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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 …
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