Kars (Armenian: Ղարս or Կարս, Azerbaijani: Qars) is a city in northeast Turkey and is the capital of the Kars Province, before at the head of a sanjak in the Turkish vilayet of Erzurum. Population: 8,672 (1878); 20,891 (1897); 54,000 (1970); 142,145 (1990); 130,361 (2000).