armenia borders

Selected border agreements in the Caucasus

Armenia Azerbaijan

Georgia

Turkey

Iran

Azerbaijan

(Nakhchivan)

Russia

ArmeniaNagorno-Karabakh Republic

(de facto)


Armenia Azerbaijan

Georgia

Turkey

Iran

Azerbaijan

(Nakhchivan)

Russia


Armenia Azerbaijan

Georgia

Turkey

Iran

Azerbaijan

(Nakhchivan)

RussiaNote: Due to differences between maps of different eras, cartographic errors in original maps, and map rectification and transcription errors in this presentation, some minor apparent changes in border delimitation do not actually correspond to real border changes. The depicted borders are not guaranteed to be exact.


Armenia Azerbaijan

Georgia

Turkey

Iran

Azerbaijan

(Nakhchivan)

RussiaNote: Due to differences between maps of different eras, cartographic errors in original maps, and map rectification and transcription errors in this presentation, some minor apparent changes in border delimitation do not actually correspond to real border changes. The depicted borders are not guaranteed to be exact.

Mount Ararat

Selected border agreements in the Caucasus1639 Treaty of Zuhab (or Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin)Treaty concluding the final war between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire of Persia

Safavid Empire(“Persia” / “Iran”)

Ottoman Empire(“Turkey”)




The Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 was the last major peace treaty defining the partition of the Middle East between the Ottoman and Safavid empires.

The treaty roughly affirmed the Peace of Amasya, the first Ottoman-Safavid peace treaty in 1555.




The modern border between Turkey and the South Caucasus / Iran largely derives from the Zuhab partition. The Zuhab-defined border was, however, poorly delimited and not demarcated, and was later contested.



Caucasus borders in 1800Following a period of competition between the Russians, Persians, and Ottomans

Western Caucasus Mountain Peoples

Russian Empire

Kingdoms and territories contested during the late 1700s

Qajar Persia(“Iran”)




Russian Empire

Caucasus borders in 1800Kingdoms, principalities, vassal states, imperial provinces, and ethno-toponyms


Somkhetia

Armenia

Nakhichevan

Azarbaijan

Karabagh

Talysh

Shirvan

Kartli-KakhetiaTrialeti

Borchalo

PambakShuragel

Kazakh

ShamshadilLazista

n

Ajaria

Guria

Mingrelia

Imer

etia

Abkhazia Svanetia

Circassia

DaghestanChechnya

Tarki

Avaria

Kumukh

Lezgia

Kabardia

Ossetia

Ganja

Quba




1813 Treaty of GulistanTreaty between the Russian and Persian empires to conclude the 1804–1813 Russo-Persian War


Russian Empire






Russian Empire

The Treaty of Gulistan, which concluded the first large-scale Russo-Persian War, transferred most of the Persian South Caucasus to the Russian Empire.






Russian Empire

The Treaty of Gulistan left the delimitation of the Russo-Persian border in the Talysh region on the Caspian Sea to be determined by later agreements.





Russian Empire

1828 Treaty of TurkmenchayTreaty between the Russian and Persian empires to conclude the 1826–1828 Russo-Persian War





Russian Empire


The Treaty of Turkmenchay concluded Russia’s conquest of the Persian South Caucasus. The Aras (Araxes / Araks) River became the border between the Russian and Persian empires. After the treaty, the Russian, Persian, and Ottoman borders joined at Lesser Ararat.





Russian Empire


The treaty permitted captives taken during the war and in the previous few decades to return to their respective homes. It also allowed inhabitants of Iranian Azerbaijan (south of the Aras River) to immigrate freely to Russian territories within one year. These provisions started a wave of Armenian immigration from Persia to the newly Russian-held South Caucasus.





Russian Empire

1829 Treaty of AdrianopleTreaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires to conclude the 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War





Russian Empire


The Treaty of Adrianople formalized the Russian-Ottoman frontier. The Ottomans recognized Russian sovereignty over Georgia and eastern Armenia. The Ottomans also recognized the Russo-Persian frontier as determined by the Treaty of Turkmenchay.





Russian Empire


The treaty permitted inhabitants of both sides to emigrate freely within eighteen months. Significant Armenian emigration from the Ottoman and Persian empires to the Russian South Caucasus occurred after the treaties of Turkmenchay and Adrianople.





Russian Empire


Note: In the previous few decades, a number of Armenians had immigrated to Georgia. In the early 17th century, many Armenians were forcibly resettled from eastern (Persian) Armenia to the Iranian interior. Thus, the unfavorable demographic trends for Armenians in eastern Armenia were reversed after the Turkmenchay and Adrianople treaties.




Russian Empire

1878 Treaty of San StefanoPreliminary treaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires to conclude the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War

Alexandropol(Gyumri)

Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha

Elizavetpol(Ganja) Baku

Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt

ErzurumErzincanBayazit

Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran

AkhaltsikhAkhalkalaki

Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire


The Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano principally addressed the sovereignty and boundaries of states in the region of the Balkan Peninsula. In the Caucasus, Russia gained territory that had long been part of the Ottoman Empire, including historic Armenian lands with sizeable Armenian populations, most notably in Kars Eyalet.


Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha


Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt


Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran


Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire


Note: Prior to the San Stefano treaty, the disputed Russo-Turkish frontier was further delimited according to the Protocol of Constantinople (1857) that supplemented the Treaty of Paris (1856) that concluded the Crimean War.


Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha


Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt


Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran


Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire

1878 Treaty of BerlinTreaty between the major world powers to revise the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano


Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha


Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt


Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran


Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire


The Treaty of Berlin was signed after the Western European powers, chiefly Britain, pushed for the curtailment of the previous expansion of the Russian sphere of influence under the San Stefano treaty.In the Caucasus, the Ottomans regained Bayazit and the Plain of Alashkert, which contained a major trade route.


Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha


Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt


Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran


Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire


The Treaty of Berlin also recognized the Qotur district as part of Persia – the result of successful lobbying by Russia, which Persia supported in its war against the Ottomans.


Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha


Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt


Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran


Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire


The Treaty of Berlin additionally required the Ottoman Empire to address the “Armenian Question” by implementing reforms in its Armenian-inhabited provinces. These reforms generally were not implemented.


Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha


Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt


Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran


Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire


The European powers also tried to impose reforms aiding Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1895 and in 1912–1914. The 1914 accord, signed by the Russians and Ottomans in Yeniköy in February, provided for the deployment of European inspectors to enforce the accord. These reforms also were not implemented.


Erivan

Nakhichevan

Shusha


Derbent

Tiflis

Kutais

Batum

ArdahanArtvin

Olti KarsTrebizond

Baiburt


Surmalu

Van KhoyQotur

Maku

Bitlis

Mush

Kagizman

Alashkert

Vladikavkaz

Grozny

Shemakha

Lenkoran


Poti

NukhaQuba

Gori Telav

Tabriz

Sukhum-Kale

Pyatigorsk

Ardabil




Russian Empire

Ethnic distribution of the Russian Caucasus in the late 19th centuryThe seeds of later ethnic conflict

Map credit: Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus by Arthur Tsutsiev (2014)




Russian Empire



Elizavetpol Governorate




Russian Empire




Karabakh




Russian Empire




Highland (“Nagorno”)

Karabakh Armenian-and-Azeri-populated region of Azeri-dominated Elizavetpol Governorate.




Russian Empire




Highland (“Nagorno”)

Karabakh Later to become an autonomous oblast under the administration of Soviet Azerbaijan.




Russian Empire




ZangezurArmenian-populated region of Azeri-dominated Elizavetpol Governorate.




Russian Empire




ZangezurLater to become part of Soviet Armenia.




Russian Empire




Kazakh(“Qazakh”)




Russian Empire





Armenian-and-Azeri-populated region of Azeri-dominated Elizavetpol Governorate.




Russian Empire





Southwestern part of Kazakh Uyezd (former Kazakh Sultanate) later to become part of Soviet Armenia.




Russian Empire



Erivan Governorate




Russian Empire



Erivan Governorate

NakhichevanAzeri-and-Armenian-populated region of Armenian-dominated Erivan Governorate.




Russian Empire



Erivan Governorate

NakhichevanLater to become an autonomous republic under the administration of Soviet Azerbaijan.




Russian Empire



Erivan Governorate




Russian Empire



Erivan Governorate

SurmaliMixed-populated region of Armenian-dominated Erivan Governorate.




Russian Empire



Erivan Governorate

SurmaliThe northeastern slopes of Mount Ararat belonged to Russian Surmali, the southwestern slopes to Ottoman Turkey, and the southeastern slope of Lesser Ararat to Persia.




Russian Empire



Erivan Governorate

SurmaliLater to become part of Turkey.




Russian Empire



Kars Oblast




Russian Empire



Kars OblastMixed-populated region seized in the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War.




Russian Empire



Kars OblastLater to become part of Turkey (mostly).




Russian Empire



Kars OblastThe Aghbaba district containing Lake Arpi, the headwaters of the Arpachay (“Akhurian”) River, later became part of Soviet Armenia.




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate

JavakhetiArmenian-populated region of Georgian-dominated Tiflis Governorate.




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate

JavakhetiLater to become part of Soviet Georgia.




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate

BorchaliMixed-populated region of Georgian-dominated Tiflis Governorate.




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate

BorchaliNorthern part later to become part of Soviet Georgia.




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate

LoriArmenian-populated region of Georgian-dominated Tiflis Governorate.




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate

LoriAttached to Borchali Uyezd (District) in Tiflis Governorate in 1862 but previously part of Erivan Governorate.




Russian Empire



Tiflis Governorate

LoriLater to become part of Soviet Armenia.




Russian Empire

International borders in the Caucasus on the eve of World War I




Russian Empire

World War I and the Caucasus Campaign




Russian Empire

World War I and the Caucasus CampaignWorld War I began in July 1914 and fighting between the Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire had broken out in the Caucasus by November 1914. The Russians quickly gained the upper hand and by 1917 occupied a substantial portion of eastern Ottoman territory, including much of “Ottoman Armenia” (i.e., the provinces with large Armenian minorities).

(Russian-occupied by 1917)





Russian Empire

World War I and the Caucasus CampaignRussian Armenia provided several volunteer battalions to supplement the Russian forces. The Russian and Armenian forces were able to relieve the Ottoman Army’s siege of Van in July 1915 long enough for the city’s Armenian inhabitants to escape to Russian Armenia.






Russian Empire

World War I and the Caucasus CampaignRussian forces arrived in the Ottoman provinces of Erzurum and Bitlis too late to prevent the massacres and deportations of Armenians there in the summer of 1915. During the war, Russian forces never occupied the prominently Armenian-populated Ottoman provinces farther west, which were also depopulated during the Armenian Genocide.






Russian Empire

World War I and the Caucasus CampaignRussian military power in the Caucasus began to collapse after the February 1917 revolution in Russia. The military power vacuum was eventually filled by Armenian and Georgian forces. By early 1918, however, the Ottomans had retaken most of the territory that Russia had captured earlier in the war.






1918 Treaty of Brest-LitovskTreaty between Bolshevist Russia and the Central Powers to conclude Russia’s participation in World War I

Russian S.F.S.R.(“Soviet Russia”)

Transcaucasian Commissariatand Sejm

Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus








The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk marked the withdrawal of Russia, now controlled by Bolsheviks after the revolution of October 1917, from World War I.In Europe, Russia lost control over Poland, the Baltics, and Ukraine. In the Caucasus, Russia ceded its claims to the Batum, Ardahan, and Kars districts, returning the Russian border to its pre-1878 position. The Russians and Ottomans had signed the Armistice of Erzincan in December 1917.








The Brest-Litovsk border in the Caucasus did not legally form a new Russo-Turkish frontier, as the ceded districts were allowed to organize their own independent governments. The possession of these districts later became disputed between the Turks, Georgians, and Armenians; the latter two governments did not sign the Brest-Litovsk treaty.








At the time of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia was no longer exerting central control over the Transcaucasus. This allowed the Transcaucasian peoples to form an independent governing body, the Transcaucasian Commissariat, which convoked a diet (“sejm”) with Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani representatives.






1918 Treaty of BatumPeace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and newly-independent Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan

Georgia

Armenia Azerbaijan






Georgia

Armenia Azerbaijan


The Treaty of Batum followed a period of conflict within the Transcaucasus. Delegates from the Transcaucasian states entered negotiations with the Ottomans at Trebizond following the Russian-Ottoman Brest-Litovsk Treaty. At the time, the Russian Army, supplemented by Armenians and a small contingent of Georgians, still occupied parts of the eastern Ottoman Empire (i.e., historic Armenia). The Ottomans wanted the Transcaucasian states to recognize the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, but the Armenians refused, as they wished to retain the territories with sizable Armenian populations that the Russians had seized in 1878 (e.g., Kars District).






Georgia

Armenia Azerbaijan


The Ottoman Army invaded the occupied eastern Ottoman provinces in the name of protecting the Muslim population from atrocities perpetrated by Armenians. The Armenians and Georgians broke off negotiations at Trebizond. During the Ottoman campaign, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan formed a Menshevik-controlled independent Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR). Eventually Erzurum, Batum, Kars, and Alexandropol fell to the Ottomans. During new peace negotiations between the Ottomans and the TDFR at Batum, the Armenians won a series of last-ditch battles at Bash Abaran, Karakilisa, and Sardarapat, possibly saving Armenia from being overrun by the Ottoman Third Army.






Georgia

Armenia Azerbaijan


At the end of the Batum negotiations the TDFR fell apart: the Georgians secretly allied with the Germans for protection from the Ottomans, and the Azerbaijanis would not oppose their Turkic brethren. The ensuing Treaty of Batum had harsh terms for the newly-independent Transcaucasian states, particularly the Armenians – much worse than the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Armenians’ last-ditch victories won them only a small territorial concession from the Ottomans.





Georgia

Azerbaijan

The First Republic of ArmeniaEstablished on 28 May 1918 with de facto boundaries and disestablished on 2 December 1920

ArmeniaOttoman Empire(“Turkey”)





Georgia

Azerbaijan



The First Republic of Armenia was the first sizeable independent Armenian state since the fall of Armenian Cilicia in 1375, and the first within Historic Armenia since the fall of Bagratid Armenia in 1045.





Georgia

Azerbaijan



In October 1918 the Allies and the Ottoman Empire signed an armistice at Port Mudros, ending the Ottoman Empire’s participation in World War I. The Armistice of Mudros called for the demobilization of the Ottoman Army and included a provision allowing Allied intervention in Ottoman Armenia in the case of disorder. In November 1918 the warring parties in Europe signed their own armistice. The signatories to the November armistice, including Germany but excluding Russia and the Ottoman Empire, renounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.





Georgia

Azerbaijan



The power vacuum in the Transcaucasus, which now had been abandoned by the armies of the Russian and Ottoman empires, led to independent Armenia establishing de facto control of much of the western Transcaucasus that had been under Russian control before World War I. Bitter fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan ensued over the territories of Nakhichevan, Zangezur, and Karabakh. A smaller conflict arose between Armenia and Georgia led to the Lori region becoming a neutral zone, according to the Shulaveri Condominium.





Georgia

Azerbaijan



Before the Armistice of Mudros, the British Empire sent an occupying force to Baku to deny Baku’s oil and other resources to the Ottomans and Germans, but this force was defeated by the Ottomans and Azerbaijanis. The armistice allowed the British to reoccupy Baku. The British also established a military command in Tiflis from which to stabilize and control the region and resist the Bolsheviks. The British withdrew from the Transcaucasus in August 1919 after the Bolsheviks gained the upper-hand over the British-backed White Russians.




Georgia

Azerbaijan

1920 Treaty of SèvresTreaty between several of the European Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire following World War I

Mountainous Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (A.S.S.R.)

Armenia




Georgia

Azerbaijan


Armenia

The Treaty of Sèvres, signed in August 1920, formalized the Ottoman defeat in World War I that was initiated with the October 1918 Armistice of Mudros. Imposing this treaty was part of the process of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the Allied powers.




Georgia

Azerbaijan


Armenia

During the San Remo session of the Paris Peace Conference, the European Allied powers approached U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to request that the United States assume a mandate over Armenia and that he draw the frontier of sovereign Armenia. In June 1920 the U.S. Senate rejected the proposed American mandate over Armenia. (France and Britain accepted the mandates for Syria and Lebanon, and Palestine and Mesopotamia, respectively.)




Georgia

Azerbaijan


Armenia

Wilson’s delimitation of the Armenian frontier, included in an annex to the Treaty of Sèvres, included much of Historic Armenia plus a significant coastline along the Black Sea, including the port of Trebizond. The treaty was signed by the representatives of the Ottoman sultan, but it was not ratified by the General Assembly due to the Turkish War of Independence that had begun in 1919.




Georgia

Azerbaijan


Armenia

The Treaty of Sèvres, which was never implemented, was renounced in further treaties signed by Turkey, the core successor state to the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Sèvres was eventually superseded by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which was signed after the First Republic of Armenia had been absorbed into the USSR, and therefore included no provisions for an independent Armenia.





Georgia

Turkish nationalist state(“Turkey”)

Armenia


1920 Treaty of Alexandropol (or Treaty of Gümrü)Treaty between Armenia & the new Turkish nationalist government concluding the 1920 Turkish-Armenian war

Azerbaijani S.S.R.(“Soviet Azerbaijan”)




Georgia


Armenia




The Treaty of Alexandropol concluded the brief Turkish-Armenian war during the fall of 1920. The Turkish nationalist forces, which were in the process of overthrowing the Ottoman sultan, had decided to avoid any further partition of the Ottoman Empire, as had been attempted in the Treaty of Sèvres. They fought to secure the core of the empire from Anatolia to the Caucasus to create a fait accompli. The Turkish nationalists invaded Armenia in September 1920, captured Kars and Alexandropol, and finally defeated the Armenians in November.




Georgia


Armenia




The Treaty of Alexandropol roughly returned the Turkish-Armenian frontier to the Russo-Turkish frontier prior to 1878, except the Armenians lost Surmalu district (which included most of Mount Ararat) and gained the small Aghbaba district. Armenia also renounced the Treaty of Sèvres.




Georgia


Armenia




The Treaty of Alexandropol also created an independent state in Nakhichevan under Turkish protection, whose borders were loosely defined. The Nakhichevan district’s frontier was defined by this treaty, and by a Soviet-Turkish treaty the next year, to include a small border with the newly-Turkish Surmalu district. These agreements resulted in Turkey and Azerbaijan having a small shared border after Nakhichevan became an autonomous republic under Soviet Azerbaijan, since the small subdistrict of Sharur across the new border with Turkey was awarded to Nakhichevan.




Georgia


Armenia




The Treaty of Alexandropol did not address the Turkish-Georgian frontier. The frontier according to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is shown here.







1921 Treaty of MoscowFriendship treaty between the Turkish nationalist (Kemalist) government in Ankara and Bolshevist Russia

Armenian S.S.R.(“Soviet Armenia”)

Georgian S.S.R.(“Soviet Georgia”)










The Treaty of Moscow was a friendship agreement between Soviet Russia and the Turkish nationalists, whom the Bolshevists wished to influence toward their ideology. During the negotiations for the Treaty of Alexandropol between the Turks and Armenians, Bolshevist Russia had invaded Armenia with the intent of incorporating it into the new Soviet state.










The Treaty of Moscow defined the frontier beyond wish the Turkish nationalists surrendered their claims to territories in the Caucasus. Since the Georgian and Armenian republics were not signatories to this treaty, this boundary did not yet form a legal border with those states.










Under the Treaty of Moscow, Turkey claimed a small strip of land (approximately 3 × 30 km) across the river from Alexandropol that had been awarded to Armenia under the Treaty of Alexandropol. Nakhichevan was established as an autonomous territory under the protection of Azerbaijan and its borders were adjusted slightly. The Turks ceded their claim to the region of Adjara, including the port of Batum, which became part of Soviet Georgia.










Under the Treaty of Moscow, Turkey and Russia agreed to not to recognize any prior treaties imposed on either nation against its will, nor any treaty not recognized by the new national government of Turkey based in Ankara (e.g., the Treaty of Sèvres).









1921 Treaty of KarsTreaty between Kemalist Turkey and the Russian and Transcaucasian Soviet republics affirming the Treaty of Moscow










The Treaty of Kars confirmed the terms of the earlier Treaty of Moscow. The Kars treaty was between the Turkish nationalists and the newly-Soviet states of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; thus, all the states in the Transcaucasus agreed upon the Turco-Caucasian frontier. This treaty also clarified the delimitation of the borders in the Caucasus.










Under the Treaty of Kars, Turkey and the Soviet republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan declared null and void all territorial agreements involving the previous governments of those states, as well as all agreements between those states and third party powers.










The Treaty of Kars of 1921 is the basis for the modern Turco-Caucasian frontier. The Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828 is the basis for the modern Iranian-Caucasian frontier (along with a tiny border change specified in the Russo-Persian treaty of 1893).


The early Soviet era (1920s – 1930s)

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(1922–1991)





Iran

Turkey

Transcaucasian S.F.S.R.(1922–1936)








Iran

Turkey

From 1922 to 1936 Soviet Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were consolidated into a Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Socialist Republic (TSFSR), which was a founding member of the USSR in 1922.

During the 1920s and 1930s the USSR made a number of small border adjustments and administrative reorganizations in the Transcaucasus.







Iran

TurkeyNAKHICHEVAN

ARMENIA SSRKURDISTANI

DISTRICT

REST OFAZERBAIJAN

SSR

IRAN

NAGORNO-KARABAKH

From 1922 to 1936 Soviet Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were consolidated into a Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Socialist Republic (TSFSR), which was a founding member of the USSR in 1922.

During the 1920s and 1930s the USSR made a number of small border adjustments and administrative reorganizations in the Transcaucasus.







Iran

TurkeyNAKHICHEVAN


DISTRICT

REST OFAZERBAIJAN

SSR

IRAN

NAGORNO-KARABAKH

The status of Nagorno-Karabakh was debated for the first few years of the Soviet era. In December 1920 when Armenia was Sovietized, the Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee offered to cede Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia (or, according to Azerbaijani accounts, to give Nagorno-Karabakh the right to self-determination).







Iran

TurkeyNAKHICHEVAN


DISTRICT

REST OFAZERBAIJAN

SSR

IRAN

NAGORNO-KARABAKH

In June 1921, the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (“Kavburo”) agreed that Soviet Armenia should announce that Nagorno-Karabakh belonged to Soviet Armenia. In July 1921, the Kavburo decided that Nagorno-Karabakh should be joined to Soviet Armenia, but reversed itself the next day by announcing that Nagorno Karabakh would remain in Soviet Azerbaijan (on Josef Stalin’s order, according to Armenian allegations).







Iran

TurkeyNAKHICHEVAN


DISTRICT

REST OFAZERBAIJAN

SSR

IRAN

NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Soviet Azerbaijan created the Autonomous Oblast of Nagorno Karabakh (AONK, later renamed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO)) in 1923 (formalized in 1924). The AONK was placed under the administration of Soviet Azerbaijan and its borders were mostly determined between 1923 and 1925 by subcommittees of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party.









Iran

Turkey

The final borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast roughly coincided with the territories of four out of the five Armenian melikdoms (principalities) – excluding Gulistan – that had been mostly autonomous under Persian rule before their decline in the late 18th century.







Iran

TurkeyNAKHICHEVAN


DISTRICT

REST OFAZERBAIJAN

SSR

IRAN

NAGORNO-KARABAKH

From 1923 to 1930 a district for Shia Kurds was established in Soviet Azerbaijan between Nagorno-Karabakh and the border with Soviet Armenia.







Iran

TurkeyNAKHICHEVAN


DISTRICT

REST OFAZERBAIJAN

SSR

IRAN

NAGORNO-KARABAKH

The Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was created in 1924 and placed under the administration of Soviet Azerbaijan.









Iran

Turkey








Iran

Turkey

1932 Turco-Persian frontier agreement



Mount Ararat






Iran

Turkey


In the mid-1920s a series of Kurdish uprisings in Turkey led to a full rebellion in the vicinity of Mount Ararat and the declaration of an independent Kurdish Republic of Ararat in 1927. Greater Ararat had come into complete Turkish possession after the 1921 Treaty of Kars, but the southern slopes of Lesser Ararat belonged to Persia, allowing the Kurdish rebels a cross-border route of escape and supply.



Mount Ararat






Iran

Turkey


After Turkey crushed the Kurdish Ararat rebellion in 1930, the Turkish and Persian defense ministers signed a new border agreement in 1932, which in part traded the Persian slopes of Lesser Ararat to Turkey in exchange for Turkish border lands in the vicinity of Qotur and farther south. The border agreement was finally approved in 1934, bringing all of Mount Ararat under the control of Turkey.



Mount Ararat

Armenian S.S.R.(“Soviet Armenia”) Azerbaijani S.S.R.

(“Soviet Azerbaijan”)

Iran

Turkey



Credit: Bournoutian (2015)


Mount Ararat

Armenian S.S.R.(“Soviet Armenia”) Azerbaijani S.S.R.

(“Soviet Azerbaijan”)

Iran

Turkey



Credit: Bournoutian (2015)

Greater Ararat

Lesser Ararat






Iran

Turkey

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (the second republic, until 1991)


Nakhchivan A.S.S.R.

(admin. by Azerbaijan)






Iran

Turkey


Nakhchivan A.S.S.R.


Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (administered by the Azerbaijani S.S.R.)

Nagorno-Karabakh A.O.






Iran

Turkey


Nakhchivan A.S.S.R.


Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (administered by the Azerbaijani S.S.R.)

Nagorno-Karabakh A.O.

Note: The various autonomous soviet socialist republics in Georgia and the North Caucasus are not shown here.


Iran

Turkey

Fall of the Soviet Union (1991) and the Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988 – 1994)


Iran

Turkey


Armenia and the other South Caucasus republics declared their independence as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.


Iran

Turkey


Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over the possession of Nagorno-Karabakh that intensified as the Soviet Union fell. Ethnic Armenian forces won the war and formed the independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which is mostly unrecognized internationally.


Iran

Turkey


Line of Contact separating ethnic Armenian forces from Azerbaijani forces after the 1994 ceasefire.


Iran

Turkey


The Line of Contact has changed position very slightly from time to time (changes not shown here).


Armenia Azerbaijan

Georgia

Turkey

Iran

Azerbaijan

(Nakhchivan)

Russia

Modern Armenia (the third republic, 1991 – present) and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

ArmeniaNagorno-Karabakh Republic

(de facto)

armenia borders

Education