Ardahan
Encyclopedia
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey
, near the Georgian
border.
, who mentions that it was a province of Caucasian Iberia
.
Ardahan was incorporated into the Kingdom of Armenia during 2nd century BC
and was renamed as Gugark
. It was located in the canton of Ardahan, which was a part of the province of Gugark'
. In the ninth century, the city was taken by the Bagrationi princes of Artanuj
. From the ninth to eleventh centuries, Ardahan was an important transit point for goods arriving from the Abbasid Caliphate and departing to the regions around the Black Sea
. During the 8th to 11th centuries it was part of georgian principality of Tao-Klarjeti
. After the liberation from the arab rule it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Georgia
and was part of it from 11th century onwards. According to the Arab historian Yahya of Antioch
, the Byzantines
burned down Ardahan and slaughtered its population in 1021. The Mongols
took hold of the city in the 1230s but the Georgian
princes of Samtskhe-Saatabago were able to capture it from them in 1266.
The principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago was annexed by the Ottoman Empire
in 1555 and Ardahan was included into the sanjak
of Ardahan (an overall part of the vilayet of Akhaltsikhe
). The Ottomans constructed a substantial fortress at Ardahan. The Turkish traveller Evliya Chelebi visited Ardahan in the 1640s and gave the following description: "The fortress of Ardahan sits atop an inaccessible cliff. It is square-shaped and sturdy....This fortress has a cold climate and, because of this, there are no gardens or orchards. Fruits arrive from the fortress at Ajara and Tortum
."
following the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War and was made a part of the Kars Oblast
. The majority of the town was made up of Armenians, while other ethnic groups included Georgians, Greeks, Jews, Russians, Kurds and Yazidis. The town flourished economically under Russian rule, exporting fruits, smoked lamb meat, wheat and wood. New roads were constructed, linking Ardahan to Akhalkalak, Kars
and Oltu
. On December 25, 1914, in the early months of the First World War, the Ottoman army occupied Ardahan and massacred many of its Armenian and Georgian inhabitants. The Russians captured the town on June 3, 1915, allowing some of the original inhabitants who had fled to return.
As Russian forces withdrew from the front following the October Revolution, a small Armenian volunteer force took up positions to defend the town from the approaching Ottoman Army. On March 6, 1918 the Ottoman army, along with the help of the town's Muslims, overwhelmed Ardahan's Armenian garrison and retook the town. The British occupied Ardahan after the end of the First World War and eventually handed control over it to the Democratic Republic of Armenia
. When the Turkish Nationalists
captured Ardahan in November 1920, the town's remaining Armenians and Georgians fled to Armenia and Georgia. The Treaty of Moscow
, signed the following year between the Soviets
and the Turks, confirmed Ardahan as a part of Turkish territory.
In 1960, Ardahan's population stood at 7,228 and was populated by both Kurds and Turks.
. In 1993 the district was made a province, with Ardahan as its regional capital. This resulted in new investment in government buildings and services, but life in mountains that spend half the year under snow is still a struggle.
Kars Kafkas University has an institute in Ardahan. There is also a substantial military presence in the town. The army still occupies the Ottoman fortress and it is inaccessible to visitors. The civil servants, academics, and military officers stationed in Ardahan help to support the local economy. These people have their own clubs and guest houses, while in the town itself there are still few social, cultural, and shopping amenities. There are hotels, mainly used by truck drivers and other travellers crossing into Georgia.
The region is renowned for its hard yellow kaşar cheese, its cattle markets, and its geese.
(Köppen climate classification
: Dfb), with warm and brief summers with cool nights and very cold winters. Winters are very snowy with snowcover lasting for months. Average annual temperaure is 3.7°C. Temperatures usually drop to -40 C. The highest recorded temperature was 35 °C (95 °F) on 29 August 1998. The lowest recorded temperature was -37.8 C on 14 February 1976.
Festivals
with:
, 1949. Yeremyan, Suren T.
Հայաստանը ըստ «Աշխարհացույցի» (Armenia According to the Ashkharatsuyts
). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences
, 1963.
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, near the Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
border.
Etymology
Its historical names include Ardahan , Ardagan and Artaani .Ancient and medieval
In Ancient times the region was called Gogarene, which is assumed to derive from the name of Gugars, who were a Proto-Kartvelian tribe. First surviving record about this region is attributed to StraboStrabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, who mentions that it was a province of Caucasian Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
.
Ardahan was incorporated into the Kingdom of Armenia during 2nd century BC
2nd century BC
The 2nd century BC started the first day of 200 BC and ended the last day of 101 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, although depending on the region being studied, other terms may be more proper .-Overview:Fresh from its victories in the Second Punic War, the...
and was renamed as Gugark
Gugark
Gugark was the 13th province of Greater Armenia. It now comprises parts of northern Armenia, northeast Turkey, and southwest Georgia.-History:...
. It was located in the canton of Ardahan, which was a part of the province of Gugark'
Gugark
Gugark was the 13th province of Greater Armenia. It now comprises parts of northern Armenia, northeast Turkey, and southwest Georgia.-History:...
. In the ninth century, the city was taken by the Bagrationi princes of Artanuj
Ardanuç
Ardanuç is a town and district of Artvin Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey located 32 km east of Artvin..- Geography :Ardanuç is a mountainous district, rising from 250 m in the Şavşat River basin up to the highest point, 3050 m Mount Çadır. Other high mountains are Kürdevan, Yalnızçam...
. From the ninth to eleventh centuries, Ardahan was an important transit point for goods arriving from the Abbasid Caliphate and departing to the regions around the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. During the 8th to 11th centuries it was part of georgian principality of Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...
. After the liberation from the arab rule it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Georgia
Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia was a medieval monarchy established in AD 978 by Bagrat III.It flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries, the so-called "golden age" of the history of Georgia. It fell to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by 1327...
and was part of it from 11th century onwards. According to the Arab historian Yahya of Antioch
Yahya of Antioch
Yahya of Antioch, full name Yaḥya ibn Saʿīd al-Anṭākī , was a Melkite Christian physician and historian of the 11th century....
, the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
burned down Ardahan and slaughtered its population in 1021. The Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
took hold of the city in the 1230s but the Georgian
Georgians
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
princes of Samtskhe-Saatabago were able to capture it from them in 1266.
The principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago was annexed by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1555 and Ardahan was included into the sanjak
Sanjak
Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish word sancak, meaning district, banner, or flag...
of Ardahan (an overall part of the vilayet of Akhaltsikhe
Akhaltsikhe
Akhaltsikhe is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. It is situated on the both banks of a small river Potskhovi, which separates the city to the old city in the north and new in the south. The name of the city translates from Georgian as "new fortress".- History...
). The Ottomans constructed a substantial fortress at Ardahan. The Turkish traveller Evliya Chelebi visited Ardahan in the 1640s and gave the following description: "The fortress of Ardahan sits atop an inaccessible cliff. It is square-shaped and sturdy....This fortress has a cold climate and, because of this, there are no gardens or orchards. Fruits arrive from the fortress at Ajara and Tortum
Tortum
Tortum is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey.The population is 4,507 as of 2010.There are 4 different ethnic group in the district.Ethnicity distribution*Turkish*Hemshin*Kurdish*Zaza- External links :...
."
Modern
Prior to the outbreak of the 1828-1829 Russo-Turkish war, Ardahan was composed of 400 households, the great majority of them Armenian. Many of them later immigrated to Russia. The town passed into the hands of the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
following the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War and was made a part of the Kars Oblast
Kars Oblast
Kars Oblast was one of Transcaucasian governorates of Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was in the city of Kars, presently in the Republic of Turkey. The governorate bordered with the Ottoman Empire, Batum Oblast, Tiflis Governorate, Erivan Governorate, and from 1883 to 1903 with...
. The majority of the town was made up of Armenians, while other ethnic groups included Georgians, Greeks, Jews, Russians, Kurds and Yazidis. The town flourished economically under Russian rule, exporting fruits, smoked lamb meat, wheat and wood. New roads were constructed, linking Ardahan to Akhalkalak, Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
and Oltu
Oltu
Oltu is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is İbrahim Ziyrek . The population is 19,969 .-History:...
. On December 25, 1914, in the early months of the First World War, the Ottoman army occupied Ardahan and massacred many of its Armenian and Georgian inhabitants. The Russians captured the town on June 3, 1915, allowing some of the original inhabitants who had fled to return.
As Russian forces withdrew from the front following the October Revolution, a small Armenian volunteer force took up positions to defend the town from the approaching Ottoman Army. On March 6, 1918 the Ottoman army, along with the help of the town's Muslims, overwhelmed Ardahan's Armenian garrison and retook the town. The British occupied Ardahan after the end of the First World War and eventually handed control over it to the Democratic Republic of Armenia
Democratic Republic of Armenia
The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...
. When the Turkish Nationalists
Turkish National Movement
The Turkish National Movement encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries which resulted in the creation and shaping of the Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I....
captured Ardahan in November 1920, the town's remaining Armenians and Georgians fled to Armenia and Georgia. The Treaty of Moscow
Treaty of Moscow
The Treaty of Moscow may refer to:*Treaty of Moscow , a treaty of non-aggression between Soviet Russia and Georgia*Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty also known as Moscow Peace Treaty, a treaty between the Soviet Russia and Lithuania...
, signed the following year between the Soviets
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
and the Turks, confirmed Ardahan as a part of Turkish territory.
In 1960, Ardahan's population stood at 7,228 and was populated by both Kurds and Turks.
Life in Ardahan
Ardahan is one of the small provincial capitals in Turkey and was until 1993 a small town in the province of KarsKars Province
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were until the 1990s part of Kars Province.-History:...
. In 1993 the district was made a province, with Ardahan as its regional capital. This resulted in new investment in government buildings and services, but life in mountains that spend half the year under snow is still a struggle.
Kars Kafkas University has an institute in Ardahan. There is also a substantial military presence in the town. The army still occupies the Ottoman fortress and it is inaccessible to visitors. The civil servants, academics, and military officers stationed in Ardahan help to support the local economy. These people have their own clubs and guest houses, while in the town itself there are still few social, cultural, and shopping amenities. There are hotels, mainly used by truck drivers and other travellers crossing into Georgia.
The region is renowned for its hard yellow kaşar cheese, its cattle markets, and its geese.
Climate
Ardahan has a humid continental climateHumid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
(Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
: Dfb), with warm and brief summers with cool nights and very cold winters. Winters are very snowy with snowcover lasting for months. Average annual temperaure is 3.7°C. Temperatures usually drop to -40 C. The highest recorded temperature was 35 °C (95 °F) on 29 August 1998. The lowest recorded temperature was -37.8 C on 14 February 1976.
Significant Days
Local Days of Celebration- Freedom Day - 23 February
- Commemoration day for ÇanakkaleÇanakkaleÇanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 106,116 . The mayor is Ülgür Gökhan ....
Victory - 18 March - Commemoration day for Air Force Martyrs - 21 March
- SeljuqGreat Seljuq EmpireThe Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...
Conquest of Ardahan - 24 June - Ram Introduction - 10 October
Festivals
- Festival of Animals and Animal Products - 20 August
- Traditional Goose Festival - 18 November
Twin towns—Sister cities
Ardahan is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:
- AkhaltsikheAkhaltsikheAkhaltsikhe is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. It is situated on the both banks of a small river Potskhovi, which separates the city to the old city in the north and new in the south. The name of the city translates from Georgian as "new fortress".- History...
,
Georgia (country) GeorgiaGeorgia (country)Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of... - GroznyGroznyGrozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
,
Russia RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Further reading
Kyureghyan, Levon. Կարս և Արտահան (Kars and Artahan). Vienna: Mkhitarian PressMechitarists
The Mechitarists , are a congregation of Benedictine monks of the Armenian Catholic Church founded in 1712 by Abbot Mechitar of Sebastia. They are best known for their series of scholarly publications of ancient Armenian versions of otherwise lost ancient Greek texts.-History:Their eponymous...
, 1949. Yeremyan, Suren T.
Suren Yeremyan
Suren Tigrani Yeremyan was an Armenian historian and cartographer who specialized in the studies concerning the formation of the Armenian nation and pre-medieval Armenia and the Caucasus...
Հայաստանը ըստ «Աշխարհացույցի» (Armenia According to the Ashkharatsuyts
Ashkharatsuyts (Anania Shirakatsi)
Ashkharatsuyts is an early Medieval Armenian illustrated book by Anania Shirakatsi. It is about the geography of Armenia, Georgia, Caucasian Albania, Iran, Mesopotamia, etc....
). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences
Armenian Academy of Sciences
The Armenian Academy of Sciences is the primary body that conducts research in and coordinates activities in the fields of science and social sciences in the Republic of Armenia. It was founded on November 29, 1943...
, 1963.