Erzincan

Erzincan lies on a broad plain watered by the Karasu, the western branch of the Euphrates, with high mountains on either side. Roads crossing eastern Anatolia converged here, making the city an important prize for the rulers of the region. Its long history brought Armenian, Turkish and other communities together in a fertile basin exposed to both warfare and earthquakes.

At the end of the fourteenth century Erzincan was ruled by the emir Mutahharten, whose allegiance to Timur brought him into conflict with the Ottoman sultan Bayezid. The city later passed to the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu; Uzun Hasan repaired its fortress in the fifteenth century. Ottoman and Safavid armies contested the region in the early sixteenth century before Ottoman rule was established. In 1784 a powerful earthquake struck Erzincan, causing widespread destruction in the city and its surroundings.