Karakoçan

	Karakoçan
Basic data
Province (il) :	Elazığ
Coordinates :	38 ° 57 ' N , 40 ° 2' E Coordinates: 38 ° 57 '0 " N , 40 ° 2' 0" E
Residents :	14,397 (2018)
Telephone code :	(+90) 424
Postal code :	23 600
License plate :	23
Structure and administration (as of 2019)
Structure :	7 Mahalle
Mayor :	Ayhan Akbaba ( ACP )
Karakoçan County
Residents :	28,702 (2018)
Surface:	1,049 km²
Population density :	27 inhabitants per km²
Kaymakam :	Nebi Çanga
Website (Kaymakam):	www.karakocan.gov.tr

Karakoçan ( Kurdish Dep ; formerly Oxu , from Armenian for "with grapes") is a city and a district of the same name in the Turkish province of Elazığ . The city is located in the middle between the provincial capitals Tunceli and Bingöl , about 102 kilometers by road northeast of Elazığ.

geography

The district Karakoçan is the northernmost district of the province. It borders Kovancılar County in the south . The remaining borders form the districts of the provinces Tunceli in the north-west and west and Bingöl in the north and east.

In terms of area, it is the third largest district and in the population list it is in third place. With its population density of 27 inhabitants per square kilometer, it does not even reach half the provincial average (63.5).

The average altitude is about 1090 m above sea level. The high mountains of the district are the Kuruca Dağı (Kirûcê) (2372 m) and the Kızıldağ (1538 m), the Tor (1615 m), the Celo Dağı (1594 m) and the Mezragazi (1450 m).
Rivers are the Peri , the Kuşçu and the Ohi. There are several dams including the Özlüce Dam , the Kalecik Dam and the Pembelik Dam, which opened in 2015.

Until the beginning of the 20th century it was a place inhabited by Armenians . Today Kurds make up the majority of the population, including Zaza . Besides the majority of Sunnis there are also Alevis . Until the genocide of the Armenians in the First World War were still alive Christian Armenians here.

In 2018, the district included the district town (with 50.16% of the district population ) and another municipality ( Belediye ) Sarıcan with 2,181 inhabitants. In addition, 88 villages ( Köy ) with an average of 138 inhabitants belong to the district, with Bulgurcuk being the largest village (833 inhabitants).

history

Although Karakoçan belonged to the kingdoms of the Hittites and the Urartians , no significant archaeological traces of these peoples can be found. Later the Medes , the Persians and then the Romans and Byzantines ruled here . In today's village of Kalecik and in its surroundings you can find some rock tombs from Roman times. Karakoçan was in the hotly contested border area between Rome and the Empire of the Parthians and later the Sassanids .

The Turkish historian Ali Kemali wrote in his Erzincan Tarihi (Eng .: History of Erzincan ) that Karakoçan was conquered by General Chālid ibn al-Walīd at the time of the Caliph Umar . Several battles took place in the area between Arabs and Byzantines, Arabs and Iranians, and Arabs and Turks.

The Seljuk commander Türkmen Çubuk Bey conquered the areas of Harput , Palu , Çemişgezek , Arapgir , Eğin and Karakoçan in 1107 . Sultan Kai Kobad I made Karakoçan part of his Sultanate of Rum . After the Seljuks lost to the Mongols in the Battle of Köse Dağ , the Ilkhan took control of Karakoçan. After the Ilkhan, the Aq Qoyunlu and later the Safavids ruled here . The Ottoman Yavuz Sultan Selim was able to defeat the Safavids and drive them out of eastern Anatolia. Since then, Karakoçan was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1923 .

When the First World War broke out and the Russian army advanced to Kiğı , Karakoçan held an important position as the base of the second Ottoman army . Mustafa Kemal and Ismet Inönü belonged to the second army . In the course of the Turkish Liberation War , the Vilayet-i Şarkiyye Müdafa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti - Society of the Eastern Vilayets for the Defense of Rights - was founded in Erzurum . The founder was the lawyer Hüseyin Avni Ulaş Bey from Karakoçan. He was a member of the last Ottoman Parliament and first member of the Erzurum - Karakoçan was at the time part of the Erzurum Province - in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey .

The district was created in 1936. The Çan Districts ( Nahiye ) from Kiğı County (Bingöl Province) and the Ohi and Lahan Districts from Palu County were combined to form Karakoçan. The district of Karakoçan was divided into the three Bucaks Başyurt (2000 census: 5,491 inhabitants), Merkez (12,572) and Çan (2,966).