Karkamış

Karkamış, formerly Carablus, is a municipality and district of Gaziantep Province, Turkey.[2] Its area is 298 km2,[3] and its population is 9,379 (2022).[1] It is next to the site of ancient Carchemish.

Karkamış
District and municipality
Map showing Karkamış District in Gaziantep Province
Map showing Karkamış District in Gaziantep Province
Karkamış is located in Turkey
Karkamış
Karkamış
Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 36°50′2″N 37°59′49″E
CountryTurkey
ProvinceGaziantep
Government
 • MayorAli Doğan (CHP)
Area
298 km2 (115 sq mi)
Population
 (2022)[1]
9,379
 • Density31/km2 (82/sq mi)
Time zoneTRT (UTC+3)
Postal code
27880
Area code0342
Websitewww.karkamis.bel.tr

It is a border checkpoint on the road to Jarabulus in Syria.[4]

History

What is now the present-day town of Karkamış was essentially a constituent neighborhood of the town Jarabulus known as Şeyhavi. Upon the formation of the Syria–Turkey border, which followed the railroad running through the town, this neighborhood was isolated from the rest. The newly-isolated settlement was initially renamed to Cerablus in 1928 after the main town, Barak in 1946 after a Turkmen tribe found in the region, and lastly Karkamış after the ancient town Carchemish.[5]

Geography

The Euphrates runs east of Karkamış southward into Syria. At this place, a railway bridge of 870 m (2,850 ft) that was built between 1911 and 1913 by German engineers as part of the Istanbul-Baghdad Railway, crosses the river parallel to the border line.[6]

One of the 21 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), the Karkamış Dam and hydroelectric power station is located 4.5 km (2.8 mi) upstream from the border crossing of Euphrates.[7]

Composition

There are 39 neighbourhoods in Karkamış District:[8]

Demographics

The district is mostly populated by Turkmens from the Barak tribe,[9] which inhabits all villages in the district while sharing some with other groups.[10] Arabs are also found in the town of Karkamış and two villages.[11]

Archeology
Main article: Carchemish

In March 2011, the Turkish military base which included the ruins of Karkemish was cleared of mines. Archaeologists from Italy and Turkey began excavations, still ongoing, in the ancient town in September 2011.[12]

The ancient site of Karkemish is now an extensive set of ruins, located on the West bank of Euphrates River, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south-east of Gaziantep, Turkey and 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Aleppo, Syria. The site is crossed by the Syria–Turkey border. A Turkish military base has been built after 1920 on the Karkemish acropolis and Inner Town, and access to the acropolis is still restricted. Most of the Outer Town lies in Syrian territory.

T.E. Lawrence and Leonard Woolley (right) in Karkemish, Spring 1913

Karkemish has always been well known to scholars because of several references to it in the Bible (Jer. 46:2; 2 Chr. 35:20; Isa. 10:9) and in Egyptian and Assyrian texts. However, its location was identified only in 1876 by George Smith.

The site was excavated by the British Museum, 1878-1881 by Patrick Henderson, 1911 by D. G. Hogarth and R. C. Thompson, and from 1912 to 1914 by C. L. Woolley, and T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia").[13][14][15] Excavations were interrupted in 1914 by World War I, resumed in 1920 with Woolley and then ended with the Turkish War of Independence.[16] These expeditions uncovered substantial remains of the Neo-Hittite and Neo-Assyrian periods, including defensive structures, temples, palaces, and numerous basalt statues and reliefs with Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Following the completion in March 2011 of mine clearing operations on the Turkish portion of the site, archaeological work was resumed in September 2011 by a Turco-Italian joint archaeological expedition under the direction of Prof. Nicolò Marchetti of the University of Bologna.[17]

References
  1. "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports" (XLS). TÜİK. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  2. Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  3. "İl ve İlçe Yüz ölçümleri". General Directorate of Mapping. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  4. "İdari Durum" (in Turkish). Karkamış Kaymakamlığı. Retrieved March 15, 2009.
  5. Karaca, Taha Niyazi (2020). Sınırları Çizen Kadın İngiliz Casus Gertrude Bell. Kronik Kitap. pp. 128–129.
  6. "Tarihi Fırat Demiryolu Köprüsü" (in Turkish). Karkamış Kaymakamlığı. Retrieved March 15, 2009.
  7. "Karkamış Barajı" (in Turkish). Karkamış Kaymakamlığı. Retrieved March 15, 2009.
  8. Mahalle, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  9. Peter Alfred, Andrews; Benninghaus, Rüdiger, eds. (1989). Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey. p. 282.
  10. Avcı, Cevdet (2015). GAZİANTEP BARAKLARI ANONİM HALK EDEBİYATI VE HALK KÜLTÜRÜ ARAŞTIRMASI (PDF) (Thesis). Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  11. Açat, Yaşar (2018). Türkiye'de Konuşulan Arap Diyalektleri (in Turkish). Akdem Yayınları. p. 105.
  12. "Ancient city to rise in SE Turkey area cleared of mines". Hurriyetdailynews.com. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  13. D.G. Hogarth, Carchemish I: Introductory, The British Museum Press, 1914, repr. 1969
  14. C.L. Woolley, Carchemish II: Town Defences: Report on the Excavations at Jerablus on Behalf of the British Museum, British Museum Press, 1921, repr. 1969, ISBN 0-7141-1002-7
  15. C.L. Woolley & R.D. Barnett, Carchemish III: Excavations in the Inner Town: Report on the Excavations at Jerablus on Behalf of the British Museum, British Museum Press, 1952, repr. 1978, ISBN 0-7141-1003-5
  16. H. G. Güterbock, "Carchemish", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 102–114, 1954
  17. "Mine-clearing work in Karkamış nears completion". Todayszaman.com. 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
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