19 Facts About Harput

Harput or Kharberd is an ancient town located in the Elazig Province of Turkey.

Harput was a largely Armenian populated region in medieval times and had a significant Armenian population until the Armenian genocide.

Harput was a fortress town of the Iron Age Kingdom of Urartu.

Harput was developed as a military base during the second Byzantine occupation of the region, after 938.

Around 1085, a Turkish warlord named Cubuk conquered Harput and was confirmed as its ruler by the Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I The Great Mosque of Harput was built opposite the citadel by either Cubuk or his son.

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Harput remained an independent Artukid principality until 1234, when it was conquered by the Seljuks.

Under the Ottomans, Harput remained a prosperous industrial center, with thriving silk-weaving and carpet-making industries and many medreses.

In 1834, however, the governors of the Sanjak of Harput moved their residence to the town of Mezre, on the plain to the northeast, and some of Harput's population moved with them.

City of Harput has a population of perhaps 20, 000, and it is located a few miles east of the river Euphrates, near latitude thirty-nine, and east from Greenwich about thirty-nine degrees.

Emigration of Armenians and Syriacs from Harput had already began in the 1850s, the main destinations being other cities of the Ottoman Empire, the United States and the Caucasus.

Harput was affected by the Hamidian massacres in the 1890s.

Harput was located in a remote and isolated region of the Ottoman Empire, and consequently few outsiders visited it.

Around 1910, the travel time from Constantinople to Harput was about three days by train and then 18 days on horseback.

Extermination of Armenians in the Harput Vilayet is one of the best documented episodes of the Armenian genocide.

Since Harput was a major transit point for deportees from other parts of the Ottoman Empire, a large number of Armenians from other regions died in the area.

Harput was largely an abandoned ruin in the 1930s and 1940s, as priority was given to the development of Elazig.

Over time, Harput was turned into a suburb of Elazig, and facilities were created for tourism and recreation.

The only church standing in Harput today is the St Mary Syriac Orthodox Church, which was renovated in the early 2000s·.

Harput is the setting of the romance novel La masseria delle allodole by Antonia Arslan, whose grandfather was born in Harput.