Elazığ

關於Elazığ

Elazığ is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plain on which the city extends has an altitude of 1,067 metres (3,501 ft). Elazığ resembles an inland peninsula surrounded by the natural Lake Hazar and reservoirs of Keban Dam, Karakaya Dam, Kıralkızı and Özlüce. Its population is 387,072 (2022).

Elazığ was once a suburb of the ancient fortress town of Harput called Mezre. Heinrich Hübschmann believed Mezre to be the settlement of Mazara (Μαζάρα) mentioned by Ptolemy, while Nicholas Adontz derived the name from an Arabic word meaning arable land or hamlet (borrowed into Turkish as mezra 'hamlet'). The toponym Mezre originated as a shortening of Ağavat Mezrası ('hamlet of the aghas/landlords') or Mezra-ı Çötelizade. This may be explained by the fact that some notables from Harput had been exiled from the city and settled in nearby villages in the late 18th century.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.