İliç (from , ''Lichk'') is a town in

Erzincan Province Erzincan Province (; ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. In Turkey, its capital is also called Erzincan. Its area is 11,815 km2, and its population is 239,223 (2022). Geography Erzincan is trav ...

in the

Eastern Anatolia Region The Eastern Anatolia region () is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black Sea Region and Georgia in th ...

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

İliç District İliç District is a Districts of Turkey, district of the Erzincan Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of İliç.

.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023. Its population is 4,713 (2022). Its elevation is 1,060 m.
The mayor is Mustafa Gürbüz ( AKP). Historically inhabited by

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

, the town is today populated by

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 ...

who profess the

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

school of

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

. The town is just upstream of the

Bağıştaş 1 Dam The Bağıştaş 1 Dam is an embankment dam on the Karasu River near Bağıştaş in İliç district of Erzincan Province, eastern Turkey. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it supports a 140.4 MW power station. C ...

Etymology

The name "İliç" comes from the towns former Armenian name "Լիճք" (Lichk), meaning lakes. It was called so because of the lakes formed from the water of overflowing springs.

Notable people

Hamdi Ulukaya Hamdi Ulukaya (born 26 October 1972) is a Turkish billionaire businessman, activist and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. He is the founder, owner, chairman, and chief executive officer of the strained yogurt bra ...

, founder of food company

Chobani Chobani is an American food company specializing in strained yogurt. The company was founded in 2005 by Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish businessman of Kurds, Kurdish origin. Chobani sells thick, Greek yogurt with a higher protein content than traditional ...

, born here *

Mustafa Sarıgül Mustafa Sarıgül (born 15 November 1956) is a Turkish writer, entrepreneur and politician who is currently a member of the Grand National Assembly from Erzincan. He was the mayor of the Şişli district in Istanbul between 1999 and 2014 as a m ...

writer, entrepreneur and politician.

References

External links

Municipality website

City Population: Information on İliç
Populated places in Erzincan Province İliç District District municipalities in Turkey {{Erzincan-geo-stub

Etymology

Notable people

See also

References

External links