History of Bayburt

If you want to go to Trabzon from Erzurum by road; you will first reach to Bayburt after you crest the Kop Mountains. Established near the Çoruh river, this pleasant city is the gateway of Eastern Anatolia to the North with its castle witnessing 3000 years of the history, with its toga and Kete.



The story of the name of the city and its establishment date are not known precisely. What is known for today is its name was recorded as Payberd in Armenian resources, as Payper, Baberd and Paypert in Byzantium resources. Passing from that region in the 8th Century, Marko Polo wrote the name of the city his travel book as Paipurth, Baiburt. On the other hand, in the literature telling the history of Akkoyunlu, the last syllable of the word, that is Berd means "high castle" but the first syllable of the word does not have a meaning. Visiting the city in 1647, Evliya Çelebi defined the meaning of Bayburt as the first syllable Bay meant “wealthy” and the second syllable burt meant "land". In the records of Ottoman period, the name of the city was recorded as Bayburt in line with today's pronunciation.



In his “Anabasis”, Xenophanes mentioned Bayburt as a big, crowded and wealthy city. Bayburt was an Iskit city. Iskits were the Turks which we have known as Scyths.



Bayburt has been a Turk city for approximately 5000 years.



According to the current resources, the history of Bayburt dates back to the 3000s B.C. City was established by Azizis. Bayburt was raided by Kimmers and Iskits between 770 and 665 B.C. Than the region was dominated by Haldis. After a short time the region was occupied by Meds and than was reoccupied by Persians. Bayburt was bound to the Kingdom of Pontus in the 2nd Century B.C. and it was seized by the Roman Empire. Occupied by Emevis in 705 B.C. Bayburt was reoccupied by Byzantium in 711. Bayburt was conquered by Seljuks. Bayburt where was the establishment and rising land of the Akkoyunlu State was bound to Ottomans in 1514. It was occupied by Russians in 1828 and the city was captured by Russians and Armenians before and during the 1st World War. People of Bayburt were forced to migrate at that time. Saved from the enemy occupation on February 21st 1918, Bayburt was a county of Erzurum province until 1927 and of Gümüşhane until 1989. By the law numbered 3578, Bayburt gained its provincial status from 21.06.1989.

source: bayburttso(dot)org