Surroundings, Tunceli

The small town of Çemiskezek can be reached via reasonable roads and lies about 110km/70mi west of Tunceli by the Tahar Çayi. The dervish cells hewn from the rocks and the Ulu Cami are worth visiting.

Mazgirt is a small town dominated by a medieval castle about 30km/19mi southeast of Tunceli. The Etli Sultan Türbesi and the adjoining mosque are of interest. It was in Mazgirt that a column displaying some Assyrian cuneiform writing was found. The thermal baths at Bagin, formerly Castrum Palios, to the east of Mazgirt can be reached by making a detour via Palu and Karakoçan (105km/65mi) or taking the poor road through Darikent (35km/22mi).

The Dereova Selalesi close to Dereova (Hakis) and the Karagöl Selalesi are both impressive waterfalls and can be found near Nazimiye, about 35km/22mi northeast of Tunceli.

The original place-name for Ovacik (small valley) was Marasalçakmak (marshal's pipe). In 1878 the town became a regional center, but it was abandoned in 1916. In 1925 it was re-settled and in 1938 the village of Ovacik became an administrative center for the region.

The green Ovacik valley lies at the eastern edge of the Munzur Vadisi Milli National Park and is an ideal starting point for mountain walkers and is attractive to fishermen. Like the whole mountain range, the Munzur National Park consists of tracts of untouched land. The chain of mountains has many peaks over 3,000m/10,000ft and extends for 100km/62mi but it is nevertheless good walking territory as the valley is already 1,500-2,000m/5,000-6,500ft above sea level.This wet region contains a number of small circular hollows (cirques) which were formed from the mountain glaciers (Ice Age). Water gushed from springs, often in the form of waterfalls, down into the deep valleys.

The small town of Pertek dominated by its medieval castle ruins can be reached either directly from Tunceli (about 45km/28mi to the southwest) or north from Elazig by ferry across the Keban Dam Lake (16km/10mi by road to the landing stage).An interesting 18th century caravanserai can be seen in the town and at the foot of the castle hill two old mosques: Bay Sungur Camii (1560) and Celebi Ali Camii.A the medieval fortification known as Pertek Kalesi (1367) crowns a hill on an island in the middle of the Keban Lake. With access by boat it was built to guard what was once a crossing point of the Euphrates (Murat Nehri) and was mentioned by the German traveler von Moltke who journeyed by raft from Palu to the south in 1838.