Birecik Attractions
Southeastern Anatolia (Urfa plateau)
Birecik, principal town of its district, occupies a picturesque location above the left bank of the Euphrates at a point where, from time immemorial, the river has been crossed by a ford. Here, downstream of the cataracts and foothills of the Taurus, the river also becomes navigable. In the last century a Colonel Chesney planned a steamship company to ply the Euphrates and provide a useful transport link between Europe and India. The scheme however came to nothing, in part because the water was too shallow and the volume irregular. Today a 720m/2363ft-long bridge constructed in 1956 spans the river west of the town.
History
The name of this once walled town derives from the Arabic "bira" or Armenian "birtha" (fort) and so means "little fort". The Romans knew it as Birtha and the Crusaders as Bile. Captured in 1089 by Baldwin of Bouillon, Crusader Count of Edessa, in 1150 it was sold together with five other fortresses to Byzantium. Ownership changed a number of times in subsequent centuries. In the 1830s the German H. v. Moltke, military adviser to the Sultan, visited Birecik on several occasions, describing the fortifications as the most astonishing structure he had ever seen. In 1838 he himself was required to draw up plans for the defense of the town. These were never acted upon however and on August seventh 1839 at Nizip he witnessed the Turkish defeat at the hands of the Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasa.
Birecik, principal town of its district, occupies a picturesque location above the left bank of the Euphrates at a point where, from time immemorial, the river has been crossed by a ford. Here, downstream of the cataracts and foothills of the Taurus, the river also becomes navigable. In the last century a Colonel Chesney planned a steamship company to ply the Euphrates and provide a useful transport link between Europe and India. The scheme however came to nothing, in part because the water was too shallow and the volume irregular. Today a 720m/2363ft-long bridge constructed in 1956 spans the river west of the town.
History
The name of this once walled town derives from the Arabic "bira" or Armenian "birtha" (fort) and so means "little fort". The Romans knew it as Birtha and the Crusaders as Bile. Captured in 1089 by Baldwin of Bouillon, Crusader Count of Edessa, in 1150 it was sold together with five other fortresses to Byzantium. Ownership changed a number of times in subsequent centuries. In the 1830s the German H. v. Moltke, military adviser to the Sultan, visited Birecik on several occasions, describing the fortifications as the most astonishing structure he had ever seen. In 1838 he himself was required to draw up plans for the defense of the town. These were never acted upon however and on August seventh 1839 at Nizip he witnessed the Turkish defeat at the hands of the Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasa.
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Barak (Karkamis), Turkey
(Near Birecik)
Near the border with Syria is the town of Barak, and the archeological site of Karkamis, with roots dating back to the 18th or 19th C B.C.
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Belkis, Turkey
(Near Birecik)
The village of Belkis and surroundings have revealed Greco-Roman remains which have been determined to be the site of the former town of Seleukia.
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Birecik Kalesi
The citadel ruins stand on a limestone outcrop. The fort was severely damaged by earthquakes. Below the ruins are subterranean vaults and a tunnel leading to the water supply.
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Halfeti - Rumkale, Turkey
(Near Birecik)
On a hill of the west bank of the Euphrates near the town of Halfeti stands the remains of this Roman fortress.
Elifköy
The third of the three Roman tombs, at Elifköy, has open stonework relieved by large arches and a low doorway. The roof has disappeared.
Hasanoglu
The northernmost of the three pillar tombs, at Hasanoglu, dates from the turn of the second/third century. It stands on a square pedestal higher than a man, with an entrance into the burial chamber.
Hisar
Along the old military road on the west side of the Euphrates, between Rumkale and the Karasu bridge, are three Roman pillar tombs from the imperial period. The Hisar tomb (second/third century A.D.), southernmost of the three, is a 10m/33ft-high mausoleum on a square base. Pillars at the four corners, articulated with projections, support a now sagging pyramidal roof.
Karasu Köprüsü
This arched Roman bridge carried the Roman military road between Zeugma (Belkis) and Samosata on the Euphrates (Samsat) over the Karasu, a western tributary of the Euphrates. It was restored in the Ottoman period. About 2km/1.25mi from the bridge, in the Karasu gorge, there is a boulder carved with a 10th/ninth century B.C. relief of a god in protective pose armed with a lance.
