Banat is a geographical and historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania ; the western part of Banat is in northeastern Serbia ; and a small northern part lies within southeastern Hungary.
Shirak is a province of Armenia. It is located in the north-west of the country, bordering the provinces of Lori to the east and Aragatsotn to the south and southeast, and the countries of Turkey to the west and Georgia to the north. Its capital and largest city is Gyumri, which is the second largest city in Armenia. It is as much semi-desert as it is mountain meadow or high alpine. In the south, the high steppes merge into mountain terrain, being verdant green in the spring, with hues of reddish brown in the summer. The province is served by the Shirak International Airport of Gyumri.
The Eyalet of Anatolia was one of the two core provinces in the early years of the Ottoman Empire. It was established in 1393. Its capital was first Ankara in central Anatolia, but then moved to Kütahya in western Anatolia. Its reported area in the 19th century was 65,804 square miles (170,430 km2).
Eyalets, also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were the primary administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire.
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its closed border with Armenia. Its area is 10,193 km2, and its population is 274,829 (2022). The provincial capital is the city of Kars. The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were part of Kars Province until 1992.
Erzurum Province is a province and metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Its area is 25,006 km2, and its population is 749,754 (2022). The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It’s the fourth largest province in all of Turkey. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to the south, Erzincan and Bayburt to the west, Rize and Artvin to the north and Ardahan to the northeast. The governor of the province is Mustafa Çiftçi, appointed in August 2023. The province has a Turkish majority.
Trabzon Province is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its area is 4,628 km2, and its population is 818,023 (2022). Located in a strategically important region, Trabzon is one of the oldest trade port cities in Anatolia. Neighbouring provinces are Giresun to the west, Gümüşhane to the southwest, Bayburt to the southeast and Rize to the east. Aziz Yıldırım was appointed Governor of the province in August 2023. The capital of the province is Trabzon.
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District. As of 2022, its population was 91,450. Kars, in classical historiography (Strabo), was in the ancient region known as Chorzene, part of the province of Ayrarat in the Kingdom of Armenia, and later the capital of the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia from 929 to 961. Currently, the mayor of Kars is Türker Öksüz. The city had an Armenian ethnic majority until it was re-captured by Turkish nationalist forces in late 1920.
Samtskhe–Javakheti is a region (mkhare) in southern Georgia with a population of 147.400 (2023) and an area of 6,413 km2 (2,476 sq mi). The region has Akhaltsikhe as its administrative center. Samtskhe–Javakheti is made up of the historical Georgian provinces Meskheti, Javakheti and Tori.
Ardahan Province is a province in the north-east of Turkey, bordering Georgia and Armenia. Its area is 4,934 km2, and its population is 92,481 (2022). The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan. Ardahan borders the Turkish provinces of Erzurum, Artvin and Kars.
Iğdır Province is a province in eastern Turkey, located along the borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Its adjacent provinces are Kars to the northwest and Ağrı to the west and south. Its area is 3,664 km2, and its population is 203,594 (2022). Its population was 168,634 in 2000 and 142,601 in 1990. The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan and has a Kurdish majority with a pretty close Azerbaijani minority.
The Treaty of Kars was a treaty that established the borders between Turkey and the three Transcaucasian Soviet republics, which are now the independent republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The treaty was signed in the city of Kars on 13 October 1921.
Beylerbey was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the Ilkhanids to Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Initially designating a commander-in-chief, it eventually came to be held by senior provincial governors. In Ottoman usage, where the rank survived the longest, it designated the governors-general of some of the largest and most important provinces, although in later centuries it became devalued into a mere honorific title. The title is originally Turkic and its equivalents in Arabic were amir al-umara, and in Persian, mir-i miran.
The Eyalet of Childir or Akhalzik was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire in the Southwestern Caucasus. The area of the former Çıldır Eyalet is now divided between Samtskhe-Javakheti and the Autonomous Republic of Adjara in Georgia and provinces of Artvin, Ardahan and Erzurum in Turkey. The administrative center was Çıldır between 1578 and 1628, Ahıska between 1628 and 1829, and Oltu between 1829 and 1845.
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the seat of Ardahan Province and Ardahan District. Its population is 22,927 (2021).
Javakheti or Javakhk is a historical province in southern Georgia, corresponding to the modern municipalities of Akhalkalaki, Aspindza (partly), Ninotsminda, and partly to the Turkey's Ardahan Province. Historically, Javakheti's borders were defined by the Kura River (Mtkvari) to the west, and the Shavsheti, Samsari and Nialiskuri mountains to the north, south and east, respectively. The principal economic activities in this region are subsistence agriculture, particularly potatoes and raising livestock.
Göle is a small city in Ardahan Province of Turkey. The city was formerly known as Merdenik, Merdinik or Ardahan-ı Küçük. It is the seat of Göle District. Its population is 5,775 (2021).
Imerkhevi is a valley in the north of the Şavşat district in the Artvin Province of Turkey, along the border with Georgia. There are 15 villages in this area, inhabited by ethnic Georgians, who speak a local dialect of the Georgian language.
The partition of the Ottoman Empire was a geopolitical event that occurred after World War I and the occupation of Constantinople by British, French, and Italian troops in November 1918. The partitioning was planned in several agreements made by the Allied Powers early in the course of World War I, notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement, after the Ottoman Empire had joined Germany to form the Ottoman–German alliance. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Ottoman Empire had been the leading Islamic state in geopolitical, cultural, and ideological terms. The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after the war led to the domination of the Middle East by Western powers such as Britain and France, and saw the creation of the modern Arab world and the Republic of Turkey. Resistance to the influence of these powers came from the Turkish National Movement but did not become widespread in the other post-Ottoman states until the period of rapid decolonization after World War II.
The Kars oblast was a province (oblast) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in Turkey. The oblast bordered the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Batum Oblast to the north, the Tiflis Governorate to the northeast, and the Erivan Governorate to the east. The Kars oblast included parts of the contemporary provinces of Kars, Ardahan, and Erzurum Province of Turkey, and the Amasia Community of the Shirak Province of Armenia.
