 Some historians consider it to have been a puppet state of the Ottoman Empire.The government, headed by Fahrettin Pirioğlu, considered its territory to be the predominantly Muslim-inhabited regions of Kars and Batum, parts of Yerevan province and the Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki districts of Tiflis province.In practical terms, however, the government was confined to Kars province and existed alongside the British governorship created during the Entente's intervention in Transcaucasia.