Akyaka
Akyaka is a district of Kars province.
Akyaka, whose first known name was Şöregel and later named Kızılçakçak, joined the lands of the Ottoman Empire in 1534. After the war between the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia between 1877-1878, known as the 93 War, Akyaka remained under the control of Russia for forty years. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918, it was left to the Ottomans with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. A short time later, the region, which first came under Armenian rule, was then captured by the British. The British, who later left the region to the Armenians and Georgians, withdrew from here. In 1918, Akyaka was again included in the Ottoman lands after forty years. In April-May 1918, Armenians re-entered the city, and the Ottoman army was forced to withdraw from there. The people of the region, who wanted to prevent this, established a democratic local government on November 5, 1918, under the name of the National Islamic Council, within their own means. This government, which included Akyaka, was renamed the Republic of the Southwest Caucasus in 1919. Akyaka was taken by Turkish forces in 1920 with the Turkish War of Independence. It reached its new borders with the Moscow and Kars Agreements made in 1921, and after the proclamation of the Republic, it was made a district of Kars province.
