Ardahan Province

Infobox Province TR
name=Ardahan
region=Eastern Anatolia
area=5,661
total population=119,172
licence = 75
area_code= 478|

Ardahan Province is a province in the far north-east of Turkey, at the very end of the country, where Turkey borders with Georgia and Armenia.

The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan.

Etymology

Its historical names include Ардаган (Ardagan) in Russian, არტაანი, "artaani" in Georgian and Արդահան in Armenian.

Geography

This is attractive open countryside which however spends many months of the year under snow. At this altitude temperatures quite commonly reach -20 and can drop below freezing right up until May.

The local economy depends on farming and raising livestock. Until 1993 Ardahan was a district of the province of Kars, becoming a province in its own right has meant more investment in infrastructure, but still this is an impoverished area that since the 1950s has seen a large number of its people migrate to other parts of Turkey or abroad. The population declined from 170,000 people in 1990 to 119,000 in 2000. Ethnic groups in the region include, Kurd Kurdish Kipchak Turkish, Turkman, Karapapaks and Azeri Turkish people.Fact|date=July 2008

There are two crossing points into the Samtskhe-Javakheti district of Georgia, one at Posof and the other (currently closed) at Çıldır. The Turkish military have a strong presence in this border district, another boost to the local economy.

History

In 680 BC Scythians came across the Caucasus from the north and captured this area from the Urartu Kings that ruled from their capital on the shores of Lake Van to the south. The Scythians were replaced by Persians and then in 330(?) BC Alexander the Great came through with his armies.

In 1068 the Seljuk Turks of Alparslan brought Cuman and Pecenek tribes to settle in the area. These were followed in 1124 by Christian Kipchak Turks from across the Caucasus. In the Ilhan era of 1267 the Kipchaks founded a dynasty, based in Akhaltsikhe that persisted until they were overthrown by the Ottoman Empire in 1578.

In 1878, after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), the region was included into the Russian Empire, and until 1918 was known as Kars Oblast, reclaimed by Turkey under the Kars Treaty of 1921.

The construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline gave the local economy a brief boost from 2000 onwards.

Places of interest

* There are a number of medieval castles in the district including Ardahan Castle itself.
* At a certain time of the year Damal mountain throws a shadow that is a very lifelike silhouette of Atatürk. See. [ [http://www.damal.gov.tr/atasiluet.htm :T.C.Damal Kaymakamliği.: ] ]

Districts

Ardahan province is divided into 6 districts (capital district in bold):
*Ardahan
*Çıldır
*Damal
*Göle
*Hanak
*Posof

References