman Empires

The Kars Oblast was a province established after the region's annexation into the Russian Empire through the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the dissolution of the latter's Kars, Childir and Erzurum eyalets.[1][2]

With the incorporation of the region into Russian Empire, a large proportion of the local Muslim population (~82,000 during 1878–1881[1]) migrated to the new borders of the Ottoman Empire. In their stead, Christian settlers, mostly consisting of Armenians, Greeks and Russians,[1] were settled throughout the province. The Armenians, who eventually came to form the largest ethnic group in the region were mainly immigrants from the Six Vilayets.

During the First World War, the Kars Oblast became the site of intense battles between the Russian Caucasus Army supplemented by Armenian volunteers and the Ottoman Third Army, the latter of whom was successful in briefly occupying Ardahan on 25 December 1914 before they were dislodged in early January 1915.

On 3 March 1918, in the aftermath of the October Revolution the Russian SFSR ceded the entire Kars Oblast through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to the Ottoman Empire, who had been unreconciled with its loss of the territory since 1878. Despite the ineffectual resistance of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic which had initially rejected the aforementioned treaty, the Ottoman Third Army was successful in occupying the Kars Oblast and expelling its 100,000 panic-stricken Armenian inhabitants.[3]

The Ottoman Ninth Army under the command of Yakub Shevki Pasha, the occupying force of the district by the time of the Mudros Armistice, were permitted to winter in Kars until early 1919, after which on 7 January 1919 Major General G.T. Forestier-Walker ordered their complete withdrawal to the pre-1914 Ottoman-frontier. Intended to hinder the westward expansion of the fledgling Armenian and Georgian republics into the Kars Oblast, Yukub Shevki backed the emergence of the short-lived South-West Caucasus Republic with moral support, also furnishing it with weapons, ammunition and instructors.[4]

The South-West Caucasus Republic administered the entire Kars Oblast and neighboring formerly occupied districts for three months before provoking British intervention by order of General G.F. Milne, leading to its capitulation by Armenian and British forces on 10 April 1919.[5][6] Consequently, the Kars Oblast largely came under the Armenian civil governorship of Stepan Korganian who wasted no time in facilitating the repatriation of the region's exiled refugees.[7]

Despite the apparent defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish agitators were reported by Armenian intelligence to have been freely roaming the countryside of Kars encouraging sedition among the Muslim villages, culminating in a series of anti-Armenian uprisings on 1 July 1919.[8]

The Kars Oblast for the third time in six years saw invading Turkish troops, this time under the command of General Kâzım Karabekir in September 1920 during the Turkish-Armenian War. The disastrous war for Armenia resulted in the permanent expulsion of the region's ethnic Armenian population, many who inexorably remained befalling massacre, resulting in the region joining the Republic of Turkey through the Treaty of Alexandropol on 3 December 1920. Turkey's annexation of Kars and the adjacent Surmalu Uyezd was confirmed in the treaties of Kars and Moscow in 1921, by virtue of the new Soviet regime in Armenia.[9]

The first ruler of the oblast held the title of nachalnik ("chief"), later the title became military governor. Nachalniks were Ivan Popko (Russian: Попко, Иван Диомидович) between 01.11.1877 and 08.06.1878, and Viktor Frankini (Russian: Франкини, Виктор Антонович), between 08.06.1878 and 27.10.1878. The first military governor was Viktor Frankini (27.10.1878—01.04.1881).

Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow, set in present-day Kars, makes many references to the numerous buildings left over from the period of Russian rule, which in Pamuk's view make the city significantly different from other Turkish cities.

Administrative divisions

Since 1881, Kars Oblast consisted of four okrugs (counties) and fourteen uchastoks (sub-counties):[10]

  • Ardahan Okrug (Ардаганский округ)
    • Ardahan
    • Gole
    • Poskhov
    • Childir
  • Kars Okrug (Карсский округ)
    • Agbaba
    • Zarushad
    • Kars
    • Soganlug
    • Shuragel
  • Kagizman Okrug (Кагызманский округ)
    • Kagizman
    • Nakhichevan
    • Khorosan
  • Olti Okrug (Ольтинский округ)
    • Olti
    • Tausker

Zarushat (Зарушад) and Shoragyal (Шурагель) briefly existed as okrugs of the Kars Oblast between 1878-1881 before being relegated as uchastoks (sub-counties) of the Kars Okrug.

Demographics

Population estimate of 1886
Census population and average annual growth rate
YearPop.±%
187167,128—    
187269,996+4.3%
187678,650+12.4%
1880114,282+45.3%
1882162,979+42.6%
1886174,044+6.8%
1892200,868+15.4%
1893206,765+2.9%
1897290,654+40.6%
1899273,124−6.0%
1902297,125+8.8%
1903304,193+2.4%
1908310,155+2.0%
1910368,057+18.7%
1912371,903+1.0%
1913382,745+2.9%
1914391,213+2.2%
1915255,461−34.7%
1916364,214+42.6%
For 1903–1916, see Caucasian Calendars for years 1904, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917. The Caucasian Calendar for 1916 did not receive data for the Ardahan and Olti districts. The Caucasian Calendar for 1917 did not receive data for the Olti district.
Ethnic composition of the Kars Oblast in 1886[11]
Ethnic group Ardаhan Kagizman Kars Olti TOTAL
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Turkic 29,708 68.07 4,671 13.67 27,337 35.54 13,134 67.96 74,850 43.01
↳ Turkish 20,351 46.63 2,652 7.76 7,280 9.46 11,540 59.71 41,823 24.03
↳ Karapapakh 6,229 14.27 593 1.74 17,308 22.50 4 0.02 24,134 13.87
↳ Turkmen 3,128 7.17 1,426 4.17 2,749 3.57 1,591 8.23 8,893 5.11
Armenian 262 0.60 12,544 36.72 22,544 29.31 1,734 8.97 37,084 21.31
Kurd 6,974 15.98 12,003 35.14 5,124 6.66 2,333 12.07 26,434 15.19
Greek 5,617 12.87 4,880 14.29 11,002 14.30 2,026 10.48 23,525 13.52
Russian 1,036 2.37 0 0.00 9,657 12.56 1 0.06 10,695 6.14
Ossetian 0 0.00 0 0.00 418 0.54 12 0.06 430 0.25
Assyrian 0 0.00 0 0.00 321 0.42 0 0.00 321 0.18
Estonian 0 0.00 0 0.00 280 0.36 0 0.00 280 0.16
Lezgin 0 0.00 41 0.12 155 0.20 0 0.00 196 0.11
Persian 9 0.02 9 0.03 60 0.08 3 0.02 81 0.05
Romani 0 0.00 0 0.00 9 0.01 69 0.36 78 0.05
Adjarian 21 0.05 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 21 0.01
Abkhazian 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 12 0.06 12 0.01
Georgian 9 0.02 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 9 0.01
Polish 0 0.00 0 0.00 7 0.01 0 0.00 7 0.00
Bulgarian 1 0.00 0 0.00 3 0.01 1 0.01 5 0.00
Circassian 5 0.01 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 5 0.00
Kabardian 1 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 1 0.00
Other 0 0.00 10 0.03 0 0.00 0 0.00 10 0.01
TOTAL 43,643 100.00 34,158 100.00 76,917 100.00 19,326 100.00 174,044 100.00

Population estimate of 1892
Ethnographic map of the Kars Oblast, 1902 (according to the census of 1886)

In 1892, the population of Kars Oblast was estimated as 200,868. The ethnic composition was reported as follows:[1]

Ethnic composition of the Kars Oblast in 1892
Ethnic group Number %
Turk[lower-alpha 1] 48,208 24
Armenian 43,187 21.5
Kurd 30,130 15
Muslim Karapapaks[lower-alpha 2] 29,126 14
Greek 27,117 13.5
Russian[lower-alpha 3] 14,061 7
Alevi Karapapaks[lower-alpha 4] 10,043 5
Religious composition of the Kars Oblast in 1892[1]
Faith Percentage (%)
Islam 53
↳ Sunni 46
↳ Shi'a 7
Armenian Apostolic 21
Eastern Orthodoxy 14
Spiritual Christianity[lower-alpha 5] 5
Alevism 5
Yazidism 1.25
Other Christian churches 0.75

Russian Imperial Census of 1897
Kars 1897 Census

The Russian Empire Census of 1897 counted 290,654 residents in the Kars Oblast, including 160,571 men and 130,083 women. This number may imply that the 200,868 estimate for 1892 given by Brockhaus is too low, or that a large-scale migration from other provinces of the empire took place in between.

Linguistic composition of the districts of the Kars Oblast in 1897[12]
Native language Ardаhan Kagizman Kars Olti TOTAL
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Turkic 40,287 61.26 6,700 11.31 36,712 27.37 20,723 65.7 104,422 35.93
↳ Tatar[lower-alpha 6] 37 0.06 867 1.46 1,439 1.07 4 0.01 2,347 0.81
↳ Bashkir 1 0.00 0 0.00 206 0.15 0 0.00 207 0.07
↳ Turkish 28,047 42.65 5,172 8.73 10,609 7.91 19,719 62.56 63,547 21.86
↳ Karapapakh 7,874 11.97 2 0.00 22,002 16.40 1 0.00 29,879 10.28
↳ Turkmen[lower-alpha 7] 4,328 6.58 659 1.11 2,456 1.83 999 3.17 8,442 2.90
Armenian 1,918 2.92 21,648 36.55 46,715 34.83 3,125 9.91 73,406 25.26
Kurdish 12,565 19.11 17,733 29.94 9,165 6.83 3,505 11.12 42,968 14.78
Greek 7,839 11.92 7,245 12.23 14,805 11.04 2,704 8.58 32,593 11.21
East Slavic 2,357 3.58 4,085 6.90 20,376 15.19 1,038 3.29 27,856 9.58
↳ Russian 1,966 2.99 2,617 4.42 16,874 12.58 870 2.76 22,327 7.68
↳ Ukrainian 383 0.58 1,431 2.42 3,297 2.46 168 0.53 5,279 1.82
↳ Belarusian 8 0.01 37 0.06 205 0.15 0 0.00 250 0.09
Polish 207 0.31 895 1.51 2,093 1.56 48 0.15 3,243 1.12
Jewish 113 0.17 270 0.46 755 0.56 0 0.00 1,138 0.39
Lithuanian 45 0.07 236 0.40 611 0.46 0 0.00 892 0.31
Assyrian[lower-alpha 8] 0 0.00 0 0.00 585 0.44 0 0.00 585 0.20
Persian 137 0.21 70 0.12 317 0.24 44 0.14 568 0.20
Georgian 137 0.21 61 0.10 308 0.23 20 0.06 526 0.18
Ossetian 47 0.07 10 0.02 401 0.30 62 0.20 520 0.18
Estonian 0 0.00 31 0.05 424 0.32 0 0.00 455 0.16
German 30 0.05 99 0.17 294 0.22 7 0.02 430 0.15
Avar-Andean 20 0.03 21 0.04 276 0.21 11 0.03 328 0.11
Dargin 7 0.01 10 0.02 95 0.07 8 0.03 120 0.04
Other 54 0.08 116 0.20 210 0.16 224 0.71 604 0.21
TOTAL 65,763 100.00 59,230 100.00 134,142 100.00 31,519 100.00 290,654 100.00

The 30,000 excess population of male over females was mainly attributed to the "European" ethnic groups. Among the 27,856 speakers of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian, 19,910 men and 7,946 women were recorded. The Polish, and Lithuanian speakers were almost exclusively (99%) male as well; Germans and Jews, 80 to 90% males. This preponderance of males in the "European" ethnic groups (reported, usually to a lesser extent, in neighboring governorates as well) may indicate presence of a large numbers of soldiers or exiled persons in the region. Many of these Christian Orthodox communities had fought in or collaborated with the Russian Imperial Army as a means of recapturing territory from the Muslim Ottomans for Christian Orthodoxy.[1]

Religious composition of the Kars Oblast in 1897[13]
Faith Male Female Both
Number %
Muslim 76,521 69,331 145,852 50.18
Armenian Apostolic 37,726 33,397 71,123 24.47
Eastern Orthodox 31,115 18,180 49,295 16.96
Old Believer 6,069 6,351 12,420 4.27
Roman Catholic 4,286 87 4,373 1.50
Other non-Christian denomination 1,790 1,536 3,326 1.14
Armenian Catholic 1,065 779 1,844 0.63
Judaism 1,114 90 1,204 0.41
Lutheran 854 323 1,177 0.40
Reformed 15 8 23 0.01
Other Christian denomination 9 0 9 0.00
Baptist 7 1 8 0.00
TOTAL 160,571 130,083 290,654 100.00

Caucasian Calendar of 1917

The 1917 Caucasian Calendar which produced statistics of 1916 indicates 404,305 residents in the Kars Oblast, including 206,435 men and 197,870 women, 345,953 of whom were the permanent population, and 58,352 were temporary residents.[14]

Ethno-religious composition of the districts of the Kars Oblast in 1916[14]
Ethno-religious group Ardаhan Kagizman Kars Olti[15][lower-alpha 9] TOTAL
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Armenian 2,744 3.08 34,721 41.73 80,752 42.06 4,953 12.35 123,170 30.46
↳ Armenian Apostolic 2,072 2.33 33,744 40.55 77,410 40.32 4,566 11.39 117,792 29.13
↳ Eastern Orthodox 0 0.00 0 0.00 2 0.00 263 0.66 265 0.07
↳ Other faith 672 0.75 977 1.17 3,340 1.74 124 0.31 5,113 1.26
Asiatic Sunni Muslim[lower-alpha 10] 46,126 51.81 4,613 5.54 32,565 16.96 21,767 54.29 105,071 25.99
Kurd 24,707 27.75 26,709 32.10 16,034 8.35 5,230 13.05 72,680 17.98
↳ Muslim 18,164 20.40 20,677 24.85 10,911 5.68 5,179 12.92 54,931 13.59
↳ Yazidi 6,543 7.35 6,032 7.25 5,123 2.67 51 0.13 17,749 4.39
Romani 12,061 13.55 2,580 3.10 23,504 12.24 134 0.33 38,279 9.47
Asiatic Christian[lower-alpha 11] 755 0.85 12,903 15.51 3,129 1.63 3,454 8.62 20,241 5.01
Asiatic Shi'a Muslim[lower-alpha 12] 82 0.09 1,137 1.37 18,225 9.49 61 0.15 19,505 4.82
Russian 2,510 2.82 507 0.61 15,980 8.32 201 0.50 19,198 4.75
↳ Old Believer 1,771 1.99 480 0.58 11,600 6.04 18 0.04 13,869 3.43
↳ Eastern Orthodox 739 0.83 27 0.03 4,380 2.28 183 0.46 5,329 1.32
Georgian 31 0.03 0 0.00 105 0.05 4,095 10.21 4,231 1.05
↳ Eastern Orthodox 26 0.03 0 0.00 105 0.05 4,095[lower-alpha 13] 10.21 4,226 1.05
↳ Muslim 5 0.01 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 5 0.00
Caucasian highlander 8 0.01 32 0.04 869 0.45 124 0.31 1,033 0.26
↳ Muslim 0 0.00 32 0.04 869 0.45 112 0.28 1,013 0.25
↳ Other faith 8 0.01 0 0.00 0 0.00 12 0.03 20 0.00
Jewish 4 0.00 0 0.00 25 0.01 72 0.18 101 0.02
Other Europeans 8 0.01 6 0.01 782 0.41 0 0.00 796 0.20
TOTAL 89,036 100.00 83,208 100.00 191,970 100.00 40,091 100.00 404,305 100.00

See also

Notes
  1. Including Adjarian
  2. Sunni and some Shi'a
  3. Mostly "sectarians"
  4. reported as 'Turkmen'
  5. Pryguny, Molokans, Doukhobors, etc.
  6. later known as Azerbaijani
  7. Alevi Karapapakh
  8. Syro-Chaldean
  9. The Caucasian Calendar for 1917 did not receive the Olti district data for 1916, therefore, the latest available data is used from the 1915 Calendar for the year 1914.
  10. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Asiatic Muslim respondents in the Transcaucasus were predominantly Bashkirs, Karapapakhs, Persians, Talysh, Tats, Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis), and Turks.
  11. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Asiatic Christian respondents in the Transcaucasus were predominantly Abkhazians, Assyrians, and Greeks.
  12. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Asiatic Muslim respondents in the Transcaucasus were predominantly Bashkirs, Karapapakhs, Persians, Talysh, Tats, Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis), and Turks.
  13. [sic]

References
  1. Карсская область (Kars Oblast) in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian)
  2. "КАРССКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ — информация на портале Энциклопедия Всемирная история". w.histrf.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  3. Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971–1996). The Republic of Armenia. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-520-01805-2. OCLC 238471.
  4. Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971–1996). The Republic of Armenia. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 201. ISBN 0-520-01805-2. OCLC 238471.
  5. Andersen, Andrew. "Armenia in the Aftermath of Mudros: Conflicting claims and Strife with the Neighbors".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971–1996). The Republic of Armenia. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 220. ISBN 0-520-01805-2. OCLC 238471.
  7. Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971–1996). The Republic of Armenia. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 204. ISBN 0-520-01805-2. OCLC 238471.
  8. Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971–1996). The Republic of Armenia. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 66. ISBN 0-520-01805-2. OCLC 238471.
  9. De Waal, Thomas (2015). Great catastrophe : Armenians and Turks in the shadow of genocide. Oxford. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-19-935070-4. OCLC 897378977.
  10. Кавказский календарь .... на 1913 год (in Russian). Tiflis: Office of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. 1913. pp. 271–317.
  11. "население северо-восточной турции". www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  12. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  13. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  14. Кавказский календарь .... на 1917 год (in Russian). Tiflis: Office of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. 1917. pp. 359–360.
  15. Кавказский календарь .... на 1915 год (in Russian). pp. 303–304.

Further reading

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