Göle (; ka, კოლა, tr; ) is a small city in

Ardahan Province Ardahan Province (; ka, არტაანის რეგიონი, tr; is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the north-east of Turkey, bordering Georgia (country), Georgia and Armenia. Its area is 4,934 km2, and its population is 92,481 ...

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 ...

. The city was formerly known as ''Merdenik'', ''Merdinik'' or ''Ardahan-ı Küçük'' ("Little Ardahan" in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

). It is the seat of

Göle District Göle District is a district of Ardahan Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town Göle.İlç ...

.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 January 2023. Its population is 5,775 (2021).

Etymology

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 ...

, Göle is known as Kogh (), Merdenek (), or Merrrenek (), also being renamed to Martenik () in 1918. In

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, the town is known as Gkióle () or Mertenék (). In Georgian, it is known as Kola ().

History

The name derives from Armenian name—Kogh—which may, in turn, derive from ancient kingdom of

Colchis In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the ...

. In ancient times this land was part of

Urartu Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.Kleiss, Wo ...

. In 4th century BC, it was part of

Kingdom of Iberia In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: ''Iberia''; ; Parthian: ; Middle Persian: ) was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli or Iveria ( or ), known after its core province. The kingdom existed during Classical Antiquity and ...

and remained as one of the district of Duchy of Tsunda. Since 2nd century BC to 4th century AD this place was a part of Greater Armenia. During subsequent centuries it frequently changed hands between Iberians and

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 ...

. In the 7th century it passed to the Arab Caliphate. In 8th century it became part of Kuropalatine of Iberia in struggle against the Arab occupation. During the 10th–15th centuries, this region was a part of the united Georgian Kingdom. In the 16th century, it was within the independent Principality of Samtskhe until it was occupied and annexed by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and organized into the Childir Eyalet. Merdenek was annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in 1878, where it was part of the militarily administered Kars Oblast, specifically within the Gelsky '' uchastok'' (subcounty) of the Ardahan Okrug. The district included villages inhabited by various ethnic groups, including 40 Turkish and 13 Caucasian Greek villages. Merdenek was briefly occupied by the

by virtue of the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

, however, following their withdrawal in 1919,

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n control prevailed until late 1920. During the Turkish–Armenian War, the town was occupied by

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა, tr) was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia (country), Georgia, which exist ...

; in 1921, it was annexed by

, as confirmed by the Treaty of Kars. Places of interest to visitors include the tomb and mosque in the village of Dedeşen and the castles of Kalecik and Ugurtaşı.

Notable people

* İsmail Ateş (born 1960), artist and professor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gole Populated places in Ardahan Province Historical regions of Georgia (country) District municipalities in Turkey Göle District Kurdish settlements in Ardahan Province