Country Turkey Province Çorum Province | Climate Csb | |
 | ||
Bayat is a district of Çorum Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located at 83 km from the city of Çorum, near the town of İskilip. It covers an area of 770 km², and the population (2010) is 23,323 of which 8,479 live in the town of Bayat. It has an elevation of 625 m. The mayor is Ekrem Ünlü (AKP).
Contents
Map of Bayat, 19800 Bayat%2F%C3%87orum Province, Turkey
Geography
Bayat is located at high altitude above the Black Sea coast, but has the character of a central Anatolian district. The town stands in a valley of the River Bayat, a tributary of the Kızılırmak that runs down from the surrounding mountains including the 2013 m Mount Öbek.
In the mountain villages in the north of the district people live on forestry and herding livestock, there are also a number of coal mines. Many families have migrated to larger cities in search of jobs, or go as seasonal labour in the construction industry. There is better farmland in the valley floor along with flour and feed mills.
The town of Bayat provides schools, health care and other basic amenities to the villages in the district.
History
The pre-Turkish town was called Claneus and was a Christian bishopric. It belonged at one time to the Roman province of Galatia Secunda, but later became part of the province of Phrygia Salutaris, as indicated in the Notitia Episcopatuum of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise in the early 10th century. One of its bishops, Salomon, took part in the Third Council of Constantinople in 680 and the Trullan Council of 692. Another, Nicephorus, participated in the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. No longer a residential bishopric, Claneus is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.
Bayat was settled in the 13th century by the Bayat branch of the Oghuz Turk clan, who were widespread in Anatolia and have given their name to over 50 towns and villages in Turkey.