Pertek (from hy, Բերդակ, translit=Berdak, ku, Pêrteg) is a city seat of

Pertek District Pertek District is a district of Tunceli Province in Turkey. The town of Pertek is its seat and the district had a population of 11,011 in 2021. Kaymakam is Arif Gül. Composition Beside the town of Pertek, the district encompasses forty-five ...

Tunceli Province Tunceli Province ( tr, Tunceli ili, ku, Parêzgeha Dêrsimê, Zazaki: ), formerly Dersim Province, is located in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The least densely-populated province in Turkey, it was originally named ''Dersim Province' ...

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 in ...

. It had a population of 6,365 in 2021 and is populated by

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

and

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

. The mayor is Ruhan Alan from the Republican People's Party (CHP).

History

The area of Pertek was ruled by different empires in its history. In the medieval period such as the Armenians and Byzantines before being taken over by different Islamic dynasties after the 11th century. Later it became part of the

Ilkhanids The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm ...

and others and finally became part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in the early 16th century. During the Ottoman period Pertek was a hereditary

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...

. The old town of Pertek (Eski Pertek) was located near the citadel but was abandoned in 1838 and moved to its current location. Armenian sources state that about 180 Armenians still lived in the old town (Eski Pertek) up until the early 1900s despite the rising water levels of the Euphrates river. After 1889, it was fully incorporated into the Mamuretul-aziz Vilayet as a nahiye district of the Charsanjak

kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...

within the sanjak of

Dersim Tunceli ( ku, Dêrsim) is a city and municipality in eastern Turkey. It is the capital of Tunceli Province, located in the middle of the Eastern Anatolia Region. The city has a Kurdish-majority population and was a site of the Dersim rebellion. ...

. According to the 1881 Ottoman census, there were 6 neighborhoods of Pertag town - 1154 total males (966 Muslim, 188 Armenian Apostolic) in 520 households. The general district had 23 villages of Pertag district - 127 total males (943 Muslim, 184 Armenian Apostolic) in 552 households. Females were often undercounted or entirely disregarded from census counts. As a result of the construction of the

Keban Dam The Keban Dam ( tr, Keban Barajı) is a hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates, located in the Elazığ Province of Turkey. The dam is the first and uppermost of several large-scale dams to be built on the Euphrates by Turkey. Although the Keban Dam ...

, the Pertek district experienced the submerging of a number of its district's villages. Some of the settlements submerged were Eski Pertek, Borkin, Korluca (Til), Balan, Deşt, Zahuran, Beroç, Karameşe (Tezikan) artially submerged Tuzbaşı (Nisirto) bandoned

Historic monuments

There are two historic Ottoman mosques in Pertek. The ''Baysungur'' mosque (16th century) and ''Celebi Ali'' mosque (16th century). The mosques were later dismantled and moved from the site of the old town to protect them from the rising water shore of the Lake Keban. The Pertek Castle is located on an Island. There are other historic sights in the nearby area. The village of Sağman has a ruined citadel with a 16th-century mosque, tomb and tekke built by the Kurdish sanjak bey ''Keykusrav''. File:Pertek kalesi.JPG, The Pertek Castle is located on an island since the building of the

Archaeology

In August 2022, archaeologists led by Kenan Öncel announced that they had discovered a child skeleton in an oval-shaped pit in Tozkoparan Mound. They also revealed terracotta potteries, obsidians, bones, stone tools and arrowheads. In order to determine the skeleton's diet and age-at-death, researchers are planning to trace the diseases left in the bones.

References

{{Pertek District Populated places in Tunceli Province Pertek District Turkish Kurdistan Kurdish settlements in Tunceli Province