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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 Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...
, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis River, a tributary of the Tigris. The local economy is mainly based on agricultural products which include fruits, grain and tobacco. Industry is fairly limited, and deals mainly with leatherworking, manufacture of tobacco products as well as weaving and dyeing of coarse cloth. Bitlis is connected to other urban centres by road, including Tatvan on Lake Van, 25 km to the northeast, and the cities of Muş (Mush), 100 km northwest, and Diyarbakır, 200 km to the west. The climate of Bitlis can be harsh, with long winters and heavy snowfalls. Summers are hot, and often humid. Since the local elections of March 2019, the Mayor of Bitlis is Nesrullah Tanğlay.


History


Ancient and medieval

The origin of the name Bitlis is not known. A popular folk etymology explanation, without historical basis, is that it is derived from "Lis/Batlis", the name of a general said to have built Bitlis castle by the order of Alexander the Great. s.v. "Baghesh," Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia, vol. 2, pp. 254-256. To Armenians, it was known as Balalesa or Baghaghesh, and later Baghesh. According to one popular Armenian folk story, on a cold, wintry day a donkey left its stable and wandered down the valley below. The donkey died of the freezing temperatures and was only discovered in the spring, once the ice had melted; thus, it received the name ''Pagh Esh'', or "Cold Donkey." Baghesh was one of the most important cities of the Kingdom of Armenia's province of Aghdznik', and it served as the primary fortress of the province's canton of Salnodzor. Some medieval Armenian writers, such as Anania Shirakatsi and Vardan Areveltsi, later mention it as a part of the canton of Bznunik'. The fortress guarded the Baghesh Pass, which linked the southern reaches of the Armenian Plateau to northern Mesopotamia. The Arabs conquered Baghesh at the end of the seventh century and it eventually became the capital of the Zurārid
emirs Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
of
Arzan Arzan may refer to: *Arzen or Arzan, ancient and medieval city on the border zone between Upper Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands, in eastern Turkey *Arzhan or Aržan, site of early Scythian (9th to 8th century BC) kurgan burials in the Tuva R ...
. Because it was on an important trade route, it prospered greatly. The next two centuries, however, marked a turbulent period in the town's history. After
Bugha al-Kabir Bugha al-Kabir (), also known as Bugha al-Turki (), was a 9th-century Khazar general who served the Abbasid Caliphate. He was of Khazar origin, and was acquired along with his sons as a military slave (''ghulam'') by al-Mu'tasim in 819/820.Gordo ...
's destructive 852-855 campaign in Armenia, the Shaybanid emirs wrested control of Baghesh from the Zurārids; thereafter, in the first quarter of the tenth century, it was taken by the
Kaysite The Kaysite dynasty () was a Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled an emirate centered in Manzikert from c. 860 until 964. Their state was the most powerful Arab amirate in Armenia after the collapse of the ''ostikan''ate of Arminiya in the late 9t ...
emirs of Manzikert. In his 929-30 campaign against the Kaysites, the Byzantine general
John Curcuas John Kourkouas ( gr, Ἰωάννης Κουρκούας, Ioannes Kourkouas, ), also transliterated as Kurkuas or Curcuas, was one of the most important generals of the Byzantine Empire. His success in battles against the Muslim states in the Ea ...
was able to capture and annex Baghesh. Following the devastation of the Arab emirs in the second half of the tenth century, a great number of Kurds settled in Baghesh and at the end of the tenth century, the city fell into the hands of the Kurdish
Marwanid The Marwanids or Dustakids (983/990-1085, ) were a Kurdish Sunni Muslim dynasty in the Diyar Bakr region of Upper Mesopotamia (present day northern Iraq/southeastern Turkey) and Armenia, centered on the city of Amid (Diyarbakır). Territory Th ...
dynasty after breaking from Buyid rule. At the end of the eleventh century, with the collapse of Byzantine power after the
Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and th ...
, Bitlis fell under the control of Togan Arslan, a subject of the Shah Arman (Also called Ahlatshah) dynasty based in Akhlat' after brief Dilmachoglu rule. It was also ruled by
Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
(1207–1231),
Khwarezm Shahs Khwarazmshah was an ancient title used regularly by the rulers of the Central Asian region of Khwarazm starting from the Late Antiquity until the advent of the Mongols in the early 13th-century, after which it was used infrequently. There were a t ...
(shortly rule in 1230),
Sultanate of Rûm fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchy Triarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = ...
(1231–1243) and Ilkhanate (1243–1335).


Emirate

Bitlis was a Kurdish emirate from the 13th to the 19th century. Though often subordinate to a succession of larger powers that ruled the Van region, it always maintained a measure of independence. In the 14th century its emirs, the Kurdish Rusaki family, were vassals of the
Karakoyunlu Karakoyunlu ( ku, Têşberûn) is a town and district of Iğdır Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Part of the district forms the international border between Turkey and Armenia. Statues with ram heads Gravestones with ram heads ...
and the emirate's territory also consisted of several smaller emirates:
Ahlat Ahlat ( ku, Xelat, ) is a town and district in Turkey's Bitlis Province in Eastern Anatolia Region. From 1929 to 1936, it was a district of Van Province. The town of Ahlat is situated on the northwestern shore of Lake Van. The mayor is Abdulalim M ...
, Mush, and Hinis. The emir of Bitlis submitted to Timur in 1394, but later helped the re-establishment of Karakoyunlu control in the region. After the collapse of the Karakoyunlu state, the Bitlis emirate disintegrated. However, in the 1470s it took the Aq Qoyunlu (White Sheep Turkomans) three successive sieges to capture Bitlis and in 1494/95 the Ruzaki recaptured the town. Armenians formed a large part of the city's population. A number of monasteries were permitted to be built by the Kurdish emirs and during the fifteenth century, Biltis flourished as a center for Armenian manuscript production. Bitlis was forced to accept a Persian governor during the invasion of the
Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
Shah Ismail, but sided with the Ottoman forces as they approached the region. Its emir, Sheref, later changed his allegiance to the Persians. An Ottoman army besieged Bitlis for three months in 1531/32, but was forced to retire. Sheref was killed in battle in 1533 and his son and successor submitted to the Ottoman Empire. Mush and Hınıs were removed from the Bitlis emirate, becoming separate sanjaks but still with Ruzaki beys. A
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
mission was established in Bitlis in 1685. The Ruzakid Kurdish dynasty in Bitlis lasted until 1849, when an Ottoman governor evicted its last emir, Sheref Bey, who was taken to Constantinople as a prisoner. After this, Bitlis was governed by a Turkish pasha and formed the capital of a '' vilayet'' bearing its name.


Modern

In 1814 the population of Bitlis town was said to be 12,000 people - one half Muslim, the other half was constituted by Christian Armenians. By 1838 its population was said to be between 15,000 and 18,000 - two thirds Muslim, one third Armenian, and a small minority of
Assyrians Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...
. In 1898 Lynch considered the population to be close to 30,000, comprising 10,000 Armenians, 300 syrians, and the rest Muslim Kurds (both Alevis and
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
s included). The Armenians had five schools for boys and three for girls. One third of the population of Bitlis was ethnic Armenian prior to World War I (1914, whereas the majority of the population was Kurdish
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
( Alevi as well as
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Muslims). In 1915, during the Armenian genocide, Turks and Kurds, led by Jevdet Bey Pasha, massacred some 15,000 Armenians in Bitlis. In February 1916, as part of the Caucasus Campaign,
Imperial Russian The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
forces launched an offensive to capture Mush and Bitlis. Mush fell on February 16. At Bitlis, the Turkish positions were in a strong location on the outskirts of the town and could not be outflanked because of the narrowness of the valley. On the night of March 2–3, during a blizzard, the Russian 8th Caucasian Rifles advanced silently and, after several hours of hand-to-hand fighting, took the Turkish positions with 1,000 prisoners. The Turks then abandoned Bitlis, retreating towards Siirt. The Russian forces and intelligence officers found evidence of the massacres of Christians by the Kurdish and Turkish radicals in 1915. In August 1916 the Turkish Second Army started an offensive against the Russian front in eastern Turkey. On August 2, the Ottoman 16th Corps, together with strong Kurdish irregulars' support, attacked Bitlis and Mush.William Edward David Allen, Paul Muratoff, ''Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828-1921'', (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 421-422. Fearing encirclement General Nazarbekov, the Russian commander, abandoned Bitlis on August 5. When Mush also fell, he decided to abandon Tatvan and the whole Mush valley and retreat to Ahlat. Around 18 August, the Russians having been reinforced, were able to counter-attack.Edward J. Erickson, ''Ordered to Die:A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War'', (Greenwood Press, 2001), 133. By September the Turkish offensive was stalled and then turned. Nazarbekov advanced as the Turkish forces withdrew from Tatvan and Mush, but he did not have the available forces to hold Bitlis as winter approached. The Russian February Revolution in the spring of 1917 prevented any further Russian gains.


Description

Bitlis preserves more medieval and traditional architecture than any other town in eastern Turkey. They are of a high quality and are mostly constructed from locally quarried light-brown stone, sometimes called Ahlat stone. The town contains a large number of late-medieval Islamic buildings in the form of mosques, madrassas, and tombs. Also commercial buildings such as "Han's
Caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...
s. Commissioned mostly by its local Kurdish rulers, the architectural style of these buildings is very conservative and similar to much earlier
Seljuq Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (d ...
-period structures. Important monuments include the 12th-century Ulu Mosque with its 15th-century minaret, and the Gokmeydani Medresesi and Sherefiye Mosque from the sixteenth century. Until 1915 there were five Armenian monasteries and several churches in Bitlis – only a 19th-century Armenian church survives, now used as a warehouse. Bitlis is also notable for its many old houses. These are built of cut stone and are often large and impressive structures. Most have two stories, but three stories are also found. Ground floors were generally intended for storage and stables, with the residential quarters on the upper floors. Ground floor rooms have few windows, upper floors are well lit. Roofs are flat and covered with beaten clay. Unlike traditional houses in nearby Erzurum or
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 ...
, Bitlis houses do not have bay windows and balconies.


Gallery

File:Bêdlis.jpg, Bedlis File:Bitlis 3766 10092012.jpg, Bitlis Castle (Bitlis Kalesi) File:Bitlis 3827 10092012.jpg, Ulu Cami text File:Bitlis 3735 Panorama 10092012.jpg, Bitlis Şerefiye Mosque File:Bitlis Ihasiye Serafhan Medresesi 1453.jpg, Ihasiye Şerafhan Medresesi view of türbes File:Bitlis view.jpg, Bitlis view


Demographics

According to Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition from 1911, the town had 35 thousand people with 12 thousand Armenians, the rest being Kurdish.


Climate

Bitlis has a dry-summer humid continental climate according to the ( Köppen climate classification: ''Dsa'', or Trewartha climate classification: ''Dca''). Bitlis has hot, dry summers and cold, very snowy winters.


Economy

Historically, Bitlis produced wheat, which the British, in 1920, described as being "particularly excellent." However, poor trade routes in the area during the early 20th century meant that the wheat was mainly produced and used by locals. During this time, the British stated that the people of Bitlis were unable to use all of the wheat they produced, and most was "left to rot in the underground storehouses."


Notable individuals

* Badh ibn Dustak (died 991), Kurdish tribal leader * Arakel Paghishetsi (1380-1454) Armenian musician, hymnologist * Hovhannes Paghishetsi (1678-1741) 49th Armenian patriarch of Constantinople * Vardan Paghishetsi (???-1705) Armenian chronographer * Vardan Paghishetsi (16th century) Armenian medieval illuminator The city was the home of the sixteenth century Kurdish historian,
Sherefxan Bedlisi Sharaf al-Din Khan b. Shams al-Din b. Sharaf Beg Bedlisi ( Kurdish: شەرەفخانی بەدلیسی, ''Şerefxanê Bedlîsî''; fa, شرف‌الدین خان بن شمس‌الدین بن شرف بیگ بدلیسی; 25 February 1543 – ) wa ...
(also: ''Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi''), author of the
Sharafnameh The ''Sharafnama'' ( Kurdish: شەرەفنامە Şerefname, "The Book of Honor", Persian: Sharafname, شرفنامه) is the famous book of Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi (a medieval Kurdish historian and poet) (1543–1599), which he wrote in 1597, in ...
, and who was also an appointed prince of the Persian and later Ottoman Empires.
Hosam al-Din Ali Bitlisi Hosam al-Din Ali Bitlisi Nurbakhshi (died 1494/95) was a Kurdish Sufi author. He was the father of the noted historian Idris Bitlisi. According to Tahsin Yazici / '' Encyclopædia Iranica'', nothing is known about Hosam al-Din's early life; howe ...
was a Kurdish
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, ...
author. He was the father of the noted historian
Idris Bitlisi Idris Bitlisi ( 18 January 1457 – 15 November 1520), sometimes spelled Idris Bidlisi, Idris-i Bitlisi, or Idris-i Bidlisi ("Idris of Bitlis"), and fully ''Mevlana Hakimeddin İdris Mevlana Hüsameddin Ali-ül Bitlisi'', was an Ottoman Kurdish ...
. Ottoman administrator and Kurdish religious scholar and author Idris-i Bitlisi is claimed to have been born in Bitlis also. He was instrumental in conquest, Ottomanization and administration of Ottoman lands from Urfa, Mardin to Egypt. Said Nursi (Nurs, Bitlis, 1877) notable Kurdish Sunni Muslim Theologian. Writer of the Risale-i-Nur collection used as the foundation of movements such as the Nurcu in Turkey and the Gulenist movement founded by Fetullah Gulen. Fuat Sezgin (Bitlis, 1924), a prominent Historian of Science, Orientalist was born in Bitlis. He is the author and editor of numerous publications. His 13-volume work Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums (1967-2000) is the cornerstone reference on the history of science and technology in the Islamic world. The 5-volume Natural Sciences of Islam documents the items in the Frankfurt museum. Since 1984 he has edited the Journal for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. American writer William Saroyan's parents were immigrants from Bitlis to Fresno, California. He wrote a play entitled "Bitlis" about his "return" to the city he considered his homeland, which he actually did visit in later years. Calonne, David Stephen. "The Mulberry-Scented Air of Baghesht: Saroyan's Quest for Bitlis" in ''Armenian Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush'', pp. 207-223.
Kâmran İnan Kamran Inan (1929 – 23 November 2015), Turkish politician, statesman of Kurdish origin, diplomat and scholar. He was born in Hizan, Bitlis Province. Representative in Parliament from Van and Bitlis numerous times. Graduate of Ankara Univers ...
(Hizan, Bitlis, 1929), a well known Turkish politician, diplomat, and scholar was from Bitlis. He has written about the history of Bitlis.


International relations


Twin towns — sister cities

Bitlis is twinned with:


Notes


Further reading

* Hovannisian, Richard G. (ed.) ''Armenian Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush''. UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, 2. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2001.


External links

*
BitlisHaber13

Governor's Office

Bitlis Haber

BitlisNews

Bitlis Article
on Armeniapedia.org. Bitlis' Armenian history, map and information. {{Authority control Cities in Turkey Districts of Bitlis Province Populated places in Bitlis Province Kurdish settlements in Turkey