Tokat

Tokat
Municipality
Yeşilırmak River (Yeşilırmak) and Tokat views.
Tokat
Coordinates: 40°18′50″N 36°33′15″E / 40.31389°N 36.55417°E / 40.31389; 36.55417Coordinates: 40°18′50″N 36°33′15″E / 40.31389°N 36.55417°E / 40.31389; 36.55417
Country	Turkey
Province	Tokat
Government
• Mayor	Eyüp Eroğlu
• Governor	Ozan Balcı
Area [1]
• District	1,923.01 km2 (742.48 sq mi)
Population  (2012)[2]
• Urban	132,437
• District	182,225
• District density	95/km2 (250/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
postal code	60100, 60200
Area code(s)	+90 356
Website	www.tokat.gov.tr

Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is located at the confluence of the Tokat River (Tokat Suyu) with the Yeşilırmak. In the 2018 census, the city of Tokat had a population of 155,000.

History[]

The city was established in the Hittite era. During the time of King Mithradates VI of Pontus, it was one of his many strongholds in Asia Minor.

Known as Evdokia or Eudoxia,^[a] ecclesiastically it was later incorporated into the western part of the Byzantine Greek Empire of Trebizond.

After the Battle of Manzikert the town, like most of Asia Minor, came under the control of the Seljuk Turks. After the death of Sultan Suleiman ibn Qutulmish in 1086, the Emir Danishmend Gazi took control of the area, operating from his power base in the town of Sivas. It would be many decades before the Seljuks re-took control of that region, in the reign of Kilij Arslan II.

After the Battle of Köse Dağ, Seljuk hold over the region was lost, and local Emirs such as the Eretna took power until the rise of the Ottomans, who captured the town in 1392.^[3]

Prior to WWI, Tokat had 40,000 residents of which included 15,000 Armenians, 1,000 Greeks, and a small number of Jews.^[3] However, during the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian, Greek, and Jewish populations were completely massacred and ethnically-cleansed out of their native lands.^[4]

Ecclesiastical History[]

Traditional houses of Tokat.

Tokat Museum.

Even under Seljuk Muslim rule, Tokat remained a centre of Pontic Greek culture and the Greek Orthodox church.

Anglican priest and famous Bible translator (Persian and Urdu among other languages) Henry Martyn died 1812 in Tokat while he was on his way from Shiraz back to England and was buried in the Armenian cemetery.

In 1859, it was established as a residential diocese of the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Tokat on territory previously without a proper Ordinary of its Eastern Catholic particular church sui iurus (Armenian Rite in the Armenian language).

The only recorded residential incumbent Eparch (Bishop) of Tokat was Arsenio Avak-Wartan Angiarakian (15 August 1859 – 4 July 1865), emeritate as Titular Archbishop of Tarsus (21 July 1865 – death 8 April 1874).

On 30 May 1892, the diocese was suppressed and its territory reassigned to the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Sebaste.

In 1972, the diocese was nominally restored as Titular bishopric of Tokat, but is vacant after a single incumbent, of the lowest (episcopal) rank, Titular Bishop Vartan Achkarian, Mechitarists (C.A.M., Benedictine) (28 September 1987 – death 28 July 2012), Auxiliary Eparch of the patriarchal province Cilicia of the Armenians (Lebanon) (28 September 1987 – 1997), of the Armenians (1997 – 2002), Auxiliary Eparch of Beirut of the Armenians (Lebanon) (2002 – 11 June 2011).

Climate[]

Tokat has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, or alternatively a continental climate (Köppen: Csa, Trewartha: Dc).

Economy[]

Historically, copper was mined in the area. According to Greek researcher, Dimosthenis Oeconomidis (1858–1938):

The town was notorious for its textile industry and its copper manufacturing plants which were reliant on the Kempan Maden mine, a mine which has since been depleted but which in the prior century kept 600 factories in operation.

— ^[3]

Culture[]

Education[]

Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Arts and Sciences building.

Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University is one of Turkey's newer tertiary institutions, founded in 1992. It was named after the local hero Gazi Osman Paşa.

Sports[]

Football is the most popular sport: in the older districts above the city center children often kick balls around in the evenings in the smallest streets. The city's football club is Tokatspor, which plays its games at the Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa Stadium.

Basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, cable skiing (in summer), horse riding, go karting, paintballing, martial arts and many other sports are played. Cycling and jogging are only common along the sea front, where recreational fishing is also popular.

Cuisine[]

Tokat Kebabı

Foods distinctive to Tokat include Tokat kebabı and Zile pekmezi, the latter being served in a wooden pot. Tokat kebabı consists of sliced lamb, aubergines, potatoes, green bell peppers and tomatoes. The slices are laid on their sides in rows in a dish and baked with cloves of garlic.^[6] Zile pekmezi is a grape-molasses confection, prepared from a variety of small green grapes, which are pressed (traditionally by foot but nowadays by machine) and then evaporated to a thick syrup by boiling. Egg-whites are then beaten into the syrup until it forms a pale marshmallow-like paste. It is sold commercially in tubs.^[7]

Tourism[]

Façade of the Gök Medrese in Tokat, founded by the Pervâne in around 1270.

The most important landmark is Tokat Castle, an Ottoman citadel with 28 towers on a rocky hill overlooking the town. Vlad the Impaler (Count Dracula) was imprisoned in one of its dungeons.^[8][9] Other sights include the remains of several Greek Orthodox churches and a cathedral, the Garipler Mosque dating to the 12th century, the Ali Paşa Mosque (16th century), the Hatuniye Külliyesi, also 16th century and the Gök Medrese (Pervane Bey Darussifasi), which was constructed in 1270. It was founded as a school of theology, and was converted into a museum, housing archaeological finds from the area, until that function was transferred in 2012 to another location.

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque View along side

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque View along side

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque Entrance

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque Entrance

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque Interior

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque Interior

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  Tokat Ali Pasha Mosque Mausoleum

The Latifoglu Konak, a late 18th-century Ottoman residence, is an example of Baroque architecture. The two-story building has been restored and has been converted into a small museum. Much of the furniture in the kitchen, study, visitors' rooms with bath and toilet, bedroom, master's room, and harem is original.

Ballıca Cave is a small cave situated at 6 km (3.8 mi) southeast of Pazar, Tokat Province.

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  Ballıca Cave Image

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  Ballıca Han Door decoration

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  Ballıca Han Decoration at entrance

• 

  Ballıca Han View into closed courtyard

• 

  Ballıca Han Exterior wall

Notable people[]

Statue of Gazi Osman Paşa in Tokat

• Apkar Tebir Tokhatetsi (1520?–1572?), Armenian printer and typographer
• Gazi Osman Paşa (1832–1897), Ottoman commander
• Mehmet Emin Tokadi Hazretleri (1664–1745), Sufi saint of Istanbul
• Krikor Balakian (1875–1934), Armenian bishop
• Cahit Külebi (1917–1997), Turkish poet
• Engin Günaydın (born 1972), Turkish actor and comedian
• Hüseyin Akbaş (1933–1989), Turkish World and Olympic Champion in wrestling
• Seda Sayan (born 1964), Turkish pop folk singer, actress and TV variety-show hostess
• Aziz Kocaoğlu (born 1948), mayor and politician.
• Cemal Faruk Urhan (born 1997), Turkish-Indonesian Actor.

International relations[]

Tokat is twinned with:

See also[]

• Tokat Airport
• Tokat (electoral district)
• Tokat Province
• Rûm Eyalet

Notes[]

References[]

Sources and external links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tokat.

• Tokat at kultur.gov.tr
• Tokat web news