Birecik

Template: Infobox city in Turkey / Maintenance / County

Birecik, the ancient Birtha ( Syro -Aramaic for Palace), is a town in the province of Şanlıurfa in southeastern Turkey near the border with Syria. The Kurdish name is Bêrecûg, the Arabic al - Bira البيرا and the French from the time of the County of Edessa Bile. In ancient times the city was called Makedonopolis. Birecik is located about halfway between Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa ( Edessa ) on the Euphrates River, which is crossed by the bridge was built in 1956 second longest river of Turkey here.

The county town are affiliated with three municipal towns, 69 villages and 84 settlements. Birecik had early 2005 46.238 inhabitants. The majority of the population is Muslim. Until the First World War about 20 % of the population were Christians, of which about one-third of Armenians. 1895 pogrom against this ethnic group was also held here. As Birtha Birecik was until 1977 the titular Roman Catholic Church. In Birecik lived up to the wave of immigration in the 1980s, one of the larger Yezidi communities of Turkey.

Who the White Fort of Birecik (Arabic: Qal ul- Baydha, Turkish: Beyaz Kale), built on a limestone rock on the eastern bank of the Euphrates at a ford, is not known. It was under the Romans (30 BC to 395 AD), the Crusaders ( here also called Franks, 1098 AD to 1150 AD) and the Mamelukes ( 1277 AD to 1484 extended AD) a total of three times. The fortress regarded as impregnable, was severely damaged by several earthquakes. According to a historical inscription it is to the early 13th century by az- Zahir Ghazi, the ruler of Aleppo, have been renovated for the first time.

9 km away from Birecik away as part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project of the Birecik Dam, whose construction was disappearing into his floods the Roman ancient city of Zeugma. Some salvaged pieces from Zeugma are now exhibited in Birecik known mosaics, including the river god Achelous, can be seen in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep. With its rich architectural heritage is founded in Norway Birecik member of the European Association of Historic Towns and Regions ( EAHTR ).

For a long time lived in Birecik the last known free population of bald ibis ( Geronticus eremita, Turkish: Kelaynak, regional and Keçelaynak ) in the eastern Mediterranean area until another small population was discovered in Syria in 2002. Today, a breeding and conservation center is operated for the Ibis Birds made ​​a protected species. The Waldrapp appears in the biblical story of Noah's ark, in which he led downhill Noah after the flood from Mount Ararat to the upper Euphrates, where Noah was settled with his family. For this reason, the Northern Bald Ibis was protected as a sacred animal in the area of Birecik and worshiped with annual festivals.

Gallery

Migration Map of the Northern Bald Ibis

Man-made nesting sites of bald ibis colony

Waldrapp