1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
3.
Provinces of Turkey
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Turkey is divided into 81 provinces. Each province is divided into a number of different districts, the provincial government is seated in the central district. The central area usually bears the name of the province, there are only two exceptions to this naming scheme, Antakya of Hatay province İzmit of Kocaeli province A province is administered by an appointed governor from the ministry of interior. Below is a list of the 81 provinces of Turkey, sorted according to their license plate code, after Zonguldak the ordering is not alphabetical but in the order of the creation of provinces, as these provinces were created more recently and thus their plate numbers were assigned thereafter. The numbers of the ISO code, the first two digits of the registration plates of Turkey and the first digits of the postal codes in Turkey are the same
4.
Nationalist Movement Party
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The Nationalist Movement Party is a Turkish far-right political party that adheres to Turkish ultranationalism and Euroscepticism. The party was first formed in 1969 by former colonel Alparslan Türkeş, the partys youth wing is the Grey Wolves organization, which is also known as the Nationalist Hearths. Türkeş, who is revered by Turkish nationalists as the founder of the idealist movement, is commonly referred to as Chieftain by his supporters. After Türkeşs death and the election of Devlet Bahçeli as his successor, the party under Bahçelis leadership won 18% of the vote and 129 seats in the 1999 general election, its best ever result, coming second only to the Democratic Left Party. Since the 2007 general election, in which the MHP won back its parliamentary representation with 14, in the 2011 general election, the partys vote fell to 13% and won 53 seats, though increased to 16. 3% and 80 seats in the June 2015 general election. During an Extraordinary Great Congress held at Adana in Turkey on 8–9 February 1969, the leader of the partys youth wing, known as the Grey Wolves after Turkic mythology, claimed that they had an intelligence organization that was superior to the states own. On May 27,1980, the deputy leader and former government minister Gün Sazak was assassinated by members of the Marxist–Leninist terrorist group Revolutionary Left in front of his home. Many party members joined the neoliberal Anavatan Partisi or various Islamist parties, Party member noted that the partys ideology was in power while its members were in prison. The party later was reformed in 1983 under the name Conservative Party, after 1985, however, the name was changed to the Nationalist Task Party then back again to its former name in 1992. In 1993, Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and five other deputies separated and founded the Great Union Party, the MHP used to be described as a neo-fascist party linked to extremist and violent militias. Notably, it has moved from strict, Kemalist-style secularism to a more pro-Islamic stance, some scholars doubt the sincerity and credibility of this turn and suspect the party of still pursuing a fascist agenda behind a more moderate and pro-democratic façade. Showing this as a MHP-HDP coalition is a deliberate diversion, in July 2015, inmidst a wave of protests against the Xinjiang conflict, MHP-affiliated Ülkücü attacked South Korean tourists on Istanbuls Sultanahmet Square. In an interview to Turkish columnist Ahmet Hakan, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli played the attacks down, plus, how are you going to differentiate between Korean and Chinese. The party is headed by Devlet Bahçeli and has 40 deputies, the party has recently been putting a distance between itself and its history of ultranationalism, at occasion asking its members to keep away from ethnic politics. There is an opposition against Devlet Bahçeli led by Meral Akşener, Koray Aydın, Ümit Özdağ, the opposition tries to make a congress and elect a new leader for the party. However Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tries to prevent the congress due to the possibility of his defeat in the elections if MHP joins the elections led by a new leader. The Programme of the Nationalist Action Party, An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove, Turkish extreme right in office, whither democracy and democratization. Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe, From Local to Transnational, globalization and Nationalism, The Nationalist Action Party of Turkey
5.
Kaymakam
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According to some, the first kaymakam in history was ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who is supposed to have been appointed by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, as the first rightful caliph. Thus, ‘Alī was considered to be serving in the place of Muhammad, in this context, the word may be spelled caimacam, while the Romanian term for the office is căimăcămie. Similarly, three ruling native hakims of the emirate of Kuwait, were also Kaymakam of a kazas in the same province,1871 till a British protectorate. The practice began in the 16th century, or perhaps even earlier, the kaymakam enjoyed the full plenitude of powers of the Grand Vizier, but was not allowed to intervene in the conduct of the military campaigns. In the last decades of the Empire, the post of kaymakam was filled by the members of the imperial cabinet, the modernization and Westernization reforms instituted in the 19th century added new meanings to the term. With the establishment of the regular Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye troops in 1826, kaymakam became a rank in the Ottoman army, equivalent to a lieutenant colonel. It remained in use throughout the century of the Empire, and continued in use in the Turkish Republic until the 1930s. The system was retained by modern Turkey, where a sub-province is still headed by a kaymakam, the rank is attested in use with a British officer commanding the Equatorial Battalion in East Africa,1918, Kaimakam R F White DSO who was an officer of the Essex Regiment. Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire WorldStatesMen. org, see present nations
6.
Urban area
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An urban area is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, in urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment. The worlds urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has increased to 3.9 billion in the decades since, in 2009, the number of people living in urban areas surpassed the number living in rural areas and since then the world has become more urban than rural. This was the first time that the majority of the population lived in a city. In 2014 there were 7.25 billion people living on the planet, Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Urban areas are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density, historian John Gurda writes, I have tried to uncover Milwaukees civic bedrock - the shifting foundation on which individuals have built their lives and the community has constructed its identity. There is no doubt that the deepest layer of bedrock is economic. In every age, people have chosen to live in areas not because of their climates or landmarks or cultural attractions. It was economic opportunity that brought people to Milwaukee, and it is economic opportunity that keeps them there, I define cities as concentrations of people animated by concentrations of capital. More simply put, money is the root of all cities, official definitions vary somewhat between nations. The ten largest metropolitan areas account for half of the population, about 3 million people live in Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 13 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world. The metropolitan areas of Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza and Tucumán have around 1.3 million inhabitants each and La Plata, seven other provinces have over one million people each, Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones. According to IBGE urban areas already concentrate 84. 35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants. The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte — all in the Southeastern Region — with 20,12, and 5 million inhabitants respectively. The majority of state capitals are the largest cities in their states, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, there are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. According to Statistics Canada, an area in Canada is an area with a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per square kilometre. If two or more areas are within 2 km of each other by road, they are merged into a single urban area. Accordingly, the new definition set out three types of population centres, small, medium and large
7.
Byzantine
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
8.
Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey
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The Eastern Anatolia Region is a geographical region of Turkey. The region and the name Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi were first defined at the First Geography Congress in 1941 and it has the highest average altitude, largest geographical area, and lowest population density of all regions of Turkey. Prior to getting its current name by the Turkish state, most of the region was part of the Six Armenian provinces in the known as the Armenian Highlands. After the Armenian Genocide, the geopolitical term Eastern Anatolia was created to replace what had historically been known as Western Armenia, starting from 1880 the name Armenia was forbidden to be used in official Ottoman documents. The government of Sultan Abdul Hamid II replaced the name Armenia with such terms as Kurdistan or Anatolia, the Sublime Porte was trying to cover up the Armenian Question, if there was no Armenia, then there was no Armenian Question. The process of “nationalization” of toponyms was continued by the Kemalists, who were the successors of the Young Turks. Starting from 1923 the entire territory of Western Armenia was officially renamed “Eastern Anatolia”, in the 17th century when the Armenian Question was not as yet included into the international diplomacy agenda, the terms Anatolia or Eastern Anatolia were never used to indicate Armenia. Furthermore, the Islamic World Map of the 16th century and other Ottoman maps of the 18th and 19th centuries have clearly indicated Armenia on a territory as well as its cities. Armenia, together with its boundaries, was mentioned in the works of earlier Ottoman historians. Kâtip Çelebi, a famous Ottoman chronicler of the 17th century, had a chapter titled “About the Country Called Armenia” in his book Jihan Numa. When, however, this book was republished in 1957, its modern Turkish editor H. Selen changed this title into “Eastern Anatolia”. Osman Nuri, a historian of the half of the 19th century, mentions Armenia repeatedly in his three-volume Abdul Hamid. The word Anatolia means “sunrise” or “east” in Greek and this name was given to the Asia Minor peninsula approximately in the 5th or 4th centuries B. C. During the Ottoman era, the term Anadolou included the vilayets of Asia Minor with Kyotahia as its center. The numerous European, Ottoman, Armenian, Russian, Persian, Arabic and this testifies, inter alia, to the fact that even after the loss of its statehood the Armenian nation still constituted a majority in its homeland, which was recognized by Ottoman occupiers as well. The area of the region is 146,330 km², which comprises 18. 7% of the area of Turkey. The total population of the region is 6,100,000 and 5,906,565, the region has the second most rural population of Turkey after the Black Sea region. The migration level is high and population density is lower than the average for Turkey, the migration toward other Turkeys regions and toward foreign countries is higher than the natural population increase, a fact which is leading to a slight decline of the Regions population
9.
Turkish bath
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A Turkish bath is the Islamic variant of the Roman bath, steambath, sauna, or Russian banya, distinguished by a focus on water, as distinct from ambient steam. In Western Europe, the Turkish bath as a method of cleansing, the process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna, but is more closely related to ancient Greek and ancient Roman bathing practices. The Turkish bath starts with relaxation in a room that is heated by a flow of hot, dry air. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room before they wash in cold water, after performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation. The difference between the Islamic hammam and the Victorian Turkish bath is the air, the hot air in the Victorian Turkish bath is dry, in the Islamic hammam the air is often steamy. The bather in a Victorian Turkish bath will often take a plunge in a pool after the hot rooms. In the Islamic hammams the bathers splash themselves with cold water and it is not wet air, nor moist air, nor vapoury air, it is not vapour in any shape or form whatever. It is an immersion of the body in hot common air. One of the Five Pillars of Islam is prayer and it is customary before praying for Muslims to perform ablutions. The two Islamic forms of ablution are ghusl, a cleansing, and wudu, a cleansing of the face, hands. In the most extreme of cases, cleansing with pure soil or sand is also permissible, often, hammams are located close to mosques and other places for prayer for those who wish to perform deeper cleansing. Islamic hammams, particularly in the Moroccan case, evolved from their Roman roots to adapt to the needs of ritual purification according to Islam, for example, in most Roman-style hammams, one finds a cold pool for full submergence of the body. The style of bathing is less preferable in the Islamic faith, for al-Ghazali, the hammam is a primarily male experience, and he cautions that women are to enter the hammam only after childbirth or illness. Even then al-Gazali finds it admissible for men to prohibit their wives or sisters from using the hammam, the major point of contention surrounding hammams in al-Ghazalis estimation is nakedness. In his work he warns that overt nakedness is to be avoided, … he should shield it from the sight of others and second, guard against the touch of others. He focuses extensively in his writing on the avoidance of touching the penis during bathing and he writes that nakedness is decent only when the area between the knees and the lower stomach of a man are hidden. For women, exposure of only the face and palms is appropriate, according to al-Gazali, the prevalence of nakedness in the hammam could incite indecent thoughts or behaviours and so it is a controversial space. Ritual ablution is also required before or after sexual intercourse, during those centuries of war, peace, alliance, trade and competition, the two cultures had tremendous influence on each other
10.
Caravanserai
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A caravanserai (/kærəˈvænsəri/, was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the days journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of routes covering Asia, North Africa. Major urban caravanserais were built along the Grand Trunk Road in the Indian subcontinent. The word is rendered as caravansary, caravansaray, caravanseray. The Persian word کاروانسرای kārvānsarāy is a word combining kārvān caravan with sarāy palace, building with enclosed courts. Here caravan means a group of traders, pilgrims, or other travelers, the word serai is sometimes used with the implication of caravanserai. The Persian caravanserai was built as a road station, outside of towns. An inn built inside a town would be smaller and was known in Persian as a khan, in the Middle-East the term khan covers both meanings, of roadside inn as well as of inner-town inn. In Turkish the word is rendered as han, the same word was used in Bosnian, having arrived through Ottoman conquest. Welcoming all, thus meaning inn, led to funduq in Arabic, pundak in Hebrew, fundaco in Venice, fondaco in Genoa and alhóndiga in Spanish. Guards were stationed at every gate to ensure that taxes for these goods be paid in full, most typically a caravanserai was a building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual purification such as wudu and they also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travelers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, some shops bought goods from the traveling merchants, turkishhan. org, The Seljuk Han in Anatolia. Encyclopædia Iranica, p. 798-802 Erdmann, Kurt, Erdmann, berlin, Mann,1976, ISBN 3-7861-2241-5 Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture, Form, function and meaning, reprinted from, Traditions Architecturales en Iran, Tehran, No.2 &3,1976. Caravanserai, Traces, Places, Dialogue in the Middle East, milan,5 Continents Editions, ISBN 978-88-7439-604-7 Yavuz, Aysil Tükel. The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravansara, muqarnas XIV, An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Shah Abbasi Caravanserai, Tishineh Caravansara Pictures Consideratcaravanserai. net, Texts and photos on research on caravanserais and travel journeys in Middle East, caravanserais in Turkey The Seljuk Han in Anatolia
11.
Archnet
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Archnet is the world’s largest online databank of Islamic architecture. It was developed at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning in co-operation with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and it provides users with resources on architecture, urban design and development in the Muslim world to all users free of charge. Archnet as relaunched in 2013 is an initiative of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. Through various programmes, partnerships, and initiatives, the AKTC seeks to improve the environment in Asia. ArchNet complements the work of the Trust by making its resources digitally accessible to individuals worldwide. ”The purpose of the website is to create a platform upon which knowledge pertaining to the field of architecture can be shared. It continues to grow with new partners in North America. Today it has over seventy-five thousand users — fifty percent of whom are students or teachers — representing over one hundred fifty countries and averaging over five thousand unique visitors a day. The library is made up of photographs, line drawings, CAD drawings, published papers, video, a considerable portion of the resources come from the archives of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture. Architectural schools outside of North America make up a significant body of partners that have supported ArchNet since its inception, in fact, institutions in Egypt, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey were among the original members when the project first began. Augmenting its vast digital image library, ArchNet includes a variety of tools and features that facilitate interaction, discussion forums are integrated so that all website resources can be attached to specific forums. The website also features a section, listing jobs related to architecture, urban planning, education. The group workspaces facilitate collaborative project work through ArchNet, institutional sections highlight projects, research, courses and publications of ArchNet partners. The course syllabi page gives access to information with a special emphasis on Islamic architecture course curricula. This information is contributed by ArchNet members and provides extensive reading, bibliographic information, the ArchNet International Journal of Architectural Research is an online academic blind reviewed publication on architecture, planning and built environment studies. It is published three times a year on the internet by ArchNet, the journal typically features articles written by architects, interior designers, planners, and landscape architects working at both public and private institutions. List of professional architecture organizations ArchNet. org website Archnet Libguide from MIT Libraries Aga Khan Film
12.
Erzincan
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Erzincan is the capital of Erzincan Province in northeastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elâzığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, located at an altitude of 1,185 meters above sea level, the citys climate produces snowy winters and warm summers. The city is notable for handcrafted copper goods and a cheese called tulum peyniri in Turkish. It is a significant road and rail junction and was noted for its silverware. Current industries include sugar refining and textile industries, the city is home to the headquarters of the Turkish Third Army. This is the name by which it is called by Strabo in his Geography,11.4.14, the etymological origin of the word is disputed, but it is agreed that the city was once called Erez. For a while it was called Justinianopolis in honour of Emperor Justinian, a text of Agathangelos reports that during the first year of his reign, King Trdat of Armenia went to Erez and visited Anahits temple to offer sacrifice. He ordered Gregory the Illuminator, who was secretly a Christian, when Gregory refused, he was taken captive and tortured, starting the events that would end with Trdats conversion to Christianity some 14 years later. After that conversion, during the Christianisation of Armenia, the temple at Erez was destroyed and its property and it later became known for its extensive monasteries. It is hard to tell when Acilisene became a bishopric, the first whose name is known is of the mid-5th century, Ioannes, who in 459 signed the decree of Patriarch Gennadius I of Constantinople against the simoniacs. Georgius or Gregorius was one of the Fathers of the Second Council of Constantinople, theodorus was at the Third Council of Constantinople in 681, signing as bishop of Justinianopolis or the region of Ecclenzine. Georgius was at the Photian Council of Constantinople, until the 10th century, the diocese itself appears in none of the Notitiae Episcopatuum. At the end of century, they present it as an autocephalous archdiocese. This was the time of greatest splendour of Acilisene, which ended with the defeat of the Byzantines by the Seljuq Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. After the 13th century there is no mention of bishops of Acilisene. No longer a residential bishopric, Acilisene is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, in 1071 Erzincan was absorbed into the Mengüçoğlu under the Seljuk Sulëiman Kutalmish. Marco Polo, who wrote about his visit to Erzincan, said that the people of the country are Armenians, in 1243 it was destroyed in fighting between the Seljuks under Kaykhusraw II and the Mongols. However, by 1254 its population had recovered enough that William of Rubruck was able to say an earthquake had killed more than 10,000 people, during this period, the city reached a level of semi-independence under the rule of Armenian princes
13.
Kemaliye
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Kemaliye is both a town in and one of the nine districts of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The town is known for its architecture, including many Ottoman-era houses. It is also notable for its view of the river Karasu flowing south through a gorge above the Keban dam. In 1813, James Playfairs A System of Geography described Eğin as little town in the form of an amphitheatre, at the foot of a mountain, in a fruitful tract that reaches to the Euphrates. The British explorer Francis Rawdon Chesney followed the course of the Euphrates for an expedition between 1835 and 1837, and mentions Eğin as a town of 2700 houses on the right bank. In comparison, he counts about 3000 houses in Erzincan and 2923 families in Malatya, in 1895, the British geographer Charles William Wilson describes Eğin as follows in a travel guide to Asia Minor. An Ottoman historian Vahakn Dadrian reports that in 1896, the town was divided between Armenians and Muslims. He says that Eğin was notable for its prosperity and had escaped the 1895–1896 Hamidian massacres through a ransom payment by the Armenians of 1500 Turkish gold pounds. However, British archaeologist David George Hogarth writing for the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica noted a massacre of Armenians in Eğin on November 8,1895, the stone houses stand in terraced gardens and orchards, and the streets are mere rock ladders. On 21 October 1922, following the Turkish War of Independence, the former name is still known and used locally and sometimes even beyond. Kemaliye was administered as part of Elazığ Province until 1926, in 1938 it was transferred to Erzincan Province. Papken Siuni, leader of the Ottoman Bank takeover, siamanto, Armenian writer, poet and national figure arrested on Red Sunday and killed during the Armenian Genocide. Nikol Galanderian, Armenian composer of childrens songs. net Facebook Page Kemaliye Kaymakamlığı Kemaliye Belediyesi
14.
Refahiye
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Refahiye is a town and district of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It covers an area of 1,744 km², and the elevation is 1,589 m, the district has a total population of 10,569 where 3730 live in the town of Refahiye. It is on the Asian highway network, the province is known for its forests and mountains called Dumanlı Mountains. There are a lot of local producers in the villages in Refahiye. It was greatly affected by the earthquake of 1939, and much of its infrastructure had to be rebuilt from scratch, Şahverdi, a beautiful village of Refahiye Information related to Şahverdi Köyü in Turkish District governors official website District municipalitys official website
15.
Denizli Province
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Denizli Province is a province of Turkey in Western Anatolia, on high ground above the Aegean coast. Neighbouring provinces are Uşak to the north, Burdur, Isparta, Afyon to the east, Aydın, Manisa to the west and it is located between the coordinates 28° 30’ and 29° 30’ E and 37° 12’ and 38° 12’ N. It covers an area of 11,868 km², and the population is 931,823, the population was 750,882 in 1990. The provincial capital is the city of Denizli, approximately 28-30% of the land is plain, 25% is high plateau and tableland, and 47% is mountainous. At 2571m Mount Honaz is the highest in the province, babadag in the Mentes range has a height of 2308 meters. The biggest lake in Denizli is Acıgöl, which means bitter lake, there is a thermal spring to the west of Sarayköy, at the source of the Great Menderes River, which contains bicarbonates and sulfates. There is another hot spring in Kizildere which reaches 200˚C, a geothermal steam source was first found in the region in 1965 during drilling work. Today there is a plant producing electricity from the geothermal steam. Only 11% of the energy source is used to produce electricity and 89% of it. In general the Aegean region has a mild climate, however, it becomes harsher at altitude. Temperatures can rise to 55 °C during summer and fall to -5 °C in winter, there are about 80 days with precipitation, mainly during winter. There are traces of prehistoric cultures throughout the province, including evidence of pre-Hittite cultures, the Hittites were followed by Phrygians, Lydians and Persians, and then cities founded by the ancient Greeks and Alexander the Great. The first real settlement was the city of Laodicea on the Lycus which was established by King Antiochus II for his wife Laodice, Laodicea is located 6 km north of the city of Denizli. The city of Hierapolis was established around 190 BC by the Pergamene Kingdom, the calcified terraces and pools of Pamukkale now stand below the ruins of Hierapolis. The two cities, Laodicea and Hierapolis later came under Roman rule, and with the division of the Empire in 395 were left within the boundaries of the East Roman Empire. The province has strong connections, in the Book of Revelation. The voice says, Write down what you see and send the book to the Churches in these seven cities, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. The Church of Laodicea was a place even in pre-Christian times
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Manisa Province
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Manisa Province is a province in western Turkey. Its neighboring provinces are İzmir to the west, Aydın to the south, Denizli to the south east, Uşak to the east, Kütahya to the north east, the seat of the province is the city of Manisa. Its provincial capital is the city of Manisa, the code is 45. The Mount Sipylus national park near the city of Manisa covers a richly forested area, hot springs, and the famous crying rock of Niobe, the park boasts of having within its boundaries about 120 varieties of native plants, especially wild tulips. The park provides opportunities for mountaineering and camping, sardis, in Salihli, was the ancient capital of Lydia, once ruled by King Croesus, who was renowned for his wealth. Due to numerous earthquakes, most of the remains date back only to Roman times. There are the remains of the temple of Artemis and a restored gymnasium, the splendid synagogue from the 3rd century is worth visiting, with its elaborate mosaics and artfully carved colored-stone panels. Akhisar, the ancient city of Thyatira, was one of the seven churches of the Book of Revelation, more recently, it became an important commercial center in the province and is its second largest after Manisa. The city of Alaşehir is where the remains of the ancient city of Philadelphia, there is little left of the ancient city, except some ruins of a Byzantine church. Kula houses provide beautiful examples of Ottoman architecture, the villages of the Mount Yunt, the towns of Gördes, Kula and Demirci are famous for their precious carpets and kilims. In addition there are thermal springs throughout the area. The province is highly developed in terms of activities which are concentrated especially in the largest four centers of Manisa, Turgutlu, Akhisar
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Bolu Province
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Bolu Province is a province in northwestern Turkey. Its an important midpoint between the capital, Ankara and the largest city in the country, Istanbul and it covers an area of 7,410 km², and the population is 271,208. This is a forested mountain district centered on the city of Bolu. There is plenty of forest but little agricultural land, Bolu has a long tradition of high quality cuisine. Annual cookery competitions are held in Mengen, the province is drained by the Bolu River and the Koca River. The forests, lakes and mountains are rich in wildlife including three species and very popular weekend and holiday retreats for walkers and climbers. Parts of the province are vulnerable to earthquakes and it is not definitely known when Bolu was first founded. There are some archaeological findings dating back about 100,000 years that suggest the region was inhabited then, the area now in Bolu Province was in eastern Bithynia and southwestern Paphlagonia. The town of Bithynium from which the area takes its name is the modern Bolu, by about 375 BCE, Bithynia had gained its independence from Persia, and King Bas subsequently defeated Alexanders attempt to take it. The Bithynian region with parts of Paphlagonia remained its own kingdom until 88 BCE when it came under Mithridates VI. With Roman help the last Bithynian king, Nicomedes IV regained his throne and this led to the Third Mithridatic War and the fall of Pontus, the area was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a single province joining Paphlagonia with Bithynia. Under the folling Byzantine Empire the Bolu area was divided from western Bithynia at the Sakarya River, the Sakarya is still the southern and western boundary of the province. The Byzantine Empire briefly lost the Bolu area to the Seljuk Turks after the 1071 Battle of Manzikert, after the end of the Komnenos dynasty, the Turks gradually took the Bolu area back. About 1240 the Seljuk Turks took the part of the Bolu area from the Byzantine Empire. Due to their assistance in taking it and Sinop, the Chobanids were given territory and adjacent areas to the north. The Chobanids were relatively independent of the Sultan and that eastern area fell under the Isfendiyarids between 1292 and 1461. In 1461 it was incorporated into the rest of the Ottoman Empire, by 1265, the western part of the Bolu area was again acquired by the Seljuk Turks, but it fell to the arms of Orhan I and the Ottoman Empire in the early to mid-1300s. The two areas were reunited in 1461, under Mehmed II, in the 1864 Ottoman Empire administrative reorganization, Bolu was created as an independent sanjak, although it was geographically part of the Kastamonu Vilayet
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Bursa Province
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Bursa Province is a province in Turkey, along the Sea of Marmara coast in northwestern Anatolia. Its adjacent provinces are Balıkesir to the west, Kütahya to the south, Bilecik and Sakarya to the east, Kocaeli to the northeast, the province has an area of 11,043 km2 and a population of 2,842,547. Its population was 2,125,140 according to the 2000 census, in 1990 it had a population of 1,603,137. The vast majority of the Bursa Province districts are located within the Marmara Region, but the districts of Büyükorhan, Harmancık, Keles and Orhaneli are located within the Aegean Region
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Sakarya Province
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Sakarya is a province in Turkey, located on the coast of Black Sea. The Sakarya River creates a webbing of estuaries in the province, Sakarya is located in the Marmara Region. Its adjacent provinces are Kocaeli to the west, Bilecik to the south, Bolu to the southeast, the capital of Sakarya is Adapazarı. The climate is due to its close proximity to the Black Sea. Sakarya is situated on the Ankara-Istanbul Highway and it is connected through both road and rail. Sakarya is serviced by Istanbuls Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, the current mayor of Sakarya is Zeki Tocoglu. The Turks conquered the city of Sakarya in the 13th century, there was intensive immigration from Caucasia and the Balkans in the 18th and 19th centuries. The last massive immigration was in 1989, thanks to the developing industry and being at a transportation crossroads, the city still receives domestic migration today. Sakarya is notable in the Marmara Region, the city of Sakarya is surrounded with the city of Düzce in the East, Bolu in the South East, Bilecik in the South, Kocaeli in the West and the Black Sea in the North. The city of Sakarya has 16 disrtricts which are, Adapazarı, Akyazı, Arifiye, Erenler, Ferizli, Geyve, Hendek, Karapürçek, Karasu, Kaynarca, Kocaali, Pamukova, Sapanca, Serdivan, Söğütlü and Taraklı. Sakarya is located at the intersection of all the important roads, kınalı-İstanbul-Sakarya-Ankara highway which originates from Edirne has an important role in an international scale. In Kınalı, one branch of the highway is connected to Greece while the branch is connected to Bulgaria. There are 7 railway stations throughout a 65 km railway inside the city limits, the railway which connects Istanbul to Ankara and other Anatolian cities passes through Sakarya. The distance of Sakarya to Istanbul by railway is 141 km and 436 km to Ankara, if you prefer to travel to Adapazarı by air, the nearest airport is the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Kurtköy – Istanbul and Istanbul Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy. Adapazarı was a village named “Ada” in 1573, a sub-district in 1646, a village inside Akyazı in 1658, administrative district of a qadi in 1692, the residency area had the status of a district for 117 years between 1837 –1954 during the Ottoman and Republican eras. Adapazarı, being a district of Kocaeli for many years, separated from Kocaeli, after Adapazarı took the name Sakarya as being the center of the districts Akyazı, Geyve, Hendek and Karasu, in December 1,1954 the first governor Nazım Üner began active duty with ceremonies. While Adapazarı was experiencing a growth and great development in the center of Akova. 3891 residents lost their lives while 26551 buildings collapsed and almost 100000 people were left homeless, already present Adapazarı Mayor Aziz Duran was brought to Adapazarı Metropolitan Mayor Office
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Ankara Province
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Ankara Province is the capital province of Turkey. The city of Ankara became a stronghold of the Byzantines, it fell to the Seljuk Turks. Ankara is mostly in the Central Anatolia region, and partly in the Black Sea region, Ankara has mountain forests to its north, and the dry plain of Konya to its south. The province is irrigated by the Kızılırmak and Sakarya River systems, 50% of the land is used for agriculture, 28% is forest and another 10% is meadow and grazing land. Lake Tuz, the second largest lake in Turkey, partly lies in the district of the province. The highest point of the province is the 2,015 meters tall Işık Mountain in the Kızılcahamam district. The climate is hot and dry in summer, rainy in spring and autumn, cold, Ankara Vilayet Ankara Eyalet Ankara travel information
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Karaman Province
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Karaman Province is a province of central Turkey. It has an area of 9,163 km² and it has a population of 232,633. According to the 2000 census the population was 243,210, the capital is the city of Karaman. Karaman was the location of the Karamanid emirate, which came to an end in 1486
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Konya Province
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Konya Province is a province of Turkey in central Anatolia. The provincial capital is the city of Konya, by area it is the largest province of Turkey. Solar power plant Kızören in Konya in an area of 430 square meters will be able to produce 30,000 megawatts of electricity, the Konya province is divided into thirty-one districts three of which are actually included in the municipality of Konya city. Caves in Konya Province are, Balatini Cave, Beyşehir Büyü Düden Cave, Derebucak Körükini Cave, Beyşehir Tınaztepe Caves, Seydişehir Konya Province, Ottoman Empire
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Adana Province
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Adana Province, is a province of Turkey located in south-central Anatolia. With a population of 2.18 million, it is the sixth most populous province in Turkey, the administrative seat of the province is the city of Adana, home to 79% of the residents of the province. The province, geographically and as well as economically, is part of the region together with the Mersin, Osmaniye. Adana Province has an area of 14.030 km². Southern portion of the province is plain, northern section is formed of mountains, the provinces adjacent to it are Mersin to the west, Hatay to the southeast, Osmaniye to the east, Kahramanmaraş to the northeast, Kayseri to the north, and Niğde to the northwest. Two levels of governments are involved in the administration of the Adana Province, Central, Adana Governorship is the provincial branch of the Central government and Adana Province Special Administration is the provincial governing body. Province is divided into 15 districts and each district is divided into municipalities and villages, municipalities are further divided into neighborhoods. Central government in Ankara has majority of the power in the administration of the province through Adana Governorship, the governorship oversees the functioning of provincial and regional directorates of the ministries and other governmental agencies. Provincial directorates cover Adana Province only, whereas Regional directorates cover Çukurova and in some cases additional provinces. The last TBMM elections were held on June 7th,2015 and in the Adana Province, conservative AKP took 5 seats, social democrat CHP4 seats, nationalist MHP3 seats and socialist HDP took 2 seats. Adana Province Special Administration is a semi-democratic provincial governing body that has three organs, Provincial Parliament, Governor and the Encümen. Provincial Parliament members are elected democratically, the governor is appointed by the Central Government and 4 out of 8 members of the Encümen are appointed by the governor. Province Special Administration is not a jurisdiction and has executive power in the administration of the province running with a budget of 55 million TL for 2010. Adana Provincial Parliament is the decision making organ of the Province Special Administration and it is formed of 61 members who represent the 15 districts. Members of the Parliament are nominated by the branches of the National Parties during the Local Elections and are elected by the dHondt method. Each district is a district and there is a 10% threshold for a party to gain seat at the district. There is no threshold at the provincial level, Parliament is administered by the president, two vice-presidents, and two secretary generals who are elected from the members. Current chair of the parliament is Abdullah Torun, current Composition of the Parliament The last election for the Provincial Parliament was held on March 29,2009
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Antalya Province
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Antalya Province is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean sea. Antalya Province is the centre of Turkeys tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visiting Turkey and it was the worlds third most visited city by number of international arrivals in 2011, displacing New York. Antalya is Turkeys biggest international sea resort, the province of Antalya corresponds to the lands of ancient Pamphylia to the east and Lycia to the west. It features a shoreline of 657 km with beaches, ports, the provincial capital is Antalya city with a population of 1,001,318. Antalya is the province in Turkey, with a 4. 17% yearly population growth rate between years 1990–2000, compared with the national rate of 1. 83%. This growth is due to a fast rate of urbanization, particularly driven by tourism, the city and thus the province are named after Attalos II, king of Pergamon, who founded the city in the 2nd century BC. Antalya has been settled since pre-historic times, evidence of human habitation dating back to the early Paleolithic age years has been discovered in the Karain cave,30 km of the north of Antalya city. Other finds dating back to the Mesolithic, Neolithic and more recent periods show that the area has been populated by various civilizations throughout the ages, like their descendants, the Lukkans or Lycians were known for their seamanship and demonstrated a fiery independent spirit. Neither the Hittites, nor the Kingdom of Arzawa on the west coast, legends of Ancient Greece tell us that these communities grew into independent cities, the area as a whole came to be called Pamphylia. A federation of cities was set up. There are also tales of the migration of the Akha clan to the area after the Trojan war and eventually Greek settlements were built along the coast and inland. In the Hellenistic period, the parts of Antalya province were in Lycia, the east was in Pamphylia. Before the Ancient Roman conquest Lycia was a polity with the first democratic constitution in the world, Antalya was part of the Lydian kingdom from the 7th century BC until Lydia was defeated by the Persians during the battle of Sardis in 546 BC. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, a battle erupted between his generals that lasted until 188 BC. The reign of the kingdom of Pergamon began with the defeat of the Seleucid army at Apamea, shortly after this the city of Antalya was founded. When Attalos III, the last king of Pergamom, died in 133 BC he left his kingdom to the Ancient Romans, at this time the area is dominated by pirates based in small cities along the coast. During the mid-Byzantine era the city of Antalya grew beyond the city walls, from the 7th century Muslim Arabs started to be dominant in the Levant region and Antalya later played a part in the Christian Crusades against Islam. The army of Louis VII sailed from Antalya for Syria in 1148, in the late 11th and early 12th Century much of the area of the modern province fell to the Turks especially the Danishmends
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Hatay Province
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Hatay Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the eastern Mediterranean coast. The administrative capital is Antakya, and the major city in the province is the port city of İskenderun. It is bordered by Syria to the south and east and the Turkish provinces of Adana, the province is part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region that covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye, and Hatay. There are border crossing points with Syria in the district of Yayladağı, although the two countries have remained generally peaceful in their dispute over the territory, Syria has never formally renounced its claims to it. The region was the center of the Hellenistic Seleucid empire, home to the four Greek cities of the Syrian tetrapolis, from 64 BC onwards the city of Antioch became an important regional centre of the Roman Empire. The area was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in 638 and later it came under the control of the Ummayad, from the 11th century onwards, the region was controlled by the Aleppo-based Hamdanids after a brief rule of Ikhshidids. In 969 the city of Antioch was recaptured by the Byzantine Empire and it was conquered by Philaretos Brachamios, a Byzantine general in 1078. He founded a principality from Antioch to Edessa and it was captured by Suleiman I, who was Sultan of Rum, in 1084. It passed to Tutush I, Sultan of Aleppo, in 1086, Seljuk rule lasted 14 years until Hatays capture by the Crusaders in 1098, when it became the centre of the Principality of Antioch. Hatay was captured from the Crusaders by the Mameluks in 1268, by the time it was taken from the Mameluks by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I in 1516, Antakya was a medium-sized town on 2 km² of land between the Orontes River and Mount Habib Neccar. Under the Ottomans the area was known as the sanjak of Alexandretta, a map published circa 1911 highlighted that the ethnic make up was majority Arab with smaller communities of Armenians and Turks. Many consider that Alexandretta had been part of Syria. Maps as far back as 1764 confirm this, during the First World War in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated most of Syria was occupied by the British forces. But when the Armistice of Mudros was signed at the end of the war, nevertheless, after the armistice it was occupied by the British forces an operation which was never accepted by the Ottoman side. Later like the rest of Syria it was handed to France by the British Empire, the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne also put Alexandretta within Syria. A French-Turkish treaty of 20 October 1921 rendered the Sanjak of Alexandretta autonomous, out of 220,000 inhabitants in 1921,87,000 were Turks. Along with Turks the population of the Sanjak included, Arabs of various denominations, Greek Catholics, Syriac-Maronites, Jews, Syriacs, Kurds. In 1923 Hatay was attached to the State of Aleppo, and in 1925 it was attached to the French mandate of Syria
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Isparta Province
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Isparta Province is a province in southwestern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Afyon to the northwest, Burdur to the southwest, Antalya to the south and it has an area of 8,993 km² and a population of 448,298 up from 434,771. The province is known for its apples, sour cherries, grapes, roses and rose products. The best fertile lands are in the area named Uluborlu, the province is situated in the Göller Bölgesi of Turkeys Mediterranean Region and has many freshwater lakes
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Mersin Province
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The Mersin Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital is the city of Mersin and the major town is Tarsus. The province is part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region, in 2002, the provinces name was changed from İçel to Mersin but the province retained the license plate number of 33, İçel having been the 33rd in the alphabetical order of Turkish province names. There are many high meadows and small plains between 700 and 1500m, the coastal strip has many large areas of flatland, formed from soil brought down by rivers and streams running off the mountains. This is fertile land, the largest area being the plain of Tarsus, the largest rivers are the Göksu and the Berdan, but there are many small streams running into lakes, reservoirs or the Mediterranean sea. Mersin has 321 km of coastline, much of it sandy beach, with all this activity a modern city has grown with a university and other major amenities. About 50% of the population of the province is younger than 24 years of age, about 43% of the male population and about 27% of the female population graduated from middle school. Urban population growth rate is 2. 42%, in summer the hills are a popular retreat from the high humidity and extreme heat on the coast. West of Mersin includes bays, and little islands, yacht touring is a tourism income in these areas. In antiquity this coast was part of Cilicia, named for a Phoenician or Assyrian prince that had settled here, trade from Syria and Mesopotamia over the mountains to central Anatolia passed through here, through the Cilician Gates. The geographer Strabo, described the region as being divided into Rugged Cilicia, the capital of both sections of Cilicia was Tarsus and Mersin was its seaport. Mersin province is divided into thirteen districts four of which are included within the municipality of Mersin city. Silifke - ancient Seleucia Pieria, buildings include the church of Aya Tekla, the ancient Roman town of Soloi-Pompeiopolis, now within the city. About Mersin The ancient Roman town of Anemurium, adjacent to the town of Anamur. Another ancient city of Elaiussa Sebaste,55 km from the city of Mersin, castles including Mamure, Kızkalesi and Namrun
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Osmaniye Province
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Ossdtipppmaniye Province is a Turkish province located in southern Turkey. It existed as a province by the name Cebel-i Bereket in the republic until 1933. It was made a province again in 1996 and it covers an area of 3,767 km² and has a population of 479,221. The province is situated in Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region, the capital of the province is Osmaniye. The next largest towns are Kadirli and Düziçi
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Aksaray Province
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Aksaray Province is a province in central Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Konya along the west and south, Niğde to the southeast, Nevşehir to the east and it covers an area of 7,626 km². The provincial capital is the city of Aksaray and this is a region of great natural beauty, Aksaray is one of the four provinces in the much-visited area of Cappadocia, along with Nevşehir, Niğde and Kayseri. Also the 3, 000m volcano Mount Hasan stands between Aksaray and Niğde, summers are hot and dry on the plain, but the area is green and covered in flowers in springtime, when water streams off the mountainside. The 2400 km² salt lake, Tuz Gölü, lies within the boundaries of Aksaray, the plains of central Anatolia have been settled for 8,000 years. And the area around Aksaray bears monuments to a string of civilisations that have settled on the plain in that time, the mound of Aşıklı Höyük in the town of Kızılkaya indicates a settlement dating back to 5, 000BC. Later the Silk Road came through here so caravanserai and then larger and larger settlements were built to supply, the city and surroundings of Aksaray thrived in the Roman, Byzantine and the Turkish periods. Today Aksaray is a rural, agricultural province, its people religious, since the 1950s many have moved to Europe as migrant workers. The population of Aksaray has long included a proportion of Kurdish people than most central Anatolian provinces. Many of them were resettled here from Tunceli and other cities following the Sheikh Said rebellion in the 1920s. Aşıklı Höyük - a Neolithic settlement 25 km east of the city of Aksaray, acemhöyük - an early Bronze Age settlement,18 km north-west of the city of Aksaray. The ancient city of Nora, in the village of Helvadere near the city of Aksaray
