Adıyaman Province ( tr, , ku, ) is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. The capital is

Adıyaman Adıyaman ( ku, Semsûr) is a city and district in southeastern Turkey, and the capital of the Adıyaman Province. The inhabitants of the city are mostly Kurdish. Etymology An unverified theory is that the former name of the city ''Hisn-Mansur'' ...

. The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan and has a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

majority. Adıyaman Province was part of the province of

Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city h ...

until 1954, when it was made into a province as a reward for voting for the winning Democratic Party in the 1954 general election. The province consists of the districts

(center district), Besni, Çelikhan,

Gerger Gerger ( ku, Aldûş) is a town of Adıyaman Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Gerger District.Gölbaşı, Kâhta,

Samsat Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Sincik Sincik ( ku, Sinciq) is a town of Adıyaman Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Sincik District.Tut.

History

Early Armenian rule

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

existence in Adıyaman dates back to the 4th century, where they were known as 'fire worshippers'. Armenians lived in the area when Arab Muslims captured the area in 639. The Arabs considered the city as part of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

and experienced immigration from

Byzantine Armenia Byzantine Armenia, sometimes known as Western Armenia, is the name given to the parts of Kingdom of Armenia that became part of the Byzantine Empire. The size of the territory varied over time, depending on the degree of control the Byzantine ...

due to Byzantine oppression in 713. The city came under Seljuk rule after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 and the local Armenians established

principalities A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...

in the area. One of these principalities was founded by

Philaretos Brachamios Philaretos Brachamios ( el, Φιλάρετος Βραχάμιος; Armenian: Փիլարտոս Վարաժնունի, Pilartos Varajnuni; la, Philaretus Brachamius) or Vahram Varajnuni was a distinguished Byzantine general and warlord of Armenia ...

who tried to protect the land between the Seljuk and the Byzantine. The Armenians had good relations with the European Crusader states, but the Crusader

County of Edessa The County of Edessa (Latin: ''Comitatus Edessanus'') was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century. Ferdinandi, Sergio (2017). La Contea Franca di Edessa. Fondazione e Profilo Storico del Primo Principato Crociato nel Levante (1098-115 ...

would advance against the Armenians in Adıyaman. Political leaders in Adıyaman were also victims of assassinations by Edessa. Wife of Kogh Vasil founded an army to protect the area from Edessa as well, but Edessa ultimately captured the area. Close relations between the Armenians and the Crusader states, however, continued until Nur ad-Din captured the area in 1150. The area came under the rule of Timurtash of the Artuqids for his support for Nur ad-Din and later the Seljuks from the beginning of the 13th century. The locals failed at removing the rulership of Kilij Arslan II during the late 12th century. In the subsequent period, the area was fought over between the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16t ...

and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, changing hands between the two.

Ottoman rule

Ottoman Sultan

Selim I Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite las ...

captured the area during the Ottoman–Mamluk War in 1516-1517. In the first defter of the area in 1519, it was mentioned that the Kurdish Reşwan tribe populated the area. Documents from 1524 and 1536 also contain records of the Reşwan tribe living in the area. The tribe was engaged in agriculture after having had a nomadic lifestyle.

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

visited the city in the 17th century and described the agricultural life. At the beginning of the 19th century, most Armenians lived near the castle of Adıyaman city and mostly made their living through shop keeping and trading. In the villages, they were involved in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and animal husbandry. The local Armenians welcomed American missionaries approaching them during the 19th century at first, but prevented them from converted them later on. Some of the Gregorian Armenians did however convert to Protestantism and the missionaries ultimately divided the local Armenian community.

Ainsworth Ainsworth may refer to: Places ;Canada *Ainsworth Hot Springs, British Columbia ;United Kingdom *Ainsworth, Greater Manchester, England ;United States * Ainsworth, Indiana *Ainsworth, Iowa *Ainsworth, Nebraska *Ainsworth, Wisconsin *Ainsworth, Wa ...

visited the town of Adıyaman in the 1842 and mentioned that the town contained 800 Muslim households and 300 Armenian households and that it had several mosques but no churches. After his visit to the town, he visited the Kurdish village of Kerkunah in the outskirts and afterwards Kâhta, where he mentioned that a Kurdish rebellion was taking place. Most of the rural areas spoke

in 1882, while Turkish was prevalent in Adıyaman town.

Armenian nationalism Armenian nationalism in the modern period has its roots in the romantic nationalism of Mikayel Chamchian (1738–1823) and generally defined as the creation of a free, independent and united Armenia formulated as the Armenian Cause ( hy, Հայ ...

increased among the Armenians by the end of the century and most of the Armenian population fell victim to the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

in 1915. There are, however, still some Armenians around Kâhta. The area was part of

Mamuret-ul-Aziz Vilayet The Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz,Vilayet of Ma'muretül'aziz, ''Redhouse Yeni Türkçe-İngilizce Sözlük'', On İkinci Basım, Redhouse Yayınevi, 1991, , p. 729, Ma'mûretü'l-Azîz, Ma'muretül Aziz or Mamûretü'l-Azîz ( Ottoman: ''Vilâyet- ...

as Behisni, Hasanmansur and Kahta districts. These three districts had a total population of 99,439 in 1914 of which was Muslim and Christian.

Republican era

The names of 224 villages in Adiyaman Province was Turkified as part of the campaign to remove any mention of Kurdishness in the country. In 1932, the whole region was chiefly populated by Kurds. The province had a population of 208,755 in 1955 of which adhered to Islam and to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. In 1960, the province had a population of 233,717 of which was Muslim and Christian. In 1965, the population increased to 267,277 of which was Muslim and Christian. The Turkish authorities put the province under State of emergency (

OHAL The OHAL region ( tr, Olağanüstü Hâl Bölge Valiliği, lit=Governorship of Region in State of Emergency) was a "super-region" created in Turkey under state of emergency legislation, as part of its approach to the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Fr ...

) in the early 1990s as part of the

Kurdish–Turkish conflict Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the present day with the curr ...

Demographics

Out of the 339 villages in the province, 296 are populated by Kurds while the remaining 43 are populated by Turks. In terms of religious affiliation, 293 of the villages have an Hanafi population, 80 villages with an Alevi population and two villages are reported to having a

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

population. The majority of the population is

Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...

, with a significant Kurdish Alevi population. One estimate from 2014 places the Alevi population at 11%. The province is generally more pious than other Kurdish areas in Turkey and has been a hotspot for radicalization and Islamism in recent years (see Dokumacılar). Historian Şahidin Şimşek argued that Hanafi adherents in the province had been manipulated by the state to believe that

Kurdish nationalism Kurdish nationalism (, ) is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...

equated to Alevism. Another theory points at the poverty in the province. The Kurdish tribes in the province include the Alikan, Atman, Balyan, Belikan tribe, Bêzikan, Birîmşa, Bîstikan, Canbegan, Celikan, Dêrsimî, Dirêjan, Gewozî, Hevêdan, Heyderan, Hûriyan, Izol, Kawan, Kerdizan, Kîkan, Kirvar, Mirdesan, Molikan, Mukriyan, Pîrvan, Reşwan, Şavak, Sinemilli, Sînanka, Şêxbizin and the Teşikan tribe. The Alevis of the western districts of Besni, Gölbaşı and Tut are Turkmen and Kurdish.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adiyaman Province Provinces of Turkey Turkish Kurdistan