Damal

Damal
—  District  —
Location of Damal within Turkey.
Country	Turkey
Region	Eastern Anatolia
Province	Ardahan
Government
• Mayor	Gülcemal Fidan (CHP)
Area
• Total	160 km2 (60 sq mi)
Elevation	2,200 m (7,200 ft)
Population (2000)
• Total	16,000
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	75xxx
Area code(s)	(0090)+ 478
Licence plate	75

Damal, formerly Petereke, is a town and district of Ardahan Province of Turkey, on the road from Kars to Posof.

History

Damal is on a route across the traditional Silk Road, connecting the Caucasus from Europe to Central Asia and has changed hands many times throughout history, between Medes, Persians, Ancient Romans, Byzantines and finally the Ottoman Turks. The region was briefly controlled by Imperial Russia but later restored to Turkey after World War One.

Geography

This is a rural area in high mountain, a collection of villages rather than a district built around a central town, watered by mountain springs, the district was created in order to bring more public buildings and government jobs and thus stem the drift of people away from the area. This part of a Turkey has a cold, hard climate, temperatures drop to -38°C(36,4°F) in winter.

The rag dolls of Damal are renowned and have won prizes in craftrwork festivals.

At a certain time of the year Damal mountain throws a shadow that is a very lifelike silhouette of Atatürk. There is an annual gathering to watch this event, although there are many who believe that Atatürk should be remembered for his life and works and not for this shadow. For a picture see.