TheGeorgia–Turkey border (Georgian:საქართველო–თურქეთის საზღვარი,Turkish:Gürcistan–Türkiye sınırı) is 273 km (170 miles) in length and runs from theBlack Sea coast in the west to thetripoint withArmenia in the east.[2]
The border starts in the west on the Black Sea just south ofSarpi and then proceeds overland eastwards via a series of irregular lines; it then arcs broadly south-eastwards, cutting acrossKartsakhi Lake, and down to the Armenian tripoint. The western third of the border is taken up by Georgia'sAutonomous Republic of Adjara.
During the 19th the Caucasus region was contested between the decliningOttoman Empire,Persia andRussia, which was expanding southwards. Russia had conquered most of Persia's Caucasian lands by 1828 and then turned its attention to the Ottoman Empire.[3] By the 1829Treaty of Adrianople (ending theRusso-Turkish War of 1828–29) Russia gained most of modern Georgia (includingImeretia,Mingrelia andGuria), with a frontier being delimited situated roughly north of the current Georgia-Turkey boundary.[3][4][5][6]
During theFirst World War Russiainvaded the eastern areas of the Ottoman Empire. In the chaos following the1917 Russian Revolution the new Communist government hastily sought to end its involvement in the war and signed theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 with Germany and the Ottoman Empire.[3] By this treaty, Russia handed back the areas gained by the earlier Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin.[4]
Seeking to gain independence from both empires, the peoples of the southern Caucasus had declared theTranscaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918 and startedpeace talks with the Ottomans.[10][11] Internal disagreements led toGeorgia leaving the federation in May 1918, followed shortly thereafter byArmenia andAzerbaijan. With the Ottomans havinginvaded the Caucasus and quickly gained ground, the three new republics were compelled to sign theTreaty of Batum on 4 June 1918, by which they recognised the pre-1878 border.[12][13] Ottoman gains in Armenia were consolidated further by theTreaty of Aleksandropol (1920).[4] Meanwhile, Russia recognised the independence of Georgia via theTreaty of Moscow (1920).[14]
Map of Georgia's historicTao-Klarjeti region which Turkey gained following the boundary treaty with the Soviets in 1921
Map of the shifting border between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century
With the Ottoman Empire defeated in Europe and Arabia, the Allied powers planned to partition it via the 1920Treaty of Sèvres.[4][15] The treaty recognised Georgian and Armenian independence, granting both vast lands in eastern Turkey, with an extended Armenia-Georgia border to be decided at a later date; Georgia was to gain much ofLazistan. Turkish nationalists were outraged at the treaty, contributing to the outbreak theTurkish War of Independence; the Turkish success in this conflict rendered Sèvres obsolete.[4][3]In 1920 Russia'sRed Army had invaded Azerbaijan and Armenia, followed by theRed Army invasion of Georgia in 1921 which ended the independence of Georgia. The Ottomans used the opportunity to invade south-west Georgia, taking Artvin, Ardahan, Batumi and other lands. In order to avoid an all-out Russo-Turkish war the two nations signed theTreaty of Moscow in March 1921, which created a modified Soviet-Ottoman border.[4][16][17][3] However further fighting took place on the ground and the talks stalled; the treaty's provisions were later confirmed by theTreaty of Kars of October 1921, finalising what is now the Georgia–Turkey border at its current position.[4] Turkey relinquished its claim to Batumi with the proviso that an autonomousAdjara region be created to protect that area's largely Muslim population. The border was then demarcated on the ground in March 1925 – July 1926 by a joint Soviet-Turkish commission.[4][3] Turkey's independence had been recognised by the 1923Treaty of Lausanne.[18]
Georgia was initially incorporated along with Armenia and Azerbaijan in theTranscaucasian SFSR within theUSSR, before being split off as theGeorgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936.The Kars Treaty border remained, despite occasional Soviet protests that it shouldbe amended, notably in 1945.[3][19][20] Turkey, backed by the US, refused to discuss the matter, and the Soviets, seeking better relations with their southern neighbour, dropped the issue.[21][4]
Following the collapse of the USSR in 1991 Georgia gained independence and inherited its section of the Turkey-USSR border. Turkey recognised Georgian independence on 16 December 1991. The Protocol on Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the two countries was signed on 21 May 1992 by which their mutual frontier was confirmed.[22]
^The Çıldır-Aktaş – Kartsakhi border crossing opened in 2015,[26] 20 years after this was initially agreed upon.[27] Georgian decrees on border management did not mention Kartsakhi in 1996[28] through 2008.[29] In 2010 Turkey and Georgia signed a Memorandum of Understanding[30] and a subsequent Agreement[31] to streamline border and customs cooperation which included a Çıldır-Aktaş – Kartsakhi checkpoint. This became a priority within the context of theBaku–Tbilisi–Kars railway project. In following Georgian decrees on border management Kartsakhi was taken up.[32]
^Since theBaku–Tbilisi–Kars railway opened in 2017,[33] it should become possible in the future to cross the border by passenger train.[34] As of summer 2021, the long anticipated passenger service to and from Turkey did not start. Only long distance cargo trains pass through.[35]
^John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1907).The Cambridge Modern History. Macmillan & Co. p. 202.
^Tucker, Spencer C., ed. (2010).A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. ABC-CLIO. p. 1154.ISBN978-1851096725.The Turks recognize Russian possession of Georgia and the khanates of Yerevan (Erivan) and Nakhchivan that had been ceded by Persia to Russia the year before.
^Richard Hovannisian (1997),The Armenian people from ancient to modern times, pp. 292–293,ISBN978-0-333-61974-2,OCLC312951712 (Armenian Perspective)
^Ezel Kural Shaw (1977),Reform, revolution and republic : the rise of modern Turkey (1808–1975), History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, p. 326,OCLC78646544 (Turkish Perspective)
^Charlotte Mathilde Louise Hille (2010),State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus, BRILL, p. 71,ISBN978-9-004-17901-1
^Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014).Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus. Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 79.ISBN978-0300153088.
^Khrushchev, Nikita S. (2006). Sergei Khrushchev (ed.).Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Reformer, 1945–1964. Translated by George Shriver. University Park, PA:Penn State University Press. p. 426.ISBN978-0271058597.
^Ro'i, Yaacov (1974).From Encroachment to Involvement: A Documentary Study of Soviet Policy in the Middle East, 1945–1973. Transaction Publisher. pp. 106–107.
Georgia
Turkey
toKars
