Akçakiraz (former ''Perçenç'', from the original Armenian ''Parchanj'' /nowiki>/nowiki>) is a
belde
Belde (literally "town", also known as ''kasaba'') means "large village with a municipality" in Turkish language, Turkish.
All Turkish province centers and district centers have municipalities, but the Villages of Turkey, villages are usually too ...
(town) in the central district (
Elazığ District
Elazığ District (also: ''Merkez'', meaning "central") is a district of Elazığ Province of Turkey. Its seat is the city Elazığ.Elazığ Province
Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia Region, Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euph ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. Situated south of
Elazığ
Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plai ...
and near the junction of two Turkish state highways D.300 and D.885 which connect Elazığ to
Bingöl
Bingöl (; ; ), known as Çapakçur before 1944, is a city in Turkey. It is the seat of Bingöl Province and Bingöl District,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 Fortress, it is ...
respectively. Its population is 8,047 (2021).
It consists of 10 quarters: Paşalar, Kıraç, Yenice, Hürriyet, Kültür, Yeşilyurt, Yüzbaşı, Yeşilkuşak, Zafer and Bahçekapı.
History
According to the official municipality page the town was founded in 1670 by a certain İsmail Bey who was probably a member of
Karakoyunlu
Karakoyunlu is a town in Iğdır Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Karakoyunlu District.Turkmen empire in the 14th and 15th centuries). Local Armenian tradition held that the town was founded by the Apostles
Thaddeus
Thaddeus (, , from ) is a masculine given name.
As of the 1990 United States census, 1990 Census, ''Thaddeus'' was the 611th most popular male name in the United States, while ''Thad'', its diminutive version, was the 846th.
Alternate forms
* ...
and
Bartholomew
Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2).
New Testament references
The name ''Bartholomew ...
, patron saints of the Armenian Church. While the author of a study on the village finds this story to be apocryphal, he believes
Armenians
Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
were the original founders of the village. All the Armenians were expelled or massacred during the course of the
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
of 1915.Dzeron. ''Village of Parchanj'', pp. 213-19.