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Tunceli
Tunceli in Munzur valley
Tunceli in Munzur valley
Tunceli is located in Turkey
Tunceli
Tunceli
Location in Turkey
Country Turkey
Province Tunceli
District Tunceli
Elevation
914 m (2,999 ft)
Population
 (2021)
35,161
Time zone TRT (UTC+3)

Tunceli (Armenian: Մամիկի, romanized: Mamiki, Kurdish: Kalan, Zazaki: Mamekiye) is a municipality (belde) in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Kurdish majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021.

Name

During Ottoman times, the settlement was called Kalan or Mameki. Tunceli, which is a modern name, literally means "bronze fist" in Turkish (tunç meaning "bronze" and eli, in this context, meaning "fist"). It shares the name with the military operation under which the Dersim massacre was conducted. The province of Dersim (or Dêsim) was renamed Tunceli in 1935, as was the settlement of Kalan, which became the province's administrative center in 1938. Dersim is popularly understood to be composed of the Kurdish/Zazaki words der ("door") and sim ("silver"), thus meaning "silver door." Whether the town should be called Dersim or Tunceli has been a cause of political quarrels. In May 2019, the local authorities decided to call it Dersim, while the governor said it was against the law to call it Dersim.

History

During the time of the Ottoman Empire, Tunceli (then known as Kalan) was a part of the region named Dersim. In 1847, Dersim was declared a sanjak (a historical administrative unit smaller than the province). The capital of the sanjak was Hozat. During the Republican period, Tunceli Province was established in 1935. In 1946, the former town of Kalan was renamed as Tunceli and it was declared as the capital city of the province.

As a result of the Turkish campaign of "Turkification" Tunceli became a main target of Turkish officials after the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Tunceli played a role in the Dersim rebellion by the Kurds.

Tunceli is famous for excellent rankings in National Education statistics.

Economy

The main economic activity is animal breeding. Wheat is the only notable agricultural product. There are chromium, salt and marble deposits, but only salt is produced. There are a few factories based on agriculture.

Climate

Tunceli has a continental climate (Köppen: Dsa, Trewartha: Dc) with very hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters.

Climate data for Tunceli (1991–2020, extremes 1960–2020)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 14.2
(57.6)
19.4
(66.9)
26.0
(78.8)
32.2
(90.0)
36.6
(97.9)
39.0
(102.2)
43.5
(110.3)
43.5
(110.3)
40.3
(104.5)
35.6
(96.1)
27.0
(80.6)
21.7
(71.1)
43.5
(110.3)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 3.8
(38.8)
5.8
(42.4)
12.1
(53.8)
18.5
(65.3)
24.3
(75.7)
30.7
(87.3)
35.5
(95.9)
36.0
(96.8)
30.8
(87.4)
23.2
(73.8)
13.9
(57.0)
6.0
(42.8)
20.1
(68.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −1.0
(30.2)
0.6
(33.1)
6.4
(43.5)
12.1
(53.8)
17.0
(62.6)
22.8
(73.0)
27.3
(81.1)
27.4
(81.3)
21.9
(71.4)
15.2
(59.4)
7.0
(44.6)
1.3
(34.3)
13.2
(55.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −4.6
(23.7)
−3.4
(25.9)
1.5
(34.7)
6.3
(43.3)
10.2
(50.4)
14.7
(58.5)
19.1
(66.4)
19.0
(66.2)
13.5
(56.3)
8.6
(47.5)
1.9
(35.4)
−2.1
(28.2)
7.1
(44.8)
Record low °C (°F) −30.3
(−22.5)
−29.0
(−20.2)
−24.7
(−12.5)
−7.1
(19.2)
−0.1
(31.8)
1.0
(33.8)
9.2
(48.6)
7.7
(45.9)
2.6
(36.7)
−4.0
(24.8)
−16.4
(2.5)
−25.6
(−14.1)
−30.3
(−22.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 121.0
(4.76)
103.7
(4.08)
110.1
(4.33)
100.1
(3.94)
73.8
(2.91)
16.6
(0.65)
5.0
(0.20)
5.0
(0.20)
23.5
(0.93)
60.4
(2.38)
86.5
(3.41)
120.9
(4.76)
826.6
(32.54)
Average precipitation days 11.50 10.83 14.07 15.10 13.60 5.27 2.40 1.77 3.83 9.03 8.83 11.50 107.7
Average snowy days 7.7 3.7 1.9 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 3.5 17.5
Average relative humidity (%) 74.7 71.3 63.2 59.7 58.6 46.9 38.6 36.3 42.4 58.7 69.4 75.9 57.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours 102.3 118.7 164.3 195.0 257.3 324.0 356.5 331.7 276.0 207.7 153.0 96.1 2,582.6
Mean daily sunshine hours 3.3 4.2 5.3 6.5 8.3 10.8 11.5 10.7 9.2 6.7 5.1 3.1 7.1
Source 1: Turkish State Meteorological Service
Source 2: NOAA (humidity), Meteomanz(snowy days 2014-2023)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Tunceli para niños

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