Kelkit is a town and district of

Gümüşhane Province Gümüşhane Province ( tr, Gümüşhane ili ) is a province in northern Turkey, bordering Bayburt to the east, Trabzon to the north, Giresun and Erzincan to the west. It covers an area of 6,575 km2 and has a population of 129,618 in 2010. Th ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

region of

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

. According to the 2010 census, population of the district is 39,547 of which 13,784 live in the town of Kelkit.Statistical Institute
/ref> The district covers an area of , and the town lies at an elevation of . The name "Kelkit" comes from the

Kelkit River The Kelkit River ( tr, Kelkit Irmağı or ''Kelkit Çayı''), is a river in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the longest tributary of the Yeşilırmak. Its name derives from the Armenian ''Gayl get'' ( hy, Գայլ գետ 'wolf river', Kayl ...

, a major tributary of the

Yeşil River Yeşil (green in turkish) may refer to: * Mahmut Yıldırım (born 1953), Turkish contract killer also known as "Yeşil" * Samed Yeşil (born 1994), German-Turkish footballer * Yeşilırmak River Yeşilırmak (literally "green river") is a Turkish ...

, which flows into the Black Sea. Kelkit's population is around 20,000 and it has 105 villages. People are either farmers or small business owners. According to the legend, Aysu is also from here.

Archaeology

In November 2017, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 1400 year-old Byzantine sarcophagus in the antique village of Sadak in

Satala Located in Turkey, the settlement of Satala ( xcl, Սատաղ ''Satał'', grc, Σάταλα), according to the ancient geographers, was situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, a little north of the Euphrates, where the road from Trapezu ...

. According to researchers, there were Greek inscriptions on the cover saying "Blessed Kandes sleeps here". According to Gümüşhane Museum Director Gamze Demir, the broken part of the sarcophagus, which is considered to be 2.5 meters long is believed to be under the ground.

Notes

References

External links

Forum

District governor's official website

District municipality's official website

District directorate of agriculture's official website

Road map of Kelkit district
Populated places in Gümüşhane Province Districts of Gümüşhane Province Kurdish settlements in Turkey {{Gümüşhane-geo-stub