Elazığ Province ( tr, ; Zazaki: Suke Xarpêt; ku, Parêzgeha Xarpêtê) is a province of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

with its seat in the city of Elazığ. The province had a population of 568,753 in 2014. The population of the province was 569,616 in 2000 and 498,225 in 1990. The total area of the province is , of which is covered by reservoirs and natural lakes. The province is considered part of

Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () refers to the southeastern part of Turkey, where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of th ...

History

In 1927 the office of the

Inspector General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

was created, which governed with martial law. The province was included in the first Inspectorate General (''Umumi Müfettişlik,'' UM) over which the Inspector General ruled. The UM span over the provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt,

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location ...

Bitlis Bitlis ( hy, Բաղեշ '; ku, Bidlîs; ota, بتليس) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis R ...

Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features ...

, Elazığ and

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortres ...

. In December 1935, the Tunceli Law was passed, which demanded a more powerful Government in the region. In January 1936 the Elazığ Province was transferred under the authority of the newly established Fourth Inspectorate General, which span over the provinces of Elazığ, Erzincan, Bingöl and Tunceli and its seat was in the city of Elazığ.Soner Çaǧaptay, ''Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who is a Turk?'', Taylor & Francis, 2006, , p. 48 The fourth UM was governed by a Governor-Commander. Most of the employees in the municipalities had to be from the military and the Governor-Commander had the authority to evacuate whole villages and resettle them in another part of the province. In 1946 the Tunceli Law was abolished and the state of emergency removed but the authority of the fourth UM was transferred to the military. The Inspectorates General were dissolved in 1952 during the Government of the Democrat Party. The province has experienced many earthquakes, including a magnitude 6.1 earthquake on 8 March 2010 and a magnitude 6.7 earthquake on 24 January 2020.

Geography

Elazığ stretches in a general west-southwest to east-northeast direction, along the line of equal geographic latitude and longitude. The source of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

river is located in this province.

Districts

Elazığ province is divided into 11

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(capital district in bold):

Economy

Historically, Elazığ Province produced

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

, which ceased being mined in 1885. The Turkish government attempted to modernize the mines; however, the cost of fuel and energy caused the shut down. There was a

mine still producing in 1903 in Palu, as with

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

. Coal is also found in other areas of the province.

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

was also produced.

Education

Education is provided by the Elazığ Provincial Directorate for National Education. It currently views over 442 educational institutions, both formal and informal ones.

Archaeology

Altınova, Elazığ was an important archaeological site in the Altınova plain that was excavated in the 1970s. It was later flooded by the Keban Dam. Other sites in the Altınova plain were also Tepecik, Korucutepe, Değirmentepe, and Körtepe.

Gallery

2013-06-17_Elazig_Istasiyon2.jpg, Elazığ Train Station ElazigCultureParkNight.jpg, Culture Park Harput Akşam 2.jpg, City view at night DogukentElazig.jpg, Doğukent Stadium Palu Brücke.jpg, Stone Bridge, Palu

References

External links

*
Elazığ governor's official website
*
Elazığ municipality's official website
*
Elazığ weather forecast information
Provinces of Turkey Turkish Kurdistan {{Elazığ-geo-stub