Elazığ

Infobox Settlement

settlement_type = n
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = TUR
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
map_caption =Location of PAGENAME within Turkey.
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3

official_name = Elazığ


image_caption = Elazığ, looking N-NE


subdivision_type1=Region
subdivision_name1 = Eastern Anatolia
subdivision_type2=Province
subdivision_name2 = Elazığ| population_total = 266495|population_footnotes=
population_as_of =| 2005
population_footnotes = []
population_density_km2 =
area_total_km2 =
latd = 38
latm = 41
latNS = N
longd = 39
longm = 13
longEW = E
elevation_m = 1067|postal_code_type=Postal code
postal_code = 23000
area_code = 0424
blank_info = 23|blank_name=Licence plate
leader_title=Mayor
leader_name = Süleyman Selmanoğlu (True Path Party)
website = [http://www.elazig.bel.tr/ http://www.elazig.bel.tr/]

Elazığ (formerly named "Mamuret ül-Aziz" or, in strict Arabic transliteration, as "Ma'mûrat al-'Aziz" officially, in honor of the sultan Abdülaziz, with "Elaziz" used in popular parlance, and the present name adopted in 1937); in Kurdish: "Elezîz" or "Xarpêt", in _hy. Խարբերդ, EA: "Kharberd", WA or "Kharpert"); also "Harput" or "Kharput" in reference to its initial settlement) is a city in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey and the seat of Elazığ Province.

According to the 2000 census, the city has a population of 266,495. The plain on which the city extends is at an altitude of 1067 meters above sea level. It occupies the location of what the Turkish, Zaza and Kurdish-speaking inhabitants of the region used to call Mezra or Mezre, meaning "hamlet" in these languages, in a reference to the formerly uninhabited state of the present-day urban area.

Name

Contemporary Elazığ was initially an extension to the historic city of Harput, anciently known as Arsamosata, which was situated on a hill and of difficult access in winter. Under the reign of the Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz, the then governor of the "vilâyet" (province) of Harput, İsmail Pasha, started the expansion of Harput urban area to the plain lying below. Military barracks, a hospital and a governor's mansion were built to accommodate the new administrative center for the region.

The new city was named "Ma'muret al-'Azîz" (معمورة العزيز, "made prosperous by Aziz" in Ottoman Turkish) in 1866 on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz's enthronement. The name was extended first into a sandjak depending the very close Harput, and then in 1879 to the seat of a new vilayet formed on the upper reaches of the Euphrates. In popular parlance, the city came to be known as "Elâzîz" due to the relative ease of pronunciation of that name, and this until 10 December, 1937, when, upon personal instructions by the President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the name of the city was changed into "Elazığ".

History

The area around Elazığ has been settled for centuries. An ancient town and citadel called Kharput (Kharpert) which means "rocky fortress" was built by the first Armenian kings about three miles from modern Elazığ. However, very little written material about this city reached our day. Harput is still settled today, but due to its high elevation and lack of water, it is slowly in phase of being abandoned since decades, with most residents moving to Elazığ. The two cities are in constant communication and Harput still has a few thousand inhabitants.

It is possible that Harput stands on or is near the site of Carcathio-certa in Sophene, reached by Corbulo in A.D. 65. The early Muslim geographers knew it as Hisn Ziyad, but the Armenian name, Khartabirt or Kharbirt, whence Kharput and Harput, was generally adopted in time.

William of Tyre wrote that Joscelin I, Count of Edessa (Jocelyn) of Courtenay, and King Baldwin II of Jerusalem were prisoners of the Amir Balak in Kharput's castle and that they were rescued by their Armenian allies. William of Tyre calls the place Quart Piert or Pierre.

The Mart Maryam Church (Syriac Orthodox) in Harput, Turkey -the first church in Harput- was built in 179 A.D, and was attended by Christians who considered themselves as Syriacs, distinct from the Armenians of Harput.

An Armenian Catholic diocese of Kharput was created in 1850.

Ottoman Harput and Ma'mûrat al-'Aziz

Harput was an important station of the American missionaries for many years. The missionaries built the Euphrates College, a theological seminary, and boys' and girls' schools. In November 1895, Ottoman backed Kurds massacred, looted and burned the Armenian villages on the plain; and in the same month Kharput was attacked and the American schools were burned down. [ [http://www.turkeyforyou.com/turkey_elazig_history History of Elazig] ] cite book |first = Vahakn N. | last = Dadrian | title = The History of the Armenian Genocide | publisher = Berghahn Books | pages = p. 160 | year = 2003 | id = ISBN 1571816666] A large number of the Gregorian and Protestant Armenian clergy and people were massacred, and churches, monasteries and houses were looted.Fact|date=June 2007 During the Armenian Genocide, the pupils at the Euphrates College were wiped out. [Henry H. Riggs, "Days of Tragedy in Armenia: Personal Experiences in Harpoot, 1915-1917", 1997, Michigan.]

Elazığ under the Turkish Republic

From its foundation until the end of the World War II, the city's growth was somewhat irregular. While the town probably consisted of 10 to 12,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the World War I, the first census conducted by the Turkish Republic in 1927 counted 20,052 inhabitants. This figure continued to rise to reach 25,465 in 1940, but the general shortages suffered during the World War II years by the neutral Turkey led to an exodus of population, reducing the population to 23,635. From then onward, the city has gone through uninterrupted growth. Harput, in the meantime, acquired the status of a township separated from Elazığ with a population running around two thousand souls.

Economy

The most important factor determining the growth of Elazığ since the 1970s has been the construction of Keban Dam and the hydroelectric power plant (5,871,000 kwh/year) with its boulder at a distance of 45 km from the city and the resulting huge dam reservoir. This reservoir covers an area of 68,000 hectares and it flooded around a hundred villages with a hundred others losing a large part of their agricultural lands. Around 20,000 people were forced to move as a consequence of the dam's construction.

Industries connected with the dam such as a cement mill contributed to the growth and, as Ayalon and Sharon points out, to a striking gap between the male and female populations in Elazığ, the former outnumbering the latter by some eight thousand throughout the seventies, which was a consequence of the move into and settlement in the city of workers employed in the construction effort.

Many of those who were forced to move with the construction of the dam chose to settle in Elazığ center and the state indemnities paid were invested in houses in Elazığ or laid a base for small businesses.

The region of Elazığ has much mineral wealth, a healthy climate and a fertile soil. Extraction of chrome is an important mining activity.

The dam, the industry and the mining accounts for the high level of urbanization (42,70 % in 1970) surpassing the average levels for Eastern Anatolia.

The main agricultural activity of the area centers around vineyards and Elazığ also serves as a market hub for other agricultural products. The state-run vineyards of Elazığ is notable for its production of Buzbağ, a full-flavored red wine.

Elazığ today is the capital of the Elazığ province, a bustling city with a university and an industrial base, although historic monuments are understandably scarce. The exception is of course the ancient Harput citadel and town, a dependency of the greater municipality of Elazığ today situated three miles to the north of the city center. The population of Elazığ consists of Turks, Kurds and Azeris. [ [http://lexicorient.com/e.o/elazig.htm Encyclopaedia of the Orient - Elazig] ]

In the pre-1970s Armenian-American community, more people were born in or traced their ancestry to Elazığ than any other area of Turkey. Fact|date=March 2007 This Elazığ-America connection was possibly helped by the presence of the many American missionaries. A comedy play nationally famous in Turkey is titled "An American in Harput".

Geography and climate

Elazığ is situated on the northwestern corner of a 30-mile-long valley, known locally as Uluova (literally "the Great Valley"). The Armenians called this valley "Vosgetashd" which means "Golden Plain." Its altitude is 3,300 feet: latitude and longitude are respectively: 38 degrees and 41 minutes North, and 39 degrees and 14 minutes East. Elazığ Province is surrounded by the Euphrates in the north, and since the completion of Keban Dam the rivers came to cover almost ten percent of the surface area (826 km²) of the province (8,455 km²). Elazığ's adjacent province borders are with: Tunceli (North), Erzincan (North-West), Bingöl (East), Diyarbakır (South), and Malatya (West).

Notable natives

*Mehmet Ağar — DYP leader.
*Shahan Natalie — (1884-1983), an Armenian writer and principal organizer of Operation Nemesis
*Nerses IV — (1098-1173), Armenian church leader, theologian and writer
*Tlgadintzi (Hovhannes Haroutiunian) - (d. 1915) Armenian writer.
*Rupen Zartarian - (d. 1915) Armenian writer, student of Tlgadintzi.
*Stephen P. Mugar - Armenian-American businessman and entrepreneur.
*Edmund Yaghjian - Armenian-American painter.
*Vahe Haig - Armenian writer, student of Tlgadintzi. (U.S.)
*Hamastegh - Armenian writer, student of Tlgadintzi. (U.S.)
*Vahan Totovents - Armenian writer, student of Tlgadintzi. (Soviet Armenia)
*Peniamin Nourigian - Armenian writer, student of Tlgadintzi. (U.S.)
*Hrach Zartarian - Armenian writer, son of Rupen Zartarian. (France)
*Hrach Yervant (Nishan Yacoubian) - first chairman of Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavar)
*J. Michael Hagopian - Armenian-American documentary filmmaker
*Dursun Karataş- founder and leader of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C)
*Namık Kemal Yolga — Turkish diplomat and statesman.
*Necati Şaşmaz — Star of the "Valley of the Wolves" TV series and of 2006 movie "Valley of the Wolves Iraq" based on the Hood event.
*Erkan Oğur — Turkish musician.

Attractions

*Fırat Üniversitesi (University of Euphrates)
*Harput Kalesi (Harput Castle)
*Buzluk Mağarası (Buzluk Cave)
*Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography
*Hazar Gölü (Lake Hazar)
*Historic Mosques ("Cami" in Turkish) and Shrines ("Türbe" in Turkish)
** Ulu Camii: Built by Artuklu Sultan Fahrettin Karaaslan in 1156. It is one of the oldest and important structures in Anatolia
** Sarahatun Camii (also known as Sarayhatun Cami): Built by Sara Hatun, mother of Akkoyunlu Sultan Bahadır Han (also known as Uzun Hasan), in 1465 as a small mosque. It was renovated in 1585 and 1843.
** Kurşunlu Camii: Built between 1738 and 1739 in Harput during the Ottoman era.
** Alacalı Camii
** Ağa Camii: Built in 1559.
** Arap Baba Mescidi ve Türbesi: Built during the reign of Seljuks Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev III (Son of Kılıçarslan IV) in 1279. The shrine contains a mummified body which is known as Arap Baba among commons.
** Fetih Ahmet Baba Türbesi (Shrine of Fetih Ahmed)
** Mansur Baba Türbesi

Footnotes

ources

*

External links

* [http://www.elazig.bel.tr Municipality's official website]
* [http://www.elazig.gov.tr Governor's official website]
* [http://www.firat.edu.tr/engweb/ Fırat University's official website] en icon