Kırşehir, formerly Mocissus
( grc, Μωκισσός) and Justinianopolis
[ (Ἰουστινιανούπολις), is a city in ]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 ...
. It is the capital district of the Kırşehir Province. According to the 2000 census, the population of the district is 121,947 of which 105,826 live in the city of Kırşehir. The Mayor of Kırşehir is Selehattin Ekicioğlu.
History
The history of Kırşehir dates back to the Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-cent ...
. During the period of the Hittites, the basin of Kırşehir was known as the country of "Ahiyuva", meaning "the Land of the Achaeans", as the Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...
were known to the Hittites. This basin also took the name Cappadocia
Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...
at the time of the Romans and Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
s.
Kırşehir was once known as Aquae Saravenae. The Seljuks took the city in the 1070's and bestowed the current name. In Turkish, "''Kır Şehri''" means "''steppe city''" or "''prairie city''". It became the chief town of a sanjak
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...
in the Ottoman vilayet of Angora
The Vilayet of Angora ( ota, ولايت آنقره, Vilâyet-i Ankara) or Ankara was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, centered on the city of Angora (Ankara) in north-central Anatolia, which included most of ...
,[ which possessed, 1912, 8000 inhabitants, most of them Turks.][
In the 19th century, Kırşehir was attached to the sanjak of ]Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
. In the year 1921, Kırşehir was made capital of its own province. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...
visited the city in 1921 and 1931.
Historic buildings and structures
Kesikköprü
Kesikköprü is one of the bridges built by the Seljuk Empire
The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...
in Central Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
. It is on the way of Kırşehir-Konya
Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...
, about to the south of Kırşehir, and across the River Kızılırmak with its 13 parts.
In the inscription of bridge, it is written that the bridge was built by Atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was wit ...
İzzü’d-Din Muhammed in 646 of the Hijrah/1248 of the Christian era during the rule of Keykavus, the son of Keyhüsrev. There is also an old Seljuk mosque built during the reign of either Mesud I or Kilij Arslan II
Kilij Arslan II ( 1ca, قِلِج اَرسلان دوم) or ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kilij Arslān ibn Masʿūd ( fa, عز الدین قلج ارسلان بن مسعود) ( Modern Turkish ''Kılıç Arslan'', meaning "Sword Lion") was a Seljuk Sultan of Rû ...
. In the countryside is a ruined tomb of a possible dervish during the times of either Seljuks or Ottomans.
The ones who came from İzmir and tried to reach Sivas and Erzurum from Tokat passed over Kesikköprü. We have learned that the inscription was sunken into the river in 1953. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it took the name of Kesikköprü due to the fact that caravan roads were invaded by the highwaymen.
The three-line instruction destroyed on stone base can hardly be read.
The inscription
"Ressame bi imaret hazihil el kantara el mübareke (fi eyyam han) devlet es sultan el azam İzzü-d dünya ve ‘d Din Ebul Feth Keykavus bin Keyhüsrev Burhan Emirel mü’münin."
"El Mevla el sahibul azam atabek el muazzam nazım mesalih il alem nasır el enam zübdetil eyyam izzeddin ebul meli Muhammed zahir Ali Selçuk ve emiril mü’minil azzellahu nasrahu ve ala kadrehu fi şuhuri sene sitte ve arbain ve sitte mie hamiden lillah ve musallian ala nebiihi Muhammed ve alihi vesellem teslimen kesiran."
Aşık Pasha Mausoleum
Aşık Pasha Mausoleum is the tomb of the 14-century sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
poet Aşık Pasha who died in 1332.
Ecclesiastical history
Metropolitan Archbishopric of Mocissus
Mocissus was also a Christian bishopric, and became a metropolitan see
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a t ...
when, as Procopius (De ædif., V, iv) informs us, Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...
divided Cappadocia into three provinces and made this fortified site in north-western Cappadocia
Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...
metropolis of Cappadocia Tertia, giving it the name of Justinianopolis. Nothing else is known of its history, and its name should perhaps be written Mocessus. There is no doubt that the site of Mocissus, or Mocessus, is that which is occupied by the modern city of Kırşehir.[ It figured in the '' Notitiæ episcopatuum'' until the 12th or 13th century.
Only a few of its bishops are known: the earliest, Peter, attended the Fifth Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Constantinople, 536); the last, whose name is not known, was a Catholic, and was consecrated after the mid-15th century Catholic ]Council of Florence
The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in ...
by Patriarch Metrophanes II of Constantinople
Metrophanes II (Greek language, Greek: Μητροφάνης Β'; ? – 1 August 1443) served as Bishop of Cyzicus in Asia Minor when he was called to join the delegation of bishops attending the Council of Florence. He was appointed by the Empero ...
.[
]
Titular see
The diocese was restored in 1895 as a titular archbishopric of the highest (Metropolitan) rank.
It's vacant, having had the following incumbents:
* John Joseph Frederick Otto Zardetti (1895.05.25 – 1902.05.09)
* Giacomo Merizzi (1902.08.21 – 1916.03.22)
* Giovanni Battista Vinati (1916.07.31 – 1917.01.09)
* Adolf Fritzen (1919.07.31 – 1919.09.07)
* Lorenzo Schioppa
Lorenzo Schioppa (10 November 1871 – 23 April 1935) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He became an archbishop in 1920 and served as Apostolic Nuncio in Hungary, the Netherlands, an ...
(1920.08.20 – 1935.04.23)
* John Hugh MacDonald (1936.12.16 – 1938.03.05)
* Nicolas Cadi (1939.11.16 – 1941)
* Roger-Henri-Marie Beaussart (1943.12.10 – 1952.02.29)
* Vigilio Federico Dalla Zuanna, O.F.M. Cap. (1952.11.24 – 1956.03.04)
* Giovanni Jacono (1956.10.02 – 1957.05.26)
* Heinrich Wienken (1957.08.19 – 1961.01.21)
* Gabrijel Bukatko (1961.03.02 – 1964.03.24)
Climate
Kırşehir has a continental climate
Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing so ...
(Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
: ''Dsa,'' Trewartha climate classification: ''Dc''), with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Light rainfall occurs year-round, except for late summer when rain is virtually absent.
Famous people from Kırşehir
* Uğur Mumcu
Uğur Mumcu (; 22 August 1942 – 24 January 1993)
um:ag was a , investigative journalist
* Haşim Kılıç, the President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from October 22, 2007 until February 10, 2015
* Mustafa Bumin
Mustafa Bumin (born 26 June 1940 in Mucur, Kırşehir Province) is a former Turkish judge. He was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from May 31, 2000 until June 24, 2005.
Under his presidency of the Constitutional court the People ...
the President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from May 31, 2000 until June 26, 2005
* Lütfi Müfit Özdeş, politician
* Osman Bölükbaşı
Osman Bölükbaşı (1913 – February 6, 2002) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician and political party leader.
Early life
He was born at Hasanlar village of the former Mucur district in 1913.
He completed his secondary education at the Is ...
, politician
* Deniz Bölükbaşı, politician
* Nezaket Ekici, artist
* Muharrem Ertaş, folk musician
* Şemsi Yastıman, folk musician
* Neşet Ertaş
Neşet Ertaş (1938 – 25 September 2012) was a Turkish folk music singer, lyricist, modern ashik and virtuoso of the traditional Turkish instrument the bağlama. His profession in Turkish is known as ''halk ozanı'', which literally mean ...
, folk poet
* Ahi Evren
Sheikh Pir Nasiruddin Abul Hakayik Pir Mahmud bin Ahmed Ahi Evran bin Abbas Veli al-Khoyi (1169–1261), commonly known as Ahi Evran or Pir Ahi Evren-ı Veli, was a Turkic Alevi Sufi saint, preacher, philosopher, poet, and the leader of the A ...
, preacher - died in Kırşehir
* Caca Bey, politician
* Asik Pasa, preacher, Turkish poet
* Silahdar Seyyid Mehmed Pasha 18th century Ottoman Grand Vizier
* Yasin Öztekin, footballer
* Nuri Şahin
Nuri Şahin (born 5 September 1988) is a football manager and former professional player who played as a central midfielder. He is the manager of Antalyaspor.
He began his career at Borussia Dortmund, spending six years there – including a y ...
, footballer
Gallery
File:Ahi_Evran_Mosque_-_panoramio_(1).jpg, Ahi Evran Tomb front view
File:Ahi_Evran_Mosque_-_panoramio.jpg, Ahi Evran Tomb side view
File:Apple_Farm_-_panoramio.jpg, Apple farm in Kırşehir
File:Cugun.jpg, Cügün (Cogun) lake
File:Üçayak Gesamt.jpg, The ruins of the Üçayak Byzantine Church
File:Kentpark_at_Night_-_panoramio.jpg, View of Kent Park at night
File:Kent_Park_-_panoramio.jpg, View of the city during the day
File:Winter_in_Hilla_Park_-_panoramio.jpg, Winter in Hilla Park
Notes
References
*
District governor's official website
External links
*
*
Kirsehir Portal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirsehir
Roman sites in Turkey
Districts of Kırşehir Province