Birecik, on the banks of the Euphrates, was an obligatory way-station to Mesopotamia. The kaza and its administrative seat were named after a fortress built on a limestone cliff on the left/east bank of the Euphrates, “at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs nearly north-south, and just below a sharp bend in the stream, where it follows that course after coming from a long reach flowing more from the west”.[1] View of the Euphrates at Birecik, seen from the White Fortress (Beyaz Kale; photographer: Dosseman, source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birecik#/media/File:Birecik_Beyaz_Kale_4261.jpg) Toponym The current placename originates from the Syriac toponym Birtha (‘Palace’), [...]
Archives: Regions
Our CPT for the regions
Kaza Rumkale / Rumlulu / Ρωμαιων Κουλα – Romaion Kula / Հռոմկլա – Hromkla / Qal’ah Rumita
50 km west of Urfa, the powerful Hellenistic and Roman fortress is situated on a high spur-like rock plateau in the manner of a narrow peninsula above the western shore of the elongated Birecik reservoir, about 4 km northwest opposite Eski Halfeti, where the valley of the Merzimen Çayı (Barzeman for the Armenians) flows into the Euphrates. Rumkale in 1992, before the flooding (source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumkale#/media/Datei:Halfeti_14_04_1992_Eski_Halfeti_Euphrattal.jpg) Today the fortress is mostly destroyed and partially flooded. Lower parts of the complex disappeared at the end of the 20th century during the construction of the Birecik reservoir. Buildings or other relics visible in the castle [...]
Kaza of Urfa / ܐܘܪܗܝ – Urhoy / Ուռհա – Urha / Ἔδεσσα – Edessa
Ecumenical Genocide Memorial, Berlin: Commemorative plate for Urfa The homonymous administrative seat of the kaza, Urfa, is one of the oldest human settlements and a crossroad of civilizations, known under many toponyms. Christian Population According to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Armenian pre-war population of the kaza of 36,448 lived in ten localities, maintaining six monasteries and 20 (?) schools.[1] Most Armenians of the kaza resided in the administrative center Urfa. “There were only a few Armenians in the northern plain of Mesopotamia, in Garmuc [Dağeteği], an hour and a half northeast of Urfa (pop. 5,000), Mankush (60 households), Tlbaşar (100 families), [...]
Mutesarrifat (sancak) Urfa / ܐܘܪܗܝ – Urhoy / Ուռհա – Urha / Ἔδεσσα – Edessa
Ecumenical Genocide Memorial, Berlin: Commemorative plate for Urfa Toponym Although the site of Urfa has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the modern city was founded in 304 B.C by Seleucus I Nicator and named after the ancient capital of Macedonia, Ἔδεσσα – Édessa. During the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 B.C.) the city was named Callirrhoe or Antiochia on the Callirhoe (Ancient Grk.: Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Καλλιρρόης). During Byzantine rule it was named Justinopolis. Prior to Turkish rule, it was often best known by the name given it by the Seleucids, Edessa. Şanlı means ‘great, glorious, dignified’ in Turkish, and Urfa was [...]
Kaza of Elbistan / Albistan / Ablasta
Toponym The original placename was Ablasta (Armenian: Աբլաստա – Ablasta), in Kurdish Albistan. History In the late Bronze Age, Elbistan was part of Kizzuwatna as Lawazantiza and was eventually annexed to the Hittite Empire under Šuppiluliuma I (ca. 1355-1320 B.C.). With the decline of the city of Arabissos, which was destroyed by the Hamdanids in the 10th century, the importance of Elbistan in the region grew. After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Ablasta was part of the domain of the former Byzantine general Philaretos Brachamios (Grk.: Φιλάρετος Βραχάμιος; Armenian: Փիլարտոս Վարաժնունի, Pilartos Varajnuni), who from Germanikeia (Maraş) tried to hold together the remnants [...]