Eleşkirt

Eleşkirt (Kurdish: Zêdikan‎)[3] is a town and district of Ağrı Province in Turkey. Its name is a transference from Alashkert (Armenian: Ալաշկերտ Alaškert), the valley's former administrative centre but now a village known as Toprakkale. It was known as Vagharshakert in medieval sources.[4] At the time of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 approximately half of the population consisted of Armenians and the rest of Kurds and Turks.[5]

For other uses, see Alashkert (disambiguation).
Eleşkirt
General view of Eleşkirt
Eleşkirt
Coordinates: 39°47′53″N 42°40′28″E
Country Turkey
ProvinceAğrı
Government
 • MayorRamazan Yakut (Felicity Party)
Area
 • District1,545.18 km2 (596.60 sq mi)
Population
 (2012)[2]
 • Urban
11,247
 • District
39,040
 • District density25/km2 (65/sq mi)
Websitewww.eleskirt.bel.tr

The mayor is Ramazan Yakut (Felicity Party).[6]

Places to see

Eleşkirt is a small town on a plain surrounded by high mountains, that has been occupied since the kingdom of the Urartu, as can be seen from:

  • A burial mound (höyük) in the village of Pirabat
  • The castle in the village of Toprakkale (ku:Kelê). In antiquity the district was ruled from the castle which was successively occupied by Romans, Persians, Armenians, Arabs, Greek Byzantines, Seljuk Turks, Mongols and then further waves of Turks. There is a mosque which was built in 1687 in this village.
  • There is a mountain named Kösedağ near the town. It is popular for climbing.[7] Actually a lot of tourists come to see and climb this mountain from different countries every year.

References
  1. "Area of regions (including lakes), km²". Regional Statistics Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. 2002. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
  2. "Population of province/district centers and towns/villages by districts - 2012". Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
  3. Adem Avcıkıran (2009). Kürtçe Anamnez Anamneza bi Kurmancî (PDF) (in Turkish and Kurdish). p. 56. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  4. Sinclair, T.A. London, 1989, "Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey, Volume II" p. 280
  5. Zatikyan, Hovhannes [Զատիկյան, Հովհաննես] Noravank, 2013, "Garin province in the second half of the nineteenth century" [ Կարինի նահանգը XIX դարի երկրորդ կեսին] pp. 391, 402 url = http://www.noravank.am/upload/pdf/KARINI_NAHANGY.pdf
  6. "Ağrı Eleşkirt Seçim Sonuçları - 31 Mart 2019 Yerel Seçimleri". www.sabah.com.tr. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  7. "Köse Dağı & Küçük Kösedağ – Spectacular Mountains". Retrieved 2019-09-09.
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