text: The Provisional National Government of South West Caucasia or Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus (December 1, 1918 – April 19, 1919, Modern Turkish: Güneybatı Kafkas Geçici Milli Hükûmeti, Ottoman language: Cenub-ı Garbi Kafkas Hükûmet-i Muvakkate-i Milliyesi, Azerbaijani: Cənub-Qərbi Qafqaz Cümhuriyyəti) or the Kars Republic was a short-lived and nominally independent provisional government, headed by Fakhr al-Din Pirioghlu and centred in Kars and constituted after the Armistice of Mudros that ended WWI in the Middle East.