Would you like to ski on crystallized snow? Or watch the snow fall from in front of a cozy fire on a winter afternoon? Lose your way wandering through century-old streets, admiring unique Russian architecture and imagining the life of those stone houses? How about following one of Turkey's most important bird trails, and seeking out flowers that can't be found anywhere else? Are you ready to encounter the city of Orhan Pamuk's novel 'Snow'? Or to go back thousands of years as you explore the ancient city of Ani, one of the world's most precious cultural heritage sites? There is a place where you can do all these: Kars. Kars is Turkey's gateway to the Caucasus. It's a city which is likely to be on one of the new borders of the European Union in the near future. A must-see city, with its thick white blanket throughout the winter, and its Russian architecture. More than just a guide, this book is a collective work... It is the product of an adventure undertaken by the people of Kars as they talk about their own city - a book in which locals describe their home and welcome their guests.
2. History Kars in the Pre-Historic Period / 19 Hurrians, Urartians / 21 Kimmerians, Tigran Kingdom / 22 Bagratid Kingdom, Byzantine Period / 23 Seljuk Period / 23 Georgians and Mongalians / 24 Karakoyunlular, Akkoyunlular, Safavids / 24 Ottomans / 25 Russians, the War of ‘93 / 26 Kars Under Russian Rule / 28 Regulations for Muslim People / 30 The Sarikamiç Front / 30 The Democratic Republic of the Southwest Caucasus / 31
4. Sightseeing Kaleîçi (Old City) / 41 Tahtdüzü (New City) / 47 Ani / 53 Around Ani / 61 Sarikamiç and Around / 63 Digor and Around / 64 Akyaka, Kagizman and Around / 65 Susuz / 67 Çildir / 67
5. Culture Music / 68 The ‘Âşık’ Tradition / 71 Cuisine / 71 Sport / 76 Media / 77 Culture, Art and Sports Centers / 79
6. Kars in Photographs / 81
7. What is Where? Accomodation / 113 Food and Drink / 115 Rentacar / 119 Internet Cafes, Photography Studios / 119 Transportation / 120
PREFACE
This book is the product of a joint effort. A considerable number of books have been written about Kars over its history, but not many in the relatively modern format of the guide book. In recent years, Kars has become one of the main attractions of Eastern Anatolia with its history, geography, daily life, and also through new archeological discoveries and artistic and cultural projects that tie its past to its present.
Kars has always been of interest to travelers but has recently become a destinat ion visited by an increasing number of tourists every year. This book is the result of a project undertaken by many writers and editors. The intention is to promote the city to guests and help them create daily programs. The contributors to this book are also local people who take part in the social, cultural and political life of their city. The book draws on a significant number of sources that provide access to current knowledge about the city, and on long periods of discussion and exchange of individual observations and interpretations.
The purpose was obviously not just to publish a guide book. Throughout its preparation we have benefited from the process involved in sharing our creativity and thus enhancing knowledge and mutual understanding. Many thanks go to Okay Akarca, Ayşe Alibeyoglu, Naif Alibeyoglu, Semiha Alibeyoglu, Rana Zincir Celai, Kemal Gôkhan Gürses, Dilçad Oygur, Giil Pulhan, Alper Sezer, Htilya Sezer, Cengiz $ikli, Serap Tombul and all the members of the City Council for their valuable contributions.
We hope that this Kars guide will be a means of bringing more guests to the city, and that they will leave pleased with their experience in the Kars area.
Basic Facts
Kars is a broad plateau with rivers including the Aras, Arpaçay and Kars flowing fromwest to east. It is situated in the Caspian Sea basin. The region's volcanic structure led to the formation of high plateaus (yaylas) and lowlands (ova). The Kars Lowland or plain constitutes 19 percent of the province, and at 2,500 square kilometers is the largest in eastern Anatolia. Plateaus in total cover 51 percent of the province. Kars province makes up about 1.3 percent of the surface are-a of Turkey.
Climate Kars has a characteristic harsh continental climate with six or seven months of winter and frost for approximately 160 days of the year. The record high temperature recorded in the city is 34.8 C, and the lowest is -39.6 C.
Flora Meadows and grasslands are the dominant flora in Kars. There are also pine forests in the towns of Sarikamiç and Ardahan Posof, and oak trees in the town of Kagizman. As the linking point between Anatolia, Cauca- sus and Central Asia, Kars contains species typical to all these geographies, making for a rich biological variety. Flora typical to steppes or deserts can be observed in the lowland of Igdir and along Kagizman. In the mountains above 3,000 metres there are species typical to Alaska or Siberia.
During the Ice Age, when temperatures fell dramatically at places close to the poles, many animal and plant species migrated to Anatolia to survive. In between ice ages, some of these species returned home, others settled in Anatolia and still others did both. The combination of plateaus and mountain grasslands in Kars makes the province suitable for stockbreeding, and it is also rich in mineral waters. At a time when the importance of healthy drinking water is emphasized all over the world as well as in Turkey, the unpolluted Kars region has thousands of springs and relatively clean streams, rivers and lakes. Çildir Lake, Aktaç Lake, Aygir Lake, Çah Lake and Kuyucuk Lake also host a variety of bird life. The Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris) forests of Kars are unique in Turkey.
Around 1,250 species of seeded plants breed naturally in the region, including 100 endemic species which do not exist elsewhere in the world, including the “Kars Burçağı …
Kars City Council
Kars, City Guide
Copte d’auteur
Compte d’auteur Kars, City Guide Kars City Council Translated by Yeşim Erdem Holland
Editors: Vedat Akçayöz (Routes and Culture Sections), Tazebey Çakaz (History Section), Yıldırım Oztürkkan (Historical Heritage and Sightseeing Sections), Sezai Yazıcı, Ozcan Yurdalan
Maps and charts: Çare Olgun Çalışkan (with the assistance of M. Hüseyin Atilla and Cihan Sarı) Photographs: Vedat Akçayöz, Ertugrul Erdem, Selahattin Gültekin, Erkan Karagöz, Yıldırım Öztürkkan, Çağan Şekercioğlu, Evren Uludaç
Illustration: Behzat Taş
Graphic Design: Ender Ergün
Cover Design: Kemal Gökhan Gürses
Kars City Guide Kars City Council
ISBN: 978-975-01411-2-6
Imprint 2008, Istanbul (1000)
Printed in A4 Ofset Oto Sanayi Sitesi Yeçilce Mah. Donanma Sok. No 16 Kagithane 3418 İstanbul Tel (0212) 281 64 48 Fax (0212) 269 53 27
Kars City Council İstasyon Mahallesi Cumhuriyet Caddesi No: 123 36200 Kars Tel (0474) 212 45 34 karskentkonseyi@ttnet.net.tr
This book is published by Kars City Council with the support of European Cultural Foundation and the Chrest Foundation within the Local Cultural Policy Program of Anadolu Kultur. The content of the book does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Cultural Foundation and the Chrest Foundation.
