Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan

The Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan were a series of insurgencies by local Muslims against the administration of the First Republic of Armenia, beginning on 1 July 1919 and ending 28 July 1920. The areas of uprising were persuaded into insurrection by the sedition of Turkish and Azerbaijani agents who were trying to destabilise Armenia in order to form a pan-Turkic corridor between their nations.

Following the withdrawal of the Ottoman army from the South Caucasus, local Muslims in the formerly occupied areas were armed and assisted in establishing political states with the aim of resisting reincorporation into Armenia. In the spring of 1919, the British command in the Caucasus assisted Armenia in defeating these statelets; however, some months later due to the efforts of Turkish and Azerbaijani emissaries, Armenian administration collapsed and the region fell under local control again until the Armenian counteroffensive in the summer of 1920. The Armenian campaign to reabsorb the Nakhichevan region was halted by the forces of Soviet Russia who had invaded Azerbaijan earlier in the year. The Kars region was briefly reincorporated into Armenian governance until it was conquered by Turkish forces by the end of the Turkish–Armenian war in December 1920.

Investigations conducted by American relief workers confirmed the reports of large-scale massacres of the local Armenians in the Sharur–Nakhichevan region. Armenia was assisted only by the forces of Anton Denikin who dispatched ammunition to replenish the enervated Armenian army.