Ardahan Province

Ardahan Province () is a province in the north-east o Turkey, at the vera end o the kintra, whaur Turkey borders wi Georgie. The provincial caipital is the ceety o Ardahan.

 Geography 
This is attractive open kintraside which spends mony months o the year unner snaw. At this altitude temperatures on average reach -20 °C an can drop belaw freezin aw year roond, includin simmer months.

The local economy depends on fermin an raisin livestock. Till 1993 Ardahan wis a destrict o the province o Kars, becomin a province in its awn right haes meant mair investment in infrastructur.

There are twa crossin points intae the Samtskhe-Javakheti destrict o Georgie, ane at Posof an the ither (currently closed) at Çıldır. The Turkis military hae a strang presence in this border destrict, anither boost tae the local economy.

 Population 
Ardahan is an impoverished aurie that syne the 1950s haes seen a muckle number o its fowk migrate tae ither pairts o Turkey or abroad. The population declined frae 170,000 fowk in 1990 tae 119,000 in 2000. The population is 105,454 as o 2010. Ethnic groups in the region include, Turks, Georgies, Kipchaks, Turkmen, Karapapaks an Azeris.

 History 
In 680 BC Scythians came athort the Caucasus frae the north an captured this aurie frae the Urartu Keengs that ruled frae their caipital on the shores o Lake Van tae the sooth. The Scythians wur replacit bi Persies an then in 330 BC Alexander the Great came through wi his airmies. Ethnic Georgies populatit the aurie, an in atween conquests, it wis a province o a Georgie Kinrick efter whose pairitition in the 1490s the aurie passed tae the atabegs o Samtskhe based in Akhaltsikhe till it wis taken ower bi the Ottoman Empire in 1578.

In 1878, efter the Russo-Turkis War (1877–1878), the region wis includit intae the Roushie Empire, an till 1918 wis kent as Kars Oblast. Pairt o the Democratic Republic o Georgie frae 1918 tae 1921, Ardahan wis reclaimit bi Turkey unner the Treaty o Kars in 1921.

The construction o the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline gave the local economy a brief boost frae 2000 onwards.

 Destricts 
Ardahan province is dividit intae 6 destricts (caipital destrict in bauld):
 Ardahan
 Çıldır
 Damal
 Göle
 Hanak
 Posof

 Ceeties an touns 
Ardahan Ceety 17,171 inh.
Göle Ceety 6,231 inh.
Hanak Ceety 4,030 inh.
Damal Ceety 3,804 inh.
Köprülü Toun 2,126 inh.
Posof Ceety 1,810 inh.
Çıldır Ceety 1,502 inh.

 Places o interest 
 There are a number o medieval castles in the destrict includin Ardahan Castle itsel.
 At a certain time o the year Damal muntain throws a shadae that is a vera lifelike silhouette o Atatürk. See.:T.C.Damal Kaymakamliği.: 
 Lake Çıldır

 See an aw 

Leet o populatit places in Ardahan Province

 References 

Category:States an territories established in 1921