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Elazığ Province is a province of Turkey with its seat in the city of Elazığ. This province is also the source of the Euphrates river.
Total area of the city spans 9.281 km square. 826 km square of this area is covered with water from dams and natural lakes. City's altitude from sea level is 1067 meters.
History
Contemporary Elazığ was founded by moving the city to the arable fields of Harput in 1834. Elazig was also a scene of the Armenian Genocide in 1915.
City Name
City was initially named as "Mamüret'ül-Aziz" (City built by Aziz) by the Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz. The city was known many years as "Elaziz" due to its convenience until November 17,1937 when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, changed the name of the city to "Elazık" (city of food). However since it was hard to pronounce this word on December 10, 1937 the city's name changed to it's final form as "Elazig" by the government.
Geography and Climate
Demographics
According to 2000 census city population is 569,616 and ranked 21st among total of 81 cities (As the population of the city centers considered, Elazig ranked 39th). 36% of the population lives in the villages and the remaining portion is populated in the city and distric centers. 50.51% of the population is male and 49.49% is female.
City population is recorded as 440808, 498225, and 569616 in the years 1980, 1990, and 2000 respectively.
City is divided into 10 towns: Ağın, Alacakaya, Arıcak, Baskil, Karakoçan, Keban, Kovancılar, Maden, Palu, and Sivrice
Government
Current governor of the city is Dr. Kadir Koçdemir (since December 12,2003). Current head of the municipality is M.Süleyman Selmanoğlu (since April 28, 2004).
Economy
Notable people from Elazığ
Attractions
- Fırat Üniversitesi (University of Euphrates)
- Harput Kalesi (Harput Castle)
- Museum of Archology and Ethonography
- Hazar Gölü (Lake Hazar)
- Historic Mosques (Cami in Turkish) and Shirines (Türbe in Turkish)
- Ulu Camii: Built by Artuklu Sultan Fahrettin Karaaslan in 1156. It's one of the oldest and important structures in Anatolia
- Sarahatun Camii (a.k.a Sarayhatun Cami): Built by Sara Hatun, mother of Akkoyunlu Sultan Bahadır Han (a.k.a. Uzun Hasan), in 1465 as a small mosque. It was renovated in 1585 and 1843.
- Kurşunlu Camii: Built between 1738 and 1739 in Harput during the Ottoman era.
- Alacalı Camii
- Ağa Camii: Built in 1559.
- Arap Baba Mescidi ve Türbesi: Built during the reign of Seljuks Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev III (Son of Kılıçarslan IV) in 1279. The shrine contains a mummified body which is known as Arap Baba among commons.
- Fetih Ahmet Baba Türbesi (Shrine of Fetih Ahmed)
- Mansur Baba Türbesi
References
External Links
Following websites are in Turkish
- Official Govermental Web Site
- Municipality Web Site
- Fırat Üniversitesi (Also in English)
- http://www.elazig.org
- http://www.elaziganadolu.com (A prominent middle/high school in the city)
- http://www.dersimdeziraat.com
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