Iskilip
Encyclopedia
Çorum Province
Çorum Province is a province in the Black Sea Region of Turkey, but lying inland and having more characteristics of Central Anatolia than the Black Sea coast....
of 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...
, on the left bank of the River Kızılırmak
Kizilirmak
-Geographical names in Turkey:* Kızılırmak River is the longest river of Anatolia* Kızılırmak, Çankırı, a district of Çankırı Province, Turkey...
, located at 56 km from the city of Çorum
Çorum
Çorum is a landlocked northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from Ankara and from Istanbul...
, 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
and 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Kastamonu
Kastamonu
Kastamonu is the capital district of the Kastamonu Province, Turkey. According to the 2000 census, population of the district is 102,059 of which 64,606 live in the urban center of Kastamonu. The district covers an area of , and the town lies at an elevation of...
. It covers an area of 1,187 km², and the elevation is 2460 ft (750 m). Population is about 39,124 of which 20,660 live in the town of İskilip (as of 2010). The mayor is Numan Sezer (AKP
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...
).
Etymology
Former names included Iskila (the name given to the area right back in HittiteHittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
times, Asklepios (Aesculapius) (in ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
), Blocium / Bloacium, İmad, Iskelib, İskelib (the ancient name being restored in the Seljuk Turkish era) and Direklibel.
Geography
İskilip lies on a well-watered plain, several miles off the road between ÇankırıÇankırı
-Agriculture:Various produce like wheat, corn, beans, apple etc. are grown in the farms, and fields that are rich of water.-Industry:Most of the industry is located near the city center and Korgun. Other towns that are in the industrial map of the city are Şabanözü, Çerkeş, Ilgaz, Kurşunlu, and...
and Amasya
Amasya
- History :Its location in this steep valley makes the city a mountain stronghold, easy to defend, and thus Amasya has had a long and prominent history.-Antiquity:...
among wooded hills, at the foot of a limestone rock crowned by the ruins of an ancient fortress now filled with houses. Near the town are saline springs, from which salt is extracted. The climate is dry. The highest point is Mount Teke (1700m). The local economy depends on agriculture, especially grains and pulses, and forestry. Iskilip lies on the North Anatolian geological fault line.
History
People have been attracted to the saline springs of İskilip since the earliest times, and the town stands on a route through the mountains to the Black SeaBlack 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...
coast. Therefore this is one of the longest-settled areas of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
; copper was smelted here in ancient times, when the plain was settled by the Hittite
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
and Hatti
Hattians
The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti in present-day central part of Anatolia, Turkey, noted at least as early as the empire of Sargon of Akkad , until they were gradually displaced and absorbed ca...
civilisations (from 3000 BC onwards). Rock carvings on the hill of Yivlik are said to date back to the Hittite period.
The Hatti city was then possessed by Paphlagonian kings (from 900-700 BC}, was mentioned in the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
and was visited by Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
. Then came Galatia
Galatia
Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...
ns and the kings of Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
, but these were soon displaced by a much stronger civilisation. For the Ancient Romans, who paid their soldiers in salt, the area had great importance. Romans and the subsequent 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...
settled here for a thousand years, making İskilip one of their key strongholds on the Kızılırmak. Byzantine rule of Anatolia ended in 1071 following their defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the battle of Malazgirt
Malazgirt
Malazgirt is a town in Muş Province in eastern Turkey, with a population of 23,697 .-Founding:...
and İskilip was soon settled (1074) by the Danishmend Turks, who brought Islam to the region. Centuries of fighting ensued between further Turkish clans, and from the 13th century waves of Mongol and Tatar invaders.
In 1390 the Ottoman
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...
Sultan Bayezid I
Bayezid I
Bayezid I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun.-Biography:Bayezid was born in Edirne and spent his youth in Bursa, where he received a high-level education...
moved against the Turkish lords that by now were in control of this corner of Anatolia, with the aid of Mongol armies. After severe fighting in which an Ottoman prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
was killed and the castles of Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Kalecik
Kalecik
Kalecik is a town and district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2010 census, population of the district is 14,517 of which 9,450 live in the town of Kalecik...
and others were besieged Bayezid (the Thunderbolt) prevailed and the area was brought under Ottoman control. But the castle of İskilip had been seriously damaged and most of the population dispersed during the fighting, never to return. Perhaps wisely as the area was soon (1402) the scene of even more terrible warfare between Bayezid's Ottomans and the Tatars of Timur
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
.
Following the Ottoman Interregnum
Ottoman Interregnum
The Ottoman Interregnum began in 20 July 1402, when chaos reigned in the Ottoman Empire following the defeat of Sultan Bayezid I by the Turco-Mongol warlord Timur...
rule was restored by Bayezid's son Mehmed I
Mehmed I
Mehmed I Çelebi was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. He was one of the sons of Bayezid I and Valide Sultan Devlet Hatun Mehmed I Çelebi (Ottoman: چلبی محمد, Mehmed I or Mehmed Çelebi) (1382, Bursa – May 26, 1421, Edirne, Ottoman Empire) was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
, but İskilip's misfortune persisted, with destruction returning in a large earthquake known as the little Armageddon in 1509.
At some stage it must have recovered as by the 17th century Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi was an Ottoman traveler who journeyed through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years.- Life :...
recorded a fortified town of 150 households and in 1849 the French traveller Vital Cuinet recorded a city of 2,000 homes with a population of 10,563 predominantly Muslims. There were 108 mosques, 6 dervish lodges, 6 koran schools, a civic building, 5 libraries, a market of 510 shops, 2 caravanserai
Caravanserai
A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
s, 4 Turkish baths, 18 fountains, a water garden, 18 tanneries, 63 flour mills, 6 bakeries, 10 coffee houses, a courthouse, a tax office, post, telegraph and a census bureau. The garden of the area were used to grow buckthorn
Buckthorn
The Buckthorns are a genus of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall , in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae...
for making natural dye
Natural dye
Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources – roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood — and other organic sources such as fungi and lichens....
-stuff.
Thus we can see that the town has had a predominantly Turkish population since the 13th century at least and the people of İskilip even today are said to speak Turkish with an accent that is the closest in modern Turkey to the language spoken by those first immigrants from the Central Asian heartland. In the early days of the Turkish Republic linguists from the Turkish Language Institute carried out research in İskilip as part of their program to bring more authentic Turkish vocabulary into the language.
Not being able to sustain the manufacturing or large-scale trade that fuels a modern city, from the late 19th century onwards İskilip has declined, and is now eclipsed by nearby Çorum, (much to the resentment of the people of İskilip, who will buy cars with Ankara license plates rather than Çorum and will go to great lengths to avoid visiting the provincial capital). The first bridge over the Kızılırmak was built, from wood, in 1930 in order to connect İskilip with Çorum.
The first school in İskilip was opened in 1935, and the first high school in 1968.
İskilip today
Modern İskilip is a small town providing the surrounding area with schools and other amenities. The cuisine is typical of much of Anatolia, including a particularly renowned rice-based dolmaDolma
Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant,...
, wheat soup keshkek, fruit syrup (pekmez
Pekmez
Pekmez or dibs is amolasses-like syrup obtained after condensing juices of fruit must, especially grape, fig or mulberry, by boiling it with a coagulant agent. It is used as a syrup or mixed with tahini for breakfast....
), a dry egg-noodle erişte, spice-cured beef pastırma
Pastirma
Pastirma or bastirma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the cuisines of the former Ottoman countries.-Etymology:The name bastirma is from . bastırma is the gerund of the verb bastırmak , which means "to depress, restrain"...
, roasted chick peas leblebi
Leblebi
Leblebi is a kind of snack made from roasted chickpeas, very common and popular in Turkey. It is sometimes roasted with salt, hot spices or dried cloves. There is also a candy coated variety...
, a round loaf called Okkalık and of course there is a local kebab
Kebab
Kebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...
, in this case an oven-casserole of meat and vegetables.
Notable natives
- İskilipli Atıf Hoca - (d 1926) Islamic scholar executed in the early days of the Turkish Republic for his opposition to the banning of the fezFez (clothing)The fez , or tarboosh is a felt hat either in the shape of a red truncated cone or in the shape of a short cylinder made of kilim fabric. Both usually have tassels...
and other symbolic headgear. - İsmail BeşikçiIsmail Besikçiİsmail Beşikçi is a Turkish scholar. He is a PEN Honorary Member. He has served 17 years in prison on propaganda charges stemming from his writings about the Kurdish population in Turkey....
(b 1939) Sociologist, historian and writer, although from a conservative family in İskilip has written on issues including Kurdish nationalismKurdish nationalismKurdish nationalism is the political movement that holds that the Kurdish people are a nation deserving of a sovereign homeland, Kurdistan out of the territories where Kurdish people form a majority...
, the founding of the republic and the period of a one-party state. - Professor Abdulhaluk Mehmet Çay - Historian and Turkish nationalist politician, former government minister and member of the Nationalist Movement PartyNationalist Movement PartyThe Nationalist Movement Party , is a far-right political party in Turkey.In the 2002 general elections, the party had lost its 129 seats as it had won only 8.34% of the national vote...
(MHP).