Yusufeli ( hy, Բերդագրակ, Berdagrak; ka, ახალთი, Akhalti) is a town and district of

Artvin Province Artvin Province ( tr, ; ka, , ''Artvinis p’rovincia''; Laz: ართვინიშ დობადონა ''Artviniş dobadona'') is a province in Turkey, on the Black Sea coast in the northeastern corner of the country, on the border w ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

region of

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

. It is located on the bank of Çoruh River 104 km south-west of the city of

Artvin Artvin ( Laz and ; hy, Արտուին, translit=Artuin) is a city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is located on a hill overlooking the Çoruh River near the Deriner Dam. It is a former bishopric and (vacant) Armenia ...

, on the road to

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses t ...

. The town of Yusufeli (population 5863) sits in a valley where the Çoruh River is joined by the Barhal, the surrounding countryside is a range of mountains running east to west, with villages in other valleys between the mountains. The micro climate allows the cultivation of olives, grapes, and citrus fruits, the driving forces of the economy in addition to tourism. The town can be reached by air via

Erzurum Airport Erzurum Airport is a military and public airport serving the city of Erzurum in eastern Turkey. Inaugurated in 1966, it is 11 km far from the city. The airport's public passenger terminal covers an area of 5,750 m2 and has an open-air pa ...

, away from Yusufeli or by road from Artvin, Erzurum and

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...

(via İspir in

Erzurum Province Erzurum Province ( tr, Erzurum ili) is a province of Turkey in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the country. The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to ...

). There is a widely criticised plan to dam the Çoruh at Yusufeli, which would submerge 15,000 homes.

Climate

Yusufeli has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

( Köppen: ''Cfb'').

History

The history of Yusufeli, formerly Perterek or Pertarek, is traced to 3000 BC, the Bronze Age. The area has since been inhabited by Hurri,

Urartu Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of Va ...

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

s and Georgians. In the Turkish era the area has been settled by

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

, Saltuks,

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...

Tamerlan Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

, Akkoyunlu, Safevids and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. In the kingdom of Armenia in antiquity it was part of

Tayk Tayk ( hy, Տայք, Taykʿ) was a historical province of the Kingdom of Armenia, one of its 15 (worlds). Tayk consisted of 8 cantons: * Kogh * Berdats por * Partizats por * Tchakatk * Bokha * Vokaghe * Azordats por * Arsiats por The ...

province, known as the Canton of Arsiats por. In 1879 the area was the district of Kiksim in the county of Çıldır. Then following the war between the Ottoman Empire and Russia it became a county of Erzurum. Most of the population is descended from Armenians or Georgians who converted to Islam in the 1700s. Because of the rocky geography it was difficult for people from all villages to reach the city center, so a local district was established centred on Ögdem, but this was still inaccessible so Kılıçkaya (Ersis) became the center of county. Ersis means "a place where no boys live", so-called because so many sons of the district were lost in the Russo-Turkish War of 1878 and

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. In the year 1912 the county name became Yusuf İli, i.e. "province of Yusuf" so the name Kiskim should not be confused with the name Keskin which was a county of Ankara at that time.

Culture

The folk music and culture is typical of the

region featuring the clarinet type

zurna The zurna ( Armenian: զուռնա zuṙna; Old Armenian: սուռնայ suṙnay; Albanian: surle/surla; Persian: karna/Kornay/surnay; Macedonian: зурла/сурла zurla/surla; Bulgarian: ''зурна/зурла''; Serbian: зурла/z ...

, a drum and bagpipes. There are a number of historical Georgian churches in the valleys of Yusufeli, including the ruins of the Four Churches (Dört Kilise) in a village off the road to İspir
Map
.

Places of interest

There are many medieval forts and Georgian churches in the valleys of Yusufeli. Some of them:
* Armashen fortress * Ersis fortress * Nihak fortres * Oshnak fortress * Ishan monastery * Ogdem fortress * Peterek fortress * Parhal monastery * Savangin, a pre-historical cave with an

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

written in an undeciphered writing system

Notable natives

* The singer and politician Zülfü Livaneli was born into a family from Yusufeli. * The former mayor of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Kadir Topbaş Kadir Topbaş (8 January 1945 – 13 February 2021) was a Turkish architect, businessperson and politician who served as Mayor of Istanbul from 2004 to 2017. Biography He was born on 8 January 1945 in Altıparmak village of Yusufeli district ...

, was born in Yusufeli.

References

External links

Governor's Office

The Municipality

Local information website with a photo gallery
{{Authority control Populated places in Artvin Province Districts of Artvin Province Yusufeli District