Bitlis (Kurdish: Bilîs or Bedlîs) is a town in eastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Bitlis is a province of eastern Turkey, located to the west of Lake Van. Kurds form the majority of the population, which was 65,169 (including the surrounding towns)as of 2000. [1] [1] [The Encyclopaedia of Islam] [2]
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A folk etymology explanation of the name Bitlis, is that it is derived from "Bedlis", the name of the commander who built a castle in the province, by the order of Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ'
The lively city of Bitlis, stands in the middle of a green oasis. Town stands at an elevation of 1,400 metres above sea level, 15 km from Lake Van shores, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis River, a tributary to the Tigris River. The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great Rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern The local economy is mainly based on agricultural products which include fruits, grain and tobacco. The industry is fairly limited, and deals mainly with leatherworking, manufacture of tobacco products as well as weaving and dyeing of coarse cloth. Bitlis is connected with other urban centres by road. Tatvan, the port on Lake Van lies 25 km northeast, Muş 100 km northwest and Diyarbakır 200 km west. Tatvan is a city at the western end of Lake Van, and is the regional center of the identically-named district within Bitlis Province in eastern Turkey. Lake Van (Van Gölü Gola Wanê Վանա լիճ Daryacheye Van ("Lake of Van" is the largest Lake Muş (alternative spelling Mush) is the provincial capital of Muş Province in Turkey. Diyarbakır (دیاربکر Diyâr-i Bekr 'land of the Bekr ' (from Persian) Kurdish Amed Zazaki language Dêrbekir Syriac Bitlis is a very basic city, with few modern buildings. The climate of Bitlis can be harsh, with long winters and heavy snowfalls. Summers are mild.
The city's architecture uses the local dark stone, and the masonry monuments include the Şerefhan Medrese, the 12th-century Ulu Mosque, the Seljuk Gōkmeydani Mosque, and the Ottoman Şerefiye Mosque. Bitlis Ski center is close to the town's center.
The history of Bitlis extends back to 2000 BC, and the city contains traces from the Urartian, Armenian, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Urartu ( Assyrian: Urarṭu Urartian: Biainili Ուրարտու was an Iron Age kingdom in Eastern Anatolia ( Transcaucasia) rising The Kingdom of Armenia (or Greater Armenia) was an independent kingdom from 190 BC to AD 387 and a client state of the Roman and Persian empires until The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC
It was known as the Kurdish principality Badlis from the 12th to the 19th century. Badlis (1182-1847 was a Kurdish Principality originated from the Rojaki (Rozagi tribal confederation The city was also the home of the 16th century Kurdish historian, Sherefxan Bedlisi (also: Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi), who was also an appointed prince of the Persian and later Ottoman Empires. Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi or Sharafkhan Bitlisi ( Kurdish: Şerefxan Bedlîsî) (1543 - 1599 was a Kurdish Historian and poet The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish
Bitlis had a significant ethnic Armenian population prior to World War I. The Armenians (Հայեր Hayer) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands A large World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All [2]. The area, as part of the Caucasus Front, was invaded and occupied by Russian army between 1915 and 1916, and Russian troops and Armenian insurgents briefly held the town committing large scale attrocities against the Muslim population. [3][4][5]
William Saroyan's parents were immigrants from Bitlis to Fresno, California. William Saroyan ( August 31, 1908 - May 18 1981) was an Armenian American Author. He wrote a play entitled "Bitlis" about his "return" to the city he considered his homeland which he actually did visit in later years.
Kâmran İnan(Hizan, Bitlis, 1929), a well known Turkish politician, stateman, diplomat and scholar was also from Bitlis. Turkish politician statesman diplomat and scholar Born 1929 Bitlis. He has written about history of Bitlis.
References
- ^ http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitlis
- ^ Source Records of the Great War, Vol. IV, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923
- ^ The New York Times, March 6, 1916
- ^ Report to US Government of Captain Emory Niles and Mr. Arthur Sutherland, 1919, U. S. 867. 00/1005
- ^ "WWI-era mass grave with 20,000 skeletons found in Bitlis", Today's Zaman, 25 January 2008, Friday
External links
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