Akçakiraz, Elazığ
Akçakiraz (former "Perçenç", from the original Armenian "Parchanj" <nowiki>[</nowiki><nowiki>]</nowiki>) is a belde (town) in the central district (Elazığ) of Elazığ Province, Turkey. Situated south of Elazığ and near the junction of two Turkish state highways and which connect Elazığ to Bingöl and Diyarbakır respectively. The population of Akçakiraz stood at 6,506 in 2013. The town is populated by both Kurds and Turks. History. According to the official municipality page the town was founded in 1670 by a certain İsmail Bey who was probably a member of Karakoyunlu dynasty (which had founded a short lived Turkmen empire  in the 14th and 15th centuries). Local Armenian tradition held that the town was founded by the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, patron saints of the Armenian Church. While the author of a study on the village finds this story to be apocryphal, he believes Armenians were the original founders of the village. All the Armenians were expelled or massacred during the course of the Armenian genocide of 1915.