Bitlis

This article deals with the Turkish city, for the province of the same name see Bitlis (Province) .

Bitlis
Distant view on Bitlis
Basic data
Province (il) :	Bitlis
Coordinates :	38 ° 24 '  N , 42 ° 6'  E Coordinates: 38 ° 24 '0 "  N , 42 ° 6' 30"  E
Height :	1500  m
Residents :	52,721 (2018)
Telephone code :	(+90) 434
Postal code :	13,000
License plate :	13
Structure and administration (as of 2019)
Structure :	13 Mahalle
Mayor :	Nesrullah Tanğlay ( AKP )
Website:	www.bitlis.bel.tr
Bitlis district
Residents :	71,501 (2018)
Surface:	1,064 km²
Population density :	67 inhabitants per km²

Main street in the center

Bitlis ( Kurdish Bidlîs , Armenian Բաղեշ Bagesch or Բիթլիս Bidlis , Aramaic ܒܝܬ ܕܠܝܣ Beṯ Dlis ) is a Turkish city ​​in Anatolia . It is the capital of the Bitlis province of the same name and also the center of the central district ( Merkez ). The license plates of the city and the province begin with the number 13. The updated population of the Bitlis district was around 20 percent of the provincial population at the end of 2018, the district being the second most populous after Tatvan.

geography

Bitlis is located on the river of the same name at an altitude of around 1500 meters and 25 kilometers from Lake Van . The narrow river valley forms the only connection through the Taurus Mountains between the Van Basin and the Diyarbakır plain . Therefore, this route is of great importance for trade and the rulers of Bitlis were able to collect customs duties from the traders.

The district is bounded in the south by two districts of the province of Siirt ( Baykan and Şirvan ), the other borders are formed internally by the districts of Mutki , Güroymak , Tatvan and Hizan . In addition to the district town of Bitlis, there is another town / municipality ( Belediye ): Yolalan with 3,062 inhabitants. In addition, there are still 76 villages ( Köy ) with an average of 207 inhabitants in the district. Two of them have more than a thousand inhabitants: Kireçtaşı (1181) and Degirmenalti (1,062 pop.). The smallest village in the province (Kayalıbağ, population 1) is also located in Bitlis County.

Climate table

Bitlis (1785 m)
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     141   1 -6     184   3 -6     178   7th -2     164   13 3     104   19th 7th     27   26th 12     7th   31 16     4.9   30th 15th     18th   27 11     89   19th 6th     164   10 1     152   4th -4 Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: State Meteorological Office of the Turkish Republic, normal period 1981-2010

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Bitlis (1785 m) Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 1.4 2.5 6.7 13.3 19.4 25.9 30.9 30.1 26.7 18.8 9.9 3.5 O 15.8 Min. Temperature (° C) -6.2 -5.8 -1.8 3.3 7.4 11.6 15.8 15.1 10.8 6.4 0.7 -3.9 O 4.5 Temperature (° C) -2.8 -2.1 1.9 7.9 13.2 18.7 23.0 22.4 17.6 11.4 4.5 -0.7 O 9.6 Precipitation ( mm ) 141.2 183.8 178.1 163.6 104.0 27.2 7.0 4.9 18.0 89.0 163.8 152.2 Σ 1,232.8 Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 2.2 3.2 5.0 5.5 7.2 9.2 9.5 9.4 9.1 5.2 2.6 2.0 O 5.9 Rainy days ( d ) 12.7 13.1 15.5 15.8 14.1 5.9 2.0 1.5 2.7 10.2 11.1 12.7 Σ 117.3 Source: State Meteorological Office of the Turkish Republic, normal period 1981-2010

population

In 1814, about 12,000 people lived in Bitlis; half were Muslim , the other half were Christian Armenians . In 1838 the population was between 15,000 and 18,000 - two thirds of them Muslim, one third Armenian, and a small minority of Syrian Christians . In 1898 the population was estimated at nearly 30,000, including 10,000 Armenians and 300 Assyrians, the rest Muslim Kurds , both Alevis and Sunnis . The Armenians had five schools for boys and three for girls. Before the First World War 1914, one third of the population of Bitlis were ethnic Armenians, the majority being Kurdish Muslims ; there were also Alevis and non-Kurdish Sunni Muslims. In 1915, during the Armenian genocide , Turks and Kurds, led by Cevdet Pasha , killed around 15,000 Armenians in Bitlis.

Population development

The following table shows the comparative population level at the end of the year for the province, the central district and the city of Bitlis as well as the respective share at the higher administrative level. The figures are based on the address-based population register (ADNKS) introduced in 2007.

year	province	district		city
	real	%	real	%	real
2018	349,396	20.46	71.501	73.73	52,721
2017	341,474	20.55	70.160	72.79	51,071
2016	341.225	20.29	69,222	73.85	51,118
2015	340,449	19.79	67,373	72.65	48,948
2014	338.023	19.74	66,732	71.79	47,904
2013	337.156	19.60	66,095	71.12	47.008
2012	337.253	19.19	64,725	71.24	46.111
2011	336.624	19.51	65,670	70.51	46,301
2010	328,767	19.11	62,811	68.63	43,109
2009	328,489	19.96	65,559	70.26	46,062
2008	326,897	18.66	60.996	67.88	41,404
2007	327,886	18.84	61,787	70.17	43,359

history

The history of the city goes back a long way. Bitlis is sometimes equated with the Urartian Uish , which is known from the 8th campaign of Sargon (714 BC) , among other things . However, this equation is not undisputed. The Assyrian name of Bitlis was after an inscription by Tiglath-pileser III. maybe Lusia . In a popular legend, which is also mentioned by Şerefhan in his history book Scherefname , the city was named after a general of the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great . This general named Badlis founded a fortress on the site of the present city. Bitlis was an Armenian center until the Arab conquest in 641. Later the city flourished under the Seljuks. The Great Mosque ( Turkish : Ulu Cami ), which was built in 1150, also dates from this time . Bitlis later became a principality under the Kurdish Rozeki tribe .

In the 15th century, the princes of Bitlis were vassals of the Iranian Safavids . After the Battle of Tschaldiran in 1514, Bitlis became Ottoman . But the princes were confirmed by the Ottoman Sultan. Bitlis remained autonomous except for a short period of direct Ottoman administration of 50 years. Well-known princes were Şerefhan from the 16th century and Abdal Khan, under whom Bitlis flourished in the 17th century. Evliya Çelebi and Jean-Baptiste Tavernier provide travel reports from this period . Tavernier named Abdal Han as the most powerful Kurdish prince who recognized neither the sultan nor the shah. Evliya Çelebi called him a man of the "thousand arts" ( Hazārfann ). In 1847 the principality ended and Bitlis was ruled directly by the Ottomans. It became the capital of the Vilâyets Bitlis .

In the First World War Bitlis was a scene of the Armenian genocide . On June 25, 1915 alone, 15,000 Armenian residents in the city of Bitlis and the surrounding area are said to have been murdered. In August 1916, Bitlis became a front-line town and was fiercely contested between the Ottomans and Russia .

In 1923 Bitlis became part of the Republic of Turkey. Bitlis has been an independent province since 1936.

politics

In the 2014 local elections, Hüseyin Olan was elected mayor of the Democracy Bölgeler Partisi. Nevin Daşdemir became a council member. According to party practice, they acted as co-mayors. On November 24, 2016, Olan and Daşdemir were arrested and detained a day later. The Minister of the Interior then appointed the governor of Bitlis Ahmet Çınar as trustee of the city of Bitlis. Olan was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in 2017.

Personalities

Was born in Bitlis:

• Fuat Sezgin (1924-2018), Turkish-German orientalist

Web links

Commons : Bitlis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition , Article Bidlīs
• Encyclopædia Iranica , article Bedlīs

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Türkiye Nüfusu İl ilçe Mahalle Köy Nüfusları , accessed on May 18, 2019
2. ^ Harry FB Lynch: Armenia, Travels and Studies . Ed .: Longmans. 2nd Edition. London 1901, p. 151 .
3. ↑ Armenian : Anon. «Բաղեշ» (Baghesch). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia, Volume 2. Armenian Academy of Sciences , Yerevan 1976; Pages 254-256.
4. ↑ Christopher J. Walker: The End of Armenian Taron and Baghesh, 1914-1916 . In: Armenian Baghesh / Bitlis and Taron / Mush , pages 191-206.
5. ↑ Central Dissemination System / Merkezi Dağıtım Sistemi (MEDAS) of the TÜIK , accessed on May 18, 2019
6. ↑ Oscar White Muscarella: The Location of Ulhu and Uiše in Sargon II's Eighth Campaign, 714 BC Journal of Field Archeology 13/4, 1986, pp. 465-475
7. ^ DJ Wiseman: A fragmentary Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III from Nimrud . Iraq 18/2, 1956, 120
8. ↑ Christopher J. Walker, The End of Armenian Taron and Baghesh, 1914-1916, in: Armenian Baghesh / Bitlis and Taron / Mush (Costa Mesa 2001), pp. 191-206.
9. ↑ TM: Gov't appoints trustee to Bitlis Municipality after removal of co-mayors | Turkish minute. Retrieved July 14, 2018 (American English).