Şiran

Şiran, also Karaca, is a town and district of Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is one of the points of passage between Eastern Anatolia and Black Sea regions of Turkey, in the sense that the western road departing from Erzincan towards the Zigana Pass (the key pass between the two geographies) has its last urban stop in Şiran. According to the 2010 census, population of the district is 17,600 of which 8,207 live in the town of Şiran. The district covers an area of 928 km (358 sq mi), and the town lies at an elevation of 1,457 m (4,780 ft). The name comes from Persian and means "the lions", although it is most likely to be an adaptation of the former Greek name of Cheriana (Χερίανα) adopted after the Turkish...