Ardahan

History

Ancient and medieval

Ardahan was historically located in the region of Gogarene (Gugark), which Strabo calls a part of the Armenia that was taken away from the Kingdom of Iberia. In the Middle Ages Ardahan served as an important transit point for goods arriving from the Abbasid Caliphate and departing to the regions around the Black Sea. During the 8th to 10th centuries the region was in hands of the Bagrationi princes of Tao-Klarjeti under the name of Artaani, and later part of Kingdom of Georgia between 11th to 15th centuries. According to the Arab historian Yahya of Antioch, the Byzantines razed Ardahan and slaughtered its population in 1021.

The Mongols took hold of the city in the 1230s but the Georgian princes of Samtskhe were able to recapture it in 1266. In 1555, by the Peace of Amasya, the western part of the principality of Samtskhe was annexed by the Ottoman Empire, and Ardahan was included into the sanjak of Ardahan (an overall part of the vilayet of Akhaltsikhe). The Ottomans turned Ardahan into a formidable fortress-town. In the 1640s the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Ardahan and gave the following description: "The fortress of Ardahan sits atop an inaccessible cliff. It is square-shaped and sturdy... This fortress has a cold climate and, because of this, there are no gardens or orchards. Fruits arrive from the fortress at Ajara and Tortum."

Modern

Before 1829 Ardahan was recorded to have had 400 households, the majority of them Armenian. Many of them later emigrated to the Russian Empire in the early 19th century. During the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) it was an important road junction connecting the border fortress of Akhaltsikhe to the Kars-Erzerum road. The town passed into the hands of Russia following the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War and was made a part of the Ardahan Okrug of the Kars Oblast. The majority of the town was made up of Armenians, while other ethnic groups included Georgians, Pontic Greeks (here usually called Caucasus Greeks), Caucasus Jews, Russians, Kurds, Ossetians, and Yazidis. A Polish community was also established, with the majority of Poles being sent to Ardahan from the Russian Partition of Poland after being conscripted to the Russian Army. The town flourished economically under Russian rule, exporting fruits, smoked lamb meat, wheat and wood. New roads were constructed, linking Ardahan to Akhalkalak, Kars, and Oltu. On 25 December 1914, in the early months of the First World War, the Ottoman Army occupied Ardahan and massacred many of its Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Georgians. The Russians, with the help of Armenian and Pontic Greek militias, captured the town on January 3, 1915, allowing some of the original inhabitants who had fled to return.

As Russian forces withdrew from the front following the October Revolution, a small Armenian volunteer force took up positions to defend the town from the approaching Ottoman Army. On March 6, 1918, the Ottoman army, along with the help of the town's Muslims, overwhelmed Ardahan's Armenian garrison and retook the town. Ardahan was occupied by Democratic Republic of Georgia on 20 April 1919. When the Turkish Nationalists captured Ardahan on 23 February 1921, the town's remaining Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Georgians fled to Armenia, northern Greece, and Georgia. The Treaty of Moscow, signed the following year between the Soviets and the Ankara Government, confirmed Ardahan as a part of Turkish territory.

In 1986 a brief description of the fortress was published. The original late antique/medieval walls of Ardahan Kalesi were extensively rebuilt several times and in the 19th they were adapted to accommodate small cannons.

In 1960, Ardahan's population stood at 7,228 and was populated by both Kurds and Turks.

Demographics

Geography

Ardahan is situated in northeastern Turkey, close to the border with Georgia. It lies on the upper course of the river Kura, south of the Yalnızçam Mountains. The town consists of 7 quarters: Halilefendi, Karagöl, Kaptanpaşa, Yenimahalle, Gürçayir, Atatürk and Inönü.

Climate

Ardahan has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb, Trewartha: Dclc), bordering on a subarctic climate (Köppen: Dfc, Trewartha: Eclc) on higher elevations, with brief, mild summers and very cold winters.

Summers are mild to warm during daytime, but turn colder nocturnally. Because of this, temperatures below freezing have been recorded every month of the year. It is also frequently rainy most of the year, especially in spring and summer.

Winters are quite snowy with snow cover lasting from late October to mid April. Although it does snow in September and May, accumulating snowfall is rare. On rarer occasions, it has also snowed in summer months, such as the snowfall in August 2013. The highest recorded snow thickness was 113 cm (44.5 inches) on 30 January 1968.

Highest recorded temperature:35.0 C on 29 August 1998 Lowest recorded temperature: -39.8 C on 21 January 1972

|Jan record high C = 11.1 |Feb record high C = 11.0 |Mar record high C = 18.4 |Apr record high C = 25.0 |May record high C = 28.9 |Jun record high C = 33.1 |Jul record high C = 34.3 |Aug record high C = 35.0 |Sep record high C = 32.1 |Oct record high C = 26.0 |Nov record high C = 18.7 |Dec record high C = 14.3 |year record high C = 35.0 |Jan record low C = -39.8 |Feb record low C = -38.7 |Mar record low C = -33.2 |Apr record low C = -19.0 |May record low C = -8.5 |Jun record low C = -4.5 |Jul record low C = -2.2 |Aug record low C = -2.8 |Sep record low C = -5.8 |Oct record low C = -15.0 |Nov record low C = -28.9 |Dec record low C = -36.3 |year record low C = -39.8 | access-date = 11 April 2021}} | access-date = 2 August 2023}} Meteomanz(snow days 2014-2023)

Media

Ardahan has experienced significant growth in digital media since it gained the status of a province by separating from Kars in 1992. Many media platforms operate in the city, and most of them broadcast over the internet. Ardahan's first internet newspaper, founded by Mehmet Ali Arslan, continues to be actively published today. Traditional printed newspapers have largely switched to e-journalism since 2015, keeping up with the process of digitalization, and a few newspapers continue their traditional printed publications in the city. Although the city does not have a satellite or terrestrial media outlet, there are many radio, television and newspaper platforms broadcasting over the internet.

International relations

;Twin towns—Sister cities Ardahan is twinned with:

• GEO Akhaltsikhe, Georgia
• RUS Grozny, Russia

Notable locals

• See Category:People from Ardahan

References

References

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