Hasankeyf

Hasankeyf (Kurdish: Heskîf, Greek: Kiphas, Turkish: Hasankeyf, Latin: Cepha, from Syriac: ܚܨܢ ܟܐܦܐ Ḥéṣn Kayfa) is an ancient town and district located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981. Predominantly Arab before, a steady and significant Kurdish immigration from surrounding villages in the last 20-30 years has shifted the ethnic balance. Kurdish people form the majority of the city center today. Much of the city and its archeological sites are at risk of being flooded with the completion of the Ilisu Dam. Hasankeyf is an ancient city, and has been identified with the Ilanṣura of the Mari Tablet (c. 1800 BC). The Romans had built the Cephe...