Bitlis

Bitlis is a historical Kurdish city located in Eastern Anatolia, southwest of the Van Lake basin. Across a wide span of time, from ancient and Islamic era sources to Ottoman archival documents, it appears as a frequently mentioned settlement alongside its surrounding areas of Ahlat, Erciş, Muş, and Van.

Early Islamic Period

In the Early Islamic period, Bitlis-Hîzân and the surrounding mountainous belt are mentioned as a region inhabited by figures like Bâz, who was at the origin of the Mervânî dynasty. The Mervânîs (983-1085) were a dynasty that ruled in the Zevezân (Zozan) geography, which sources link to the Çehârbuxtî branch of the Humeydî tribe of Kurds, with its borders extending from Musul in the south to the Ahlât frontier, to Selmâs in the east, and Diyarbekir in the west; this geography harbored important Kurdish elements such as Humeydî, Lârî, Hezbânî, Mihrânî, Hakkârî, Buxtî, Beşnevî, Çûpî, and Millî (Volume 1, p. 129).

Islamic Geography Sources

Islamic era geography and travel sources mostly treat Bitlis as part of a regional whole. Yakut el-Hamevî mentions Zencan, Erzen, Bitlis, Ahlat, and Hirtbirt together among the important cities of Armenia (Volume 2, p. 60). Geography books, including those written during the Mamluk period, continued to show Bitlis within the region of Armenia; Makdisî tried to support the view that Bitlis belonged to the region of Armenia with the existence of Tiflis, which had similar characteristics on the opposite side of the region (Volume 2, p. 97). For a period, Bitlis, along with Meyyafarikin, Ruha (Urfa), Ahlat, and Van, were gathered under a single administration; these cities were mentioned together within the sphere of influence of the Dustekî-Mervanî Kurdish State (h. 345-489 / m. 956-1095) (Volume 2, p. 64). Sources state that little was said about Bitlis due to its small area, and that the city was not large enough to attract travelers and merchants (Volume 2, p. 97). Nevertheless, Bitlis is counted among the first places that come to mind in geography books as one of the cities where the Kurdish presence is prominent, along with settlements such as Ahlat, Erzen, Nusaybin, and Sincar (Volume 2, p. 115).

In Ottoman Archives

Archival documents from the Ottoman period reveal Bitlis as an important center both administratively and militarily. The city was recorded in the detailed (mufassal) and summary (icmal) tahrir defters belonging to the Van Eyalet, and sometimes kept independently; in the 37 Numaralı Bitlis Mufassal Tahrir Defteri, administrative units such as Adilcevaz livası, Bitlis, Koltuk, Tatvan, Güzeldere, and Tatik are included, and taxes to be collected from the Muslim and Armenian populations living in the sancak were recorded in detail (Volume 3, p. 23). The central administration also appealed to the beys of Bitlis, along with Erzurum, Van, Kars, and Çıldır, in suppressing rebellions; in a correspondence dated 1131/1719, contact was made with the Bitlis Hâkimi, and it was ordered that Osman Paşa and Lizli (Ezidi) İsmail not be permitted to reside in Bitlis (Volume 3, p. 18). Bitlis was also seen as an important customs item within the framework of the Persian campaigns (Volume 3, p. 35), and the intense trade of Bitlis merchants with Persia was documented in the records of the Erzurum Customs (Volume 3, p. 37). In the region referred to as Ottoman Kurdistan, Kurdish mîrs and beys in Diyarbekir, Muş, Bitlis, Van, and Hakkâri, especially the mîrliks of Bohtan, Soran, and Müküs, were in relationships with the state mostly described through resistance and rebellion (Volume 3, p. 58).