Erzurum

The surroundings of Erzurum at the Urartian period presumably belonged to Diauehi.[12]

Later, Erzurum existed under the Armenian name of Karin. During the reigns of the Artaxiad and Arsacid kings of Armenia, Karin served as the capital of the eponymous canton of Karin, in the province Bardzr Hayk' (Upper Armenia).[13] After the partition of Armenia between the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Persia in 387 AD, the city passed into the hands of the Romans. They fortified the city and renamed it Theodosiopolis, after Emperor Theodosius I.[14]

As the chief military stronghold along the eastern border of the empire, Theodosiopolis held a highly important strategic location and was fiercely contested in wars between the Byzantines and Persians. Emperors Anastasius I and Justinian I both refortified the city and built new defenses during their reigns.[15]

"A Prospect of Erzeron the Capital of Armenia" from Joseph Pitton de Tournefort's 1717 book Relation d'un voyage du Levant

The Seljuk era Çifte Minareli Medrese (Twin Minaret Madrasa) is the symbol of the city and appears on its coat of arms.

Theodosiopolis was conquered by the Umayyad general Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik in 700/701. It became the capital of the emirate of Ḳālīḳalā and was used as a base for raids into Byzantine territory. Though only an island of Arab power within Christian Armenian-populated territory, the native population was generally a reliable client of the Caliph's governors. As the power of the Caliphate declined, and the resurgence of Byzantium began, the local Armenian leaders preferred the city to be under the control of powerless Muslim emirs rather than powerful Byzantine emperors.[16]

In 931, and again in 949, Byzantine forces led by Theophilos Kourkouas, grandfather of the future emperor John I Tzimiskes, captured Theodosiopolis. Its Arab population was expelled and the city was resettled by Greeks and Armenians.[17] Emperor Basil II rebuilt the city and its defenses in 1018 with the help of the local Armenian population.[18] In 1071, after the decisive battle at Manzikert, the Seljuk Turks took possession of Theodosiopolis. The Saltukids were rulers of an Anatolian beylik (principality) centered in Erzurum, who ruled from 1071 to 1202. Melike Mama Hatun, sister of Nâsırüddin Muhammed, was the ruler between 1191 and 1200.

Theodosiopolis repelled many attacks and military campaigns by the Seljuks and Georgians (the latter knew the city as Karnu-Kalaki) until 1201 when the city and the province was conquered by the Seljuk sultan Süleymanshah II. Erzen-Erzurum fell to the Mongol siege in 1242, and the city was looted and devastated. After the fall of the Sultanate of Rum in early 14th century, it became an administrative province of the Ilkhanate, and later on the city was under Empire of Trebizond occupation for a while around the 1310s.[19] Then became part of the Çoban beylik, Black Sheep Turkmen, empire of Timur Lenk and White Sheep Turkmen. It subsequently passed to Safavid Persia, until the Ottomans under Selim I in 1514 conquered it through the Battle of Chaldiran. During Ottoman imperial rule, the city served as the main base of military power in the region.

It served as the capital of the eyalet of Erzurum. Early in the seventeenth century, the province was threatened by Safavid Persia and a revolt by the province governor Abaza Mehmed Pasha. This revolt was combined with Jelali Revolts (the uprising of the provincial musketeers called the Jelali), backed by Iran and lasted until 1628. In 1733, Iranian ruler Nader Shah took Erzurum during the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35),[20] but the city returned to Ottoman possession following his death in 1747.

In 1821, during the last major Ottoman-Persian War, the Ottomans were decisively defeated at Erzurum by the Iranian Qajars at the Battle of Erzurum (1821).[21] In 1829 the city was captured by the Russian Empire, but was returned to the Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne), in September of the same year. During the Crimean war Russian forces approached Erzurum, but did not attack it because of insufficient forces and the continuing Russian siege of Kars. The city was unsuccessfully attacked (Battle of Erzurum (1877)) by a Russian army in the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877–78. However, in February 1878, the Russians took Erzurum without resistance, but it was again returned to the Ottoman Empire, this time under the Treaty of San Stefano. There were massacres of the city's Armenian citizens during the Hamidian massacres (1894–1896).[22][23]

Yakutiye Medrese in the center

Sanasarian College was one of the premier Armenian educational institutions in Erzurum on the eve of the First World War. Its faculty was murdered during the 1915 genocide.

The 40,000-strong Armenian population was deported from the city and killed en masse during the 1915 Armenian genocide. Their cultural institutions, including churches, clubs, and schools, were looted, destroyed, or otherwise left derelict. When Russian forces occupied Erzurum in 1916, there were scarcely 200 Armenians left alive.[24]

The city was also the location of one of the key battles in the Caucasus Campaign of World War I between the armies of the Ottoman and Russian Empires. This resulted in the capture of Erzurum by Russian forces under the command of Grand Duke Nicholas and Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich on February 16, 1916. Erzurum reverted to Ottoman control after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. In 1919, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, one of the key founders of the modern Turkish Republic, resigned from the Ottoman army in Erzurum and was declared an "Honorary Native" and freeman of the city, which issued him his first citizenship registration and certificate (Nüfus Cuzdanı) of the new Turkish Republic. The Erzurum Congress of 1919 was one of the starting points of the Turkish War of Independence.[25]

In September 1935 Erzurum was made the seat of the newly created third Inspectorate General (Umumi Müfettişlik, UM).[26] The third UM span over the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Rize, Trabzon, Kars Gümüşhane, Erzincan and Ağrı.[26] It was governed by an Inspector General.[27] The Inspectorate General was dissolved in 1952 during the Government of the Democrat Party.[28]

Atatürk monument dedicated to the Erzurum Congress

Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeasternmost air force post during the Cold War.

After the long Byzantine-Sasanian War of 572-591, Byzantine rule was extended to all western parts of Armenia, and emperor Maurice (582-602) decided to strengthen political control over the region by supporting pro-Chalcedonian fraction of the Armenian Church. In 593, regional council of western Armenian bishops met in Theodosiopolis, proclaimed allegiance to the Chalcedonian Definition and elected John (Yovhannes, or Hovhannes) of Bagaran as new Catholicos of Chalcedonian Armenians.[30]

As Ancient Theodosiopolis in Armenia (or "in Cappadocia"), the former bishopric remains a Latin Catholic titular see, renamed as Titular Archiepiscopal See of Aprus. Its post is vacant since 1968, Antonio Gregorio Vuccino was its last archbishop.[31]

2011 Winter Universiade opening in Kazım Karabekir Stadium.

The K-95 /left) and K-125 (right) ski jumping towers at Kiremitliktepe.

• Kazım Karabekir Stadium
• Erzurum Ice Hockey Arena
• GSIM Yenişehir Ice Hockey Hall
• Milli Piyango Curling Arena
• Kiremitliktepe Ski Jump

Erzurum has hosted the following international winter sports events:

• 11th World Ice Hockey U18 Championships-Division III – Group B Tournament – March 9–15, 2009
• 12th World Ice Hockey U18 Championships-Division III – Group A Tournament – March 8–14, 2010
• 25th Winter Universiade – January 27 – February 6, 2011
• World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship – April 23 – 29, 2012
• European Curling Championships – Group C Tournament – October 5–10, 2012
• 11th IIHF World Championship Division III – April 15 – 21, 2012
• 2017 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival – February 12 – 17, 2017

The city's initial football club Erzurumspor, which during 1998–2001 played in the Turkish Super League, was forced to relegate to the Turkish Regional Amateur League due to financial problems. It was finally dissolved in 2015.

After dissolution of Erzurumspor due to financial problems, Erzurum is presented by BB Erzurumspor in association football. It was founded as "Gençler Birliği Gençlik Spor Kulübü" in 1967 and took present name in 2014. It played in the Turkish Super League in 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons.

Erzurum's football venue, the Cemal Gürsel Stadium, has a seating capacity for 21,900 spectators. To be able to carry out the competitions of the Winter Universiade, a ski jumping ramp, an ice hockey arena and a curling hall were built in Erzurum.

In May 1894 American bicyclist Frank Lenz disappeared outside the city on the final leg of his quest to circumnavigate the globe on a bike.[40]

• Hakop Karnetsi, (1618–1673) Armenian historian, geographer
• Ghoukas Karnetsi, (1722–1799) Catholicos of All Armenians (1780–1799)
• Hovhannes Karnetsi, (1750–1820) Armenian poet, pedagogue
• Armenak Arzrouni, (1901–1963) Armenian photographer
• Nikita Balieff, Armenian stage performer
• Arshak Gafavian, Armenian military commander
• Johannes Avetaranian (a.k.a. Mehmet Sükrü), Seyyid (self-proclaimed descendant of the prophet Muhammed), Christian missionary
• Karekin Pastermadjian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and an ambassador of Armenia to the US
• Vartkes Serengülian, Armenian deputy in the Ottoman parliament killed during the course of the Armenian Genocide[43]
• Kourken Yanigian, American-Armenian author, engineer who murdered two Turkish consular officials in 1973

• Acun Ilıcalı Television programmer
• Adnan Polat, Ahiska-Turk, President of Galatasaray
• Arif Sağ, Turkish singer, bağlama virtuoso
• Bülent Güven, Political Scientist and Politician
• Cemal Gürsel, the fourth president of Turkey
• Fethullah Gülen, Islamic writer and preacher
• Hasan Çelebi, world-famous Islamic calligrapher
• Huseyin Avni Ulas, Influential Politician during the early period of the Republic of Turkey
• İbrahim Hakkı Erzurumi, Turkish and Sufi philosopher and encyclopedist
• Nene Hatun, female defender of Erzurum during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78
• Orhun Ene, Turkish Basketball player
• Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen, Islamic scholar known for his book titled The Big Book of Islamic Catechism (Büyük İslâm İlmihali)
• Recep Akdağ, minister of health of Turkey
• Şair Nef'i, 17th century Turkish poet

• Markos Vafiadis, leading cadre of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE)