Erzurum

Erzurum, city, eastern Turkey. It lies 6,400 feet (1,950 metres) above sea level in a fertile plain surrounded by high mountains. On a caravan route from Anatolia to Iran, Erzurum has been a major commercial and military centre since antiquity and is now a major rail station on the route between Ankara and Iran.

Although its foundation was probably much earlier, Erzurum achieved real importance as Theodosiopolis, a 5th-century-ce Byzantine fortress that fell to the Arabs in 653. Thereafter it was disputed among the Byzantines, Arabs, and Armenians until taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1071; it prospered in the early 13th century under Seljuq sultans. The Arabs and the Turks called it Arzan al-Rūm, or Arz al-Rūm (“Land of the Romans”), from which its present name is derived. It came under Ottoman control in 1515. The city was occupied by Russian forces in 1829, 1878, and 1916–18. It was in Erzurum, in July 1919, that Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk) presided over the first Turkish nationalist congress, leading to the establishment of the Turkish republic.

The city is important as a centre for trade in livestock, but it has little industry other than a sugar beet factory; local craftsmen still excel in metalwork and saddlery. Historically important buildings include Seljuq theological colleges (1253 and 1308), the Great Mosque (12th century), and royal mausoleums (12th and 13th centuries). There is a local archaeological museum. Erzurum is the seat of Atatürk University (1957). The city has a large Kurdish population. The surrounding region is drained by the Karasu River, a headstream of the Euphrates, and the Aras and Çoruh rivers. Agricultural products include wheat, barley, millet, sugar beets, and vegetables. Pop. (2000) 361,235; (2013 est.) 384,399.