Bitlis
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Bitlis (Kurdish: Bilîs or Bedlîs) is a town in eastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. 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]
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.
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 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. 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.
It was known as the Kurdish principality Badlis from the 12th to the 19th century. 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.
Bitlis had a significant ethnic Armenian population prior to World War I. [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. 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. He has written about history of Bitlis.
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
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