After a temporary occupation by Turkish and British troops in 1918–1920, Ajaria was reunited with Georgia in 1920. A brief military conflict in March 1921 prompted the government in Ankara to cede the territory to Georgia as a consequence of Article VI of the Treaty of Kars, with the condition for autonomy to be provided for the Muslim population. Accordingly, the Soviet Union established the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 16 July 1921. Nonetheless, Islam within the new republic, as elsewhere in the Soviet Union and in common with Christianity, was persecuted and repressed.