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Bitlis
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Bitlis ( or Bedlīs Armenian: Baghaghesh, later Baghesh) is a town in eastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. Kurds form the majority of the population, which was 65,169 (including the surrounding villages) as of 2000.
The town is located at an elevation of 1,400 metres, 15 km from Lake Van shores, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis River, a tributary of the Tigris. The local economy is mainly based on agricultural products which include fruits, grain and tobacco.
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Encyclopedia
Bitlis ( or Bedlīs Armenian: Baghaghesh, later Baghesh) is a town in eastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. Kurds form the majority of the population, which was 65,169 (including the surrounding villages) as of 2000.
The town is located at an elevation of 1,400 metres, 15 km from Lake Van shores, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis River, a tributary of the Tigris. The local economy is mainly based on agricultural products which include fruits, grain and tobacco. Industry is fairly limited, and deals mainly with leatherworking, manufacture of tobacco products as well as weaving and dyeing of coarse cloth. Bitlis is connected to other urban centres by road. Tatvan, a port on Lake Van, lies 25 km to the northeast, and the cities of Mus 100 km northwest and Diyarbakir 200 km to the west. The climate of Bitlis can be harsh, with long winters and heavy snowfalls. Summers are hot, and often humid.
History
The origin of the name "Bitlis" is not known, though a folk etymology explanation, without any historical basis, is that it is derived from "Lis/Batlis", the name of a general said to have built Bitlis castle by the order of Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia.
In the 9th century the Saybani emirs of Arzan controlled Bitlis, in the mid-10th century the Kaysite emirs of Malazgirt controlled it. Bitlis was attacked in 972 by the Byzantine Empire as it attempted to annex the territories of the Armenian kingdoms and Arab principalities around Lake Van. At the end of the 11th century, with the collapse of Byzantine power after the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt), Bitlis fell under the control of Togan Arslan, a subject of the "Shah Arman" dynasty based in Ahlat.
Bitlis was a Kurdish emirate from the 13th to the 19th century. Though often subordinate to a succession of larger powers that ruled the Van region, it always maintained a measure of independence. In the 14th century its emirs, the Kurdish Rusaki family, were vassals of the Karakoyunlu and the emirate's territory also consisted of several smaller emirates: Ahlat, Mus, and Hinis. The emir of Bitlis submitted to Timur in 1394, but later helped the re-establishment of Karakoyunlu control in the region. After the collapse of the Karakoyunlu state, the Bitlis emirate disintigrated. However, in the 1470s it took the Ak Koyunlu three successive sieges to capture Bitlis and in 1494/95 the Ruzaki recaptured the town. Bitlis was forced to accept a Persian governor during the invasion of the Safavid Shah Ismail, but sided with the Ottoman forces as they approached the region. Its emir, Sheref, later changed his allegiance to the Persians. An Ottoman army besieged Bitlis for three months in 1531/32, but was forced to retire. Sheref was killed in battle in 1533 and his son and successor submitted to the Ottoman Empire. Mus and Hinis were removed from the Bitlis emirate, becoming separate sanjaks but still with Ruzaki beys. A Jesuit mission was established in Bitlis in 1685. The Ruzakid Kurdish dynasty in Bitlis lasted until 1849, when an Ottoman governor evicted its last emir, Sheref Bey, who was taken to Constantinople as a prisoner. After this, Bitlis was governed by a Turkish pasha and formed the capital of a vilayet bearing its name.
In 1814 the population of Bitlis town was said to be 12,000 people - one half Muslim, the remainder Christian Armenian. In 1838 its population was said to be between 15,000 to 18,000 - two thirds Muslim, one third Armenian, and a small minority of Syrian Christians. In 1898 Lynch considered the population to be close to 30,000, comprising 10,000 Armenians, 300 Syrians, and the rest Muslim Kurds.
World War I period
One third of the population of Bitlis was ethnic Armenian prior to the Armenian Genocide. In 1915, Turks and Kurds, led by Jevdet Bey Pasha, massacred some 15,000 Armenians in Bitlis.
In February 1916, as part of the Caucasus Front, Russian forces launched an offensive to capture Mus and Bitlis. Mus fell on the 16th February. At Bitlis, the Turkish positions were in a strong location on the outskirts of the town and could not be outflanked because of the narrowness of the valley. On the night of 2-3 March, during a blizzard, the 8th Caucasian Rifles advanced silently and, after several hours of hand to hand fighting, took the Turkish positions with 1000 prisoners. The Turks then abandoned Bitlis, retreating towards Siirt. A Turkish force commanded by Mustafa Kemal had been advancing to help defend Bitlis, but did not arrive in time. In August 1916, the Turkish Second Army started an offensive against the Russian front in eastern Turkey. On the 2nd August Mustafa Kemal's XVI corps, together with Kurdish irregulars, attacked Bitlis and Mus. Fearing encirclement, General Nazarbekov, the Russian commander, abandoned Bitlis on the 5th August. When Mus also fell, he decided to abandon Tatvan and the whole Mus valley and retreat to Ahlat. In September, the Turkish offensive stalled and was turned. Nazarbekov advanced as the retreating Turkish forces withdrew from Tatvan and Mus, but he did not have the available forces to recapture Bitlis as winter approached. The Russian Revolution in the spring of 1917 prevented any further Russian gains.
Description
Bitlis preserves more medieval and traditional architecture than any other town in eastern Turkey. They are of a high quality and are mostly constructed from locally-quarried light brown stone, sometimes called Ahlat stone.
The town contains a large number of late-medieval Islamic buildings in the form of mosques, medresses, and tombs. Commissioned mostly by its local Kurdish rulers, the architectural style of these buildings is very conservative and similar to much earlier Seljuk-period structures. Important monuments include the 12th-century Ulu Mosque with its 15th century minaret, and the Gokmeydani Medresesi and Serefiye Mosque from the 16th-century. Until 1915 there were five Armenian monasteries and several churches in Bitlis only a 19th-century Armenian church survives, now used as a warehouse.
Bitlis is also notable for its many old houses. These are built of cut stone and are often large and impressive structures. Most have two stories, but three stories are also found. Ground floors were generally intended for storage and stables, with the residential quarters on the upper floors. Ground floor rooms have few windows, upper floors are well lit. Roofs are flat and covered with beaten clay. Unlike traditional houses in nearby Erzurum or Van, Bitlis houses do not have bay windows and balconies.
Famous people from Bitlis
The city was the home of the 16th century Kurdish historian, Sherefxan Bedlisi (also: Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi), who was also an appointed prince of the Persian and later Ottoman Empires.
American writer William Saroyan's parents were immigrants from Bitlis to Fresno, California. He wrote a play entitled "Bitlis" about his "return" to the city he considered his homeland which he actually did visit in later years.
Kāmran Inan(Hizan, Bitlis, 1929), a well known Turkish politician, diplomat, and scholar was from Bitlis. He has written about the history of Bitlis.
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