Ağrı (Turkish pronunciation:[ɑːɾɯ];Kurdish:Agirî[1]) is a city in easternTurkey, near the border withIran. It is the seat ofAğrı Province andAğrı District.[2] Its population is 120,390 (2021).[3] It was formerly known asKaraköse.[4] In the early Turkish republican period and until 1946, it was officially known asKarakilise. the city is now named after Ağrı, the Turkish name ofMount Ararat.[5]
Ağrı has old settlements such as Doğubeyazıt and Patnos, whose origins date back to the Middle Ages and the Islamic period. Over a long period of time, the region became part of theUrartians, theAchaemenid Empire, theMacedonian Empire founded byAlexander, theSeleucids, and theArmenian Kingdom, which recognized Persian and Roman domination for many years.
With the Islamic conquests that began after the death ofProphet Muhammad in 632, the region came under Muslim rule. The Muslims took this region from theArmenians and theIranians (Sassanid Empire) and attached it to their own caliphate, and managed to have a say in the region for a long time. The first Muslims to settle in the region were settled in 872 during theAbbasid period.
The city came under Seljuk rule from the Byzantine rule for a short time after the 1048Battle of Kaperton. The Mongols conquered all of Anatolia including Ağrı in theBattle of Kose Dağ in 1243 and the city was later included in theIlkhanate Khanate established in 1256.
The Dogubayazit district in the 19th century he town witnessed conflicts in the Ottoman–Persian War, when Abbas Mirza, commander-in-chief ofQajar Iran, occupied the town in 1821, and later in 1856, when it was attacked by Russia and taken by the Russians during theRusso-Turkish War (1877–1878). When the Russians retreated, most of the local Armenians left with them to build Yeni Beyazıt (nowGavar in Armenia) on the shores of Lake Sevan.[6]
In the years of 1927 to 1931, the region was under the occupation of theKurdish separatist movements, which gained to establish an unrecognized state namedRepublic of Ararat which was led by severalKurdish leaders, some of the Main wereIbrahim Heski andIhsan Nuri.[citation needed]
In the medieval period, the district's administrative centre was located atAlashkert, once an important town. The "kara kilise" or "black church" that gave the town its name was a medieval Armenian church. In 1895H. F. B. Lynch stayed in Karakilise and wrote that it had between 1500 and 2000 inhabitants, was nearly two-thirds Armenian, and that a barracks for a locally recruitedKurdish Hamidiye regiment had been recently located in the town.[7]
The Armenian population of the town and surrounding valley was massacred by theOttoman troops, assisted by tribalKurds during theArmenian genocide: aNew York Times report from March 1915 mentions the Alashkert valley being covered with the bodies of men, women, and children.[8]
Ağrı contains most of the industry in Ağrı Province, where the main economic activity is agriculture and animal husbandry. There is Ağrı Meat and Milk Factory. The ELDESAN leather factory is one of the biggest in the region. There are also a sugar factory, shoe factory, flour mills, agricultural equipment manufacturing sites, brick factory, lime factory, furniture factory, dairy factory and textile mills.[9]
North of Ağrı, there is a longwave broadcasting station with 2 250 metres tall guyed masts, broadcasting on 162 kHz with 1000 kW.
It is a very poor region with extremely cold winters. Most people live by grazing animals on the mountainside. Despite being home to auniversity, few people manage to attend; people tend to marry in their teens, and families with ten or more children are common. The local MPFatma Salman Kotan has written of the need to erode the patriarchal nature of society in the region.[10]
On the eve of theFirst World War, 8,180Armenians lived in thekaza of Karakilise. The city itself had a total population of 4,500, half of them being Armenians. The town had two Armenian schools.[6] Today, the city is majority Kurdish.
Ağrı has a Mediterranean-influenced warm-summerhumid continental climate (Dsb) underKöppen and a warm summer continental climate (Dcb) underTrewartha classification. Summers are generally brief but warm with cool nights. The average high temperature in August is roughly 30 °C (86 °F). Winters are very cold. The average low January temperature is −16 °C (3 °F). It snows a lot in winter, staying for an average of four months in the city. The highest recorded temperature was 39.9 °C (103.8 °F) on 10 August 1961. The lowest recorded temperature in Ağrı was −45.6 °C (−50.1 °F) on 20 January 1972. The city receives an average of 537 millimetres of rain per year. The rainiest months are April and May, while the driest is August. The highest recorded snow thickness was 225 cm ( 88.6 inches) on 21 February 1985.
Climate data for Ağrı (1991–2020, extremes 1940–2023) (elevation:1646 m)
