Ardahan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ardahan
Municipality
Ardahan is located in Turkey
Ardahan
Ardahan
Coordinates: 41°06′40″N 42°42′08″E / 41.11111°N 42.70222°E / 41.11111; 42.70222Coordinates: 41°06′40″N 42°42′08″E / 41.11111°N 42.70222°E / 41.11111; 42.70222
CountryTurkey
ProvinceArdahan
Government
 • MayorFaruk Demir (CHP)
Area
[1]
 • District1,191.37 km2 (459.99 sq mi)
Elevation
1,811 m (5,942 ft)
Population
 (2012)[2]
 • Urban
19,075
 • District
41,770
 • District density35/km2 (91/sq mi)
Websitewww.ardahan.bel.tr

Ardahan (Kurdish: Erdêxan‎,[3] Georgian: არტაანი, romanized: art'aani,[4] Armenian: Արդահան, romanized: Ardahan[5]) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.

It is the capital of Ardahan Province.

History[]

Ancient and medieval[]

The first surviving record about this region is attributed to Strabo, who calls it Gogarene (Gugark) and mentions that it was a part of the Armenia, taken away from the Kingdom of Iberia.[6][7] In the Middle Ages Ardahan served as an important transit point for goods arriving from the Abbasid Caliphate and departing to the regions around the Black Sea. During the 8th to 10th centuries the region was in hands of the Bagrationi princes of Tao-Klarjeti, and later part of Kingdom of Georgia between 11th to 15th centuries. According to the Arab historian Yahya of Antioch, the Byzantines razed Ardahan and slaughtered its population in 1021.[7]

The Mongols took hold of the city in the 1230s but the Georgian princes of Samtskhe were able to recapture it in 1266. In 1555, by the Peace of Amasya, the western part of the principality of Samtskhe was annexed by the Ottoman Empire,[8] and Ardahan was included into the sanjak of Ardahan (an overall part of the vilayet of Akhaltsikhe).[9] The Ottomans turned Ardahan into a formidable fortress-town. In the 1640s the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Ardahan and gave the following description: "The fortress of Ardahan sits atop an inaccessible cliff. It is square-shaped and sturdy... This fortress has a cold climate and, because of this, there are no gardens or orchards. Fruits arrive from the fortress at Ajara and Tortum."[10]

Modern[]

The storming of the Ardahan fortress by the Russian troops on 5 May 1877. A painting by
Aleksey Kivshenko.

Before 1829 Ardahan was recorded to have had 400 households, the great majority of them Armenian.[7] Many of them later emigrated to the Russian Empire. During the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) it was an important road junction connecting the border fortress of Akhaltsikhe to the Kars-Erzerum road. The town passed into the hands of Russia following the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War and was made a part of the Kars Oblast. The majority of the town was made up of Armenians, while other ethnic groups included Georgians, Pontic Greeks (here usually called Caucasus Greeks), Caucasus Jews, Russians, Kurds, Ossetians, and Yazidis.[7][9] A Polish community was also established, with the majority of Poles being sent to Ardahan from the Russian Partition of Poland after being conscripted to the Russian Army.[11] The town flourished economically under Russian rule, exporting fruits, smoked lamb meat, wheat and wood. New roads were constructed, linking Ardahan to Akhalkalak, Kars and Oltu. On December 25, 1914, in the early months of the First World War, the Ottoman army occupied Ardahan and massacred many of its Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Georgians.[9] The Russians, with the help of Armenian and Pontic Greek militias, captured the town on January 3, 1915, allowing some of the original inhabitants who had fled to return.

Rural Ardahan

As Russian forces withdrew from the front following the October Revolution, a small Armenian volunteer force took up positions to defend the town from the approaching Ottoman Army. On March 6, 1918, the Ottoman army, along with the help of the town's Muslims, overwhelmed Ardahan's Armenian garrison and retook the town. The British occupied Ardahan after the end of the First World War and eventually handed control over it to the Democratic Republic of Armenia. When the Turkish Nationalists captured Ardahan in November 1920, the town's remaining Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Georgians fled to Armenia, northern Greece, and Georgia.[9] The Treaty of Moscow, signed the following year between the Soviets and the Turks, confirmed Ardahan as a part of Turkish territory.

In 1986 a brief description of the fortress was published.[12] The original late antique/medieval walls of Ardahan Kalesi were extensively rebuilt several times and in the 19th they were adapted to accommodate small cannons.

In 1960, Ardahan's population stood at 7,228 and was populated by both Kurds and Turks.[7]

Demographics[]

Year Total Ethnic groups
1886[13] 778 Turks 403 (51.8%), Russians 172 (22.1%), Armenians 141 (18.1%), Greeks 48 (6.2%)
1897[14] 4,142 Russians 1,331 (32.1%), Armenians 1,315 (31.7%), Turks 746 (18%), Poles 206 (5%)
1960[15] 7,228
1970[15] 13,399
1980[15] 14,912
1990[16] 16,761
2000[15] 17,274
2010[15] 16,251

Villages[]

Climate[]

Ardahan has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb, Trewartha: Dc), bordering on an alpine subarctic (Köppen: Dfc, Trewartha: Ec) climate on higher elevations, with brief, mild summers and very cold winters.

Summers are mild to warm during daytime, but turn colder nocturnally. Because of this, temperatures below freezing have been recorded every month of the year. It is also frequently rainy most of the year, especially in spring and summer.

Winters are quite snowy with snow cover lasting from late October to mid April. Although it does snow in September and May, accumulating snowfall is rare. On rarer occasions, it has also snowed in summer months, such as the snowfall in August 2013.[citation needed] The highest recorded snow thickness was 113 cm (44.5 inches) on 30 January 1968.

hideClimate data for Ardahan (1991–2020, extremes 1958–2020)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 11.0
(51.8) 		11.0
(51.8) 		18.4
(65.1) 		25.0
(77.0) 		26.6
(79.9) 		29.1
(84.4) 		34.3
(93.7) 		35.0
(95.0) 		31.3
(88.3) 		26.0
(78.8) 		18.7
(65.7) 		14.3
(57.7) 		35.0
(95.0)
Average high °C (°F) −4.4
(24.1) 		−2.7
(27.1) 		3.6
(38.5) 		11.1
(52.0) 		16.4
(61.5) 		20.8
(69.4) 		24.3
(75.7) 		25.2
(77.4) 		21.2
(70.2) 		15.2
(59.4) 		6.7
(44.1) 		−1.5
(29.3) 		11.3
(52.3)
Daily mean °C (°F) −10.3
(13.5) 		−9.1
(15.6) 		−2.3
(27.9) 		4.7
(40.5) 		9.6
(49.3) 		13.3
(55.9) 		16.4
(61.5) 		16.7
(62.1) 		12.5
(54.5) 		7.2
(45.0) 		−0.1
(31.8) 		−7.3
(18.9) 		4.3
(39.7)
Average low °C (°F) −15.5
(4.1) 		−14.6
(5.7) 		−7.5
(18.5) 		−0.8
(30.6) 		3.6
(38.5) 		6.5
(43.7) 		9.4
(48.9) 		9.3
(48.7) 		4.9
(40.8) 		0.7
(33.3) 		−5.4
(22.3) 		−12.1
(10.2) 		−1.8
(28.8)
Record low °C (°F) −39.8
(−39.6) 		−38.7
(−37.7) 		−33.2
(−27.8) 		−19.0
(−2.2) 		−8.5
(16.7) 		−4.5
(23.9) 		−2.2
(28.0) 		−2.8
(27.0) 		−5.8
(21.6) 		−15.0
(5.0) 		−28.9
(−20.0) 		−36.3
(−33.3) 		−39.8
(−39.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 24.0
(0.94) 		21.7
(0.85) 		37.0
(1.46) 		54.2
(2.13) 		85.2
(3.35) 		101.7
(4.00) 		77.2
(3.04) 		64.8
(2.55) 		38.9
(1.53) 		41.1
(1.62) 		29.9
(1.18) 		24.7
(0.97) 		600.4
(23.64)
Average precipitation days 7.80 7.97 10.33 14.23 17.97 15.50 12.97 12.00 9.47 10.87 7.93 8.03 135.1
Mean monthly sunshine hours 80.6 104.5 155.0 153.0 195.3 234.0 257.3 251.1 213.0 164.3 111.0 77.5 1,996.6
Mean daily sunshine hours 2.6 3.7 5.0 5.1 6.3 7.8 8.3 8.1 7.1 5.3 3.7 2.5 5.5
Source: Turkish State Meteorological Service[17]

International relations[]

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Turkey
Twin towns—Sister cities

Ardahan is twinned with:

See also[]

  • Ardahan travel guide from Wikivoyage

Notes[]

  1. ^ "Area of regions (including lakes), km²". Regional Statistics Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. 2002. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Population of province/district centers and towns/villages by districts - 2012". Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Erdêxan". Ria Taza (in Kurdish). Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  4. ^ "არტაანი" (in Georgian). National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  5. ^ Թորոսյան, Շիրակ. "Արդահանի հարցը հայ-վրացական հարաբերություններում և խնդրի ժամանակավոր լուծումը (1919 թ. մայիս-դեկտեմբեր)" (PDF). Yerevan State University: 1. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Strabo. Geographica. 11.14.7.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e (in Armenian) "Ardahan," Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1976, vol. 2, p. 7.
  8. ^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. xxxi. ISBN 978-1442241466.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d (in Armenian) Melkonyan, Ashot. "Ardahan," Encyclopedia of the Armenian Question. Yerevan: Yerevan State University Press, 1996, p. 54.
  10. ^ (in Armenian) Evliya Chelebi. Turkakan Aghbyurner, Evlia Chelebi [Turkish Sources, Evliya Chelebi], trans. and commentary by A. Kh. Safrastian. Part of the Series on Foreign Sources on Armenia and Armenians: Turkish Sources, vol. 3. (Yerevan: Haykakan SSH Gitutyunneri Akademiayi Hratarakchutyun, 1967), p. 113.
  11. ^ Chodubski, Andrzej (2009). "O Polakach w Armenii i Azerbejdżanie w XIX i na początku XX wieku". Studia Polonijne (in Polish). Lublin. 30: 132, 138. ISSN 0137-5210.
  12. ^ Robert W. Edwards, "The Fortifications of Artvin: A Second Preliminary Report on the Marchlands of Northeast Turkey," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 40, 1986, pp.176-78, pls. 44-45.
  13. ^ Свод статистических данных о населении Закавказского края, извлечённых из посемейных списков 1886 года, г. Тифлис, 1893. Available online here
  14. ^ Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку и уездам Российской Империи кроме губерний Европейской России (in Russian). Demoscope Weekly. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Ardahan: Nüfus Bilgileri" (in Turkish). Belediyeler Konuşuyor. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  16. ^ "Ardahan'ın Tarihçesi" (in Turkish). Ardahan Ticaret İl Müdürlüğü. Retrieved 17 April 2014. Kentin 1990 yılı nüfusu 16,761'dir.
  17. ^ "Resmi İstatistikler: İllerimize Ait Mevism Normalleri (1991–2020)" (in Turkish). Turkish State Meteorological Service. Retrieved 11 April 2021.

External links[]

Further reading[]

  • (in Armenian) Kyureghyan, Levon. Կարս և Արտահան (Kars and Artahan). Vienna: Mkhitarian Press, 1949.
  • (in Armenian) Yeremyan, Suren T. Հայաստանը ըստ «Աշխարհացույցի» (Armenia According to the Ashkharatsuyts). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1963.
Retrieved from ""