[1] Ardahan was historically located in the region of Gogarene (Gugark), which Strabo calls a part of the Armenia that was taken away from the Kingdom of Iberia.

[6][7] In the Middle Ages Ardahan served as an important transit point for goods arriving from the Abbasid Caliphate and departing to the regions around the Black Sea.

The town passed into the hands of Russia following the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War and was made a part of the Ardahan Okrug of the Kars Oblast.

On 25 December 1914, in the early months of the First World War, the Ottoman Army occupied Ardahan and massacred many of its Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Georgians.

[dubious – discuss] The Russians, with the help of Armenian and Pontic Greek militias, captured the town on January 3, 1915, allowing some of the original inhabitants who had fled to return.

When the Turkish Nationalists captured Ardahan on 23 February 1921,[12] the town's remaining Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Georgians fled to Armenia, northern Greece, and Georgia.

[citation needed] The Treaty of Moscow, signed the following year between the Soviets and the Ankara Government, confirmed Ardahan as a part of Turkish territory.

[13] The original late antique/medieval walls of Ardahan Kalesi were extensively rebuilt several times and in the 19th they were adapted to accommodate small cannons.