Muş Province
Muş Province (; ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the east Anatolia region of Turkey (Türkiye). Its area is 8,718 km2, and its population is 399,202 (2022), down from 453,654 in 2000. The provincial capital is the city of Muş. Ano ...
, in the
Eastern Anatolia
The Eastern Anatolia region () is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ.
It is bordered by the Black Sea Region and Georgia in th ...
n region of
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 ...
. It is the seat of
Bulanık District
Bulanık District is a district of the Muş Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of Bulanık.İlçe Belediyesi Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 22 May 2023. Its population is 27,427 (2022).
History
In the 19th century Bulanık was the name of the
kaza
A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...
. Its capital, today's Bulanık town, was called Gop, also rendered as Kop. At the end of the 19th century Gop was described as a large village with about 400 houses, all but 50 of them inhabited by Armenians. Although the soil was amongst the most fertile in the region, the inhabitants were almost destitute due to the region's insecurity and the impossibility of exporting their crops. Two miles south of the village was an Armenian monastery named Surb Daniel which contained the relics of a saint of that name.
The district was formerly called Hark' and was part of Historical Armenia's
Turuberan
Turuberan (), also known as Tavruberan () was the fourth Armenians, Armenian region that was part of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC to 387 AD. Then it was part of the Sassanid Empire, Byzantine Empire, ...
province. The earliest record of Kop is found in the 995 encyclical from Vandir monastery under the name Koghb, which was later distorted.
Bulanık means "blurred" in Turkish which is a cite for
Murat River
The Murat River, also called Eastern Euphrates (, , ), is a major source of the Euphrates River. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used to call the river ''Arsanias'' (). It originates near Mount Ararat north of Lake Van, in Eastern Turkey, and flows ...
.
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, Iberia (theme), Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army ...
in 1071, Turkmen tribes (such as Bayat, Eymür and Bayındır) settled in Bulanık. Today,
Kurds
Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...
are the majority. Before 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 ...
, there was an
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
majority, which was later replaced by
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...
(in addition to local
Turkmens
Turkmens (, , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, ...
Muhacir
The Muhacirs are estimated to be millions of Ottoman Muslim citizens and their descendants born after the onset of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Muhacirs are primarily consist of Turks but also Albanian, Bosniaks, Circassians, Cri ...
s first came with the
Russo-Turkish War
The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...
and continued to come during the Republic era). An American consul, Consul Tyrell, visited the border region between Bulanık and Eleşkirt and made these observations in the beginning of the 20th century:
The town's current mayor is Oğuzhan Ocak.
Tourism
The touristic places in Bulanık are
Lake Haçlı
Lake Haçlı, also known as Lake Bulanık, is a fresh-water lake in Turkey. The lake is to the south of Bulanık district of Muş Province. Its distance to Bulanık is .
It is situated on a high plateau of
It got her name from the Haçlı vil ...
,
Bilican Mountains
Bilican Mountains (), is a mountain range in Turkey, located in the Bulanık district of Muş. It rises at the end of the extension of the Yakupağa Mountains, which is the extension of Süphan Mountain in the east.
Geology and geomorphology
...
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
and
salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
.
Demographics
The demographics of the region fluctuated a lot across history.
Turkmen tribes
The major modern Turkmen tribes are Teke, Yomut, Ersari, Chowdur, Gokleng, and Saryk. The most numerous are the Teke.
The origin of all of these tribes is traced to 24 ancient Oghuz tribes, among which the Salur tribe played a prominent r ...
settled in the area after the 1071
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, Iberia (theme), Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army ...
. Before 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 ...
, Armenians formed the majority of the population. The
Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
, on the eve of the First World War, reports 25,053 Armenians in the
kaza
A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...
of Bulanık, with 29 churches, three monasteries and 14 schools.
According to the
1927 Turkish census
The 1927 Turkish census (, ) was held 28 September 1927. The population of Turkey was 13,649,945. The census covered 63 vilâyet, 328 kazâ and 39,901 villages. It was the first census conducted in newly established Republic of Turkey
Tu ...
, all 5,297 inhabitants of the Bulanık District were Muslims.Van Gölü Havzası Sempozyumu Bitlis İli (Turkey) İstanbul Üniversitesi Avrasya Arkeoloji Enstitüsü. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Atatürk Üniversitesi ÇEKÜL. Ii. Van Gölü Havzası Sempozyumu. 1. Basım ed. Van: Bitlis Valiliği İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü; 2007. p. 280
Today, Kurds are the majority.