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Varto

Coordinates: 39°10′23″N 41°27′21″E / 39.17306°N 41.45583°E / 39.17306; 41.45583
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Varto
Municipality
Varto is located in Turkey
Varto
Varto
Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 39°10′23″N 41°27′21″E / 39.17306°N 41.45583°E / 39.17306; 41.45583
CountryTurkey
ProvinceMuş
DistrictVarto
Government
 • MayorÜlkü Karaaslan (elected) (HDP)
Elevation
1,500 m (4,900 ft)
Population
 (2022)[1]
10,914
Time zoneUTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code
49600
Area code0436
Websitewww.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]

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]

Today, many of the inhabitants are Islamized and Kurdified or Turkified crypto-Armenians.[3]

Politics

The former mayor Sabite Ekinci Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), was arrested on 9 November 2016 on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" and removed from her duty. District Governor Mehmet Nuri Çetin was appointed as trustee in her stead.[8][9] Ülkü Karaaslan (HDP) was elected mayor in the local elections in March 2019,[10] and was arrested in December 2019 on terrorism charges.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b "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. ^ a b c d e "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. ^ "Varto belediyesine Kaymakam atandı". NTV. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  9. ^ "English :: Trustee Appointed to Varto Municipality in Muş Province".
  10. ^ Şafak, Yeni (2019-11-22). "Muş Varto Seçim Sonuçları – Varto Yerel Seçim Sonuçları". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  11. ^ "HDP'li Bulanık ve Varto belediye başkanları tutuklandı". Haberler.com (in Turkish). 18 December 2019.

Further reading

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


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