Country Turkey Climate Dfb Area 1,467 km² Province Erzurum Province | Post code 25430 Website www.tortum.bel.tr Local time Monday 4:45 PM | |
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Weather 2°C, Wind E at 10 km/h, 52% Humidity | ||
Tortum (Armenian: Թորթում T’ort’um, Georgian: თორთომი t’ort’omi, Ottoman Turkish: تورتوم) is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey.The population is 4,507 as of 2010.There are 4 different ethnic group in the district.
Contents
Map of Tortum, Erzurum, Turkey
Ethnicity distribution
History
Tortum was part of the area known as Upper Tao and was ruled by Romans, Persians, Georgians, Armenians and the Byzantines. Between the 13th and 17th century it was part of the Georgian principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago. It was first an Ottoman vassal in the early 16th century and was annexed in 1550. The area of Tortum was contested by the Safavids and the Ottoman Empire in the 16th-17th century but remained Ottoman after 1625. Tortum was a sanjak in Erzurum Eyalet. The region was in the early Ottoman period largely Christian but acquired a Muslim majority in the mid 18th century. During World War I, Ottoman troops crossed Tortum in the disastrous Battle of Sarikamish. Then the Russians occupied the town and held it between 1915 and 1917. After the February revolution of 1917 they left it to the Armenians. The Ottoman army advanced some time later and captured Tortum on 16 March 1918. The town has a ruined citadel.
Economy
As of 1920, Tortum was producing coal.