Varto

Varto
Municipality
View of Varto and Bingöl Mountains
Varto Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 39°10′23″N 41°27′21″E
Country	Turkey
Province	Muş
District	Varto
Government
• Mayor	Musa Ayyıldız
Elevation	1,500 m (4,900 ft)
Population  (2022)[1]	10,914
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code	49600
Area code	0436
Website	www.varto.bel.tr

Varto (Kurdish: Gimgim;[2] Armenian: Վարդօ or Վարդո, Varto)[3] is a town in Muş Province, Turkey. It is the seat of Varto District.[4] Its population is 10,914 (2022).[1]

History

Some 5,200 Armenians were living in the district of Varto in 1914, including 600 in the town of Varto. Eight churches, 3 monasteries and 5 schools tended to their to spiritual needs.[5] In June 1915 during the Armenian genocide, a great number of Varto's Armenians were massacred in the valley of Newala Ask.[6]

It was the epicenter of the 1966 earthquake that killed nearly 3,000 people.

There are about a hundred villages in the Varto district.[7]

Geology and geomorphology

Varto District is surrounded by Bingöl Mountains from the north and Şerafettin Mountains from the south.[8] Akdoğan Lakes are located in the east of the district center.[9] The altitude exceeds 3000 meters in the Bingöl mountains in the north of the district center and 2300 meters in the Akdoğan and Şerafettin mountains.[10]

Tourism

The touristic places in Varto are Lake Akdoğan, Künav Cave,[11] Bingöl Mountains, Kayalıdere Castle.

Demographics

Before the Ottoman rule, region was almost exclusively Armenian. It then became ethnically and religiously diverse.[3] In 1891, Vital Cuinet reported a population of 16,994: 9,000 Muslims and 7,994 Armenians.[3] Muslims were mostly Kurds and Circassian muhacir. The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople counted, on the eve of the First World War, 4,649 Armenians in the whole kaza, with seven churches, three monasteries, and four schools.[3]

According to the 1927 Turkish census, all 9,822 inhabitants of the Varto District were Muslims.[12]

Mother tongue, Muş District, 1927 Turkish census[12]

Turkish	Arabic	Kurdish	Circassian	Other
731	1	8,774	2	314

Politics

Musa Ayyıldız started to work as the Deputy Mayor on March 9, 2023 after the Presidential Decree.[13]

References

1. "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports" (XLS). TÜİK. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
2. Avcıkıran, Adem (2009). Kürtçe Anamnez, Anamneza bi Kurmancî (in Kurdish and Turkish). p. 56.
3. "Kaza Vardo - Վարդո / Varto". Virtual Genocide Memorial. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
4. İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
5. de Bellaigue, Christopher (2010). Rebel Land: Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town. pp. 85. ISBN 9781594202520.
6. Thomas, De Waal (2015). Great Catastrophe: Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocid. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 243.
7. "Köyler". varto.gov.tr. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
8. "Determination Of Tectonic Activity In The Varto Basin (Muş) With Geomorphic Indices" (PDF) (in Turkish). Bingöl University. March 2019. p. 1.
9. "Göller". mus.ktb.gov.tr. Muş İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü. p. 1.
10. "Muş Varto ilçesinin jeotermal potansiyelinin tespiti, termal otel ve sağlık merkezi fizibilite raporu" (PDF) (in Turkish). Doğu Anadolu kalınma ajansı. 2020. p. 28.
11. "Gezilecek yerler". Kültür Portalı (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-11-23.
12. Van Gölü Havzası Sempozyumu Bitlis İli (Turkey) İstanbul Üniversitesi Avrasya Arkeoloji Enstitüsü. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Atatürk Üniversitesi ÇEKÜL. Ii. Van Gölü Havzası Sempozyumu. 1. Basım ed. Van: Bitlis Valiliği İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü; 2007. p. 280
13. "Musa Ayyıldız". varto.bel.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-11-03.

Further reading

• De Bellaigue, Christopher, Rebel Land: Among Turkey's Forgotten Peoples. London: Bloomsbury, 2009.