Originally completed in 1899, the railway was highly important during the Soviet era, both as the only direct rail link between Turkey and the USSR (Kars-Gyumri), and as one of the two main railway connections between Armenia and other Soviet Republics (Gyumri-Tbilisi). While the Gyumri-Tbilisi section remains Armenia's lifeline to the outside world, the Kars-Gyumri section has not been operational since 1993, when Turkey closed the border with Armenia, following the first Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, in support of the Azeris.