Bingöl is a city in Eastern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. It is also known as Çabakcur , which means violent water in Armenian. It is surrounded by mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

s and a large number of glacier lakes, hence the name (Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 for: a thousand lakes). Lately, the town has become a popular tourist destination. According to 2009 estimates, it has a population of 87,918 .

Bingöl is the capital of Bingöl Province

Bingöl Province

Bingöl Province is a province of Turkey in Eastern Anatolia. The province was created in 1946 out of parts of Elazığ and Erzincan. The new province was known as Çapakçur Province until 1950. Its neighbouring provinces are Tunceli, Erzurum, Muş, Diyarbakır, Erzincan and Elazığ. The province covers...

, one of the 81 provinces of Turkey

Provinces of Turkey

Turkey is divided into 81 provinces, called il in Turkish .A province is administered by an appointed governor , and was formerly termed a "governorate" ....

.

On May 1, 2003 the whole area suffered from a magnitude 6.4 earthquake

2003 Bingöl earthquake

The 2003 Bingöl earthquake was a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that hit eastern Turkey on May 1, 2003 at 03:27 local time . The epicenter was in Bingöl Province, 15 km north of Bingöl...

, leaving 177 dead and 520 injured. On 8 March 2010, the area suffered another earthquake

2010 Elâzığ earthquake

The 2010 Elâzığ earthquake was a 6.1 Mw earthquake that occurred on 8 March 2010 at 02:32 UTC . The epicentre of the quake was Başyurt in Elâzığ province, in eastern Turkey. Initial reports in global media said as many as 57 people had died. Reports in the Turkish media two days after the quake...

, of magnitude 5.9, with its epicenter in Elâzığ Province

Elazig Province

Elâzığ Province is a province of Turkey with its seat in the city of Elâzığ. The source of the Euphrates river is located in this province.The province has a population of 552,646 as of 2010...

, 45 km (28 mi) west of Bingöl.

Geography

Bingöl is 144 km east of Elâzığ and is situated in the high region of Eastern Anatolia. Bingöl is a mountainous area with heights reaching 10,000 feet.

Climate

Bingöl has a continental climate

Continental climate

Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...

 (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...

: Dsa), with hot and dry summers and cold and snowy winters. The driest months are July and August and the wettest are February and December.