Adilcevaz
Adilcevaz | |
|---|---|
  Adilcevaz Location in Turkey | |
| Coordinates: 38°48′21″N 42°44′49″E / 38.80583°N 42.74694°E | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Province | Bitlis |
| District | Adilcevaz |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Necati Gürsoy (AKP) |
| Elevation | 1,650 m (5,410 ft) |
| Population (2021)[1] | 15,193 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (TRT) |
| Postal code | 13500 |
| Website | www |
Adilcevaz (Armenian: Արծկէ, romanized: Artskē, Kurdish: Elcewaz[2]) is a town in Bitlis Province of Turkey. It is on the northern shore of Lake Van. It is the seat of Adilcevaz District.[3] The town is populated by Kurds of the Bekiran tribe and had a population of 15,193 in 2021.[4][5]
The mayor is Necati Gürsoy from the AKP.[6]
The famous Kef castle built by the Urarteans lies near Adilcevaz.[7] Monastery of the Miracles is 2.18 miles northwest of Adilcevaz in the hills to the north of Lake Van.
History[edit]
The medieval town of Adilcevaz, under the Abbasid Caliphate and then the Seljuk Empire, was located on and around the steep hill by the lake.[8] Some fragments of the town walls from this period are still visible.[8] An inscription naming the 15th-century Qara Qoyunlu ruler Jahan Shah was made by the old city's west gate, but he is "unlikely to have contributed much to the walls" - they were probably built before the Seljuks and then renovated c. 1231-43 during Seljuk rule.[8] A small mosque from perhaps the 14th or 15th century is the only building that still stands in this area.[8] There was also a suburban area beyond the walls, mostly to the south - which is now underwater.[8] One inhabited area was apparently left isolated as rising water levels turned it into an island at some point.[8]
During the late middle ages, water levels rose again, and the suburban areas to the south were abandoned in favor of the flat land around the area where the Ottoman-era Ulu Cami was later built.[8] Probably by the late 16th century, when the Ottoman mosque was built, the southern island had also been submerged.[8] The old walled area was "no longer viable as a town center", although there were still some houses here.[8] Most likely, the nine-domed Ottoman mosque was built to reflect the town's shift rather than to encourage it; most of the suburbs had probably already relocated before its construction.[8] Another monument from about the same time is the now-mostly-ruined han in the nearby village of Kohoz (officially Yolçatı).[8] The han is locally attributed to Zal Paşa (d. 1580), who was sanjak-bey of Adilcevaz at the time of Süleyman I's campaign against the Safavids in 1548-9, but there is no other archaeological or textual evidence to validate this.[8]
In recent centuries, Adilcevaz has shifted again, this time from the old Ottoman town center to its present-day location 1 km further east.[8] An earthquake in the late 1800s caused flooding that destroyed many houses by the lake shore, which probably contributed to this second shift.[8] An account in 1879 noted that the small older mosque was no longer being used as a place of worship; it was then used for grain storage.[8] It has since been heavily restored.[8]
In 1979, T.A. Sinclair wrote that there were "only bad hotels in Adilcevaz".[8]
References[edit]
- ^ "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2021" (XLS) (in Turkish). TÜİK. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Adem, Avcıkıran (2009). Kürtçe Anamnez Anamneza bi Kurmancî (in Turkish and Kurdish). p. 55.
- ^ İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2021" (XLS) (in Turkish). TÜİK. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Bekiran, Mehmet Fatih (2018). Bekiran Aşireti Tarihi (in Turkish). Berikan Yayınları. p. 219.
- ^ "Bitlis Adilcevaz Seçim Sonuçları - 31 Mart 2019 Yerel Seçimleri". www.sabah.com.tr. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ^ Bryce, Trevor (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Taylor & Francis. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-415-39485-7.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Sinclair, T.A. (1987). Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey, Volume I. London: Pindar Press. pp. 275–6. ISBN 0-907132-32-4. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
