Aksaray (pronounced [ˈaksaɾaj]) (Northern Kurdish: Axsere (spelled as Akhsæræ)) is a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital district of Aksaray Province. According to 2009 census figures, the population of the province is 376 907 of which 171,423 live in the city of Aksaray. The district covers an area of 4,589 km2 (1,772 sq mi), and the average elevation is 980 m (3,215 ft), with the highest point being Mt. Hasan at 3,253 m (10,673 ft).
Aksaray region was an important stopover along the Silk Road that crossed through Anatolia for centuries and the city of Aksaray has a long history.
The town of Garsaura was named Archelaïs (Greek: Ἀρχελαΐς) by Archelaus of Cappadocia, the last Cappadocian king. In Roman times, the town was known as Colonia (Κολώνεια) and was a bishopric and an important military centre, holding an imperial aplekton. Of its bishops, Euphrasius was at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, Bosporus (who is mentioned in correspondence of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus) at the First Council of Constantinople in 381, Daniel at the Council of Ephesus in 431, Aristomachus (who was also a signatory of the letter of the bishops of the Roman province of Cappadocia Tertia, to which Colonia belonged, to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian about the killing of Proterius of Alexandria in 458) at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Alexander at a council called by Patriarch Menas of Constantinople in 536, and Conon at the Trullan Council of 692. No longer a residential bishopric, Colonia in Cappadocia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Colonia is also a titular metropolis in Turkey of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Aksaray is an electoral district of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. It elects three members of parliament (deputies) to represent the province of the same name for a four-year term by the D'Hondt method, a party-list proportional representation system.
Population reviews of each electoral district are conducted before each general election, which can lead to certain districts being granted a smaller or greater number of parliamentary seats. Aksaray's seats fell from four to three in the 2011 general election.
Aksaray is a rapid transit station on the M1 line of the Istanbul Metro. It is located in central Fatih under Adnan Menderes Boulevard near Aksaray square. Aksaray was opened on 3 September 1989 as part of the first rapid transit line in Istanbul and Turkey. Between 1989 and 2014, Aksaray was the eastern terminus of the M1. On 9 November 2014, the M1 was extended 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) south to Yenikapı Transfer Center where connections to the M1 line and Marmaray as well as İDO seabus service are available. From Aksaray connection to the T1 tram line is available via a short walk to Yusufpaşa station. Connections to İETT bus service are also available.
[Verse 1:]
In one minute all is changed
You open letter from Death itself
And you choose the way from this hell
To another secret free realm
[Verse 2:]
When night conquer all the land
And voice of Death once again
Still loudly speak in tired brain
You take rope and say – farewell
[Chorus:]
The story is complete when you read
Letters from the dark
The ancient mystic scripts known as
Letters from the dark
The creed grows within when you read
Letters from the dark
[Verse 3:]
Now lonely body toss in wind
On the shoulder of a mighty tree
And now question awaits him