Harput (Kharput / Kharpert)

Turkey / Elazig /
 place with historical importance, neighbourhood
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The historical city near Elazig. Located on a hill. Now a small residental area with lots of historical buildings. A good place to see. www.pbase.com/dosseman/harput

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The ancient town and citadel called Kharput (Kharpert), which means "rocky fortress" in Armenian, was built by the first Armenian kings about five km (3.1 miles) from modern Elazığ. However, very little written material about this city reached our day. It is possible that Harput stands on or is near the site of Carcathio-certa in Sophene, reached by Corbulo in A.D. 65. The early Muslim geographers knew it as Ḥiṣn Ziyād, but the Armenian name, Khartabirt or Kharbirt, whence Kharput and Harput, was generally adopted in time.

William of Tyre wrote that Joscelin I, Count of Edessa (Jocelyn) of Courtenay, and King Baldwin II of Jerusalem were prisoners of the Amir Balak in Kharput's castle and that they were rescued by their Armenian allies. William of Tyre calls the place Quart Piert or Pierre.

Harput and its vicinity fell under Turkish control in the year 1085 as the outcome of the Manzikert battle on August 26, 1071. The Çubukoğulları, Artuqids, Aq Qoyunlu and Ottomans had reigned in the region[5]

Harput is still partly settled today, but due to its high elevation and lack of water it is slowly in the process of being abandoned, with most of its residents moving to Elazığ. Harput still has a few thousand inhabitants.

Harput was the seat of a Syrian Orthodox bishop as early as the eleventh century, whose diocese was initially called Ḥiṣn Ziyād and later Harput. The last Syrian Orthodox bishop of Harput, Cyril Mansur, was murdered along with many of the town's Christians during the Armenian Genocide and Assyrian Genocide of 1915.[6]

An Armenian Catholic diocese of Kharput was created in 1850
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quoted wikipedia
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Coordinates:   38°42'15"N   39°15'8"E
This article was last modified 10 years ago