Taşkale (Kızıllar)
Encyclopedia
Geography
Taşkale is in the east of KaramanKaraman
Karaman is a town in south central Turkey, located north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According to 2000 census, the population of the province is 231 872 of which 132,064 live in the town of Karaman. The district covers an area...
and on the northern slopes of Toros Mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
at 37°08′N 33°37′E. The highway distance to Karaman is 40 kilometres (24.9 mi). The older quarter of the town which is of interest is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) at the west . The older town is made of series of caves which are used presently as cereal silos. The population is 851
History and people
The town had been used by the early Christians who used the caves as effective sheltering against the Roman authority. The Mamazan Monastery just at the west of the town is also a cave monastery. After Christianity was legallized the town probably lost its importance . But in the 13th century the town regained its importance as a hideaway. During Mongol expansion a Turkmen tribe named Kızıl from the valley of along Atrek River (modern TurkmenistanTurkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
) migrated to Taşkale.
According to an unverified claim, the paternal side of Atatürk (founder of Modern Turkey) was also a member of Kızıl tribe.