Bayburt

The name of the town was formerly written in Ottoman Turkish as بايبورد (Bayburd)[4] and in English as Baiburt.[5][6] It was known under a variety of names during the Byzantine period; Procopius naming the city Baiberdon, meanwhile Kedrenos calling it Paiperte.[7] The name derives from the medieval Armenian Baydbert (Բայտբերդ).[2] In Movses of Khoren's History of Armenia the town is being named as Բայբերդ (Paypert). Movses asserts that the city's ancient name was Smpadapert, in reference to the Smbat I, founder of the Bagratuni dynasty.[7] It is thought that Baydbert consists of two words namely Bayd and Bert. The first one has been discussed so much but true etymon is not clear yet. However, the second one is most probably an Armenian loanword bert (բերդ) "fortress".

Bayburt Castle

City Center

Bayburt was part of Hayasa-Azzi, then was subsequently settled or conquered by the Cimmerians in the 8th century BC, the Medes in the 7th century BC, then the Achaemenid Empire, Yervandid Armenia, Pontus, Greater Armenia, Rome, the Byzantines, the Bagratid Armenian Kingdom, the Seljuk Turks, the Aq Qoyunlu, Safavid Persia, and then the Ottoman Turks.

The town was the site of an Armenian fortress in the 1st century and may have been the Baiberdon fortified by the emperor Justinian.[5] It was a stronghold of the Genovese in the late Middle Ages[5] and prospered in the late 13th and early 14th century because of the commerce between Trebizond and Persia.[8] It contained a mint under the Seljuks and Ilkhanids.[8] From c. 1243 to 1266, Bayburt was under brief control of the Georgian princes of Samtskhe. A Christian church within the Bayburt castle was built in the 13th century under the Trapezuntine or Georgian influence.[9]

Bayburt and the surrounding areas are considered to be one of the earliest Turkish settlements in Anatolia.[10] Under Ottoman rule, the town was the center of the Bayburt Sanjak in Erzurum Eyalet. When Erzurum was devastated in the early 16th century, Bayburt served for a time as the de facto capital of the province.[8] The area was raided by the Safavids in 1553. Bayburt was captured by a Russian army under General Paskevich[6] and its fortifications thoroughly demolished in 1829.[5] It was the furthest westward reach of the Russians during that campaign.[6] The British traveller and geologist William Hamilton commented on the ruins in the 1840s,[11] though the population grew to 6000 by the 1870s.[5] The bazaar, however, remained poor and the town long lacked industry.[6] Prior to the First World War, the population of 10,000 was mostly Turkish with some Armenians.[6]

According to the Qamus al-A'lam (Qāmūsu'l-aˁlām/قاموس الأعلام, “Dictionary of the World”) of Shemseddin Sami, Sanjak of Bayburt, comprising four kazas called Ispir, Şiran, Kelkit and Bayburt itself, had 505 villages and 40 nahiyes. The sanjak had a population of 124.019 people. 108.373 people of the population was Turkish and Muslim, and the rest of the population was Christian, predominantly Armenian.

Inside the Sanjak of Bayburt there were said to be 292 mosque and masjid, 176 madrasah, 87 church and monastery, 2 middle school (rushdiye), 108 primary school (sıbyan mektebi).[12]

Bayburt straddles the Çoruh amid an open and fertile plateau on the route between Trabzon and Erzurum.[6]

There is a professional football stadium in the city and many private astroturfed sites. The local football club in Bayburt is Bayburt Özel İdarespor, which currently competes in the TFF Second League.[19] Şalcilarspor played in the Third League between 1986 and 1988.

There are many indoor swimming pools in Bayburt, among them the semi-olympic swimming pool is the most notable one. It is located in the city center opposite of the Yenişehir Park. The pool water is kept at the same temperature in summer and winter so that the users can enjoy the pool in the best possible way.

The city also hosts winter sport activities, such as skiing. Ski resorts are located away from the city center.

Bayburt University is located roughly one kilometer away from the center of the city, the university has several faculties such as Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Administrative Sciences. The university also contains a guest house (Turkish: konukevi). There are several vocational schools.

Bayburt Bus Terminal, located in the south of the city, is the main transportation hub of Bayburt.

• Bayburtlu Kara Ibrahim Pasha Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, 1683 to 1685.
• Hovhannes XI (Çamaşırciyan), Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople between 1800 and 1801
• İrşadi Baba (1879-1958), folk poet.[20]
• Krikor Amirian (1888–1964), an Armenian Revolutionary
• Namık Kemal Zeybek (born 1944), a Turkish politician
• Vasip Şahin (born 1964), a Turkish civil servant, the Governor of Ankara Province.
• Naci Ağbal (born 1968), a Turkish politician
• Suat Türker (1976–2023), a Turkish-German footballer
• Serdar Orçin (born 1976), a Turkish actor
• Hakan Çalhanoğlu (born 1994), a Turkish footballer

Bayburt is twinned with:

• Arpalı Kasabası

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bayburt.

• Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), "Baiburt" , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 240
• Maunsell, Francis Richard (1911), "Baiburt" , in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 214