Kars is the largest city (pop c. 75,000) on the Turkish side of the closed border with Armenia.  The border was closed by Turkey in April 1993 in protest at the capture of the Kelbajar district of Azerbaijan by Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. It remains closed partly because of allegations that the Turkish treatment of Armenians during WW1 amounted to genocide, a charge denied by Turkey.  The closure of the border undoubtedly exacerbates poverty of folks on both sides of the border but there does not seem to be any immediate prospect of a resolution to the issue.  

Kars itself has changed hands many times: the Qajar Dynasty from Iran occupied the city in 1821,   Following a Russian siege in 1828 the Ottomans ceded control. It was retuned to them after WW1 in 1919.  During the Crimean War British Officers acting for the Ottoman Empire has withstood a lengthy siege but eventually surrendered to the Russians in 1855.  After WW2 the Soviet Union again attempted to re-acquire Kars but Turkey withstood this pressure with support from the US and Kars has remained part of independent Turkey ever since. 

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