Armenia and Azerbaijan had fought for control of Nakhchivan, with Azerbaijan backing the pro-Azeri Republic of Aras. The dispute was rendered moot when, in 1920, Russia's Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and Armenia, ending the independence of both. In order to avoid an all-out Russo-Turkish war the two nations signed the Treaty of Moscow in March 1921, which created a modified Soviet-Ottoman border, granting Turkey a short strip of land connecting it to Nakhchivan. Nakhchivan itself was confirmed as an autonomous region of Azerbaijan 1924. However further fighting took place on the ground and the talks stalled; the treaty's provisions were later confirmed by the Treaty of Kars of October 1921, finalising what is now the Azerabaijan-Turkey border at its current position The border was then demarcated on the ground in March 1925-July 1926 by a joint Soviet-Turkish commission. Turkey's independence had been recognised by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.