Bingöl

Bingöl (Armenian: Ճապաղջուր Chapaghjur, Zazaki: Çewlîg, Northern Kurdish: Çewlîg) is a city in Eastern Turkey. It is surrounded by mountains and a large number of glacier lakes, hence the name (Turkish for a thousand lakes). Lately, the town has become a popular tourist destination. According to 2009 estimates, it has a population of 87,918 .

Bingöl is the capital of Bingöl Province, one of the 81 provinces of Turkey.

On May 1, 2003 the whole area suffered from a magnitude 6.4 earthquake, leaving 177 dead and 520 injured. On 8 March 2010, the area suffered another earthquake, of magnitude 5.9, with its epicenter in Elâzığ Province, 45 km (28 mi) west of Bingöl.

History

In the Middle Ages, Bingöl was known as Romanoupolis (Greek: Ῥωμανοῦπολις) after the Byzantine emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, who incorporated it permanently into the Byzantine Empire in 942. It initially formed a subdivision of the thema of Mesopotamia, but it was later (ca. 970) elevated into a separate theme.

Geography

Bingöl is 144 km east of Elâzığ and is situated in the high region of Eastern Anatolia. Bingöl is a mountainous area with heights reaching 10,000 feet.