Kemaliye

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Kemaliye
A street in Kemaliye.
A street in Kemaliye.
Country Flag of Turkey Turkey
Region Eastern Anatolia
Province Erzincan
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Website: www.kemaliye.bel.tr

Kemaliye (formerly Eğin) (Armenian: Ակն) is a town and one of the 9 districts of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The town was re-named Kemaliye after the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, in honor of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, although former name of Eğin is still known and used locally and sometimes even beyond. It has a population of a little less than 10,000 people.

Kemaliye is famous for its historical houses which have a unique architecture. The town also has one of the best views commanding the river Euphrates along its route, the river crossing right through the urban zone. Kemaliye is one of the most suitable and favored rafting routes on the river. Its honey is also famous.

Situated in a region defined by steep lines along the gorges of Euphrates, the industrial development in Kemaliye is rather modest and the agricultural land scarce. Exports of forestry products partially compensate for these, as well as the rising resources of recent years provided by tourism. Many of the old houses in Kemaliye have been restored along original features, and the town starts to attract an increasing number of visitors, either through the land route or through the river whose section around Kemaliye is popular among rafting fans. Hand-made production of a number of crafts products, made especially in iron, also remains vivacious.

Bay window of a Kemaliye house
Bay window of a Kemaliye house

Kemaliye has traditionally been a cradle of outside immigration, especially to İstanbul, creating organic ties to Turkey's former capital where certain crafts and trades, such as the meat industry, were reserved, sometimes by means of imperial decrees, for natives of Erzincan Province since centuries. The trend continues today, although thanks to improving general awareness of the town's natural and architectural attractions, assisted by the presence of sizable and active communities of natives abroad, there is an increasing movement of visitors towards Kemaliye as well.

The city of Eğin was founded by Armenians who had migrated there from Iran. In 1896, the city was evenly divided between Armenians and Muslims (Turks and Kurds). The city was recognized for its wealth and had previously escaped the 1895-1896 Hamidian massacres through a ransom payment by the Armenians of 1500 Turkish gold pounds.[1] Eğin was known as a center of Armenian musicians, and later, literary poets.

On September 15, 1896, three weeks after the raid of the Ottoman Bank by Armenian Dashnaks as a response to the Hamidian massacres, Turkish authorities organized a massacre in the town of Eğin. Ottoman troops killed "upwards of 2000 Armenians" including "many women and children" according to a report by the French Ambassador.[1] Of the 1500 houses located in the Armenian quarter of Eğin, 980 were pillaged and burned. Eğin was chosen to be the target of the massacre because the leader of the bank raiding party, Papken Siuni, was a native of Eğin. According to a report by the British Consul at Harput, the pretext used to attack the town's Armenian quarter was that the Armenians of the town were "set to cause trouble". The same report by the Consul said that there were no revolutionary movement whatever and no powder magazine exploded during the massacre. A few pistols and revolvers were found in the ruins of the burnt houses.[1]

[edit] Notable people from Eğin

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Dadrian, Vahakn N. (2003). The History of the Armenian Genocide. Berghahn Books, p. 146. ISBN 1571816666. 

[edit] External links

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