Bitlis

Bitlis is a city in eastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, 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, including Tatvan on Lake Van, 25 km to the northeast, and the cities of Muş (Mush), 100 km northwest, and Diyarbakır, 200 km to the west. The climate of Bitlis can be harsh, with long winters and heavy snowfalls. Summers are hot, and often humid. Since the local elections of March 2019, the Mayor of Bitlis is Nesrullah Tanglay.

Strategically situated in the narrow valley of the Bitlis Çay, a tributary of the Tigris River, it commands the only route from the Van basin to the Mesopotamian plains. It was mentioned frequently, as Bagesh, in old Armenian sources. Taken by the Muslim Arabs during the reign of the caliph ʿUmar I (634–644), it changed hands intermittently among the Arab dynasties, the Armenians, the Byzantines, the Persian Il-Khanids, and the Mongols until the establishment of a Kurdish dynasty in the 14th century. The Kurds at Bitlis, under Ottoman suzerainty, enjoyed considerable autonomy until 1847, when the town came under direct Ottoman administration. The Armenian insurrections at the end of the 19th century and the Russian occupation during World War I hurt Bitlis, reducing its population and damaging its weaving and dyeing industries. Historical monuments include a partly ruined medieval castle and numerous mosques, theological schools, and inns that date from the early Seljuq and Ottoman periods.