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The Soviet government pursued a deliberate policy of Sovietization of the Transcaucasian republics, with an aim to restore the borders of the Russian Empire. The 11th Red army occupied the main territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhichevan, after the Sovietization of Azerbaijan (April 1920). Further in August 1920 an agreement was signed between the representatives of Armenia and Russia. Via this agreement Soviet Russia forced Armenia to recognize those territories as disputed, provided that their further fate would be determined as a result of an expression of population will, i.e. the referendum. On November 29, 1920 a small detachments of the Red Army and the Armenian Bolsheviks entered Ijevan (Northeastern Armenia) from the Azerbaijani side and declared Armenia a Soviet Republic. According to November 20 decision of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan headed by Narimanov, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan and Zangezur were no longer considered to be disputed territories but integral parts of the Soviet Armenia. On December 2 Armenian government agreed upon the Sovietization of Armenia and relinquished its power in favor of the Bolshevik Revolutionary Committee. On the same day in Alexandrapol, quite inexplicably, the representatives of the relinquished Armenian government signed a peace agreement with Turkey and considered the war ended, thus conceding almost half of their territory. Later the Soviet authorities never recognized the conditions of Alexandrapol treaty. On March 16, 1921 a Treaty on Friendship and Fraternity between Russia and Turkey was signed in Moscow. According to its first article, the Soviet Russian government agreed not to recognize any international treaty related to Turkey, which was not ratified by the Great National Assembly. This provision was directed primarily against the Peace Treaty of Sevres, which Turkey at any cost tried to declare null and void. Finally, the new border was recognized according to the Treaty of Kars (October 3, 1921) that was signed between Turkey and the Transcaucasian states and is in force up to date. As for the international conference of Lausanne held in 1922-23, it ended up with the signing of several documents, the most important of which is probably the Lausanne Peace Treaty, according to which the current Turkish borders were established, replacing the Treaty of Sevres. According to the same Moscow Treaty, Nakhichevan became an autonomous territory under the patronage of Azerbaij
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