Kars Consulate (1879-1914)

With the Berlin Agreement signed at the end of the 1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian War, Kars came under the rule of the Russian Empire and began to be ruled by Russia for forty years. The Kars Consulate was established in 1879 in order to follow the political and military activities of Russia in the Kars region, which came out of the domination of the Ottoman Empire, to ensure that the state takes early precautions against these activities, to protect the rights of its living citizens, and to assist immigration procedures. Established in 1879 and continuing their activities until the beginning of the First World War, the Kars Consuls reported the intelligence reports they kept on the region to the Petersburg Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on a daily basis. The Kars Consuls kept important reports on Russia's military preparations in Kars and especially before the Sarıkamış Operation, its maneuvers, arms and supplies, and its political policies in the Caucasus. When these reports are examined, it is seen that the consuls fulfill the duty of early warning. While the reports of the Kars Consuls mostly consisted of the military activities of the Russian Empire in the Kars region, the terrorist acts and preparations of the Armenian committees were kept in social and political reports on the robbery and smuggling activities, and the migration movements of Armenians and Turks. In this study, the establishment of the Consulate General, the duties and responsibilities of the civil servants will be discussed and the intelligence reports that the Kars Consulate kept in the military, political and social fields from its establishment to its end will be examined.