Product Code Database
Ahlat (; ) is a town in Turkey's Bitlis Province in Eastern Anatolia Region. It is the seat of Ahlat District. İlçe Belediyesi , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023. The town had a population of 27,563 in 2021.
The town of Ahlat is situated on the northwestern shore of Lake Van. The mayor is Abdulalim Mümtaz Çoban (AKP).
After the Battle of Manzikert (1071), the Seljuk Empire army, led personally by Sultan Alp Arslan (1063-1072), took possession of the town. The Seljuks then gave control over the town to the Turkmens slave commander Sökmen el-Kutbî (or al-Qutbi). Sökmen and his successors were known as the Shah-Armens (or Ahlat-Shahs) and made Ahlat their capital. In the 11th century accounts of Nasir Khusraw (in his Safarnama) the town of "Akhlat" (, ) is mentioned. According to the Institute of Ismaili Studies (who cite Thackston, W. Wheeler McIntosh, ed. trans., Nasir-i Khusraw’s Book of Travels (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2010), 8.), the excerpt goes as follows: "From there (Harran) we arrived in the city of Akhlat on the 18th of Jumada al-Awwal November. This city is the border town between the Muslims and Armenians, and from Bekri it is nineteen leagues. The Prince, Nasruddawla, was over a hundred years old and had many sons, to each of whom he had given a district. In the city of Akhlat they speak three languages: Arabic language, Persian language, and Armenian. It is my supposition that this is why they named the town Akhlat. Their commercial transactions are carried out in puls (possibly ancient Roman and Greek coins), and their rotel (Armenian money) is equivalent to three hundred Dirham."
With the decline of the Seljuks, and the new political upheaval presented by the invasions of the Khwarezmian Empire and the Mongol Empire, Ahlat became briefly disputed between the Ayyubids, the Kingdom of Georgia and the Sultanate of Rum (the Anatolian branch of the Seljuq dynasty). In the 12th century, Ahlat and its adjacent territory was conquered and vassalized by the Kingdom of Georgia. In this period Georgians called city by name Khlati, modified native Armenian name Khlat. Following the Battle of Köse Dağ (1243) and the fall of Baghdad (1258), Ahlat, "together with eastern Anatolia and upper Mesopotamia", became part of the Mongol Empire. The Mongols added Ahlat to the Ilkhanate division, and in the ensuing period, the Ilkhanid rulers minted coins in Ahlat. According to Hamdallah Mustawfi (died 1349), the revenues provided by Ahlat under the Ilkhanids, amounted up to 51,500 . After the Ilkhanate, Ahlat became part of the Jalayirids and then the Ak Koyunlu. In the early 16th century, the Ottoman Empire expanded into Eastern Anatolia (Western Armenia), taking control of the town for the first time under Sultan Selim I (1512-1520). Nevertheless, Ahlat remained only loosely under Ottoman control at the time, for it was considered to be a border district between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid dynasty. In 1526, during the reign of king ( shah) Tahmasp I (1524-1576), Ahlat was in Safavid hands, and its governor was Delu Montasha Ustajlu. In 1533, during the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1532–1555, Ahlat was taken by the Ottoman army led by Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha. In 1548, Ahlat was recaptured by the Safavids, who then sacked it. During Suleiman the Magnificent's reign (1520-1566), Ahlat eventually became a solid part of the Ottoman Empire. However, "in practise", Ahlat remained de facto under the control of various local Kurdish chiefs until the mid-19th century, when the central Ottoman government in Constantinople imposed direct rule on the town. During this time, it became a center for the Naqshbandi order of Sufism. Vital Cuinet estimated the population of Ahlat at end of the 19th century at 23,700. According to Cuinet, seventy percent were Muslims, whereas the rest were Christians, mostly Armenians. When Cuinet passed through the city during this time period, ancient Ahlat was considered to be "abandoned", and was referred to as Kharab Şehir, i.e. "the ruined town". Later, a new town, which had a population of 5,018 in 1961, grew some two kilometers to the east on the shore of Lake Van.
During the Circassian genocide, several Circassian refugees from the North Caucasus were settled in Ahlat district and established a few villages.
As part of the deportations of Kurds from 1916 to 1934, Kurds from Ahlat were deported to Diyarbakır for being disloyal to the Committee of Union and Progress. It was already noted in 1846 by Ottoman officials that the town could be used to control the Kurds with an iron fist since it was located 'in the heart of Kurdistan'.
In recent years, Ahlat also came to be known for the quality of its potatoes, which carved themselves a sizable share in the Turkish agricultural products market.
| + Mother tongue, Ahlat District, 1927 Turkish census ! Turkish language !! Arabic !! Kurdish !! Circassian !! Armenian !! Unknown or other languages |
| 13 |
| + Religion, Ahlat District, 1927 Turkish census ! Muslim !! Armenian !! Jewish !! Other Christian |
| – |
== Gallery ==
|
|
