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Elâzığ (Ottoman Turkish: Mamûretü'l-Azîz, Elâziz) is a city in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey and the seat of Elâzığ Province. It has a population of 266,495 according to the 2000 census, and the plain on which the city extends has an altitude of 1067 metres. Contemporary Elâzığ initially developed as an extension of the historic city of Harput (Kurdish: Xarpêt, Armenian: Խարբերդ, EA: Kharberd, WA or Kharpert, Harput) which was situated on a hill and difficult to access in winter.
[edit] NameUnder the reign of Mahmud II, the governor Reşid Mehmed Pasha started the expansion of Mezre, meaning "hamlet" in Arabic, in a reference to its formerly uninhabited state. During the reign of Sultan Abdülazîz, military barracks, a hospital and a governor's mansion were built to accommodate the seat of a new vilâyet (province). The city was renamed "Mamûretü'l-Azîz" (معمورة العزيز, made prosperous by Aziz in Ottoman Turkish) in 1866 on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of enthronement of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz, although he was not the initial founder. The city was known many years as "Elâzîz" due to its ease of pronunciation. On November 17, 1937, President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk changed the name of the city to "Elazık". However, since this was hard to pronounce in Turkish, on December 10, 1937 the government changed the city's name to its final form, "Elâzığ". It is known as Elezîz in Kurdish. [edit] HistoryThe city of Elâzığ was founded among the skirts of the hill on which the historical Harput Castle was constructed in Eastern Anatolia. According to the present historical sources, the most ancient inhabitants of Harput was the Hurrian nation who settled in the Eastern Anatolia Region after 2000 B.C. Harput and vicinity had entered under the reign of Turkish nation in the year 1085 as the outcome of the victorious Malazgirt battle August,26 in 1071. The Çubukoğulları, Artukoğulları, Akkoyunlular and Ottomans had reigned in the region [1] The area around Elâzığ has been settled for centuries. An ancient town and citadel called Kharput (Kharpert), which means "rocky fortress" in Armenian, was built by the first Armenian kings about five kilometers from modern Elâzığ. 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 the process of being abandoned, with most residents moving to Elâzığ although 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), the first church in Harput, was built in 179 A.D by Syriac Christians, distinct from the Armenians of Harput. An Armenian Catholic diocese of Kharput was created in 1850. [edit] Ottoman Harput and Mamûretü'l-AzîzHarput 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, government backed Turks or Kurds massacred, looted and burned the Armenian villages on the plain. In the same month Harput was attacked and the American schools were burned down.[2][3] During the Armenian Genocide, many residents were killed.[4] See also: Massacres in Harput District [edit] Elâzığ under the Republic of Turkey
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 Republic of Turkey 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 Elâzığ with a population running around two thousand souls. [edit] EconomyThe most important factor determining the growth of Elâzığ 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 Elâzığ, 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 Elâzığ center and the state indemnities paid were invested in houses in Elâzığ or laid a base for small businesses. The region of Elâzığ 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 (42.7% in 1970) surpassing the average levels for Eastern Anatolia. The main agricultural activity of the area centers around vineyards and Elâzığ also serves as a market hub for other agricultural products. The state-run vineyards of Elâzığ is notable for its production of Buzbağ, a full-flavored red wine. Elâzığ today is the capital of the Elâzığ 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 Elâzığ today situated three miles to the north of the city center. The population of Elâzığ consists of Turks, Kurds and Azeris.[5] [edit] Geography and climateElâzığ is situated at the northwestern corner of a 30-mile-long valley, known locally as Uluova (literally the Great Valley). The area's Armenians called this valley "Vosgetashd" (the 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. Elâzığ 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). Elâzığ's adjacent province borders are with: Tunceli (North), Erzincan (North-West), Bingöl (East), Diyarbakır (South), and Malatya (West).[6] The dominant climate in Elâzığ Province is the terrestrial climate and the winter seasons pass cold and precipitant while summer seasons pass hot and dry. However,due to the natural and artificial lakes around the city, some partial variations from the climate is experienced. [7] [edit] Notable people from Elâzığ
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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. [edit] Sources
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