Kangal is a town in
Sivas Province
Sivas Province () is a province of Turkey. It is located in the eastern part of the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. Its area is 28,164 km2 (the second largest province after Konya), and its population is 634,924 (2022). Its adjacent prov ...
in
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. It is the seat of
Kangal District.
[İlçe Belediyesi]
, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 22 May 2023. Its population is 8,948 (2022).
The current mayor is Ahmet Kürşad Apaydın from the
Great Unity Party (BBP).
History
Kangal was known in the time of
emperor Diocletian under the name ''Euspena'' and later during the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
as ''Spynin''. The Byzantine general
Eustathios Argyros was buried here in the monastery of St Elizabeth which had been constructed by his grandfather Leon. The town, known in Ottoman times as ''Qangal'', had an Armenian church until the
first massacres against the Armenians in 1895.
Demographics
The town is populated by Sunni
Kurds
Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...
and Sunni Turks in addition to a very small Alevi and Armenian population.
Climate
Kangal has a dry-summer
continental climate
Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Dsb'').
Winters are very cold, and summers are dry, with hot days and cold nights.
Notable people
*
Hüseyin Alp (1935–1983) basketball player and actor
See also
*
Kangal dog
*
Deliktaş Tunnel, Turkey's longest railway tunnel
References
Kangal District
Populated places in Sivas Province
District municipalities in Turkey
Armenian communities in Turkey
{{Sivas-geo-stub